Use of Ferial tones in penitential seasons
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Taking a research shortcut here.

    Sunday High Mass (EF) during Septuagesima: is there any directive that the ferial tone (Collects, Preface, Pater noster) should be used rather than festal?

    ISTM "ferial" implies a weekday, not any Sunday, no matter what season.

    Citation of pertinent rubric?

    Thanks.
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    In the rubrics for the Missale Romanum, it says:

    21. Nomine feriae intelleguntur singuli dies hebdomadae, praeter dominicam.


    Which is to say:

    The term 'feria' means the different days of the week apart from Sunday.


    So in general, the slogan is: a-Sunday-is-not-a feria-is-not-a-Sunday.

    You can skim over the tones conveniently in the Graduale (1961) starting HERE, and find that for Mass, this is the case.

    * * *

    Non-caveat caveat: in the bigger picture, two quasi-exceptions do come to mind:

    1) Monday in Latin is called "Feria II"; so in this sense, Sunday must be "Feria I", though no one ever calls it this.

    2) In the Antiphonale, for the verse Deus in adjutorium, for Matins, Lauds and Vespers, the Festal tone is used on Sundays and Feasts. Then, when it is not a feast, the Ferial tone is used at these hours.

    However, even on Sundays and Feasts, and also on all other days, the Ferial tone is used at Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline.

    So this is a case of a tone labled "Ferial" being used on non-ferias; but this is done not because of anything calendar-related, but rather because (it seems the obvious explanation) the minor hours are not as important as the major hours.

    And thus, the slogan still holds.
    Thanked by 2Steve Collins M. Jackson Osborn
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,311
    Use the solemn, and then it doesn’t matter. :)

    But yes, generally the ferial rubrics don’t apply on Sunday such as kneeling at the collects as is the case during the week.
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    Sundays are always referred to as "Dominica ___ (post ___)," so I don't think it could be argued that they'd be called "Feria I." Sure Sunday is the first day of the week, and Monday is the second - but Sunday is Sunday, and Monday is merely the next (non-Sun)day.

    We can say that this weekend is Epiphany 3, but it's the Second Sunday after (the full celebration of) Epiphany.

    (I realize I'm rambling)
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    On the matter of the origins and development of the term "feria" ... it might actually be good to do some reading and/or research. While not exhaustive, the Feria article at Wikipedia isn't a bad place to begin.
    A feria (Latin for "free day") was a day on which the people, especially the slaves, were not obliged to work, and on which there were no court sessions. ...

    When Christianity spread, on the feriae (feasts) instituted for worship by the Church, the faithful were obliged to attend Mass; such assemblies gradually led ... to mercantile enterprise and market gatherings .... the English fairs. ...

    In the Roman Rite liturgy, the term feria is used in Latin to denote days of the week other than Sunday and Saturday. ... Various reasons are given for the Latin terminology. ... The Jews frequently counted the days from their Sabbath, and so we find in the Gospels such expressions as una Sabbati and prima Sabbati, the first from the Sabbath.

    The early Christians reckoned the days after Easter in this fashion, but, since all the days of Easter week were holy days, they called Easter Monday, not the first day after Easter, but the second feria or feast day [of Easter]; and since every Sunday is the dies Dominica, a lesser Easter day, the custom prevailed to call each Monday a feria secunda [second feast day], and so on for the rest of the week. ...

    A day on which no saint is celebrated is called a feria (and the celebration is referred to as ferial, the adjectival form of feria). ...



    The takeaway is that "feria II" does not at all imply that Sunday ("Dominica") is somehow "Feria I", but that "feria II" refers to the (second) day of the week, the complete week being:

    Dominica, feria secunda, feria tertia, feria quarta, feria quinta, feria sexta, sabbatum

    Thanked by 1rarty
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    The takeaway is that "feria II" does not at all imply that Sunday ("Dominica") is somehow "Feria I", but that "feria II" refers to the (second) day of the week, the complete week being:

    Dominica, feria secunda, feria tertia, feria quarta, feria quinta, feria sexta, sabbatum


    Almost.

    Remember that "secunda" can mean "following", and also "according to". In this case, feria Secunda should be understood as the Feria Following Sunday.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    My takeaway so far is that n-1 angels can dance on the head of a pin. Anyone care to argue that the solemn tone may only be used on Solemnities?
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    But there is a Solemnior tone that is even more complicated. I believe your argument would work that it could only be used on Solemnities as they were the highest category. In the old Missal, the word "Solemnity" isn't even used.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranking_of_liturgical_days_in_the_Roman_Rite
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    As the OP asked for an EF mass, this question is easily solved by looking at the Rubricae generales, N. 515 et seq.:
    515. The solemn tone is used in the chant of the collects, the preface, and the Lord's Prayer:
    a) on Sundays;
    b) in festive Masses and in the Mass of the Saturday office of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
    c) on the vigils of the 1st class;
    d) on Thursday of the Lord's Supper and in the Mass of the Easter vigil;
    e) throughout octaves;
    f) in votive Masses of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class.

    516. The ferial tone is used:
    a) on ferias;
    b) on vigils of the 2nd and 3rd class;
    c) in votive Masses of the 4th class;
    d) in Masses of the dead.
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