Celebrating the Annunciation and Incarnation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CALCULATIONS
Thanks to the Holy Spirit (and not to mention the strong pastoral influence of Pope Victor I) Easter is always celebrated on a Sunday. Easter Sunday always falls between the dates March 22 and April 25 inclusive.
March 25 will fall on a Sunday when Easter falls on one of the following dates which are multiples of seven days after March 25:
March -25
April -1
April -8
April -15
April -22
The Sundays of Lent, Passion Sunday and each day of Holy Week, and Easter and each day of Easter Week are considered Christological feasts. The Christological feasts of Lent and Easter outrank the Marian feast of the Annunciation. And so, when March 25 falls on one of those days in our current calendar the Annunciation gets moved forward to the next available day, which is always a weekday. In 2007 it was moved to March 26. In 2005 it was moved to April 4. (See Calendar for 2005 AD)
http://www.easterbrooks.com/cgi-bin/Cathcal.cgi?2005
Our current calendar moves the Solemnity of the Annunciation from the March 25th date 34% of the time. 26% of the time it is moved six to fifteen days ahead to the eighth day after Easter, and on some occasions as late as April 9.
When Easter falls on the date in the first column -- March 25 falls on the following Christological Feast in 2nd column
March 22 -
Easter. Wednesday
March 23 - E. Tuesday
March 24 - E. Monday
March 25 - Easter
March 26 - Holy Saturday
March 27 - Good Friday
March 28 - Holy Thursday
March 29 - Wednesday of Holy Week
March 30 - Tuesday of Holy Week
March 31 - Monday of Holy Week
April 1 - Passion
(Palm) Sunday
April 8 - Fifth Sunday of Lent
April 15 - Fourth Sunday of Lent
April 22 - Third Sunday of Lent
Red Chart
In the first column is a list of all of the possible dates for Easter in the calendar followed by the years that Easter falls on that date:
1875 through 2124 AD
Easter
Date Years...................................................
3/22 none
3/23 1913 2008
3/24 1940
3/25 1883 1894 1951 2035 2046 2103
3/26 1967 1978 1989 2062 2073 2084 2119
3/27 1910 1921 1932 2005 2016
3/28 1875 1880 1937 1948 2027 2032 2100
3/29 1891 1959 1964 1970 2043 2054 2065 2111 2116 2122
3/30 1902 1975 1986 1997 2059 2070 2081 2092
3/31 1907 1918 1929 1991 2002 2013 2024 2086 2097
4/1 1877 1888 1923 1934 1945 1956 2018 2029 2040 2108
4/2 1893 1899 1961 1972 2051 2056 2113 2124
4/3 1904 1983 1988 1994 2067 2078 2089
4/4 1915 1920 1926 1999 2010 2021 2083 2094
4/5 1885 1896 1931 1942 1953 2015 2026 2037 2048 2105
4/6 1890 1947 1958 1969 1980 2042 2053 2064 2110 2121
4/7 1901 1912 1985 1996 2075 2080
4/8 1917 1928 2007 2012 2091
4/9 1882 1939 1944 1950 2023 2034 2045 2102
4/10 1887 1898 1955 1966 1977 2039 2050 2061 2072 2107 2118
4/11 1909 1971 1982 1993 2004 2066 2077 2088 2123
4/12 1903 1914 1925 1936 1998 2009 2020 2093 2099
4/13 1879 1884 1941 1952 2031 2036 2104
4/14 1895 1963 1968 1974 2047 2058 2069 2115 2120
4/15 1900 1906 1979 1990 2001 2063 2074 2085 2096
4/16 1876 1911 1922 1933 1995 2006 2017 2028 2090
4/17 1881 1892 1927 1938 1949 1960 2022 2033 2044 2101 2112
4/18 1897 1954 1965 1976 2049 2055 2060 2106 2117
4/19 1908 1981 1987 1992 2071 2076 2082
4/20 1919 1924 1930 2003 2014 2025 2087 2098
4/21 1878 1889 1935 1946 1957 2019 2030 2041 2052 2109
4/22 1962 1973 1984 2057 2068 2114
4/23 1905 1916 2000 2079
4/24 2011 2095
4/25 1886 1943 2038
From the chart above we can list the years on which March 25th falls on a Christological Feast. When Easter falls on April 8, 15, or 22 the Annunciation is moved one day forward. This happens 8% of the time. When the Annunciation falls on the other Christological Feasts, and this happens when Easter falls between March 22nd and April 1st, the Annunciation is moved to the 8th day after Easter. This happens during 65 of the listed 250 years or 26% of the time. The total number of times the Annunciation is moved during the 250 year span is 85 times or 34% of the time.
3/23 1913 2008
3/24 1940
3/25 1883 1894 1951 2035 2046 2103
3/26 1967 1978 1989 2062 2073 2084 2119
3/27 1910 1921 1932 2005 2016
3/28 1875 1880 1937 1948 2027 2032 2100
3/29 1891 1959 1964 1970 2043 2054 2065 2111 2116 2122
3/30 1902 1975 1986 1997 2059 2070 2081 2092
3/31 1907 1918 1929 1991 2002 2013 2024 2086 2097
4/1 1877 1888 1923 1934 1945 1956 2018 2029 2040 2108
4/8 1917 1928 2007 2012 2091
4/15 1900 1906 1979 1990 2001 2063 2074 2085 2096
4/22 1962 1973 1984 2057 2068 2114
The New Proposed Plan
Under the proposed plan the Annunciation is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to March 25, but no later than the Sunday before Passion Sunday
When Easter falls on March 22nd through March 28th the Annunciation would be celebrated two weeks previously on one of the dates between March 8th and March 14th. From the Red Chart above we see that this will happen during 28 years of the 250 year span, or 11.2% of the time under the proposed plan.
When Easter falls on March 29th through April 4th the Annunciation/Incarnation would be celebrated two weeks previously on one of the dates between March 15th and March 21st. Under the proposed plan this would happen 60 times during the 250 year span or 24% of the time.
When Easter falls after April 4th the Annunciation/Incarnation would be moved three days or less to the nearest Sunday that falls between March 22nd and March 28th. This will happen 162 times out of the possible 250 years, or 64.8% of the time, if the proposed idea is accepted.
If this proposed solution is adopted the celebration of the Annunciation/Incarnation would be moved 7 to 17 days 26% of the time. However, our current calendar already moves the celebration 7 to 15 days forward 25.2% of the time. Under the new plan the celebration would ALWAYS fall on a Sunday. It would fall on the 25th 8% of the time. Note that the celebration of the Ascension which was moved to a Sunday celebration in most US States never falls on the 40th day. And, under the current calendar the celebration of the Annunciation/Incarnation NEVER falls on a Sunday and so most Catholics don’t even think about the Feast at all. And the 34% rate in which the Annunciation is already moved makes the proposed move quite tolerable since in most cases it is only moved three days or less to the nearest Sunday.
Calculations for the above Figures:
Under the new plan the celebration of Annunciation/Incarnation would be moved 7 days or more when Easter falls on April 1st or earlier since celebration would have to be at least two weeks prior to Easter. This happens 65 times out of the 250 year period considered in our calculations and this equals 26% of the time. Our current calendar moves the celebration to the eighth day after Easter when Easter falls on April 1st or earlier and this results in a 7 day move or greater for the Annunciation when Easter falls between the dates March 24th and April 1st. This happens 63 out of 250 year time span or 25.2% of the time. (There are only 2 occurrences of Easter coming on March 23rd and none earlier.) The Annunciation would stay on the 25th when that date falls on a Sunday during Lent. This happens when Easter falls on April 8th, 15th, or 22nd. This happens 20 times or 8% of the time.
(Alternate Plan 2)
The Solemnity could be moved to a Sunday,
but only when March 25 falls on one of the first five Sundays of Lent
(that is, prior to Passion Sunday – since for this discussion we will
assume that the Church will not want to displace Passion Sunday or
Easter.) However, this would limit its Sunday celebration to only these
few years for the next 120 years.
2012, 2057, 2063, 2068, 2074, 2085, 2091,
2096,
2114, 2125 …
Such and irregular and infrequent
occurrence would be hard to remember from one generation to the next.
And its lack of frequency would make it less effective.
These years above can be determined as follows. When March 25 falls of a Sunday, Easter must fall on that day or a multiple of 7 days after that day since Easter always obviously falls on a Sunday too between the dates March 22 and April 25. When March the 25th falls on a Sunday prior to Passion (Palm) Sunday, then Easter would have to fall on one of the following dates: April 8, April 15 or April 22.
Here is a list of years when Easter falls on one of these dates, while the years in black represent those years that March 25 will fall on Easter or Passion Sunday, (and let’s assume, for the sake of discussion that the Church will not want to displace those feasts.)
EASTER
DATE - YEAR
3/25 - 2035, 2046, 2103
4/1 - 2018, 2029, 2040, 2108
4/8 - 2007,
2012,
2091
4/15 - 2063, 2074, 2085,
2096
4/22 - 2057, 2068, 2114
Those applicable years listed sequentially are:
2007, 2012, 2057, 2063, 2068, 2074, 2085, 2091, 2096, 2114 ...
This list of years in which Easter will fall on these dates are based on these websites below. (I am assuming that they are correct.)
Frequency of the Date of Easter
http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/freq3.html#LBD
List of Easter Sunday Dates
2000-2099
http://www.assa.org.au/edm.html#List20
Easter Sunday Dates
http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/eastcalc.htm