REPOST FROM 'OFFERIMUS TIBI DOMINE:
TUESDAY, 21 MAY 2013
Where Oh where has my Octave gone?
Because I offer the "old" Mass on some days of the week I occasionally find myself in a rather strange "Twilight Zone" of liturgical time due to the inconsistencies between the two calendars. Today was very strange and rather sad in a way, as in the "old" version this week is the Octave of Pentecost, each Mass complete with Sequence, Gloria and Credo. It does seem odd that such an important feast as Pentecost was historically given an Octave but is now robbed of it. It has the feel of a "worldly Christmas" - all over on the day and no follow-up.
Fr Z relates the well-known story of Pope Paul VI. I didn't quite weep but is does seem a pity we no longer have it.
4 COMMENTS:
The change of the Lectionary was an act of intended vandalism aimed at rendering redundant the 'Old Missals' and inflating the income of printers. Perhaps, Bugnini, et al, were shareholders in the printers. Same applied, of course, to church furnishers.
Quick reminder to priests on Facebook:
As you know, the Extraordinary Form calendar retains the ancient Octave of Pentecost, whereas the Ordinary Form calendar sees a jarring return to Ordinary Time green. The rubrics of the Ordinary Form, however, envision a celebration of the Octave of Pentecost in the following way:
1. At the very end of the proper for Pentecost Sunday in the new missal, it says this: "Where the Monday or Tuesday after Pentecost are days on which the faithful are obliged or accustomed to attend Mass, the Mass of Pentecost Sunday may be repeated, or a Mass of the Holy Spirit may be said."
2. At the beginning of the "Votive Masses" section of the new missal, it says this: "On weekdays in Ordinary Time, even if an optional memorial occurs, a votive Mass may be chosen by the priest-celebrant for the sake of the devotion of the faithful." The ninth set of votive masses given are three separate Masses of the Holy Spirit.
During Pentecost week this year, the foregoing options are available every day of the octave, since there are no feasts occurring higher than an optional memorial.
There is also a correlating rubric here in the General Instructions for the Liturgy of the Hours: "245. For a public cause or out of devotion, except on solemnities, the Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, the octave of Easter, and 2 November, a votive office may be celebrated, in whole or in part: for example, on the occasion of a pilgrimage, a local feast, or the external solemnity of a saint." Unfortunately, you would have to use the Liturgia Horarum to take advantage of this, as votive offices were never translated into the vernacular.