Information About the Ordo Kalendar

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Liturgical Colors.

The liturgical colors used in the Ordo Calendar are those in general usage in the Episcopal church prior to 1976. They correspond to the seasons in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer as follows:

    Advent - Purple
    Christmastide - White
    Epiphany - Green
    Pre-Lent ('gesima') - Purple
    Lent - Purple
    Eastertide - White
    Pentecost - Red
    Trinity - Green

    Holy/Saints days are White or Red, as befitting the particular day -
        White for days in the life and ministry of Christ
        Red for Martyrs
        White for other Saints

The same litugical colors are used regardless of the selection made for display of Holy/Saints Days. Daily liturgical colors are shown for Holy/Saints days included in the 1928 BCP. In the Anglo-Catholic display, traditional liturgical colors for the various optional Holy/Saints days are indicated by a small colored marker.



 

How the Calendar is Displayed.

Creating multiple copies of the Calendar for each year would require more effort than can be devoted to the task, so rather than having separate versions there is actually a single basic Calendar for the year, with optional multiple sets of Holy/Saints days overlayed on top of it. The days, liturgical colors, the movable Holy Days (Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, etc.) and the Holy/Saints days from the 1928 BCP forms the basis for the Ordo Calendar. These features are displayed on all versions of the Calendar. For the 1928 BCP Version, this is the only information displayed. For the other Calendar Versions, the fixed Holy/Saints days are added to the display. No tables of precedence are used to suppress the display of these days or move them to a different date in the event they happen to coincide with a Sunday or High Holy day. (In other words, Holy/Saints days for fixed calendar days will always be shown, even when they fall on high holy days such as Easter or Pentecost, since they are a supplemental display, and their observance can be omitted at the user's discretion.)




 

Dates for Saints Days.

Over the centuries, the Church has changed the dates on which it honors various Saints. In some instances it will be the the birthday of the saint; in others, the date of death or martyrdom. Different branches of the church choose different days for the same saint; the Episcopal/Anglican calendar does not match the Roman calendar, which does not match the Orthodox calendar.

Because of the variety of dates possible for any given saint, there are times when you may click to see the propers for a Saint and note that they refer to a date different than that shown on the calendar page. This is not a mistake; it is simply a reflection of the effects of the multiple dates used for the same Saint. The date on the Calendar page is always correct for the Calendar source shown, and should be the primary reference point. The date on the Propers page is that which is currently the most commonly acknowledged date for observence of that Saints day, and it should be used as an information item useful primarily for observance of the current Anglo-Catholic calendar.