WESTERN SYSTEM

have made modifications to this system or disregarded its use completely. The Jerusalem liturgical year (cycle) begins with the Nativity and ends with Pentecost. WESTERN SYSTEM.—It was the Jerusalem system, with its cycle from the Nativity to Pentecost, that was taken over by the Western Church and later underwent modifications and additions. In the Roman Missal, the Proper of the Time (i.e., the temporal cycle) runs as follows: Four Sundays in Advent, the first of which is the Sunday nearer Nov. 30 Christmas Day (Dec. 25) St. Stephen’s Day (Dec. 26) St. John the Apostle’s Day (Dec. 27) Holy Innocents’ Day (Dec. 28) Sunday within the octave of Christmas St. Thomas a’ Becket’s Day (Dec. 29) St. Silvester’s Day (Dec. 31) Octave of Christmas (Jan. 1) Sunday before Epiphany Epiphany (Jan. 6) Six Sundays after Epiphany Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) Six Sundays in Lent, the fifth of which is Passion Sunday inaugu- rating Passiontide, and the sixth is Palm Sunday Holy Week Easter Day Five Sundays after Easter Ascension Day on the following Thursday Sunday after Ascension Day Pentecost 2-30