The new Calendar of the Church of England is now authorised for use and this version of the Ordo attempts to reconcile Celebrating Common Prayer with that Calendar. As the new Calendar includes several commemorations not in Celebrating Common Prayer the user will require some other source of the Collects and readings. Either Calendar, Lectionary and Collects or Collects and Post Communion Prayers for the Sundays and Festivals, both published by Church House Publishing contain this information. Alternatively, Exciting Holiness, edited by Br Tristam SSF, also contains Collects, Post Communion Prayers and eucharistic readings for all the commemorations of the new Calendar, together with short notes on each commemoration.
It is hoped that this Ordo will be useful to those using the new Calendar with Celebrating Common Prayer, until a new edition of the Daily Office is available.
For speedy reference, Principal Feasts (Class I celebrations in CCP) have been printed in BOLD CAPITALS, Festivals (Class II) in bold lower case, Lesser Festivals (Class III) in ordinary roman and Commemorations (Class IV) in italics.
For Principal Feasts
and Festivals, use the appropriate day of the week to suit that saint, as defined
in this booklet.
For Lesser Festivals and Commemorations, the category such as 'of
Bishops' is in
italics,
which assumes that you will use the normal office of the day and, if desired,
add the refrains from the Common of Holy Days (pp 482 to 492). Only very occasionally
are there proper psalms or readings for Lesser Festivals and Commemorations.
The Office
Week
relates only to this office book. In a non-green season, such as Lent, the Office
Week refers only
to the Midday Prayer readings.
Seasons running into one another sometimes requires a slight, unavoidable repetition,
e.g. at Easter 7 and Pentecost, Midday Prayer readings are both Week 7 so as
to make the Sundays following match up with the Week number.
The word 'propers' indicates that there are available proper refrains for celebrating a particular feast, as against those in The Common of Holy Days or in the text of the Office for the day.
Page numbers are given (p or pp) where there are proper psalms, canticles, readings and collects.
Ember Days should be kept, under the bishop's directions, in the week before an ordination as days of prayer for those to be made deacon or priest. Traditionally, they have been observed on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays within the weeks before the Third Sunday of Advent, the Second Sunday of Lent, and the Sundays nearest to 29 June and 29 September.
Harvest Thanksgiving may be kept on any Sunday provided it does not supersede any Principal Feast or Festival.