Notes on the Calendar.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 30, Issue 5, 1 July 1939, Page 3

Notes on the Calendar.

We are now m what may be called the non-festal half of the year. Step by step we have followed the course of the great things God has wrought for us through Jesus Christ, ending with a Sunday m remembrance not of what God has done but of what God is, Father, Son and Holy Ghost m the most Holy Trinity. It has long been the English custom to call the Sundays that follow Sunday after Trinity, and of course we m New Zealand do the same, but other European countries call them Sundays after Pentecost, that is, Whitsuntide. Thus Trinity Sunday m France or Italy is also the First Sunday after Pentecost, and what we call the Fourth Sunday

after Trinity is called the Fifth, after Pentecost. Where, as is now common, various colours are used for "the ornaments of the Church and of the Minister," it is usual to use green, the colour of nature, during this season. It seems suitable and is very usual, but there is no law about it. In the old days the custom varied m different English Dioceses, but very often the colour at this time was red.

On the 22nd remembrance is made of S. Mary Magdalene. This has been m the calendar since about the eighth century, and was continued with Collect, Epistle, Gospel m the first English Prayer Book m 1549, but was dropped m 1552. It is hard to see why. The calendar did need pruning, but the general rule was to leave out Saints not mention-

ed m the Gospels, and St. Mary Magdalene certainly is. Thereafter it dropped m our Prayer Book to the class of black letter Saints, whose names are given m the calendar, but for whose- commemoration no service is appointed. So far these have not been mentioned m the Gazette Calendar. The revised Prayer Book restored the services for St. Mary Magdalene but with different Collect, Epistle and Gospel from those of 1549. Why? Chiefly because m the first Prayer Book it was taken for granted that St. MaryMagdalene was identical with "the woman that was a sinner," who anointed our Lord, and part of St. Luke eh. VII was given for the Gospel. The identification is at best uncertain, and the latest revisers are on firmer ground m choosing the story of the meeting with our Lord on Easter Day for the Gospel.

It is very easy to confuse the Maries mentioned m the New Testament and so it is to confuse those of the name of James. But the St. James commemorated on July 25th is the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and brother of St. John. He was one of the first to be called by Jesus and the first Apostle to suffer death for His sake. The Spanish nation has always regarded him as their Patron Saint.