Inter Gravissimas
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Inter gravissimas'' (English: "Among the most serious...") was a
papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...
issued by
Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...
on 24 February 1582.''Inter Gravissimas''
Bill Spencer's translation of the ''Inter Gravissimas'', 1999, revised 2002, based on Rodolphe Audette's transcription of the text. Also includes Rodolphe Audette's translation into .
The document, written in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, reformed the
Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
. The reform has conventionally come to be regarded as a new calendar in its own right, called the
Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
, named after Pope Gregory XIII. In the realm of orthodox christendom whose liturgical cycles did not apply the Inter gravissimas, the reformed calendar is noted as the ''New Style.'' The reformed Julian Calendar is used in most countries today, relatively independent of religious orientation of its populaces.


Description

The intention expressed by the text of this bull was "to restore" the calendar so that seasonal events critical for the calculation of Easter dates would be back in their "proper places" and would be prevented from being moved away again. The idea of reform as such is not otherwise mentioned. The bull identifies "three necessary" things for the correct determination of Easter dates: correct placement of the northern vernal equinox; correct identification of the "14th day of the moon" (effectively full moon) that happens on or next after the vernal equinox, and the first Sunday that follows that full moon. The first two items were the ones that received attention; the third, about choosing the next following Sunday, was not identified as causing any problem, and was not further mentioned. By "restore", Gregory meant two things. First, he adjusted the calendar so that the vernal equinox was near March 21, where it had been during the Council of Nicaea (20 May– 25 August 325). This required removing ten days of drift. Second, he made the tabular 14th day of the moon correspond with the real full moon, removing "four days and more" of drift. This would restore the dates of Easter to near where they were at the time of the Council of Nicaea, although that council had not specified where in the calendar the vernal equinox should fall and had not adopted any particular type of lunar tables. The practices of the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
that had become traditional by 1582 for calculating the Easter and lunar calendars became settled when
Dionysius Exiguus Dionysius Exiguus (Latin for "Dionysius the Humble"; Greek: Διονύσιος; – ) was a 6th-century Eastern Roman monk born in Scythia Minor. He was a member of a community of Scythian monks concentrated in Tomis (present-day Constanț ...
translated the rules of the
Church of Alexandria The Church of Alexandria in Egypt was the Christian Church headed by the patriarch of Alexandria. It was one of the five sees of the pentarchy, alongside Rome, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem. Tradition holds that Saint Mark the Evangeli ...
from
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
into
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
in 525. (
Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...
adopted them at
Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...
in 664, the Welsh around 768, and France around 775. Before this, France and Rome had used Victorius's less exact 457 translation of the
Coptic calendar The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is a liturgical calendar used by the farming populace in Egypt and used by the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches. It was used for fiscal purposes in Egypt until the adoptio ...
; Britain and Rome before Victorius had used Augustalis's 84-year cycle.) Gregory also made changes to the calendar rules, intending to ensure that, in the future, the equinox and the 14th day of the Paschal moon, and consequently Easter Sunday, would not move away again from what the bull called their proper places. The changes (relative to the Julian calendar) were as follows: # Reduction of the number of
leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to keep t ...
s – centennial years, such as 1700, 1800, and 1900 ceased to be leap years, but years that can be divided by 400, such as 1600 and 2000 continued to be; # Turning back extra days – 4 October 1582, was to be followed by 15 October 1582, and these 10 missing days were not to be counted in calculating end days of
loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...
s,
taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
etc.; #
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
was to be computed with reference not only to the new 21 March, but also by the use of new Paschal tables. The name of the bull consists of the first two words of the bull, which starts: ''"Inter gravissimas pastoralis officii nostri curas…"'' ("Among the most serious duties of our
pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
office…"). The bull refers to "the explanation of our calendar" and to a canon related to the dominical letter. To accompany the bull there were six chapters of explanatory rules ('canons'), and some of these (canons 1, 2, 4) refer to a book entitled ''Liber novæ rationis restituendi calendarii Romani'' G Moyer (1983)
"Aloisius Lilius and the 'Compendium novae rationis restituendi kalendarium'"
pp. 171–188 in G.V. Coyne (ed.), ''The Gregorian Reform of the Calendar: Proceedings of the Vatican conference to commemorate its 400th anniversary'' (Vatican City: Specola Vaticana), 1983.
for a fuller explanation of the tables than that contained in the canons (or the bull). Because the bull and canons refer to each other, they must have been written at roughly the same time, printed at the same time (1 March), and distributed to the several countries together. These canons enabled the computation of Easter dates in the reformed ('restored') Gregorian calendar, and gave two calendar-listings saints' days, one for the 'year of correction' (1582) and another for the entire new Gregorian year. The bull, canons, and calendars were reprinted as part of the principal book explaining and defending the Gregorian calendar, Christoph Clavius, ''Romani calendarii a Gregorio XIII. P. M. restituti explicatio'' (1603),"Inter gravissimas"
in Christoph Clavius, ''Romani calendarii a Gregorio XIII. P. M. restituti explicatio'', 1603. The bull begins on page 53, counting from the front cover. The title page is p. 5.
which is tome V in his collected works ''Opera Mathematica'' (1612).Opera Mathematica of Christoph Clavius
Go to Page, Go To Specific Page, Work: Roman Calendar of Gregory XIII, Page: Calendar – p. 13. The fifth volume contains his works on the Gregorian calendar.


Date

The version of "Inter gravissimas" included by Christoph Clavius in his work explaining the Gregorian calendar contained these dating clauses: "Anno Incarnationis Dominicae M. D. LXXXI. Sexto Calend. Martij, Pontificatus nostri Anno Decimo. ... Anno à Natiuitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi Millesimo Quingentesimo Octuagesimo secundo Indictione decima,". These clauses include four years: *"Anno Incarnationis Dominicae M. D. LXXXI." (In the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1581) is the year beginning . is the traditional date of the conception,
annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...
, and
incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...
of
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. *"Sexto Calend. Martij" (On the sixth aybefore the Kalends stof March.) The Romans counted inclusively; modern usage would say the fifth day before 1 March, or 24 February. *"Pontificatus nostri Anno Decimo" (In the tenth year of our pontificate) is the year beginning .
Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...
was elected pope on (in terms of the Julian calendar). *"Anno à Natiuitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi Millesimo Quingentesimo Octuagesimo secundo" (In the year from the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ 1582) is the year beginning using the modern beginning of the year. It marks the beginning of year 1582 if that year began on , the traditional date of the birth or
nativity of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...
. *"Indictione decima" ( Indiction 10) is the year beginning , which agrees with modern reckoning. All of these years agree that the bull was dated 24 February 1582, using the modern beginning of the year.


Adoption

Gregory's reform was enacted in the most solemn of forms available to the Church, but the bull had no authority beyond the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...
. The changes which Gregory was proposing included changes to the civil calendar over which Gregory had no authority (except in the Papal States). The text of the bull recognized this by giving what amounted to orders to the clergy and those "presiding over churches": but in contrast, where the text addresses the civil authorities ("kings, princes and republics"), it "asks", "exhorts" and "recommends" the new calendar changes. The changes required adoption by the civil authorities in each country to have legal effect. The bull ''Inter gravissimas'' was immediately adopted by the major Catholic powers of Europe, but the Protestant countries refused to adopt it until the 18th century, and Eastern European countries adopted it only during or after World War I (the last European country to adopt it was Greece, in 1923). Most Eastern Orthodox Churches and
Oriental Orthodox Churches The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is ...
have not adopted it at all and continue to reckon their ecclesiastical years by the Julian calendar, even though their home countries use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.


References


External links

* Wikisource English translation of ''Inter gravissimas'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Inter Gravissimas Gregorian calendar Specific calendars 1582 in Christianity 16th-century papal bulls Documents of Pope Gregory XIII 1582 in science Date of Easter