Commemoration (observance)
Encyclopedia
Commemorations are a type of religious observance in the Church of England
. They are the least significant type of observance, the others being Principal Feast
s, Principal Holy Day
s, Festival
s, and Lesser Festival
s. Whereas Principal Feasts must be celebrated, it is not obligatory to observe Commemorations. They are always attached to a calendar date, and are not observed if they fall on a Sunday, in Holy Week, or in Easter Week. In Common Worship
Commemorations are not provided with collects or indications of liturgical colour. However, they may be celebrated as Lesser Festivals if local pastoral conditions suggest it.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. They are the least significant type of observance, the others being Principal Feast
Principal Feast
Principal Feasts are a type of observance in some Churches of the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England. Along with Principal Holy Days, with which they share equal status, they are considered to be the most significant type of observance, the others being Festivals, Lesser Festivals,...
s, Principal Holy Day
Principal Holy Day
Principal Holy Days are a type of observance in the Church of England. Along with Principal Feasts, with which they share equal status while lacking a festal character, they are considered to be the most significant type of observance, the others being Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations...
s, Festival
Festival (Church of England)
A Festival is a type of observance in the Churches of the Anglican Communion, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast or Principal Holy Day, but more significant than a Lesser Festival or Commemoration...
s, and Lesser Festival
Lesser Festival
Lesser Festivals are a type of observance in the Church of England, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast, Principal Holy Day, or Festival, but more significant than a Commemoration. Whereas Principal Feasts must be celebrated, it is not obligatory to observe Lesser Festivals...
s. Whereas Principal Feasts must be celebrated, it is not obligatory to observe Commemorations. They are always attached to a calendar date, and are not observed if they fall on a Sunday, in Holy Week, or in Easter Week. In Common Worship
Common Worship
Common Worship is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movement within the Church and is the successor to the...
Commemorations are not provided with collects or indications of liturgical colour. However, they may be celebrated as Lesser Festivals if local pastoral conditions suggest it.
Examples of Commemorations in the Church of England
- 10 January: William LaudWilliam LaudWilliam Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
1633- 1645 - 20 January: Richard RolleRichard RolleRolle is honored in the Church of England on January 20 and in the Episcopal Church together with Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe on September 28.-Works in print:*English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Edited by George Perry...
of HampoleHampoleHampole is a small village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster , on the border with West Yorkshire. The eastern boundary of the parish is marked by the Great North Road, and the parish lies in what was once the Barnsdale Forest. It has a population of 187.Hampole itself is a...
, Spiritual Writer, 1349 - 10 February: ScholasticaScholasticaScholastica is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Italy, she was the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia....
, sister of BenedictBenedict of NursiaSaint Benedict of Nursia is a Christian saint, honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of Europe and students.Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, about to the east of Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. There is no...
, AbbessAbbessAn abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....
, c 543 - 8 March: FelixFelix of BurgundyFelix of Burgundy, also known as Felix of Dunwich , was a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom of East Anglia...
, BishopBishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
, Apostle to the East AnglesAnglesThe Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
, 647 - 24 April: MellitusMellitusMellitus was the first Bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergymen sent to augment the mission,...
, Bishop of LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, first Bishop of St Paul'sSt Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
, 624 - 16 May: Caroline ChisholmCaroline ChisholmCaroline Chisholm was a progressive 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her involvement with female immigrant welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the Calendar of saints of the Church of England...
, Social Reformer, 1877 - 3 June: The Martyrs of UgandaMartyrs of UgandaThe Uganda Martyrs were Christian converts who were murdered for their faith in the historical kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda.-Charles Lwanga and his companions:...
, 1885–1887 and 1977 - 20 July: Margaret of AntiochMargaret the VirginMargaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch , virgin and martyr, is celebrated as a saint by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20; and on July 17 in the Orthodox Church. Her historical existence has been questioned; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I in 494,...
, Martyr, 4th century - 11 August: John Henry Newman, PriestPriestA priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, Tractarian, 1890 - 1 September: Giles of ProvenceSaint GilesSaint Giles was a Greek Christian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in St-Gilles-du-Gard, became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, the...
, HermitHermitA hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
, c 710 - 25 October: CrispinCrispinSaints Crispin and Crispinian are the French Christian patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and leather workers. Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, twin brothers, fled persecution for their faith, ending up in Soissons, where they preached Christianity...
and Crispinian, Martyrs at RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, c 287 - 14 November: Samuel SeaburySamuel SeaburySamuel Seabury was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He had been a leading Loyalist in New York City during the American Revolution.-History:Samuel Seabury was born in Groton, Connecticut in 1729...
, first Anglican Bishop in North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, 1796 - 1 December: Charles de FoucauldCharles de FoucauldCharles Eugène de Foucauld was a French Catholic religious and priest living among the Tuareg in the Sahara in Algeria. He was assassinated in 1916 outside the door of the fort he built for protection of the Tuareg and is considered by the Catholic Church to be a martyr...
, Hermit in the SaharaSaharaThe Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
, 1916
See also
- Principal FeastPrincipal FeastPrincipal Feasts are a type of observance in some Churches of the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England. Along with Principal Holy Days, with which they share equal status, they are considered to be the most significant type of observance, the others being Festivals, Lesser Festivals,...
- Principal Holy DayPrincipal Holy DayPrincipal Holy Days are a type of observance in the Church of England. Along with Principal Feasts, with which they share equal status while lacking a festal character, they are considered to be the most significant type of observance, the others being Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations...
- Festival (Church of England)Festival (Church of England)A Festival is a type of observance in the Churches of the Anglican Communion, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast or Principal Holy Day, but more significant than a Lesser Festival or Commemoration...
- Lesser FestivalLesser FestivalLesser Festivals are a type of observance in the Church of England, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast, Principal Holy Day, or Festival, but more significant than a Commemoration. Whereas Principal Feasts must be celebrated, it is not obligatory to observe Lesser Festivals...