Sextus Africanus, did he really influence the date of christmas and set the date of the annunciation?

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colliric

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Long thread title I know, but I’m being asked about the dating of christmas on another web site and it would be helpful if I knew my assertions were 100% true because I do not want to misinform someone.

I know he did first “set” the date of the Annunciation in his christian work “chronicles” and I am wonder if he directly influenced the Papal liturgical decisions surrounding both dates. I would like to more fully understand the traditions for the setting and decisions of both dates and how both related to the other. Wikipedia and other such sources only seem supply information regarding the papal liturgical decisions in their history of the datings and not too much about the traditional history of the dates before the liturgical decisions and also not much about the traditional reasons for the datings. To me thats like going only halfway.
 
johnnykins said:
Don’t know much about him. See the site from the Catholic Encyclopedia about Sextus Julius Africanus: newadvent.org/cathen/08565a.htm
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I have, but thank you for the link anyway.

It doesn’t say terribly much other than clearly indicating he certainly affected the Liturgical calandar by his datings.

I think the cath encyclopedia should expand into this as I don’t think many realise his effect on the datings now and it has been generally lost through the smoke and haze of history other than “he had an effect” and I’m not sure they could do it because they simply may not know anymore the extent of his work’s effects. This is sad because it would be a stongly effective tool to use against arguements that any christian holiday had “pagan origins”.

His influence over liturgical datings is still beingly so strongly felt and it’s understood to be strong, and yet not much is know about him or exactly how he effected it in the early church. It would be a strong arguement…
 
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