Why a New Liturgical Calendar?

Why is it different from the Tridentine Calendar? Why was it needed?

A Brief Look at the History of the Roman Liturgical Calendar

Catholic life is punctuated by liturgical seasons and feasts. Broadly speaking, we are used to the cycle of Advent, Ordinary Time, Lent, the Triduum, Easter, and Christmas each with their own color: green, white, red, violet, and rose. Before the implementation of the Tridentine calendar by Pope St. Pius V in 1568, there were different Missals - and thus calendars and lectionaries - throughout the Roman Catholic world. Of course, the Eastern churches each had their own specific feasts and practices as well. But in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the Tridentine reforms following the Council of Trent were a tremendous source of practical unity.

The Protestant Reformation did severe damage to the Church and tore apart the Body of Christ. As a response, the Council of Trent provided a lifeboat in a tumultuous sea and the liturgical reforms centralized the Missal, Lectionary, Breviary, and calendar of the Roman Church. Thanks be to God for the fortress that these reforms constituted, defensive against both Protestantism, the Enlightenment, and, later, materialism and modernism. 

One of the issues that arose over the ensuing centuries was the multiplication of feasts. The system of ranking feasts was also fairly complex. From 1568 to 1907, for example, the number of feasts had almost doubled. This happens naturally as good and worthy feasts are celebrated more universally and more saints are canonized. However, this also means that there were competing feasts and many feasts being transferred to different days. Pope St. Pius X made significant changes to the breviary (Liturgy of the Hours) in 1911 and other changes were made to the breviary and the Mass calendar by Pope Pius XII in 1955 (including significant changes to Holy Week) and changes made by Pope St. John XXIII  in 1960. Then, in 1962, the Tridentine calendar was modified significantly with the 1962 Missale Romanum. Many more traditionalist Catholics might be surprised to learn how different the 1962 Missal and calendar is from the 1955 and pre-1955 Missals. 

Of course, there is no shortage of Catholics who feel the need to rate various calendars saying that one is better than another. The path that I take is simple: the calendar of the Church is always in flux. Even year to year there are little modifications. Even today, there are slight variations between different dioceses (or provinces).

Certainly, the most significant modification to the Roman Calendar came in 1969 with the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae by Pope St. Paul VI. Though Pope Francis has said he does not prefer the term, this is what many still call the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Unless you attend a Latin Mass parish, this is the calendar and Missal that you will be used to - we are currently in the Third Edition of the 1970 Missale Romanum. 

Why a New Missal and Calendar?

The question we should ask is: why did Pope St. Paul VI decided that a new liturgical calendar was needed? As I said, there is no shortage of people disparaging the “New Mass” and the accompanying calendar. But I think it is far more fruitful to see why the change was made. 

To understand Pope Paul VI’s motivation, we can read his fairly short Motu Proprio entitled Mysterii Paschalis (Paschal Mystery), given on February 14, 1969. The introduction makes his intention manifestly clear: 

“The Paschal Mystery and its celebration constitutes the essence of Christian worship in its daily, weekly and yearly unfolding. The Second Vatican Council clearly teaches this. It follows therefore that the restoration of the liturgical year, whose norms have been formulated by the same Holy Synod, must put this Paschal Mystery in sharper focus with regard to the organization of the Proper of the Season and the Proper of the Saints as well as in the revision of the Roman Calendar.”

So, the pope sees the new calendar as a “restoration of the liturgical year,” and he saw the changes being made as flowing from the Second Vatican Council’s document on the Sacred Liturgy. In the liturgical year, the Paschal Mystery is to be put in sharper focus. The Paschal Mystery is the passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the first section of the Motu Proprio, the pope indicates that the multiplication of feasts has been the result of particular devotions on the part of the faithful which have taken precedence (my words; he says “somewhat diverted”) from the “fundamental mysteries of our Redemption.” The pope also had in mind a desire to elevate the Sunday Mass to an even more prominent place as a mini-Easter and a further revival of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil. 

The pope desired to restore the focus on the mysteries of our Redemption as a way that the Lord makes Himself present at all times and to be a channel of grace for the faithful. He saw the revision of the liturgical year as flowing logically from this focus. He was not discouraging private devotion - rather he wanted to unify the faithful around the Paschal Mystery.

The reality was that with the passing of time, the amount of saints being commemorated had grown far beyond the 365 days of the year. What a blessing that is! At the same time, it was necessary to suppress certain commemorations of saints that are not universally known. We still live the liturgical life this way - there are some saints which are rightly celebrated in their country of origin with more vigor and closeness. The desire of Pope St. Paul VI was to create a calendar which was more universal for the Latin Rite, drawing out, in particular, the example of saints who speak to the hearts of all of the People of God. Again, this is not to say that some saints are better than others - but there are saints who are more important to the universal Church than others who have no less of a profound effect even if that effect is more localized. 

Conclusion

The purpose of the new calendar is to allow for the universality of the Roman Catholic Church to be drawn out all the more and point all of the People of God to the sanctity to which they are called universally. Practically this is furthered by simplifying the feasts from the multi-tiered system to a three tiered focus: solemnity, feast, and memorial. And, above all, the liturgical calendar is focused intently on the Paschal Mystery of Christ and the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary “who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son.” Rather than having saints’ feasts days focused on the saint themselves and pious devotions within the Sacred LIturgy, the focus is on how this saint points us to the Paschal Mystery of Christ. 

We should not allow the voices of the Church who put the new calendar against the old to have the loudest or last word. In fact, in charity, we should seek to ignore these voices as we would the voice of the Enemy who desires division in the Body of Christ. It is all well and good to have academic disagreements about the prudence of certain modifications to the calendar. We can even have charitable arguments about the inclusion or exclusion of certain historical practices - for example, I want to bring back ember days! But, what we must not do is allow our opinions to rule over the liturgical life. Instead, we should receive the present calendar as a gift from Almighty God and do what the Pope desired: focus on the Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ and receive the sanctifying grace which flows from His pierced side through the Sacred Liturgy.