Transferring Solemnities
  • FKulash
    Posts: 83
    I have some questions about transferring solemnities, in particular how to celebrate Vespers on the Solemnities of St. Joseph and of the Annunciation. This is only tangentially connected to music, so I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask.

    Each volume of "The Liturgy of the Hours" has a "Table of Liturgical Days" that says Sundays of Lent, and weekdays of Holy Week ad the Octave of Easter take precedence over solemnities of the Lord and of saints, such as the solemnities of St. Joseph and the Annunciation. At the end of that section, under the heading "Celebrations on the Same Day" I see that "A solemnity, however, which is impeded by a liturgical day that takes precedence over it should be transferred to the closest day which is not a day listed in nos. 1-8 in the table of precedence" (i.e., not a high-priority day, such as weekday of Holy Week). I have a few questions about this:

    (1) If the fifth Sunday of Lent falls on March 19 or March 25, then is the "closest day" the Saturday one day before, or the Monday one day later? In practice, it seems that Monday is counted as the "closest day". Is this documented anywhere?

    (2) The office for the solemnity of St. Joseph includes optional "alleluias" for Eastertide. All the liturgical books (Liturgy of the Hours, Liturgia Horarum, Antiphonale Monasticum, Antiphonale Romanum, ...) have these "alleluias". When are they used? March 19 never occurs after Easter. If March 19 falls within Holy Week, then the "closest day" to which it can be transferred is the Saturday before Palm Sunday. If "the closest day" is taken to mean "the closest following day", that means Monday of Week 2 of Easter, in which case Second Vespers of Sunday takes precedence over First Vespers of St. Joseph, so why are there optional "alleluias" in the office for First Vespers of St. Joseph?

    (3) Similar to (2) for First Vespers of the Annunciation. If the Annunciation is celebrated in Eastertide, then it must have been transferred to a date later than March 25. Under what circumstances would "alleluia" be added at First Vespers?
  • davido
    Posts: 958
    Simplest answer: get a copy of the ordo and follow that. It spells out what to use when these conflicts arise.

    I think the 25th fell on a Sunday a couple of years ago. As I remember, Annunciation got moved to the Monday after Quasimodo/Divine Mercy Sunday, which was sometime in April that year.

    Was there perhaps a votive mass of St Joseph at which the alleluias could be sung?
    Thanked by 2sdtalley3 FKulash
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,789
    Generally transferred feasts are almost always moved to the days following. External Solemnities can be moved to a day before or after i.e. Rosary Sunday.

    No Feast can fall between Palm Sunday and Low Sunday inclusive, so if St Jospeh / Annunciation (other 1st Class feast) falls during that time they will be transferred, to the next available day (If several feasts are transferred there are special rules of precedence).

    Annunciation and St Joseph can be transferred to a day after Low Sunday, but not to a day that has a feast (d2) so it could fall on the Tuesday etc. So 1st Vespers of St. Joseph could be needed.

    The Solemnity of St. Joseph is the Eastertide Feast, that was on the 3rd Sunday later transferred to the 3rd Wednesday after Easter. This feast was suppressed when Joe the Worker (May 1st) was invented, but the Mass Propers are still used for Votive Masses of St. Joseph.
    Thanked by 2sdtalley3 FKulash
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,478
    I don't know whether this is out of date -
    Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar
    fourteenth day of the month of February in the year 1969,
    5. Because of its special importance, the celebration of Sunday gives way only to Solemnities and Feasts of the Lord; indeed, the Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter have precedence over all Feasts of the Lord and over all Solemnities. In fact, Solemnities occurring on these Sundays are transferred to the following Monday unless they occur on Palm Sunday or on Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection.
    It makes sense because you lose 2nd Vespers if you go to the Saturday, and only 1st Vespers if you go to Monday
    [UPDATED] The current Roman Missal agrees with 1969 see p110.
    [CAUTION] The 1970 non-US version of the Office says the exact opposite, and cites the same source !
    [UPDATED] that 1969 authority ends
    We establish that they will go into effect on January 1, 1970, according to the decrees which will be published jointly by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and Consilium, and which will be valid until the edition of the restored Missal and Breviary.

    Thanked by 3CHGiffen FKulash tomjaw
  • Felicia
    Posts: 117
    @a_f_hawkins

    No opportunity for confusion here! :-)
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • FKulash
    Posts: 83
    Annunciation and St Joseph can be transferred to a day after Low Sunday, but not to a day that has a feast (d2) so it could fall on the Tuesday etc. So 1st Vespers of St. Joseph could be needed.

    I think that's it, Tomjaw! I was thinking there are no feasts between March 25 and April 25, but that's true only for the general calendar. There could be a local feast (e.g., the patron of the diocese) on the Monday after Low Sunday.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Around here, the middle of March is a regular pickle.
    March 17th St. Patrick -- one of the patrons of our diocese
    March 19th St Joseph -- the city of San Jose abuts this one.
    March 21st St Benedict -- one of the patrons of the ICKSP, who serve my parish.
    March 25th Annunciation

    I suggest you follow the Ordo.

    Anyone interested in a novena to St. Patrick for the driving of the snakes from our land and our Church?

    Thanked by 2irishtenor sdtalley3
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    2008 was a fun calendar. Easter was on March 23rd. Annunciation was on March 31st. St Joseph was moved to the day before Palm Sunday, Sat. March 15th, and, if memory serves, St Patrick (local patron) was moved to Fri March 14th, and the eve of Ascension day fell on April 30th. Won't recur until 2160.
    Thanked by 2GerardH CHGiffen
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