Tradition or tradition

[dafalax]

Is something like the birthday of Mary a Church Tradition or tradition? Say it was privately revealed to someone that the Blessed Mother’s birthday was actually a week off what the Church put it at. Would the Church be able to say the private revelation was not of God because the apparition was trying to change Church Tradition, or could the Church eventually discover the apparition to be true and change the tradition?

 

[thistle]

Is something like the birthday of Mary a Church Tradition or tradition? Say it was privately revealed to someone that the Blessed Mother’s birthday was actually a week off what the Church put it at. Would the Church be able to say the private revelation was not of God because the apparition was trying to change Church Tradition, or could the Church eventually discover the apparition to be true and change the tradition?

Nobody has a clue when Mary was born and it doesn’t matter.

 

[runandsew]

Is something like the birthday of Mary a Church Tradition or tradition? Say it was privately revealed to someone that the Blessed Mother’s birthday was actually a week off what the Church put it at. Would the Church be able to say the private revelation was not of God because the apparition was trying to change Church Tradition, or could the Church eventually discover the apparition to be true and change the tradition?

If they did celebrate it, I would guess that it would be a small “T” tradition. And any private revelations would never change church doctrine, since there has been no public revelation since the Apostles. Even if was an approved apparition, Catholics are not bound to believe them.

 

[Ron_Conte]

The Church does not teach that the dates of events in the liturgical calendar are the actual historical dates. Mary’s birthday is celebrated on September 8th, but the Church has no teaching as to when her birthday occurred.

Ron

 

[Todd_Easton]

There is an article in the Catholic Encyclopedia about the “Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary” that mentions the different dates on which Mary’s birthday is celebrated in different Churches and in different Catholic rites. So, it would appear that the date of Mary’s birthday is a tradition with a small t.

 

[TOME]

dafalax,
Here is something I use to help me understand the difference between “Tradition” (Sacred or Apostolic Tradition) and traditions (such as the dates we celebrate Mary’s birth or even Christ’s birthday).

The rule I use is “Tradition” is that which is found and proclaimed in our Creeds, our Liturgy and in the Sacraments. These are the truths of the faith given to us by the Apostles and through the “Sacred Tradition” and cannot change. These are the essentials truths of our Faith. All the dogmas of the Church are based on these truths. This (and I am using the singular form on purpose) and all the Doctrines of the Church are simply (that is purely) the teachings of the Church which embodies and explains these truths.

Traditions, with a small “T” are the ways we have, over the course of the years celebrated, these unchanging truths and are not essential in themselves and thus can change, with time, if the Church, in Her wisdom which is guided by the Holy Spirit, comes to understand that certain tradition need to be change and updated to alow her to better acomplish her God given role to proclaim the Gospel Message and to fulfill her Sacramental Role in the world in which we live. (But here I cannot stress enough it is the Church’s right and duty to make these “Accidental” changes not individuals or groups of individuals).

Hopefully this will help a little, but again the best way to understand “Tradition” is to know our Creeds and celebrate our Sacraments.

 

[dafalax]

Thanks, all. I feel enlightened.

 

[kleary]

Is something like the birthday of Mary a Church Tradition or tradition? Say it was privately revealed to someone that the Blessed Mother’s birthday was actually a week off what the Church put it at. Would the Church be able to say the private revelation was not of God because the apparition was trying to change Church Tradition, or could the Church eventually discover the apparition to be true and change the tradition?

Actually the feast days in the Church, such as the birthday of the Blessed Virgin, the birthday of the Lord (Christmas) and other feasts the Church in Her wisdom has placed at specific times. The Nativity of the Lord and the Blessed Virgin are obviously not the anniversary dates of the events, just when they are celebrated.

An example is the feast day on Monday. Prior to the 1962 Missal the feast day was “The circumcision of the Lord”. In the 1962 Missal, which my parish uses, the feast day is “Day in the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord”. In the current Missal the feast day is “Mary Mother of God”.

The Church can change the dates for celebration of certain feasts as she wishes.

Ken

 

[GoldenArrow]

I think of the difference between Tradition and tradition like this:

Anything printed in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma with** BOLD** print is Tradition with a capital “T.” These are the Infallible Dogmas — things Catholics are required to believe IN ADDITION To the Nicene, Athanasian and Apostles Creeds.

The difference between “T” and “t” is that the former relates to beliefs that are necessary for our salvation. Our salvation doesn’t depend on little “t” beliefs.

The date of Mary’s birthday would be tradition with a little “t.” Our Salvation does not depend on it. The fully human and fully Divine natures of Christ would be Tradition with a big “T.” Our salvation depends on this belief because the Redemption is based on this belief.

God Bless!