The people’s missal, 1961 edition, in my possession proudly states (by means of bold print) that, while particularly commemorating the Holy Mother of God, the Liturgy of the Octave Day of Christmas does in now way mention the beginning of civil society’s new year (if this is an appropriate translation of ‘Beginn des neuen bürgerlichen Jahres’. In a spirit of aggiornamento, however, all masses (NO) of New Year’s Day to which I have been during the eight or nine years have managed not only to focus almost entirely on that aspect (or alternatively on it being World Peace Day of some sort), but also to exclude nearly every reference to it being, acually, the Solemnity of Our Lady, Mother of God). This includes the substitution of the collect by some prayer referring to the start of the new year, a custom so universal that it actually seems to be included in liturgical books of some sort.
January 1st is, however a holy day of obligation throughout Germany. I know this because only a short while ago I decided there must be a list of these somewhere on the internet, and there is indeed, even though I have never ever before come across it. I guess the majority even of well-catechised orthodox Catholics would not know which they are.
In the whole of Germany: Christmas Day, the Solemnity of Our Lady, Mother of God, the Ascension.
In some dioceses, generally in those where these days are public holidays, but also in some where they are not: the Epiphany, Corpus Christi, the Assumption, All Saints.
The Solemnities of St. Joseph, of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception are no holy days of obligation.
Probably uniquely, however, the feast of St. Stephen, Monday in the Octave of Easter and Monday in the non-Octave of Pentecost are also holy days of obligation, by virtue of being public holidays, one assumes. I would therefore like to forward a motion of including the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and that of St. Gregory the Great as well.
January 1, 2012 at 11:25 pm
I get confused about when Holydays of obligation are, especially when in the UK they are sometimes transferred to Sundays and stuff like that. So, my rather simple solution is not to memorise a list (no, for that would be far too easy), rather I simply have a much larger collection of days (including all you’ve posted above), when I would just make myself go to Church. The virtues was that I would not miss a Holyday.
Of course being in Seminary that’s all been made a moot point as I have to go to Mass every day.
Interesting your comment about January 1st: haven’t experienced it in Germany as I’m always home on my holidays then. It sounds as though my dear PP here is sticking quite well to the text of the Missal, so good on him!
January 2, 2012 at 10:56 am
We celebrated the Feast of the Circumcision yesterday (EF) and very beautiful it was, too.
January 2, 2012 at 9:46 pm
The Mass I went to was a very nice one, our organist having recollected that Mary should occur somewhere, so at least there were many lovely Christmas-Mary songs.
I think the fact that the collect is very frequently substituted by a self-made prayer is more distressing than this being also done on January 1st. Okay, it is a little disappointing if one was looking forward to a beautiful prayer with lots of “Mary” in it and then all that comes is “a peaceful new year”; hey, there is a very safe way to make sure the year is going to be peaceful: Put everything into Mary’s and Jesus’ (Jesus’s??) hands and all will turn out well :-). Apart from that, is there any harm in referring to worldly events in Mass? Praying for peace if a war has broken out and so on, or praying for a good new year – all in its proper place, of course…
By the way: A very happy new year to you all! 🙂
And thanks for the list of holy days of obligation – now I have no excuse for forgetting them any more.
January 4, 2012 at 12:50 am
A happy new year to you as well!
On the basis of my missal’s very strong verdict against the civil society’s new year having any business of being mentioned at Mass, I had been quite down on it being thought of as being anything special, up to the point of reading that St. Therese, in the good old 19th cent., used to say the words “Jospeph, Mary and Jesus” just before, and “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” just after the change into the new year, to start and end the year with the name of Our Lord.
Accordingly, I am not against asking for God’s blessing for the “worldly” new year in Mass (even though I always appreciate priests stressing the start of the new liturgical year on the first of Advent). What disturbs me is that disrigarding the Church’s ruling, even in the NO, on the 1st of January seems to be suca standard thing in Germany that even priests who are pretty true to the missal throughout the year succumb to it. One may think the new year ought to be given attention or one may think it need not: one ought not so unanimously question the decision made by the Church on this point as regards the feast day and the prayers at Mass.
January 4, 2012 at 12:56 am
Also, regarding holy days of obligation: I would not wish to have any straying visitor to this site get the impression that obligation was the main point about going to Mass at feast days. Rather, any more or less pious person would obviously like to go to Mass generally, and particularly on any specific feast day, regardless of any obligation. However, in the face of familiar and jobwise obligation, it is sometimes necessary to weigh the pros and cons, of e.g. deserting one’s family at breakfast time, and the obligatory/non-obligatory nature of a feast day may help one in the decision, as well as strengthening one’s resolve in saying that whatever there is to do in one’s office, it cannot be done tonight as one actually has to go to Mass now.
January 9, 2012 at 10:47 am
I don’t see what’s so “bürgerlich” about starting the new year on January 1st. Wasn’t it Pope Gregory XIII’s idea? The Church gives a plenary indulgence to anyone who recites the Veni Creator on “the first day of the year” meaning January 1st — not the first Sunday of Advent, which I suppose your Liturgical-Movement-Era “people’s missal” would consider more appropriate.