FIUV PP 33

Artist: Giovanni del Biondo, fl. 1356-1399

Pope Benedict XVI foresaw the inclusion of new saints in the calendar of the Extraordinary Form. This does not imply that this Form will cease to have a distinct calendar; calendrical differences have always been a feature of the Church’s liturgy. The EF Sanctoral Cycle is distinctive in having a greater number of feasts than that of the Ordinary Form; of including a large number of very ancient saints; and of commemorating the miraculous. In these ways it reflects the spirit of the Form as a whole, manifested both in its proper and its ordinary texts. Here we find a concern with the intercession, rather than of the example, of the saints, and for continuity, which the ancient saints in particular exemplify. When looking to create room for more recent saints to be included, it can be asked if the more modern saints of the 1960 calendar could more appropriately be included in local calendars, than in the Universal calendar. . . . . . . . .

The 33rd in the FIUV Position Papers series, called “The Sanctoral Cycle of the Extraordinary Form” is now available in the FIUV Positio section.