The Liturgical Poet

Vintage prayer card of Pentecost In the 1962 Church calendar (which I prefer more often than not over the current liturgical calendar for various reasons that I will address at a later time), three overall seasons make up the liturgical year: the Season of the Nativity, the Season of Easter, and the Season of Pentecost. (These are also sometimes referred to as the Christmas Cycle, the Easter Cycle, and the Time After Pentecost.) These three larger seasons then have smaller seasons within them: The Season of Nativity is made up of the season of Advent, the season of Christmas, and the season of Epiphany. The Season of Easter is made up of the season of Septuagesima, the season of Lent, and the season of Easter. The Season of Pentecost is made up of the season of Pentecost (which is simply the octave of Pentecost) and all the time from then until the end of the liturgical year. There is some debate as to whether Pentecost is included at the end of the Season of Easter or the beginning...

Portion of the Nave Ceiling from the Ely Cathedral, England Often when we think of the Epiphany, we think of the feast day celebrated on January 6th in which the Magi visited the Infant Jesus and presented their gifts to Him. But in the older Church calendars, the Epiphany also marks the beginning of a sub-season within the larger Christmas Season called Epiphanytide or Time After Epiphany. Not many know about this part of the liturgical calendar, and personally, I think it's a shame because the more I learn about it, the more I find how rich it is in the spiritual fruits it has to offer. In the current liturgical calendar, themes of the Epiphany are present in the weeks between the feast day and Lent, but it is no longer considered a season and instead falls under the category of Ordinary Time. And while it echoes the sub-season it came to replace, it was fully separated from the larger Christmas Season. I consider it to be a sub-season because at a glance, it appears somewhat sep...