Why are we not celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday, January 15, 2012?

[CatholicZ09]

I was looking through the liturgical calendar for this coming Christmas season, and the way that Christmas falls this year (on Sunday), the feasts of the Holy Family and Baptism of the Lord get trumped from being celebrated on Sunday. It goes like this:

Sunday, December 25, 2011 - Christmas

Sunday, January 1, 2012 - Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Sunday, January 8, 2012 - Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord

How come we go straight into Ordinary Time on Sunday, January 15, 2012 and do not celebrate the Baptism of the Lord?

 

[FrDavid96]

I was looking through the liturgical calendar for this coming Christmas season, and the way that Christmas falls this year (on Sunday), the feasts of the Holy Family and Baptism of the Lord get trumped from being celebrated on Sunday. It goes like this:

Sunday, December 25, 2011 - Christmas

Sunday, January 1, 2012 - Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Sunday, January 8, 2012 - Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord

How come we go straight into Ordinary Time on Sunday, January 15, 2012 and do not celebrate the Baptism of the Lord?

Short answer:
When Epiphany gets moved to 7 or 8 January, it takes precedence over the Baptism.

Long answer:
It’s an odd coincidence that happens when Christmas is a Sunday or Monday.

According to the calendar, Epiphany and the Baptism actually fall on the same day (or at least they would).

The reason why we don’t celebrate the Baptism is because in the table of liturgical days, the Feast of the Epiphany outranks the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. When 2 different celebrations occur on the same day, the one with the higher rank takes precedence.

The reason why this comes about is because Epiphany is actually celebrated on 6 January, but in the US, it gets moved to the nearest Sunday. That just happens to be the 8th.

The Baptism is the first Sunday after January 6–in other words, THE Sunday, not the 2nd Sunday. If Epiphany gets moved backwards to Sunday the 5th or the 4th, etc. then that means that the Sunday after the 6th is the Baptism, because we’ve already celebrated Epiphany (on 5, 4, 3, or 2).

If the Sunday after 6 January is Epiphany, Epiphany outranks the Baptism. This can only happen if Epiphany is moved to Jan 7 or Jan 8. Because, otherwise it would be moved to the earlier Sunday.

 

[MarkThompson]

I was looking through the liturgical calendar for this coming Christmas season, and the way that Christmas falls this year (on Sunday), the feasts of the Holy Family and Baptism of the Lord get trumped from being celebrated on Sunday. It goes like this:

Sunday, December 25, 2011 - Christmas

Sunday, January 1, 2012 - Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Sunday, January 8, 2012 - Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord

How come we go straight into Ordinary Time on Sunday, January 15, 2012 and do not celebrate the Baptism of the Lord?

We do celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, it is just transferred to Monday the 9th (or 8th) whenever the Epiphany falls on Sunday the 8th (or 7th). It gets transferred by only one day, not by a whole week just so that Sunday-goers can experience it.

 

[FrDavid96]

We do celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, it is just transferred to Monday the 9th (or 8th) whenever the Epiphany falls on Sunday the 8th (or 7th). But gets transferred by only one day, not by a whole week just so that Sunday-goers can experience it.

Thank you Mark.

I knew I was missing something. My head was swirling trying to look at different year’s calendars to first understand how it happens myself before posting.

I completely missed the part about the Baptism getting moved to Monday or Tuesday.

 

[MarkThompson]

Thank you Mark.

I knew I was missing something. My head was swirling trying to look at different year’s calendars to first understand how it happens myself before posting.

I completely missed the part about the Baptism getting moved to Monday or Tuesday.

Actually, the Baptism can only be moved to a Monday by this mechanism. Apologies if I wasn’t clear above – I just meant that, in any year, the only possible dates where this could happen would make it Monday the 8th or Monday the 9th of January. This coming year, it will be the 8th.

 

[FrDavid96]

Actually, the Baptism can only be moved to a Monday by this mechanism. Apologies if I wasn’t clear above – I just meant that, in any year, the only possible dates where this could happen would make it Monday the 8th or Monday the 9th of January. This coming year, it will be the 8th.

No. You were clear. I wasn’t. Of course, it wouldn’t get moved to a Tuesday.

Now, I’m going to have to research how/why it is that the Baptism gets moved; since we can transfer a celebration TO a Sunday but not FROM a Sunday to a weekday. Maybe it was done when the bishops decided to move Epiphany to the nearest Sunday? Too late at night to check. I’ll have to do that later.

Of course, if you have the answer, or are willing to look it up, by all means, please do.

 

[MarkThompson]

No. You were clear. I wasn’t. Of course, it wouldn’t get moved to a Tuesday.

Now, I’m going to have to research how/why it is that the Baptism gets moved; since we can transfer a celebration TO a Sunday but not FROM a Sunday to a weekday. Maybe it was done when the bishops decided to move Epiphany to the nearest Sunday? Too late at night to check. I’ll have to do that later.

Of course, if you have the answer, or are willing to look it up, by all means, please do.

The General Norms for the Lit. Year and the Calendar from 1969 already provided that where the Epiphany is not celebrated as a day of obligation, it is transferred “to the Sunday falling between 2 January and 8 January,” but the norms fail to explain what happens when that Sunday is also the Baptism of the Lord. In the General Roman Calendar from the 2002 Missale (and perhaps earlier, but that’s the one that’s online) we see this footnote in January: “Ubi sollemnitas Epiphaniae ad dominicam transfertur, quae incidit die 7 vel 8 ianuarii occurrit, festum Baptismatis Domini celebratur feria secunda sequenti.” So this is not just an American adaptation.

 

[CatholicZ09]

Very informative. Thank you to you both!

 

[AJV]

The General Norms for the Lit. Year and the Calendar from 1969 already provided that where the Epiphany is not celebrated as a day of obligation, it is transferred “to the Sunday falling between 2 January and 8 January,” but the norms fail to explain what happens when that Sunday is also the Baptism of the Lord. In the General Roman Calendar from the 2002 Missale (and perhaps earlier, but that’s the one that’s online) we see this footnote in January: “Ubi sollemnitas Epiphaniae ad dominicam transfertur, quae incidit die 7 vel 8 ianuarii occurrit, festum Baptismatis Domini celebratur feria secunda sequenti.” So this is not just an American adaptation.

Initially when the calendar came out, the Baptism was omitted if the Epiphany was transferred to that Sunday. But later it was changed - I initially thought it was under JP II, but it apparently was one of the last acts under Paul VI in 1977.

 

[FrDavid96]

Initially when the calendar came out, the Baptism was omitted if the Epiphany was transferred to that Sunday. But later it was changed - I initially thought it was under JP II, but it apparently was one of the last acts under Paul VI in 1977.

That would explain it–and explain why it’s not actually printed in the 1969 General Instruction.