.gif)
Liturgical calendar (Lutheran)
Encyclopedia
The Lutheran liturgical calendar is a listing which details the primary annual festivals
and events that are celebrated liturgically by various Lutheran
churches. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
(ELCIC) are from the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship
and the calendar of Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
(LCMS) and the Lutheran Church - Canada
use the Lutheran Book of Worship and the 1982 Lutheran Worship
. Elements unique to the ELCA have been updated from the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect changes resulting from the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship
in 2006. The elements of the calendar unique to the LCMS have also been updated from Lutheran Worship and the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect the 2006 publication of the Lutheran Service Book
.
The basic element to the calendar is Sunday, which is a festival of Jesus’ resurrection. However, Christian Churches have historically observed other festivals which commemorate events in the life of Jesus or of significant individuals in the history of the Church. The purpose of the liturgical calendar is to guide commemorations as a part of the daily worship of the Lutheran Church. There is some variation associated with the observance of the calendar, as each Lutheran Church creates its own calendar and each congregation must choose independently how many individuals will be commemorated within a given year and how many festivals and lesser festivals they will publicly celebrate, especially if they do not coincide with a Sunday.
and Easter
. All Sundays, Seasons, and Festivals are related to these festivals. Because Easter varies in date each year based on the vernal equinox and the phases of the moon, it is called a moveable feast (see: Computus
). Dates affected by placement of Easter include Ash Wednesday
and the start of Lent
, the start of Easter itself, Pentecost
, and Holy Trinity
. Advent
, the other pivotal season on the calendar, comes exactly four Sundays before the start of Christmas (if Christmas falls on a Sunday, that day does not count), or the Sunday closest to St. Andrew
's Day (November 30). Like the other Western Church
calendars, the first Sunday of Advent is also the first day of the liturgical year. The Sanctoral Cycle is the fixed daily commemorations of individuals and events not related to the Temporal Cycle of Sundays, Festivals, and Seasons. It is the Sanctoral Cycle which is sometimes thought of as being the “Calendar of Saints” of a Church.
Beyond their place in the Temporal or Sanctoral Cycles, the events commemorated on the Lutheran liturgical calendar fall into one of three different categories depending upon their liturgical priority: Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations.
, Epiphany
, the Baptism of our Lord
, the Transfiguration
, the Annunciation
, Palm Sunday
, Easter
, the Ascension, Pentecost
, Holy Trinity
, All Saints
, and Christ the King
. Most of these festivals are tied to the moveable feast of Easter. Festivals take precedence over all other days, including Sundays, have their own collect
s and Eucharist
ic proper prefaces
. Of the festivals, Christmas is considered to be twelve days in length (from December 25 until January 5) and Easter is fifty days in length (from Easter Sunday up to and inclusive of Pentecost). For Easter, Sundays are considered to be another part of the festival. For the Ascension which, falling on fortieth day of Easter, will always be on a Thursday, the festival is sometimes transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter in addition to or in place of the normal part of the Easter festival for that day.
There is another type of day which, while not a festival, is considered to be equal with a festival. These days, called Days of Special Devotion, are Ash Wednesday
and all the days of Holy Week
, especially Good Friday
. These particular days, like other festivals, automatically take precedence over any event on the calendar and sometimes even over other festivals. A good example of this would be in 2005 when Good Friday and the Annunciation fell on the same day (March 25). The Annunciation was transferred to March 28, or the second day of Easter, to make room for Good Friday. The principle of the Church of Sweden
is that the Annunciation is celebrated on the Sunday between 21–27 March; although, should Good Friday or any other day of Holy Week, or Easter Sunday or Monday respectively, fall on 25 March, Annunciation is moved to the Sunday before Palm Sunday. (For instance, in 2003 Annunciation was celebrated on 13 March; 2008 (when Easter Sunday was 23rd March) it was celebrated on the 9th.)
One unique feature of the ELCA calendar is that it has given congregations the options of two dates for the Transfiguration. Following most other Western Churches, the ELCA moved the Transfiguration from its August 6 date to the Last Sunday after Epiphany (the Sunday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday) as an option to the traditional Last Sunday after Epiphany in an effort to encourage a wider observance of the Transfiguration within congregations. However, the traditional date of August 6 was left on the calendar. Congregations were given the option of observing Transfiguration on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany and August 6, thus leaving open the possibility that the Transfiguration could be commemorated twice within a calendar year. In Sweden, Transfiguration Day is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
, which is the eighth Sunday after Pentecost
.
These are days which are associated with the life of Christ
or the Apostles and deserve attention in their own right. Lesser Festivals do not have priority over festivals and technically do not have precedence over ordinary Sundays. However, the Lutheran Book of Worship does permit the celebration of a Lesser Festival on Sundays where the normal color of the day would be green (that is, seasons after Epiphany or after Pentecost) or on the Sundays in Christmas. This is abrogated for patronal festivals (that is, the day commemorating the saint or event for which a congregation is named) provided that they do not take place in Lent, Advent, or Easter, in which case they must also be transferred to the next convenient weekday. Most Lesser Festivals have their own collect
s and a few, such as All Saints, have their own proper
.
in particular. These days do not take precedence over any other festival day, and if there is a conflict between a commemoration and a festival of any other rank, the commemoration is generally transferred to the next open weekday. If a commemoration falls on a Sunday where the color of the day is green, the collect
for which that individual or event belong to could be said before the daily collect/prayer of the day or in place of it. For example, if September 13 fell on a Sunday and there was a desire to commemorate St. John Chrysostom
, the pastor would recite the common of theologians and then the prayer of the day or the common of theologians on its own. The person may also be mentioned by name in the prayers of the faithful in addition to recitation of the applicable collect. Finally, their lives might be summarized or their teachings related to the day's lessons in some way.
In cases of conflict between commemorations (for example, November 11 with St. Martin of Tours
and Søren Kierkegaard
), there is no order of precedence, and individual worship planners need to choose which commemoration, if any, to highlight. In some cases, several individuals are listed together (June 14 with St. Basil the Great
, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. Gregory of Nyssa
) because of their close association with each other, and they are thus designed to be commemorated jointly, not as a choice between one or the other.
The schedule of commemorations within the ELCA has been specifically designed so that there is at least one person on the calendar from each century so as to emphasize the continuity of Christian tradition. Clearly, some centuries have more commemorations than others, the largest number of persons commemorated being in the first four centuries
of Christian history and immediately following the Reformation
. This leaves the space from the 5th to the 15th centuries and the 16th to the 20th centuries rather sparse; nevertheless, it is an improvement over some calendars wherein only a very few persons, all from the patristic or Reformation periods, were commemorated.
The service books of Lutheran Churches designate specific colors for events which are listed on the liturgical calendars and the seasons which are a part of the Temporal Cycle. This color is sometimes known as “the color of the day.” The Lutheran Church generally follows the color scheme which is used by other churches in Western Christianity since Lutheranism has historically been linked with the Roman Catholic Church
. The color of the day dictates the color of the vestments for all ministers and the color of paraments
. White is the color designated for Festivals of Christ, with gold sometimes offered as an alternative for the first days of Easter. Festivals for which white is the color of the day include:
White
is also used as the color for anyone commemorated on the calendar who was not martyr
ed and is the color appointed for funerals regardless of whatever the color of the day might otherwise be. Purple
is commonly used for the season of Lent
. It is also optional for use during Advent
, though blue
is the preferred color for this season because of its hopeful connotations rather than the penitential character implied by purple and its association with Lent. Red
is used for the commemorations of martyrs and is used on the Day of Pentecost. Scarlet is also used for Holy Week
, though purple is also allowed. Black (with purple as an alternative) may be used on Ash Wednesday
. The only day which does not have a color is Good Friday
, when all the paraments are traditionally removed from the church. The color for Holy Saturday is white or gold
since it is the day when the Great Vigil of Easter is celebrated, though until the vigil, the church would remain void of paraments.
. While Sunday had long been established in the weekly calendar, festivals such as Easter and Christmas were also a fixed part of the calendar by this time. The ninth century also saw the inclusion of numerous saints in the calendar (a practice already begun by the second century), even to the point that normal Sunday propers were taking place over those normally appointed for Sunday.. The Lutheran calendar owes much to the proliferation of commemorations of the medieval calendars of Western Christianity.
personages), though the basic temporal cycle of the calendar remained more or less intact. In some instances, a celebration of the Reformation was added to October 31, the first instance being the church order prepared by Johannes Bugenhagen
, though other churches selected alternative dates, including June 25, the anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession
. The commemoration of the Reformation quickly died out before the Thirty Years War.
, the Holy Innocents
) remained in place, even if they were often ignored. Epiphany also continued to be celebrated as the visit of the Magi, though Martin Luther
preferred to commemorate the baptism of Christ.
Brandenburg and Calenburg and Göttingen retained Lent and the fasting days associated with the season. They also retained the violet or black vestments for the penitential season. However, popular devotions such as the blessing of palms or the imposition of ashes were suppressed in most church orders, despite the fact that a number of them had retained Ash Wednesday as the start of Lent. Good Friday, while kept with solemnity, was often a celebration of Holy Communion, thus less somber than the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. And while Easter had been a common day of communion in the church before the reformation, “the reformers tried to prevent too many communions on this day, and instead urged the faithful to receive it on various Sundays throughout the year.” The Reformation also saw the development of a new “festival” connected to Easter, where the second Sunday became popularly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” based on the opening of the psalm appointed for the day, Misericordia domini or “Goodness of the Lord”). In addition, Corpus Christi
was commonly retained until about 1600, owing to its significant popularity in the Medieval period.
While many saints were removed from liturgical calendars by the reformers, some were nevertheless retained. St. Ansgar
was commemorated in Halberstadt and Nordligen with a special thanksgiving service on the Sunday after 3 February, no doubt because of the saint’s historic connection to the area. The same was true of Elizabeth of Thuringia
in the Schweinfurth Order, and St. George
was also commemorated in Nordlingen. Festivals of the apostles and evangelists were also found on Lutheran calendars of the era, but were not always observed if they fell on a day other than Sunday. Some of the Marian
festivals, notably the Nativity of Mary (September 8) and her Assumption (August 15) were retained by Luther whereas the feasts of her conception and presentation in the Temple were suppressed “because they were judged to have no scriptural or dogmatic interest.”
further revised the Swedish Mass 1557. In large part, the Swedish liturgy retained “vestments, altars and frontals, gold and silver chalices and patens” and many other “popish” customs. Following Laurentius’ death in 1573, King John III
embarked on a separate, though similar, religious policy more conciliatory towards Catholicism. Much of his work was in the area of liturgy and his Nova Ordinantia reinstated much of the sanctoral cycle from the Old Swedish Mass, reviving the feasts of St. Mary Magdalene
, St. Lawrence, Corpus Christi, and the Assumption and Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Many of John’s reforms were controversial.
, these days often went unobserved despite scrupulous attention to the temporal cycle. Even further, the commemoration of some biblical persons of note (including the Virgin Mary) were often omitted entirely. During the 20th century, especially at the instigation of the liturgical movement
, familiar saints began make a reemergence onto the calendar, along with newer names and events.
and Holy Communion, including Saint Stephen, Saint John, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Purification of Mary, the Annunciation, the Ascension, Holy Trinity, Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
, the Visitation (on July 2), and Saint Michael
(on September 29) When Holy Communion was celebrated, a chasuble was used in the color of the day, though especially at Lepzig, these colors were different from the ones normally used today. In the twentieth century, Lutherans in Europe came under the influence of the Liturgical Movement
and many Lutheran churches adopted new calendars and rubrics similar to the Roman Calendar as revised by Vatican II.. The Swedish Church also experienced a similar reform of its liturgy can calendar during this same period.
composed the first liturgy for North America, including its calendar along somewhat minimal lines. However, since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the calendar within North American Lutheran churches has been expanding. In 1868, four chief festivals in the Church Book were Christmas, New Year’s Day, Epiphany, and Reformation Day, with Easter and Pentecost being considered a separate category because they invariably fell on Sunday. The Church Book also included several minor festivals, including festivals for all the Apostles, and the Annunciation. The Common Service Book (1918) also expanded the calendar to help congregations determine which days took priority over others in cases of coincidence. It added to the calendar the Sundays of Advent, Transfiguration (last Sunday after Epiphany), Septuagesima
, Sexagesima
, Quinquagesima
, Ash Wednesday, Sundays in Lent, all days in Holy Week, Ascension and the following Sunday, and Holy Trinity. It also included All Saints, and Saints Mark and Luke, both of which were omitted from the Church Book. The Service Book and Hymnal (1941) also moved the Transfiguration to August 6 and added Holy Innocents to the calendar.
The previous North American calendar of the ELCA was different from its European counterparts in that it does not give equal weight (and sometimes gives no mention) to persons who may be commemorated in Scandinavia
n regions. One example would be the absence of St. Lucia
on December 13, although she enjoys particular popularity in Sweden
. But Lutheran calendars also differ amongst one another in North America, with some individuals commemorated on multiple calendars but on different days (e.g., St. Bernard of Clairvaux
on August 19 in the LCMS and August 20 in the ELCA) or individuals commemorated on one calendar and not the other (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr.
on January 15 for the ELCA and C. F. W. Walther
on May 7 for the LCMS); with the 2006 publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship
(ELW) as a replacement to the Lutheran Book of Worship
(LBW), some of these deficiencies in the ELCA calendar have been corrected. Within the ELCA, This Far by Faith and Libro de Liturgia y Cantico both prescribe calendars with additional commemorations specific to the ethnic communities they were intended to be used in (African Americans and Latinos respectively). The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
has a different, somewhat minimized calendar when compared the LCMS and especially the ELCA.
Calendar of Saints, though it also bears resemblance to the Roman Calendar of Saints because it commemorates many of the same individuals. However, the Lutheran calendar differs from both in two very significant ways, aside from its emphasis on commemorating persons important to the Lutheran tradition.
First, the Lutheran calendar, while commemorating many of the same events or persons, often does so on different days from either calendar (St. Cyprian of Carthage
on September 16 for Lutherans, but September 13 in the Episcopal Church). In other cases (such as St. Valentine
on February 14), individuals who have long standing within Western Christianity are not mentioned in the Lutheran calendar, or are only mentioned in the calendars of some Lutheran churches. Furthermore, some Lutheran calendars (such as that of the LCMS) still venerate individuals whose commemorations have been suppressed in other Western Churches. Finally, the Lutheran calendar commemorates persons or events (such as the presentation of the Augsburg Confession
on June 25) which are not commemorated in any other Christian calendar because of their specific importance to the Lutheran Church. In general, like the Anglican counterpart, the Lutheran calendar has taken on many of the precedents established by the post-Vatican II
reforms of the liturgy in the Roman Catholic Church.
The other significant difference is that the Lutheran calendar commemorates a wider variety of individuals than does either of its counterparts. Included on the calendar are musicians and artists who are associated with the Church, but are not typically thought of as “saints” in the classical sense. The intent is to provide a wider venue for commemoration of outstanding individuals who have served the Church through their vocations rather than simply commemorating the outstanding among the religious.
The calendar for the ELCA is similar to many other Western Calendars in that it does not commemorate any persons from the Old Testament
. The calendars of the Orthodox Churches
have Old Testament individuals, and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod has done the same. At one point there was a proposal to include a day on the Episcopal Church calendar (which was taken into consideration by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship in developing the Lutheran Book of Worship
) for Old Testament saints following the octave
of All Saints (November 8), but this idea was ultimately rejected as tokenism
.
persons (and even then the title is used with a certain degree of exclusivity). This is to prevent oddities of convention (such as St. Nicolaus Copernicus
) as well as to underline the Lutheran emphasis on the priesthood of all believers
. Nevertheless, individuals who typically have "saint" affixed to their given name are still referred to as such in common discourse (so that Francis of Assisi
would still be called "St. Francis" rather than just "Francis").
In the New Testament, all Christians are referred to as saints. However, the use of "saint" as a title for an individual who had led a good and exemplary life or who had been martyr
ed began to develop in Christianity. By the time of the Reformation, the use of "saint" was almost exclusively the restrictive, titular sense. One of the effects of the Reformation was to eliminate the abuses of the cult of saints, and as a result, it is a common misconception that Lutherans do not have (or rather, do not venerate) saints. However, the confessional documents of the Lutheran Church, particularly the Augsburg Confession
, accept both the general and particular use of the word saints. In regards to the titular sense, the Augsburg Confession commends that "it should be taught among us that saints should be kept in remembrance so that our faith may be strengthened when we see what grace they received and how they were sustained in faith. Moreover, their good works are to be an example for us, each of us in his own calling." Article XXI of The Apology to the Augsburg Confession goes further to describe three types of honor which are due to the saints and acknowledgment that the saints pray for the Church. However, the Augsburg Confession
opposes prayer to saints, stating, "Scripture does not teach calling on the saints or pleading for help from them. For it sets before us Christ alone as mediator, atoning sacrifice, high priest, and intercessor."
Liturgical year
The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in...
and events that are celebrated liturgically by various Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
churches. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
(ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada's largest Lutheran denomination, with 152,788 baptized members in 624 congregations, with the second largest, the Lutheran Church–Canada, having 72,116 baptized members...
(ELCIC) are from the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship
Lutheran Book of Worship
Lutheran Book of Worship is a worship book and hymnal used by several Lutheran denominations in North America. It is often referred to by its initials as the LBW, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the LBW is sometimes called the "green book" as opposed to With One Voice, a...
and the calendar of Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 2.3 million members, it is both the eighth largest Protestant denomination and the second-largest Lutheran body in the U.S. after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Synod...
(LCMS) and the Lutheran Church - Canada
Lutheran Church - Canada
The Lutheran Church–Canada is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in Canada. With about 70,000 members, it is the second-largest Lutheran body in Canada after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada . The LCC was founded in 1988 when most Canadian congregations of the St...
use the Lutheran Book of Worship and the 1982 Lutheran Worship
Lutheran Worship
Lutheran Worship is one of the official hymnals of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Published in 1982 by Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis, Missouri, it is the LCMS' third English-language hymnal and was intended to replace The Lutheran Hymnal...
. Elements unique to the ELCA have been updated from the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect changes resulting from the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Evangelical Lutheran Worship or ELW is the current, primary liturgical and worship guidebook and hymnal for use in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, replacing its three predecessors, the Lutheran Book of Worship , the Hymnal Supplemental , and...
in 2006. The elements of the calendar unique to the LCMS have also been updated from Lutheran Worship and the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect the 2006 publication of the Lutheran Service Book
Lutheran Service Book
Lutheran Service Book is the newest official hymnal of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Lutheran Church–Canada . It was prepared by the LCMS Commission on Worship and published by Concordia Publishing House, the official publisher of the LCMS...
.
The basic element to the calendar is Sunday, which is a festival of Jesus’ resurrection. However, Christian Churches have historically observed other festivals which commemorate events in the life of Jesus or of significant individuals in the history of the Church. The purpose of the liturgical calendar is to guide commemorations as a part of the daily worship of the Lutheran Church. There is some variation associated with the observance of the calendar, as each Lutheran Church creates its own calendar and each congregation must choose independently how many individuals will be commemorated within a given year and how many festivals and lesser festivals they will publicly celebrate, especially if they do not coincide with a Sunday.
Structure
The Lutheran calendar operates on two different cycles: the Temporal Cycle and the Sanctoral Cycle. The Temporal Cycle pivots on the festivals of ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
. All Sundays, Seasons, and Festivals are related to these festivals. Because Easter varies in date each year based on the vernal equinox and the phases of the moon, it is called a moveable feast (see: Computus
Computus
Computus is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. The name has been used for this procedure since the early Middle Ages, as it was one of the most important computations of the age....
). Dates affected by placement of Easter include Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
and the start of Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
, the start of Easter itself, Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
, and Holy Trinity
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
. Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
, the other pivotal season on the calendar, comes exactly four Sundays before the start of Christmas (if Christmas falls on a Sunday, that day does not count), or the Sunday closest to St. Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
's Day (November 30). Like the other Western Church
Western Christianity
Western Christianity is a term used to include the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church and groups historically derivative thereof, including the churches of the Anglican and Protestant traditions, which share common attributes that can be traced back to their medieval heritage...
calendars, the first Sunday of Advent is also the first day of the liturgical year. The Sanctoral Cycle is the fixed daily commemorations of individuals and events not related to the Temporal Cycle of Sundays, Festivals, and Seasons. It is the Sanctoral Cycle which is sometimes thought of as being the “Calendar of Saints” of a Church.
Beyond their place in the Temporal or Sanctoral Cycles, the events commemorated on the Lutheran liturgical calendar fall into one of three different categories depending upon their liturgical priority: Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations.
Festivals
The Festivals are NativityChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, Epiphany
Epiphany (Christian)
Epiphany, or Theophany, meaning "vision of God",...
, the Baptism of our Lord
Baptism of the Lord
The Baptism of the Lord is the feast day commemorating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Originally the baptism of Christ was celebrated on Epiphany, which commemorates the coming of the Magi, the baptism of Christ, and the wedding at Cana...
, the Transfiguration
Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament in which Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels describe it, and 2 Peter 1:16-18 refers to it....
, the Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
, Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
, Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, the Ascension, Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
, Holy Trinity
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
, All Saints
All Saints
All Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown...
, and Christ the King
Christ the King
Christ the King is a title of Jesus based on several passages of Scripture. It is used by most Christians. The Roman Catholic Church, together with many Protestant denominations, including the Anglican Churches, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists, celebrate the Feast of Christ the King on the...
. Most of these festivals are tied to the moveable feast of Easter. Festivals take precedence over all other days, including Sundays, have their own collect
Collect
In Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
s and Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
ic proper prefaces
Preface (liturgy)
In liturgical use the term Preface is applied to that portion of the Eucharistic Prayer that immediately precedes the Canon or central portion of the Eucharist...
. Of the festivals, Christmas is considered to be twelve days in length (from December 25 until January 5) and Easter is fifty days in length (from Easter Sunday up to and inclusive of Pentecost). For Easter, Sundays are considered to be another part of the festival. For the Ascension which, falling on fortieth day of Easter, will always be on a Thursday, the festival is sometimes transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter in addition to or in place of the normal part of the Easter festival for that day.
There is another type of day which, while not a festival, is considered to be equal with a festival. These days, called Days of Special Devotion, are Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
and all the days of Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, especially Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
. These particular days, like other festivals, automatically take precedence over any event on the calendar and sometimes even over other festivals. A good example of this would be in 2005 when Good Friday and the Annunciation fell on the same day (March 25). The Annunciation was transferred to March 28, or the second day of Easter, to make room for Good Friday. The principle of the Church of Sweden
Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With 6,589,769 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of...
is that the Annunciation is celebrated on the Sunday between 21–27 March; although, should Good Friday or any other day of Holy Week, or Easter Sunday or Monday respectively, fall on 25 March, Annunciation is moved to the Sunday before Palm Sunday. (For instance, in 2003 Annunciation was celebrated on 13 March; 2008 (when Easter Sunday was 23rd March) it was celebrated on the 9th.)
One unique feature of the ELCA calendar is that it has given congregations the options of two dates for the Transfiguration. Following most other Western Churches, the ELCA moved the Transfiguration from its August 6 date to the Last Sunday after Epiphany (the Sunday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday) as an option to the traditional Last Sunday after Epiphany in an effort to encourage a wider observance of the Transfiguration within congregations. However, the traditional date of August 6 was left on the calendar. Congregations were given the option of observing Transfiguration on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany and August 6, thus leaving open the possibility that the Transfiguration could be commemorated twice within a calendar year. In Sweden, Transfiguration Day is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
, which is the eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
.
Lesser Festivals
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
or the Apostles and deserve attention in their own right. Lesser Festivals do not have priority over festivals and technically do not have precedence over ordinary Sundays. However, the Lutheran Book of Worship does permit the celebration of a Lesser Festival on Sundays where the normal color of the day would be green (that is, seasons after Epiphany or after Pentecost) or on the Sundays in Christmas. This is abrogated for patronal festivals (that is, the day commemorating the saint or event for which a congregation is named) provided that they do not take place in Lent, Advent, or Easter, in which case they must also be transferred to the next convenient weekday. Most Lesser Festivals have their own collect
Collect
In Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
s and a few, such as All Saints, have their own proper
Proper (liturgy)
The Proper is a part of the Christian liturgy that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the Liturgical Year, or of a particular saint or significant event...
.
Commemorations
Commemorations are for individuals or events which have been noteworthy in the life of the Church and in the history of LutheranismLutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
in particular. These days do not take precedence over any other festival day, and if there is a conflict between a commemoration and a festival of any other rank, the commemoration is generally transferred to the next open weekday. If a commemoration falls on a Sunday where the color of the day is green, the collect
Collect
In Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
for which that individual or event belong to could be said before the daily collect/prayer of the day or in place of it. For example, if September 13 fell on a Sunday and there was a desire to commemorate St. John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
, the pastor would recite the common of theologians and then the prayer of the day or the common of theologians on its own. The person may also be mentioned by name in the prayers of the faithful in addition to recitation of the applicable collect. Finally, their lives might be summarized or their teachings related to the day's lessons in some way.
In cases of conflict between commemorations (for example, November 11 with St. Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
and Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
), there is no order of precedence, and individual worship planners need to choose which commemoration, if any, to highlight. In some cases, several individuals are listed together (June 14 with St. Basil the Great
Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great, was the bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor . He was an influential 4th century Christian theologian...
, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...
) because of their close association with each other, and they are thus designed to be commemorated jointly, not as a choice between one or the other.
The schedule of commemorations within the ELCA has been specifically designed so that there is at least one person on the calendar from each century so as to emphasize the continuity of Christian tradition. Clearly, some centuries have more commemorations than others, the largest number of persons commemorated being in the first four centuries
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
of Christian history and immediately following the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. This leaves the space from the 5th to the 15th centuries and the 16th to the 20th centuries rather sparse; nevertheless, it is an improvement over some calendars wherein only a very few persons, all from the patristic or Reformation periods, were commemorated.
Liturgical colors
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. The color of the day dictates the color of the vestments for all ministers and the color of paraments
Altar cloth
An ' is used by various religious groups to cover an altar. Christianity, ancient Judaism, and Buddhism are among the world religions that use altar cloths....
. White is the color designated for Festivals of Christ, with gold sometimes offered as an alternative for the first days of Easter. Festivals for which white is the color of the day include:
- Christmas (all twelve days)
- Epiphany
- The Baptism of our Lord (First Sunday after Epiphany)
- Transfiguration (Last Sunday after Epiphany and/or August 6)
- Easter (all days except Pentecost)
- Holy Trinity
- Christ the King
White
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
is also used as the color for anyone commemorated on the calendar who was not martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed and is the color appointed for funerals regardless of whatever the color of the day might otherwise be. Purple
Purple
Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
is commonly used for the season of Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
. It is also optional for use during Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
, though blue
Blue
Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
is the preferred color for this season because of its hopeful connotations rather than the penitential character implied by purple and its association with Lent. Red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
is used for the commemorations of martyrs and is used on the Day of Pentecost. Scarlet is also used for Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, though purple is also allowed. Black (with purple as an alternative) may be used on Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
. The only day which does not have a color is Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
, when all the paraments are traditionally removed from the church. The color for Holy Saturday is white or gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
since it is the day when the Great Vigil of Easter is celebrated, though until the vigil, the church would remain void of paraments.
Historical development
Liturgical calendars began to be developed in Christianity around the fourth century, with the church calendar as it is known today coming into full development in the period of the medieval sacramentariesSacramentary
The Sacramentary is a book of the Middle Ages containing the words spoken by the priest celebrating a Mass and other liturgies of the Church. The books were usually in fact written for bishops or other higher clegy such as abbots, and many lavishly decorated illuminated manuscript sacramentaries...
. While Sunday had long been established in the weekly calendar, festivals such as Easter and Christmas were also a fixed part of the calendar by this time. The ninth century also saw the inclusion of numerous saints in the calendar (a practice already begun by the second century), even to the point that normal Sunday propers were taking place over those normally appointed for Sunday.. The Lutheran calendar owes much to the proliferation of commemorations of the medieval calendars of Western Christianity.
Reformation era
All of the Reformers attempted to reduce the number of individual commemorations and “saint’s days”, though this reduction was sometimes more drastic than others. In the case of the Lutheran churches, most of the saints' days were removed (with the exception of some New TestamentNew Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
personages), though the basic temporal cycle of the calendar remained more or less intact. In some instances, a celebration of the Reformation was added to October 31, the first instance being the church order prepared by Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Bugenhagen , also called Doctor Pomeranus by Martin Luther, introduced the Protestant Reformation in the Duchy of Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century. Among his major accomplishments was organization of Lutheran churches in Northern Germany and Scandinavia...
, though other churches selected alternative dates, including June 25, the anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
. The commemoration of the Reformation quickly died out before the Thirty Years War.
In Germany
The content of the liturgical calendar (like the content of the liturgy itself) was the responsibility of territory in which the church was found. Thus, there was a different order for Saxony, one for Prussia, one for Hesse, and one for Wittenberg, among others. Despite their differences, the calendars and liturgies maintained significant similarities between each other as well as the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. The church year continued to begin with the First Sunday of Advent (which was still fixed based on the traditional formula), and many of the festivals surrounding Christmas (St. Stephen, St. JohnJohn the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
, the Holy Innocents
Massacre of the Innocents
The Massacre of the Innocents is an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew Herod orders the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth...
) remained in place, even if they were often ignored. Epiphany also continued to be celebrated as the visit of the Magi, though Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
preferred to commemorate the baptism of Christ.
Brandenburg and Calenburg and Göttingen retained Lent and the fasting days associated with the season. They also retained the violet or black vestments for the penitential season. However, popular devotions such as the blessing of palms or the imposition of ashes were suppressed in most church orders, despite the fact that a number of them had retained Ash Wednesday as the start of Lent. Good Friday, while kept with solemnity, was often a celebration of Holy Communion, thus less somber than the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. And while Easter had been a common day of communion in the church before the reformation, “the reformers tried to prevent too many communions on this day, and instead urged the faithful to receive it on various Sundays throughout the year.” The Reformation also saw the development of a new “festival” connected to Easter, where the second Sunday became popularly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” based on the opening of the psalm appointed for the day, Misericordia domini or “Goodness of the Lord”). In addition, Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi (feast)
Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...
was commonly retained until about 1600, owing to its significant popularity in the Medieval period.
While many saints were removed from liturgical calendars by the reformers, some were nevertheless retained. St. Ansgar
Ansgar
Saint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar, was an Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. The see of Hamburg was designated a "Mission to bring Christianity to the North", and Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North".-Life:After his mother’s early death Ansgar was brought up in Corbie Abbey, and made rapid...
was commemorated in Halberstadt and Nordligen with a special thanksgiving service on the Sunday after 3 February, no doubt because of the saint’s historic connection to the area. The same was true of Elizabeth of Thuringia
Elisabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...
in the Schweinfurth Order, and St. George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
was also commemorated in Nordlingen. Festivals of the apostles and evangelists were also found on Lutheran calendars of the era, but were not always observed if they fell on a day other than Sunday. Some of the Marian
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
festivals, notably the Nativity of Mary (September 8) and her Assumption (August 15) were retained by Luther whereas the feasts of her conception and presentation in the Temple were suppressed “because they were judged to have no scriptural or dogmatic interest.”
In Scandinavian countries
When the Lutheran Reformation was brought to Sweden from Germany via Denmark after the election of Gustav Vasa in 1523, the movement from the start had its own distinct characteristics. The development of Swedish liturgy was, in part, thanks to Olavus Petri, which is sometimes regarded as his most important work. His Swedish Mass, 1531 remained in use, with only slight modifications, until the twentieth century. The Swedish Mass draws from a number of different sources, though Luther’s Formulae Missae is apparent in regards to the Eucharistic structure This included revising the calendar along similar lines as those in Germany. Laurentius PetriLaurentius Petri
Laurentius Petri Nericius was a Swedish clergyman and the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. He and his brother Olaus Petri are, together with the King Gustav Vasa, regarded as the main Protestant reformers of Sweden...
further revised the Swedish Mass 1557. In large part, the Swedish liturgy retained “vestments, altars and frontals, gold and silver chalices and patens” and many other “popish” customs. Following Laurentius’ death in 1573, King John III
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
embarked on a separate, though similar, religious policy more conciliatory towards Catholicism. Much of his work was in the area of liturgy and his Nova Ordinantia reinstated much of the sanctoral cycle from the Old Swedish Mass, reviving the feasts of St. Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
, St. Lawrence, Corpus Christi, and the Assumption and Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Many of John’s reforms were controversial.
Modern era
The majority of calendars between the start of the Reformation and the 20th century were quite minimal in their commemorations. Most included events such as the Annunciation or persons such as Saint PaulPaul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, these days often went unobserved despite scrupulous attention to the temporal cycle. Even further, the commemoration of some biblical persons of note (including the Virgin Mary) were often omitted entirely. During the 20th century, especially at the instigation of the liturgical movement
Liturgical Movement
The Liturgical Movement began as a movement of scholarship for the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church. It has grown over the last century and a half and has affected many other Christian Churches, including the Church of England and other Churches of the Anglican Communion, and some...
, familiar saints began make a reemergence onto the calendar, along with newer names and events.
The calendar in Europe
Many of the changes to the calendar that had accompanied the Reformation remained in place during the subsequent centuries. In Saxony in the eighteenth century, in addition to chief festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, a number of festivals were also celebrated with VespersVespers
Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
and Holy Communion, including Saint Stephen, Saint John, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Purification of Mary, the Annunciation, the Ascension, Holy Trinity, Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Nativity of St. John the Baptist
The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah in the person of Jesus and who baptized Jesus.-Significance:Christians have long interpreted the life of John the Baptist as a preparation for...
, the Visitation (on July 2), and Saint Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
(on September 29) When Holy Communion was celebrated, a chasuble was used in the color of the day, though especially at Lepzig, these colors were different from the ones normally used today. In the twentieth century, Lutherans in Europe came under the influence of the Liturgical Movement
Liturgical Movement
The Liturgical Movement began as a movement of scholarship for the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church. It has grown over the last century and a half and has affected many other Christian Churches, including the Church of England and other Churches of the Anglican Communion, and some...
and many Lutheran churches adopted new calendars and rubrics similar to the Roman Calendar as revised by Vatican II.. The Swedish Church also experienced a similar reform of its liturgy can calendar during this same period.
The calendar in North America
When Lutherans came to North America, they brought with them their disparate liturgical traditions. The Pennsylvania MinisteriumPennsylvania Ministerium
The Pennsylvania Ministerium was the first Lutheran church body in North America. With the encouragement of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the Ministerium was founded at a meeting of German-American Lutheran clergy on August 26, 1748...
composed the first liturgy for North America, including its calendar along somewhat minimal lines. However, since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the calendar within North American Lutheran churches has been expanding. In 1868, four chief festivals in the Church Book were Christmas, New Year’s Day, Epiphany, and Reformation Day, with Easter and Pentecost being considered a separate category because they invariably fell on Sunday. The Church Book also included several minor festivals, including festivals for all the Apostles, and the Annunciation. The Common Service Book (1918) also expanded the calendar to help congregations determine which days took priority over others in cases of coincidence. It added to the calendar the Sundays of Advent, Transfiguration (last Sunday after Epiphany), Septuagesima
Septuagesima
Septuagesima is the name for the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before Ash Wednesday. The term is sometimes applied also to the period that begins on this day and ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins. This period is also known as the pre-Lenten season or...
, Sexagesima
Sexagesima
Sexagesima , or, in full, Sexagesima Sunday, is the name for the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday in the Gregorian Rite liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, and also in that of some Protestant denominations, particularly those with Anglican and Lutheran origins.The name "Sexagesima"...
, Quinquagesima
Quinquagesima
Quinquagesima is the name used in the Western Church for the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It was also called Quinquagesima Sunday, Quinquagesimae, Estomihi, or Shrove Sunday...
, Ash Wednesday, Sundays in Lent, all days in Holy Week, Ascension and the following Sunday, and Holy Trinity. It also included All Saints, and Saints Mark and Luke, both of which were omitted from the Church Book. The Service Book and Hymnal (1941) also moved the Transfiguration to August 6 and added Holy Innocents to the calendar.
The previous North American calendar of the ELCA was different from its European counterparts in that it does not give equal weight (and sometimes gives no mention) to persons who may be commemorated in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n regions. One example would be the absence of St. Lucia
Saint Lucy
Saint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...
on December 13, although she enjoys particular popularity in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. But Lutheran calendars also differ amongst one another in North America, with some individuals commemorated on multiple calendars but on different days (e.g., St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
on August 19 in the LCMS and August 20 in the ELCA) or individuals commemorated on one calendar and not the other (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
on January 15 for the ELCA and C. F. W. Walther
C. F. W. Walther
Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther was the first President of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and its most influential theologian...
on May 7 for the LCMS); with the 2006 publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Evangelical Lutheran Worship or ELW is the current, primary liturgical and worship guidebook and hymnal for use in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, replacing its three predecessors, the Lutheran Book of Worship , the Hymnal Supplemental , and...
(ELW) as a replacement to the Lutheran Book of Worship
Lutheran Book of Worship
Lutheran Book of Worship is a worship book and hymnal used by several Lutheran denominations in North America. It is often referred to by its initials as the LBW, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the LBW is sometimes called the "green book" as opposed to With One Voice, a...
(LBW), some of these deficiencies in the ELCA calendar have been corrected. Within the ELCA, This Far by Faith and Libro de Liturgia y Cantico both prescribe calendars with additional commemorations specific to the ethnic communities they were intended to be used in (African Americans and Latinos respectively). The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is a North American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As of 2008, it had a baptized membership of over 389,364 in more than 1,290 congregations,...
has a different, somewhat minimized calendar when compared the LCMS and especially the ELCA.
Differences from other calendars
The Lutheran calendar is most similar to the calendar of The Episcopal Church and thus to the AnglicanAnglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
Calendar of Saints, though it also bears resemblance to the Roman Calendar of Saints because it commemorates many of the same individuals. However, the Lutheran calendar differs from both in two very significant ways, aside from its emphasis on commemorating persons important to the Lutheran tradition.
First, the Lutheran calendar, while commemorating many of the same events or persons, often does so on different days from either calendar (St. Cyprian of Carthage
Cyprian
Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important Early Christian writer, many of whose Latin works are extant. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education...
on September 16 for Lutherans, but September 13 in the Episcopal Church). In other cases (such as St. Valentine
Saint Valentine
Saint Valentine is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. The name "Valentine", derived from valens , was popular in Late Antiquity...
on February 14), individuals who have long standing within Western Christianity are not mentioned in the Lutheran calendar, or are only mentioned in the calendars of some Lutheran churches. Furthermore, some Lutheran calendars (such as that of the LCMS) still venerate individuals whose commemorations have been suppressed in other Western Churches. Finally, the Lutheran calendar commemorates persons or events (such as the presentation of the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
on June 25) which are not commemorated in any other Christian calendar because of their specific importance to the Lutheran Church. In general, like the Anglican counterpart, the Lutheran calendar has taken on many of the precedents established by the post-Vatican II
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
reforms of the liturgy in the Roman Catholic Church.
The calendar for the ELCA is similar to many other Western Calendars in that it does not commemorate any persons from the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
. The calendars of the Orthodox Churches
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
have Old Testament individuals, and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod has done the same. At one point there was a proposal to include a day on the Episcopal Church calendar (which was taken into consideration by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship in developing the Lutheran Book of Worship
Lutheran Book of Worship
Lutheran Book of Worship is a worship book and hymnal used by several Lutheran denominations in North America. It is often referred to by its initials as the LBW, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the LBW is sometimes called the "green book" as opposed to With One Voice, a...
) for Old Testament saints following the octave
Octave (liturgical)
"Octave" has two senses in Christian liturgical usage. In the first sense, it is the eighth day after a feast, reckoning inclusively, and so always falls on the same day of the week as the feast itself. The word is derived from Latin octava , with dies understood...
of All Saints (November 8), but this idea was ultimately rejected as tokenism
Tokenism
In the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not...
.
"Saints" in the liturgical calendar
There is also no use of the title "saint" for anyone other than biblicalBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
persons (and even then the title is used with a certain degree of exclusivity). This is to prevent oddities of convention (such as St. Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
) as well as to underline the Lutheran emphasis on the priesthood of all believers
Priesthood of all believers
The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day, is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several passages of the New Testament...
. Nevertheless, individuals who typically have "saint" affixed to their given name are still referred to as such in common discourse (so that Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
would still be called "St. Francis" rather than just "Francis").
In the New Testament, all Christians are referred to as saints. However, the use of "saint" as a title for an individual who had led a good and exemplary life or who had been martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed began to develop in Christianity. By the time of the Reformation, the use of "saint" was almost exclusively the restrictive, titular sense. One of the effects of the Reformation was to eliminate the abuses of the cult of saints, and as a result, it is a common misconception that Lutherans do not have (or rather, do not venerate) saints. However, the confessional documents of the Lutheran Church, particularly the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
, accept both the general and particular use of the word saints. In regards to the titular sense, the Augsburg Confession commends that "it should be taught among us that saints should be kept in remembrance so that our faith may be strengthened when we see what grace they received and how they were sustained in faith. Moreover, their good works are to be an example for us, each of us in his own calling." Article XXI of The Apology to the Augsburg Confession goes further to describe three types of honor which are due to the saints and acknowledgment that the saints pray for the Church. However, the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
opposes prayer to saints, stating, "Scripture does not teach calling on the saints or pleading for help from them. For it sets before us Christ alone as mediator, atoning sacrifice, high priest, and intercessor."
See also
- Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)The Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by some Lutheran Churches in the United States. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod are from the...
- For calendars besides the Lutheran calendar, see:
- Calendar of Saints (Anglican)Saints in AnglicanismIn a catholic sense the term "saint" refers to any spiritually saved person—however, since the 10th century, the title "Saint" is only given to persons who have been officially recognised by the Church for outstanding Christian service and conduct. In the days when the Church of England was...
- Calendar of Saints (Roman Catholic)Roman Catholic calendar of saintsThe General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of saints and of the mysteries of the Lord that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used...
- Calendar of Saints (Eastern Orthodox).