Catholic calendar of saints: the tradition the Council couldn't move

Catholic liturgy endures online, beyond the Roman calendar

The Church moved the antiestéticast to August 23 in 1969, but custom still celebrates it on the 30th. And that resistance now has a new battleground: the internet.

Every Sunday, an online economic discussion community receives the full liturgy of the day. The delivery includes the first reading from Jeremiah (20, 7-9), responsorial Psalm 62 —with its best-known verse: "My soul thirsts for you, Lord, my God"—, the calendar of saints, and the homily by Father Santiago Martín. No opinion: only the rite.

A date even Rome couldn't change

The saint of the day explains one of those quirks of the Catholic calendar. August 30 commemorates a saint canonized by Pope Clement X. August 24 was already taken by Saint Bartholomew, so another date was sought. In 1969, the Second Vatican Council ordered that antiestéticasts return to the exact day of death, which placed the celebration on August 23. Tradition, however, kept the 30th in much of the world. Liturgists call this sensus fidelium: the sense of the people of God, which does not always match the official bulletin.

Devotion in streaming

The publication is not limited to text. It includes the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, with the instruction to pray it at 3:00 p.m.; live Holy Mass at 12:30, and the apophthegms of the Desert Fathers, compiled by the Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde in the 17th century. Catholic faith has found in the internet a channel the synods never foresaw: the rite is played on screen and shared among people who do not know each other.

Next Sunday, tradition will once again peek onto the screen. The 1969 decree remains on the books; the custom, on the web. Anyone who has seen a liturgical calendar knows who will win.