In the Episcopal Church (United States), it is normal to refer to Sundays after Epiphany and Sundays after Pentecost. The use of Ordinary Time is not common. In the Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Catholic Churches, Sundays are all numbered after Pentecost which runs through the following year. Orthodox do not distinguish Ordinary Time.

Solemnities and feasts within Ordinary Time[edit]

Weeks of Ordinary Time

- movable by Lent - movable by Easter Week Beginning on or after 1 Jan 7 2 Jan 14 3 Jan 21 4 Jan 28 5 Feb 4 6 Feb 11 7 Feb 18 8 Feb 25 9 Mar 4 (3 in leap years) 6 May 8 7 May 15 8 May 22 9 May 29 10 Jun 5 11 Jun 12 12 Jun 19 13 Jun 26 14 Jul 3 15 Jul 10 16 Jul 17 17 Jul 24 18 Jul 31 19 Aug 7 20 Aug 14 21 Aug 21 22 Aug 28 23 Sep 4 24 Sep 11 25 Sep 18 26 Sep 25 27 Oct 2 28 Oct 9 29 Oct 16 30 Oct 23 31 Oct 30 32 Nov 6 33 Nov 13 34 Nov 20

In addition, certain solemnities and feasts that fall on Sundays during Ordinary Time preempt the observance of an ordinarily numbered Sunday. On preempted Sundays, the liturgical color of the feast or solemnity replaces the liturgical color green. These feast days include, in the Roman Catholic calendar, any holy day of obligation, any other solemnity, any feast of the Lord, and the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed Souls.

On the universal calendar, these include:

• Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on 2 February (liturgical color: white),

• Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June (liturgical color: white),

• Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June (liturgical color: red)

• Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on 6 August (liturgical color: white)

• Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September (liturgical color: red)

• Solemnity of All Saints on 1 November (liturgical color: white)

• Commemoration of All Faithful Departed Souls on 2 November (liturgical color: violet or black^[4]), and

• Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saints John Lateran in Rome on 9 November (liturgical color: white).

The following observances always preempt a Sunday in Ordinary Time:

• Feast of the Baptism of the Lord or Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord always preempts the First Sunday in Ordinary Time

• Solemnity of Pentecost always begins the first week of Ordinary Time after Eastertide

• Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity always preempts the Sunday immediately after Pentecost

• Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe always preempts the 34th (and final) Sunday in Ordinary Time

Other solemnities which outrank Sundays of Ordinary Time vary from parish to parish and diocese to diocese; they may include the feast of the patron saint of a parish and the feast of the dedication of the parish church.

In addition, if a solemnity or feast that outranks a Sunday of Ordinary Time, such as those mentioned above, should occur during the week, a priest celebrating Mass with a congregation may observe the solemnity on a nearby Sunday. Such a celebration is traditionally called an "external solemnity," even if the feast in question is not ranked as a solemnity. If an external solemnity is celebrated on a Sunday, the color of that celebration is used rather than green.

Use of the term[edit]

Before the liturgical reforms of 1970, there were two distinct seasons in the Roman Breviary and Roman Missal, known as the season after Epiphany and the season after Pentecost, respectively. Liturgical days in these times were referred to as the -nth Sunday after Epiphany or Pentecost, or Feria II,III,IV,V or VI after the -nth Sunday.

With the reforms came the introduction of four liturgical weeks, the 6th through 9th weeks of Ordinary Time, which could fall either after Epiphany or after Pentecost, making the old numbering scheme unusable, and the term tempus per annum was used to describe both of these seasons. Before the reforms until the present, the term tempus per annum has been used to describe the season of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary that is not part of Advent or Christmastide, and so tempus per annum extends from Matins on 3 February through None on the last Saturday before Advent.

Following the lead of the liturgical reforms of the Roman rite, many Protestant churches also adopted the concept of Ordinary Time alongside the Revised Common Lectionary.

Kingdomtide exception[edit]

Some Protestant denominations (most notably the United Methodist Church) set off the last 13 or 14 weeks of Ordinary Time into a separate season, known as Kingdomtide.

See also[edit]

• General Roman Calendar

Notes[edit]

1. Jump up^ http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/seasons/ordinary_time/ordinary1.cfm
2. Jump up^ Lectionary Calendar and Movable Feasts
3. Jump up^ There are 34 weeks of Ordinary Time in years with dominical letters A or g or some combination containing A or g, i.e., Ag, bA, or gf. All other years have 33 weeks of Ordinary Time, with the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth or 10th week dropped from the calendar that year.
4. Jump up^ In the United States, white may be used in place of violet on All Souls Day.

External links[edit]

Categories:

• Liturgical calendar
• Catholic liturgyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_Time