Western
The Latin terms used for the feast, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up by his own powers, and it is from these terms that the holy day gets its name. The Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church treats "Holy Thursday" as an alternative name for Ascension Day. In Roman Catholicism the Ascension of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation. The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation days and the previous Sunday, the Sixth Sunday of Easter (or the Fifth Sunday after Easter), as Rogation Sunday. Ascension has a vigil and, since the 15th century, an octave, which is set apart for a novena of preparation for Pentecost, in accordance with the directions of Pope Leo XIII.
In Western Christianity, the earliest possible date is April 30, the latest possible date is June 3.
Read more about this topic: Feast Of The Ascension
Famous quotes containing the word western:
“But go, and if you listen she will call,
Go to the western gate, Luke Havergal—
Luke Havergal.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)
“Christianity as an organized religion has not always had a harmonious relationship with the family. Unlike Judaism, it kept almost no rituals that took place in private homes. The esteem that monasticism and priestly celibacy enjoyed implied a denigration of marriage and parenthood.”
—Beatrice Gottlieb, U.S. historian. The Family in the Western World from the Black Death to the Industrial Age, ch. 12, Oxford University Press (1993)
“Westron wind, when will thou blow?
The small rain down can rain.
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again.”
—Unknown. Western Wind (l. 1–4)