Octave (liturgy)
"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 (eighth), with dies (day) understood. In the second sense, the term is applied to the whole period of these eight days, during which certain major feasts came to be observed.[1]
Octaves, not being successive, are quite distinct from
Early history
The "eighth day" or octava dies was associated with the weekly Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ every "eighth day", which became a name for Sunday.[2][3]
As circumcision is performed in Judaism on the "eighth day" after birth, the number 8 became associated in Christianity with Baptism,[4] and baptismal fonts have from an early date often been octagonal.[5][6][7]
The practice of octaves was first introduced under
The development of octaves occurred slowly. From the 4th century to the 7th century, Christians observed octaves with a celebration on the eighth day, with little development of the liturgies of the intervening days. Christmas was the next feast to receive an octave. By the 8th century, Rome had developed liturgical octaves not only for Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, but also for the Epiphany and the feast of the dedication of a church.[8]
From the 7th century, saints' feasts also began to have octaves (as an eighth-day feast, not eight days of feasts), among the oldest being those of
Western Christianity
Catholic Church
From Pius V to Pius XII
While
To reduce the repetition of the same liturgy for several days, Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X made further distinctions, classifying octaves into three primary types: privileged octaves, common octaves, and simple octaves. Privileged octaves were further arranged in a hierarchy of first, second, and third orders. For the first half of the 20th century, octaves were ranked in the following manner, which affected holding other celebrations within them:
- Privileged Octaves
- Privileged Octaves of the First Order
- Octave of Easter
- Octave of Pentecost
- Privileged Octaves of the Second Order
- Octave of Epiphany
- Octave of Corpus Christi
- Privileged Octaves of the Third Order
- Octave of Christmas
- Octave of the Ascension
- Octave of the Sacred Heart
- Privileged Octaves of the First Order
- Common Octaves
- Octave of the Immaculate Conception BVM
- Octave of the Solemnity of St. Joseph
- Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
- Octave of Ss. Peter and Paul
- Octave of the Assumption BVM
- Octave of All Saints
- Simple Octaves
- Octave of St. Stephen
- Octave of St. John the Apostle
- Octave of the Holy Innocents
- Octave of St. Lawrence
- Octave of the Nativity BVM
In addition to these, the patron saint of a particular nation, diocese, or church was celebrated therein with an octave, on each day of which the Mass and Office of the feast was repeated, unless impeded by a higher-ranked celebration.
Although the feasts of St. Lawrence and the
Reduction by Pius XII and Paul VI
Pope Pius XII further simplified the Calendar with a decree dated 23 March 1955: only the octaves of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost were kept, as these did not repeat the same liturgy daily. All other octaves in the Roman Rite were suppressed, including those of local calendars (see General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII#Octaves). In 1969, the Church further revised the Calendar by deleting the Octave of Pentecost.[9]
The first eight days of the Easter Season make up the Octave of Easter and are celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord, with proper readings and prayers.[10] The Second Sunday of Easter, which ends the Easter Octave, has also been called "White Sunday" (Dominica in albis).
The Christmas Octave is presently arranged as follows:
- Sunday within the octave: Feast of the Holy Family; celebrated on Friday, December 30 when Christmas is a Sunday
- 26 December: Feast of Saint Stephen
- 27 December: Feast of John the Apostle
- 28 December: Feast of the Holy Innocents
- 29-31 December: days within the octave, with assigned readings and prayers, on which the celebration of optional memorials is permitted according to special rubrics (but as noted above, when Christmas is a Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on December 30)
- 1 January, octave day of the Nativity; Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God[11]
Lutheran Church
The
Anglican Communion
Churches within the Anglican Communion traditionally observed octaves associated with the feasts of Christmas, Corpus Christi, Epiphany, Michaelmas, Easter, and All Saints' Day.[13] Many provinces have followed the Catholic Church and altered the practice of observing octaves. In the Church of England, the only octave that remains in some form is that of Easter: no other feasts may be celebrated in the six days following Easter Sunday, and only a Dedication Festival or Patronal Festival may be celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter.[14]
Eastern Christianity
Among the Eastern Orthodox and
Most of these Great Feasts (except Feasts within the moveable Paschal Cycle) also have a day or more of preparation called a Forefeast. Forefeasts and Afterfeasts will affect the structure of the services during the Canonical Hours.
The last day of an Afterfeast is called the Apodosis (lit. "giving-back") of the Feast. On the Apodosis, most of the hymns that were chanted on the first day of the Feast are repeated. On the Apodoses of Feasts of the Theotokos, the Epistle and Gospel of the Feast are repeated again at the Divine Liturgy.
Non-liturgical usage
The term "octave" is applied to some church observances that are not strictly liturgical. For example, many churches observe an annual "Octave of Prayer for
In 1968, the
Each year,
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article Octave
- ISBN 978-0-81461366-5), p. 18
- ISBN 978-0-82802094-7), p. 143
- ISBN 978-1-57910307-1), p. 273
- ISBN 978-0-80282748-7), p. 875
- ISBN 978-0-89622537-4), p. 186
- ISBN 978-0-80104832-6), p. 209
- ^ a b c d "Octave", Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969)
- ^ General Norms for Liturgical Year and Calendar, 24
- ^ General Norms for Liturgical Year and Calendar, 35
- ^ The American Lutheran, Volume 17. American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. 1934. p. 2264.
- ^ Jackson, Richard Charles (1892). The Church of England Lectern & Parish Kalendar for 1892, 1893. p. 9.
- ^ "Rules".
- ^ "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Salem Lutheran Church". Salem Lutheran Church. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ^ "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Salem Lutheran Church". Salem Lutheran Church. Retrieved 11 May 2021.