Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1 Religious Traditions
1 The Nature of Religious Traditions 6
Human and Limited
Subject to Change
Effective
Cyclic
Based on Real Life
Earthiness
Religious Persecution
Traditions in a Technological Age
Part 2 The Church Year
2 The Church Year 14
Calenders
Church Year
Ancient Christian Centers
Evolution of the Church Year
Annual Pascha
Christmas Cycle
Temporal Cycle
Sanctoral Cycle
Devotional Feasts
3 Sunday 19
Most Ancient of Traditions
First Day of the Week
From Sunday Evening...
...to Sunday Morning
Agape Meals
Blessing of Lights
Lord's Day
Sunday
Sunday Themes
Sunday Assembly
Sunday Obligation
Day of Rest
Servile Work
Blue Laws
Contemporary Observance of Sunday
4 Weekdays 29
Origin of the Week
Private Prayer
Public Prayer
Liturgical Hours
Origin of the Rosary
Revival of the Liturgy of the Hours
Family Prayer
Meal Prayer
Bedtime Prayer
Fasting
Friday Abstinence
Daily Mass
Daily Themes
5 Seasons 37
Cycle of Seasons
Ember Days
Rogation Days
Part 3 The Temporal Cycle
6 Advent 42
Beginning of Church Year
Theme
Origin
Penitential Theme
Mixed Theme
Advent Wreath
Jesse Tree
Advent House
Advent Calendar
Manger
Advent Colors
7 Christmas 49
Origin of Christmas
Date of Christmas
Non-Christian Influence
Popularity of Christmas
Secular Christmas
Christmas in North America
Sacred and Secular
Christmas Candle
Window Lights
Luminaries
Hanukkah
Kwanzaa
Nativity Scene
Las Posadas
Oplatek
Christmas Tree
Christmas Carols
Mistletoe
Holly
Poinsettia
Christmas Cards
Christmas Pageants
Exchanging Gifts
KrissKringle
Santa Claus
8 Christmastime 63
Twelve Days of Christmas
Feast Days of Martyrs
Holy Family
January 1
New Year's Day
Epiphany
Magi
Blessing of Homes
Candlemas
Annunciation
9 Lent 70
Origin
Lent and Baptism
Penitential Theme
Forty Days
Mardi Gras
Paczki
Shrove Tuesday
Ash Wednesday
Lenten Atmosphere
Fasting and Abstinence
Popular Penances
Stations of the Cross
Pretzels
Hot Cross Buns
Recent Trends
10 Holy Week 78
The Pascha, or Passover
Holy Week
Sacred Triduum
Palm Sunday
Palms
Preparation Days
Easter Duty
Spring Cleaning
Holy Thursday
Washing of Feet
Chapel of Adoration
Stripping the Altar
Forty Hours Devotion
Chrism Mass
Seder
Good Friday
Veneration of the Cross
Mass of the Pre-Sanctified
Fasting
Tre Ore
Hot Cross Buns
11 The Easter Vigil 89
Easter Vigil
Easter Fire
Easter Candle
Holy Saturday Morning Liturgy
Renewal of Easter Vigil
Blessing of Easter Baskets
12 Easter 94
Date of Easter
Fertility Theme
Name of Easter
Easter Sunday Mass
Easter Duty
Sunrise Services
New Easter Clothes
Easter Parade
Easter Lamb
Easter Ham
Easter Eggs
Easter Bunnies
Easter Lilies
Mystagogia
Pentecost
13 Ordinary Time 101
Trinity Sunday
Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi Procession
Benediction
Feast of the Sacred Heart
Christ the King
Part 4 The Sanctoral Cycle
14 Communion of Saints 106
Martyrs and Persecution
Confessors
Other Saints
Spread of Devotion to Saints
Abuses
Communion of Saints
Remembering the Saints
Patron Saints
Holy Days
Feast Days
Relics
Images
Praying to Saints
Litanies
Feast of All Saints
Canonization
Halo
15 Mary 118
Hyperdulia
Early Cult
Intercessory Role
Modern Devotion
Cautions
Little Office of Our Lady
Hail Mary
Rosary
Antiphons
Saturday
May and Mother's Day
Month of the Rosary
Marian Litanies
Angelus
Apparitions
Images
Scapular
Blessing of Flowers and Herbs
16 Purgatory 128
Purgatory
Prayer for the Dead
November 2
Indulgences
Stipends
Visiting Graves
November
Back as Liturgical Color
17 Popular Saints and Legends 136
St. Christopher
St. Nicholas
St. Valentine
St. Patrick
Part 5 Sacraments and Sacramentals
18 Sacraments 144
Principle of Sacramentality
Origin of Catholic Sacraments
Baptism: An Initiation Process
Baptistries
Private Baptism
Renewal of Baptism
Confirmation
Order of Initiation Restored
Eucharist
Eucharistic Sacrifice
Distancing from Laity
Deterioration of Meaning and Practice
Renewal of Eucharist
Recociliation
Sin: Human Experience
Gospel of Reconciliation
Beginnings of Ritual Penance
Public Penance
Private Penance
Purgatory and Indulgences
Contemporary Practice
Anointing of the Sick
Transition to Anointing of the Dying
Current Practices
Marriage
A Problem with Sex
Marriage Becomes Sacrament
Current Thinking and Practice
Orders
Origin of Catholic Priesthood
Ordination Process
Expanding Orders of Clergy
Presbyters Become priests
A Different Lifestyle
Post-Reformation Priesthood
Current Trends
Priest Garb
19 Sacramentals 171
Definition
Popular Devotions
Principle of Sacramentality
St. Blaise and Blessing of Throats
Gestures and Bodily Positions
Standing
Facing East
Kneeling
Prostration
Genuflecting
Bowing
Sitting
The Raising of Eyes and Hands
Laying on of Hards
Folding Hards
Striking the Breast
Sign of the Cross
Music
Ritual Words
Litanies
Altar
Lights
Candles
Votive and Vigil Lights
Holy Water
Vestments
Bells
Medals
Miraculous Medal
Incense
Colors
Symbols
Crosses
Part 6 Special Days
20 Halloween 192
21 Thanksgiving 195
22 Memorial Day 198
selected Bibliography 200
Index 203
