The Epiphany Proclamation and Date of Easter

One of the neatest things about being Catholic is that there's always something new to experience, especially with internet access and social media making things so readily accessible. Thanks to technology, you can pretty much know what the pope is up to.  If you have a Twitter account, His Holiness could also know what's going on with you!

Thanks to television coverage of the Papal Mass on the Epiphany a few years ago, I discovered the Epiphany Proclamation- when the Church announces the dates of Easter and other moveable celebrations. I knew how the Church determined the date of Easter every year (the Sunday after the first full moon of Spring in the northern hemisphere), but I didn't know the history behind it or that the proclamation was so solemn.

So I did some research. The tradition dates back to the early Church when calendars were not readily available. Prior to the Council of Nicaea in 325, different areas were celebrating Easter at different times because of the inconsistencies with the Jewish calendar. The Council established that a method independent of the Jewish calendar be used, and that Easter should be consistently celebrated throughout the universal Church. Interestingly enough, it would take several centuries before the Church achieves any consistency; it still has some differences even today.

Skipping over a lot of history, it became the norm for the Patriarch in Alexandria (the place with the most astronomers) to determine the date of Easter, and then notify the Bishop of Rome and other metropolitan bishops. Over time, it became custom to announce the upcoming date of Easter and the other moveable feasts on the Epiphany (January 6). This is done at the Vatican and many other metropolitan churches at Mass, either after the Gospel reading or after Holy Communion.

Based on the text of previous year's proclamations and an Ordo, here's what the Solemn Proclamation for 2013 should be at St Peter's Basilica:

Dear brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us, and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of his return. Through the rhythms of times and seasons let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.

Let us recall the year's culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord: his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising celebrated between the evening of the 28th of March and the evening of the 30th of March.

Each Easter - as on each Sunday - the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death.

From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy:
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the 13th of February.
The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the 8th of May.
Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the 19th of May.
Corpus Christi will be celebrated on the 30th of May.
The First Sunday of Advent will be celebrated on the 1st of December.

Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the passover of Christ in the feasts of the holy Mother of God, in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints, and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.

To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history, be endless praise, for ever and ever.

Amen.

You may notice some differences between the Proclamation and when certain days are celebrated.  In many places within the Latin Rite, both Ascension Thursday and Corpus Christi are transferred to the following Sunday. (I talk more about that here.)  Also, the Eastern Churches that continue to follow the Julian calendar will have differing dates from the West most years.

If you want to catch the Epiphany Proclamation this year, EWTN will be broadcasting the Mass from St Peter's Basilica. Soon after someone will probably post the proclamation on YouTube. Here's a clip I found from 2009: 

So now I'm curious, did you know about the Epiphany Proclamation?  

Who Covered Up All The Statues?

I've been asked this question a lot lately since more places started doing this before Holy Week.  To answer the question directly- I have no idea who.  I think the question people really want to know is- Why are the statues covered? If you're not sure what I'm talking about, it is probably the custom of your parish or worship site to do this only on Good Friday (which has been the liturgical norm until now).  This is probably one of those things that we do every year, but a lot of people may not know why.

The requirement in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) is that on Good Friday, the altar is to be bare, without cloth, candles or cross.  The cross that is normally visible is covered, so that more focus and emphasis is given on the cross that is used during the Good Friday liturgy.  Images of saints such as statues or icons are also covered since these are rather celebratory and signs of the Resurrection.  You'll also notice that candles (which remind us of Christ being the light of the world) are used minimally- only for the Blessed Sacrament and the cross that is used for the Good Friday liturgy.  All this is done as a stark and sobering reminder that our Lord suffered and died on this day.

In a lot of places, the custom of veiling or covering of statues and icons is done before Good Friday.  Some of this is liturgical innovation that has become more widely accepted, and some of it is following an older tradition.  Before the liturgical revision in 1970, it was the norm to cover crosses and images during the Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent.  They were then uncovered at the Easter Vigil when the Gloria is sung.  When the liturgy was revised after Vatican II, this custom of covering crosses and images during the last two weeks of Lent was left up to the conference of bishops in each country, and the US bishops did not elect to include it.

The new 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal (RM III), now permits the covering of crosses and statues beginning on the 5th Sunday of Lent:

In the Dioceses of the United States, the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church from this Sunday may be observed. Crosses remain covered until the end of the celebration of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday, but images remain covered until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.

This is why more places started doing it this year.  Personally, I'm not sure about covering the cross before Good Friday, but during the last two weeks of Lent there is some value to fasting from the externals (such as the images of saints) so that our focus is directed more to the essentials- the altar and the cross.

Minneapolis-St Paul's Fr Paul Hartmann gives a good analogy for this, comparing the covered images to presents that are gift wrapped.  We know they are there.  We may know what's in package, but they are covered or wrapped in anticipation of the occasion we're about to celebrate.  In this case, the celebration is Easter, and the imagery of saints and other representations of heaven can be considered small gifts from our Lord on the occasion of His resurrection.

On a funny note, when somebody asks me why the statues are covered, I like to joke and say, "Because it's easier than removing them."   Then I watch for the perplexed look on the individual's face.  They actually do remove them in some places, but this is not done often since statues can be pretty heavy!

May you have a blessed Holy Week, and a joyous Easter.