Trivia Thread

Formerly, there was no Mass for the First Sunday after Pentecost. Why, and what is there now?

It is Trinity Sunday - but why was there no Mass for that Sunday before 1334?

Ann M said:

Trinity Sunday became a festival in the Christian Year in the West in 1334, although it has existed unofficially as such in various parts of the West since the tenth century. Before 1334 this Sunday was the final day of the octave [8 day period] of Whitsun/Pentecost and one of the four appointed days for ordinations.

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You're close, so I'll go ahead and tell you.

On the evening of Ember Saturday after Pentecost, the Mass of ordination was held, and it lasted so long that it continued past midnight and counted as Sunday's Mass.

Bill is also right about why there was no feast of the Trinity - it was seen as unneeded, since every Mass is to the Trinity. But many places were celebrating the feast anyway, so it was extended to the whole Church.

Who is this?

He was born at Florence, of pious and respectable parents. From his early childhood, he gave evident promise of future sanctity. While yet a young man, he gave up an ample fortune which he inherited from an uncle, and went to Rome. Here he studied philosophy and sacred letters, and devoted himself entirely to Christ. So great was his abstinence, that he frequently passed three days without eating. He was intent upon watching and praying, and, frequently visiting the seven churches of Rome, he was in the habit of spending the night in the cemetery of Callistus, in the contemplation of heavenly things. Being ordained priest out of obedience, his one object was the salvation of souls. To the last day of his life assiduous in hearing confessions, he was the father in Christ of almost innumerable children. Wishing to nourish them with the daily hearing of God's word, with frequent sacraments, with constant prayer, and with other pious exercises, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory.

He was ever languishing with the love of God, by which he was wounded, and such was the ardour that glowed within his heart, that, as he could not keep it in its place, his breast was miraculously enlarged by the breaking and expansion of two of his ribs. Sometimes, when celebrating Mass, or in fervent prayer, he was seen to be raised up in the air and encircled with a bright light. He cared for the needy and the poor with an all-providing charity. He was deemed worthy to give alms to an Angel, in the guise of a beggar ; and once when carrying loaves to the poor during the night, he fell into a pit, and was in like manner rescued unhurt by an Angel. He was devoted to humility, and always shrank from honours ; and when even the highest ecclesiastical dignities were more than once offered to him, he very firmly refused them.

He was noted for the gift of prophecy, and was marvellously eminent in reading the thoughts of men's minds. Throughout his whole life he preserved his chastity unsullied. He had the power of distinguishing those who were chaste by a sweet odour, and the unchaste by a stench. He sometimes appeared to persons at a distance, and assisted them in moments of danger. He restored many who were sick, and at death's door, to health. He also restored a dead man to life. He was frequently favoured with apparitions of heavenly spirits and of the Virgin Mother of God, and saw the souls of many ascending, amid great brightness, into heaven. At length, in the year of salvation 1595, on the 25th day of May, on which day there fell the Feast of Corpus Christi, after having said Mass with extraordinary spiritual joy, and after the other functions were finished, just after midnight, which was the hour he had foretold, in his eightieth year he fell asleep in the Lord. Illustrious for his miracles, he was added to the number of the Saints by Gregory XV.

Good job, both of you.

I love the lives of the Saints.

Here's two somewhat related rubrics questions. (That'll give to time to find more Saints - I don't get to read about them in the Office this week, since it's the Octave of Corpus Christi).

We already know about Trinity Sunday. But is there a Mass for the First Sunday after Pentecost, and if so, when would it ever be said?

Second, do Sundays in Ordinary Time ever disappear, and if so, when?

Here's another one.

What saint wrote the Mass and Office for Corpus Christi, and which of his hymns are used in the traditional liturgy? I'll give you a hint - there's four.

Can you name his fifth hymn on the same theme?

St_Joseph_Cupertino said:

Probably way off, but let me take a stab at this one...
The Greek church has no feast on Trinity Sunday, so their Mass will be the First Sunday after Pentecost.

Am I far off the mark?

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I don't know about the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox calendars, so I don't know if you're right or wrong.

But, in any case, I was referring to the Latin rite.