PROCLAMATION OF FEASTS – One of the special traditions connected with Epiphany was the publication on January 6 of the annual letter of the patriarch of Alexandria announcing the date of Easter for the current year (epistola festalis). The scholars of Alexandria were considered most competent to make the difficult computations and observations necessary to determine this date, and thus the whole East followed their findings, which were sent to all churches by the patriarch. In the sixth century, the fourth Council of Orleans (541) ordered the same procedure in the West. During the Middle Ages the dates of other movable feasts observed in the Church were directed to be added to the date of Easter and all of them to be solemnly read to the people on Epiphany Day. This ancient custom is still observed in some cathedrals as a traditional solemnity on January 6 at the end of Pontifical Mass.

THE MOVABLE FEASTS are Easter, whose date depends on the paschal moon, and those other feasts whose date depends on that of Easter.

The Roman Pontifical describes the solemn announcement (publication) of the movable feasts on the Twelfth Day of Christmas (The Feast of the Epiphany):

On Epiphany, the Gospel being sung, the archdeacon or a canon, prebendary, or another ecclesiastical dignitary according to local custom, vested in a cope shall ascend the ambo (pulpit) and there, or in some other place where the Gospel customarily is sung) shall by the time-hallowed establishment of Holy Mother Church announce the movable feasts of the current year according to the form here below written:

KNOW YE, best-beloved brethren, that by the consent of God's mercy,
as we have rejoiced for the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ,
so also we declare to you joy for the Rising of the same our Saviour.
The (day, month) will be the Sunday at Septuagesima.
The (day, month) will be Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the fast of Lent most hallowed.
The (day, month) you shall celebrate with joy Holy Easter of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The (day, month) will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The (day, month) will be the feast of Whitsunday.
The (day, month) will be the feast of the most hallowed Corpus Christi.
The (day, month) will be the first Sunday of the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom is honor and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Pontifical also provides for the announcement of the diocesan synod at this ceremony.

PUBLICATION OF THE MOVABLE FEASTS FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2011

The Publication of the Date of Easter
and the Moveable Feasts of the Liturgical Year
- 2011 -

Give ear and listen to me, dearly beloved brethren, for I announce to you with great joy, that the mercy of God has been bestowed upon us, the glory of the Lord has been shown around us, and shall be ever manifest among us, until the day of His return.

As we have with joy celebrated the Birth and Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so through the annual rhythm of times and seasons we will continue to celebrate the mysteries of our salvation, culminating in the Sacred Triduum of the Lord Jesus Christ: His Last Supper, His Crucifixion and Burial, and His Most Glorious Resurrection on Easter Day. Each Easter, as on each Sunday, Holy Mother Church makes present the great and saving deed by which Christ has forever conquered sin and death. From the date of Easter are derived the dates of the other Feasts and Commemorations which we keep holy, and it is an ancient custom at this time to proclaim the times and the seasons of the liturgical year.

In this year of Our Lord TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN, which commences on Saturday the First day of January, being the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ, there will be six Sundays after the Epiphany, until Septuagesima Sunday which will occur on the Twentieth day of February.

On the Sixth day of March, the day called Ash Wednesday, will commence the Great and Holy Fast of Lent.

On the Twenty-second day of April, the Church will mark with appropriate solemnity the Crucifixion and Death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Twenty-fourth day of April we will gather to celebrate with all joy His Glorious Resurrection from the dead.

The Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven will be recalled forty days thereafter, on the Second day of June; and the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles at Pentecost will be celebrated on the Twelfth day of June.

The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity will be observed on the Nineteenth day of June; and the Feast of the Most Holy Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, being the Feast of Corpus Christi will be observed on the Twenty-third day of June.

The General Synod of the Primatial See of Nova Terra for the North American Old Roman Catholic Church will be held between the evening of the Eleventh day of May and the evening of the Fourteenth day of May.

There will be twenty-four Sundays after Pentecost, until on the Twenty-seventh day of November, being the First Sunday of Advent, a new Year of Grace will begin.

And so through the times and the seasons, the pilgrim Church on earth proclaims the Paschal Mystery of our Savior Jesus Christ in His Feasts and Festivals; in the Feasts and Festivals of His Most Holy Mother Mary; in the Feasts of the Apostles and Saints; as also in the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.

To our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was, and is, and is to come; Who is the Lord of all time and all history; to Him be endless glory and praise, forever and ever!

AMEN.