Saturday 20 March 2027

Variables for the Current Year

Sunday Readings

Since 1969, in order to open a richer selection of the Holy Scriptures to the faithful, the Sunday readings have been arranged in a three-year cycle. St Matthew’s Gospel is read in Year A, St Mark’s in Year B, and St Luke’s in Year C. St John’s Gospel is read in all years, in Lent and Eastertide principally.

Cycle B

Weekday Readings

Since 1969, in order to open a richer selection of the Holy Scriptures to the faithful, the weekday readings have been arranged in a two-year cycle.

Cycle I

Dominical Letter

The Dominical Letter enables one to determine easily which days of the year are Sundays.

c

Golden Number

The Golden Number indicates the current year in the metonic or nineteen-year cycle of the moon. It is used in determining the date of Easter.

14

Epact

The epact indicates the ‘age’ of the moon at the start of the solar year. For example, an epact of xi (that is, eleven) means that 1 January will be the twelfth day of the lunar month. If the epact is an asterisk (*), 1 January is an ecclesiastical new moon.

22

Solar Cycle

The solar cycle lasts twenty-eight years, because in the Julian calendar, in any year the days fall on the same day of the week as they did 28 years ago.

20

Letter of the Martyrology

The letter of the Martyrology is used in conjunction with a table at the head of each day’s reading in that book, indicating the correct day of the lunar month to be announced.

C

Roman Year of Indiction

The Roman emperor Diocletian (284–305) established the practice of taking a census for taxation purposes every fifteen years, a period that became known as the cycle of indiction. In the early middle ages these cycles were taken to have begun with the accession of Constantine in 312, and were widely used to date correspondence, charters and other documents. (To find the year of indiction, add 3 to the year AD, then divide by 15. A zero remainder indicates year 15.)

5

Julian Period

Invented by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540–1609), the Julian period combines the solar, metonic and indiction cycles in a period of 7,980 years, beginning on 1 January 4713 BC.

Year 6740

Years since the confirmation of the Order

The Order was confirmed by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216.

811

Years since the passing of our Holy Father Dominic

Holy Father Dominic died in the Lord in Bologna on 6 August 1221. His feast day is kept on 3 August in Australia and New Zealand, and on 8 August in the General Roman Calendar.

806