Sunday Corner. CALENDAR —MARCH 23-31.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 47, 23 March 1894, Page 16

Sunday Corner. CALENDAR — MARCH 23-31.

Sunday 25 h — Easter Sunday. (Feast of tbe Resurrection ot Our L ird Jems Chris' ) Monday 2b" h —Bister Monday. Tuesday 27th— Master Tuesday. Wednt-sdav 28th — Fourth Day within the Octave. Thtmd iv 2.) h — Fifth Day within the Octave. Friday 30' h — Sixth 1) ly within the Octave. Biturday ',\\— Low Saturday. N.H. — The Feast of the Annunciation of B.V.M. IB transferred to April 2nd.

The word "Easter" comes from a Teutonic word Eos're or Eiiitre. Eostreor Ostera wag a Northern deity, and was worshipped by the Druids with special honour during the month of April as the Goddess of Spring. The Yen. Bede, in his book de Rat. Temp, says that the Anglo-S xons called the spring month " Eostermonaht." By Grimm, in his wrrk on " German Mythology," Eostre is called the " Goddess of the Dawn." That a name decidedly p ip»n in origin has come by usage to be applied to a Christian Feast, will not Burpnse us, when we consider how tenaciously people pling to old nameß, and how many worda with like derivation have remained in common use ; as, for instance, the days of the week The days of the week are not called by their ecclesiastical names but, though we are long a Christian peoplp, by tbeir old p gan names or rather by the nam-s of planets no doub* called originally after heathen deities. Thus Sunday is the day dedicated to the sun formerly worshipped as ag«* by many nations. Monday — dies lumc — moon's day. Tuesday — ti'us A/a/-/! iv — derm s its name from Tir or Tiweß. the German god ot war. II nee "liwfsJay." Wednesday— duis Mercnrii— comes fr> m Wndnu'd day. Woden was the commercal god of the fisxons. Tnursday — dies Jucis— is Thoi'a day. Thrr meaning " Thunde vr" was tbe lemon Appellation of Jove or Jupiter. Friday— dies Venerh — s socallel because of Freia, the poddees of love or marriage, to wb mit was dedicate \. Saturday — dies Saturni— is Saturn's day. Suurn wis B»id in mythological Story to have dtv.ured his own children. The n menclature of the Church 18 88 followß : — Diet Dominica (L-ird'w da y or Ferial 1), Ferial 11, Ferial 111, Fvnal IV. Frial V, Ferial VI, SiOOat inn (Sabbath). The word ferial me. n<> much the fame as ' r\a9t day. " Because of the resnrrection of our Lord on Sunday, the day of rest h is been changed from the Sabbath or /h day to tbe Sunday or lirst day of the week. According to tbe learned arcr^oloKist I): Rossi, the oldest inscription calling Sunday the day of the Lord, dales from tbc ycir !(>:*. The Emperor (JonstantiDe had long before— in .(21 — made the " Venerable Sunday," a day of public real iv Hie cities uL the

the eminrc. On y nrcessiry farming could b*. done in the country. In the Tneodesinn code lawsuits and other public business was Btrictly forbidden. * Easier, the Sunday of Sundavc-i, is called the Paech by the C urch i a her liturgy. This is the common term in France — Fete de* pCtqws—^nA other coan tries of southern Enropp. St- Leo calls Hlftatf-r the ' feast- of feasts" and it is styled by other fa hers the "solemnity of solemnities." Formerly the people spent much of their time during tbis week in the church. Indeed, until tbe 13th century tnere ea.i9'od au obligation of hearing Mass during tbe octave. Because of the length of the devo'ions the otlica of the Churcb wa9 shortened. Now Easter Monday ana Easter luesday are gimp'y days of devotion. A rigorous law was madp as far back as the 4th ceDtury obliging all the faithful to receive Holy Communion on Easter day. For many hundred years those who neglected to hear Mass on Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, were excluded from Church Commuuion. The n cords of Egbert, Archbishop of Y>.rk show that this discipline obtained in England. It was the rule alao in France. In some countn. a it was the custom for the people 'o receive the Blessed Euchnrist on the three last days of Holy Weik. In 1215, at the 4th Later^n Council, the law which now bmis the peoplo was finally madp, obliging the fai hful to receive Holy Eucharist at I'ascial time. | Pope Kugemus IV. af erwards permitted the annual Communion to take place between Palm Sunday and Low Sunday. The people were commanded to receive in their own parish, and in one of the C >uncils held in loG'J the duty is imposed on bishops of " looking after ramps and peemg that they went to tbe Sacraments. " In some count) i 's the Easter Communion is made between the first Sunday nf Ltu and Tunny Sun lay. With us the time 18 between Ash Wednesday and octave day of S3. Peter and Paul (G.h July). Easter is celebrated on the tirst Sunday after the 11th moon followii g the vernal < quinox. or following tbe 2lat March. The Jewish Pasch, which may tall on any day of the week, occurs ou the 11th Nisan or March. I'ho Christian Easter, in memory of the Resurrection, always fa Is on Sunday. In some parts of tbe early Church there was divergence in the time of the Paschal celebration. At the Council of Nice the question, at any time a pure matter of Ohurch discip me, was finally settled, and the Pope wrote a letter to all the churches announcing the dec sion. The custom long obtained of the Roman Pontill writing every year an Encyclical letter on this and others subjects. It is on record that the C uncil of Whitby in England in 664 affirmed tbe adherence of the Ebglish Church to tbe practice ot Rome. " Alleluia,'" so frequently heard during the Paschal (which begins on Easter Sunday, aud ends ou Saturday after Pentecost,) means " Praise ye the Lord." We are told by scholars that the last syllable "ia," was naver pronounced in the pn -Messianic days, but by the high priest oncea year when, clothed in full robes, he solemnly entered the Holy of Holies. According to an ancient tradition mentioned by St Ambrose, Jesus first appeared after the Resurrec ion to his mother Mary. He appeared twelve time* to his apostles and cuciplee. The Catholic people of Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland retain the Eastern custom cf remaining in the church all through the night of Holy Saturday. At dawn Benediction (f the Blessed Sacrament is given, an i our Lord Himself bltsses tbe devout watchers. In eomc par sof ti(>iHi two processions go foith from th> church bjfore suaiHeoa Eistur morn. One bears along the Blessed Sacrament, the o'her a veiled image of Maiy. They gj through the stieets in silence till the ri-i ig of the sup whtn the veil of the \ lrgiu's statue is remove' 1 , and all join in binding the hymn of the Church '" Regina Coeh " — h joice, O Queen of Heaven —which was first sung by angels' voices over tho city of Rome many centuri ■& ago. A plague in the time of Sl Gregory the Great broke out in the Holy (Jity. At the wish of the Pontiff the people went to St Pctei's in procession, bearing a picture ot the B'p3sed Virgin pained by St Luke. While tbe crowds were cro9Biug the Tiber voices blendtd in delicious harmony were heard ia the air. The words of tbis hymn we c distinctly heard, and an angel was seen on the mausoleum of Adrian sheathing a sword. Hence Adrian's omb is nowcallel the Cistle of St Angelo, and the angelic words foitn tbe Paecba! hj mn of the Church.