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Ordinary Time (Latin:Tempus per annum) is the part of theliturgical year in theliturgy of theRoman Rite, which falls outside the two great seasons ofChristmastide andEastertide, or their respective preparatory seasons ofAdvent andLent.[1] Ordinary Time thus includes the days between Christmastide and Lent, and between Eastertide and Advent. Theliturgical color assigned to Ordinary Time isgreen. The last Sunday of Ordinary Time is theSolemnity of Christ the King.
The word "ordinary" as used here comes from theordinal numerals by which the weeks are identified or counted, from the 1st week of Ordinary Time in January to the 34th week that begins toward the end of November.[2][3]
In the ordinary form of theRoman Catholic Rite, the last day of Christmas Time is the Sunday after theSolemnity of the Epiphany, or the Sunday after January 6 in places where Epiphany is moved to always occur on a Sunday. Ordinary Time begins the following Monday, and the weekdays that follow are reckoned as belonging to the first week of Ordinary Time. TheFeast of the Baptism of the Lord is usually celebrated on the last day of Christmas Time, but if it is displaced to Monday due to Epiphany being celebrated on January 7 or 8, the Feast of the Baptism falls in Ordinary Time instead.[4][5]
Because Ordinary Time begins on a Monday, there is no day called the "First Sunday in Ordinary Time". Instead, the lowest-numbered Sunday is called the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. This block of Ordinary Time continues through the Tuesday that immediately precedesAsh Wednesday.[6]
Ordinary Time resumes on the Monday after the Solemnity ofPentecost. The two Sundays following Pentecost are theSolemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and theSolemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, which despite being part of Ordinary Time, are not numbered.[6] In regional calendars whereWhitmonday is aDay of Obligation, Ordinary Time and the use of the liturgical colour Green may begin on the following Tuesday.
The last day of Ordinary Time is the day before theFirst Sunday of Advent. The last Sunday of Ordinary Time is theSolemnity of Christ the King, with the Sunday before that being the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, with the ordinal numbers counting backwards from that point.[6]
Due to the configuration of the calendar year, Ordinary Time may have a total of either 33 or 34 weeks. As amnemonic, if the First Sunday of Advent is in November, the previous liturgical year's Ordinary Time will have 33 weeks. If it falls on December 2 or 3, it will have 34 weeks. However, if it falls on December 1, the previous year's Ordinary Time will have 34 weeks only when it is a leap year.[7] In a year where Ordinary Time has 33 weeks, the omitted week is the one between the weeks immediately surrounding Lent and Easter Time, which varies with thedate of Easter. This is because the weeks always count forward from the first week at the beginning of Ordinary Time, and separately backwards from the thirty-fourth week at the end of Ordinary Time.
The decision to treat the whole of Ordinary Time as a unit led to abandonment of the previous terminology, whereby the Sundays of the first period were called Sundays after Epiphany and those of the second period Sundays after Pentecost.
The celebration of an Ordinary Time weekday gives way to that of anysolemnity, feast, or obligatorymemorial that falls on the same day, and may optionally be replaced by that of a non-obligatory memorial or of any saint mentioned in theRoman Martyrology for that day.
The solemnities, feasts, and commemorations of theGeneral Roman Calendar which may, according to theRanking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite, replace a Sunday of Ordinary Time are:[8]
The Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar also lists asproper solemnities (which outrank in the relevant church building or community Sundays in Ordinary Time):
Following the lead of the liturgical reforms of the Roman Rite, manyProtestant churches also adopted the concept of anOrdinary Time alongside theRevised Common Lectionary, which applies the term to the period between Pentecost and Advent. However, use of the term is not common.
Those that have adopted the Revised Common Lectionary include churches of theAnglican,Methodist,Lutheran,Old Catholic andReformed traditions.[9]
SomeProtestant denominations set off a time at the end of Ordinary Time known asKingdomtide or Season of End Times. This period can range anywhere from only the three Sundays prior to Christ the King (as in the Wisconsin Synod Lutheran) to 13 or 14 weeks (most notably in theUnited Methodist Church). The Church of England observes this time between All Saints and Advent Sunday.
In some traditions, what in the Roman Rite is the first period of Ordinary Time is calledEpiphanytide (beginning onEpiphany Day in the Anglican Communion and Methodist churches)[10] and from Trinity Sunday to Advent is called Trinitytide.[11] In the Church of England, Sundays during "Ordinary Time" in this narrower sense are called "Sundays after Trinity", except the final four, which are termed "Sundays before Advent". In theEpiscopal Church (United States), it is normal to refer to Sundays after Epiphany and Sundays after Pentecost (not Trinity).
The total number of Sundays varies according to the date of Easter and can range anything from 18 to 23. When there are 23, theCollect andPost-Communion for the 22nd Sunday are taken from the provision for the Third Sunday before Lent.
Ordinary Time is called "ordinary" not because it is common but simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered.
Ordinary Time is called "ordinary" not because it is not special or less significant but simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered. The Latin word ordinalis, which refers to numbers in a series, stems from the Latin word ordo, from which we get the English word order.
TheRevised Common Lectionary has been subsequently adopted by many English-speaking Protestant denominations such as the Church of Scotland and various Lutheran and Reformed churches. It has also been adopted by some Old Catholic churches and is widely used throughout the Anglican Communion, for example by the Church of Ireland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales, the Episcopal Church (US) and the Anglican churches of Canada, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Polynesia, Melanesia, the West Indies, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. In the Church of England the two-year Sunday Lectionary of theAlternative Service Book 1980 was replaced in 2000 by an adapted version of theRevised Common Lectionary inCommon Worship.
For many Protestant church traditions, the season of Epiphany extends from 6 January until Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent leading to Easter.
Definition of Trinitytide: the season of the church year between Trinity Sunday and Advent
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