Saints' Days in the 1928 BCP

Saints' Days in the 1928 BCP are the fixed Holy Days and saint-related propers appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. They belong to the Prayer Book's system of collects, epistles, and gospels and are ordered chiefly around apostolic witness, biblical commemoration, Christian example, and the communion of saints in Christ. The 1928 book does not make saints' days a separate devotional system detached from Scripture and public worship; it gives them collects, lessons, Holy Communion use, and, in All Saints' Day, an explicit eucharistic preface and octave.

Prayer Book Placement

The 1928 propers print the saints' days under the general heading "Holy Days." The first proper is Saint Andrew the Apostle, dated November 30, and its collect establishes a pattern that recurs across the section: the saint is remembered so that the Church may follow Christ more faithfully.

ALMIGHTY God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere explain the Prayer Book arrangement as inherited from the older service-book order: Sundays and fixed festivals of the Church year come first, then saints' days whose dates move in relation to the Sundays. They also note a Reformation change that is central to Anglican use: many older collects had to be rewritten because they were prayers for the saints' intercession.

In the services of the Holy Days the arrangement follows the order of the later Latin Service-books; when the course for the Sundays and fixed festivals of the ecclesiastical year beginning with Advent, has been completed, the Collects are given for those Saints' days, the position of which will continually vary with respect to the Sundays. When the Kalendar was reformed it was necessary to compose a considerable number of new Collects, since many of the old Collects were mainly prayers for the saints' intercession.

This is why the 1928 saints' days are best read as scriptural commemoration and moral imitation rather than invocation. Saint Andrew's day joins the apostle's call in Matthew 4 to the Church's own obedience; Saint Peter's day prays for bishops and pastors to preach the Word; Saint Luke's day turns the evangelist's ministry toward Christ's healing love in the Church.

O ALMIGHTY God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Biblical and Reformation Limits

The saints' days retained in the classical Prayer Book tradition are not an open-ended calendar of later cults. Procter and Frere describe Cranmer's early decision to omit many medieval commemorations and retain the great New Testament saints.

Cranmer inserted in 1549 a new paragraph as to vernacular service, for which there had been no place in his Latin draft; he omitted a paragraph about the hymns, after having failed in his attempts to reproduce them in English dress, as he had planned to do; he also omitted a paragraph as to Saints' days, having by that time decided not merely to omit such festivals as were misleading, unjustifiable or superfluous, but to retain only the feasts of the great Saints mentioned in the New Testament.

Their account of the red-letter saints' days gives the theological criterion: the old commemorations are brought under biblical testing. The resulting Anglican pattern is conservative but selective. It remembers apostles, evangelists, martyrs, and biblically grounded feasts, while avoiding claims that would compete with the sufficiency of Christ's mediation.

In the case of the red letter days it clearly was the desire to bring the festivals to the test of the Bible, so that, without introducing new or extravagant commemorations, such of the old should be retained as would stand the test.

The 1928 revisions continue that restrained Anglican pattern. E. Clowes Chorley notes that the 1928 book amended many saints' day titles descriptively, added fixed dates, changed some epistles, supplied a new Saint Luke collect, and shortened the All Saints' Day Epistle by omitting the repeated tribal enumeration.

Most of the titles of the Saints' Days are amended on the descriptive side: "St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr"; "St. John, Apostle and Evangelist"; "Septuagesima, or the Third Sunday before Lent"; "The Sunday next before Easter, commonly called Palm Sunday," and the fixed dates of the feasts and festivals are added.

An alternative Gospel is provided for Maundy Thursday; new Epistles for St. Thomas' Day and for S.S. Simon and Jude and a new Collect for St. Luke's Day. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is now the appointed Gospel for the ninth Sunday after Trinity, and the unedifying repetition of the sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Epistle for All Saints' Day is omitted.

All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day receives fuller 1928 treatment than the individual apostolic feasts. Its collect names the communion and fellowship of the elect in Christ's mystical body, and the 1928 book adds that the collect is said daily throughout the octave.

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The appointed Epistle from Revelation 7 places the feast in the worship of heaven. The omission noted by Chorley leaves the universal multitude, its praise before the throne and the Lamb, and the promise of final consolation.

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

The Holy Communion office gives All Saints' Day its own Proper Preface, to be used on the feast and seven days after. The preface connects the feast with Hebrews 12 and the eucharistic Sanctus: the Church rejoices in the fellowship of the saints and then joins angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven in praise.

WHO, in the multitude of thy saints, hast compassed us about with so great a cloud of witnesses that we, rejoicing in their fellowship, may run with patience the race that is set before us, and together with them may receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away. Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying,

Saints Not Named in the Calendar

The 1928 BCP also provides "A Saint's Day" among propers for various occasions. This is important because it gives a Prayer Book form for local or occasional commemoration of a saint not named in the printed calendar. The first collect asks that the faithful may rejoice in the saints' triumphs and profit by their examples; the alternative collect explicitly draws on Hebrews 12.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost enkindle the name of thy love in the hearts of the Saints; Grant to us, thy humble servants, the same faith and power of love; that, as we rejoice in their triumphs, we may profit by their examples; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast called us to faith in thee, and hast compassed us about with so great a cloud of witnesses; Grant that we, encouraged by the good examples of thy Saints, and especially of thy servant [Saint——], may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at length, through thy mercy, we, with them, attain to thine eternal joy; through him who is the author and finisher of our faith, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Chorley treats this proper as one of the additions of the new American book. Its purpose is not to displace the printed calendar, but to give authorized Prayer Book language when a commemoration is made outside the named saints' days.

The last of the additions to the Collects, Epistles and Gospels is for "A Saint's Day" which can be used for the commemoration of any Saint not named in the Calendar of Saint's Days.

Use in Worship

The saints' days are not merely entries in a table. In the Holy Communion office the minister is to declare forthcoming holy days and fasting days, and the later rubric allows the ante-communion through the Gospel on Sundays and other holy days even when there is no sermon or Communion. These rubrics show that the calendar was meant to be heard and used in parish worship.

Then shall be declared unto the People what Holy-days, or Fasting-days, are in the week following to be observed; and (if occasion be) shall Notice be given of the Communion, and of the Banns of Matrimony, and other matters to be published.

Upon the Sundays and other Holy-days, (though there be no Sermon or Communion,) may be said all that is appointed at the Communion, unto the end of the Gospel, concluding with the Blessing.

Percy Dearmer summarizes the same Prayer Book ideal: holy days are days of public worship with the Holy Communion and catechesis, not private antiquarian observances.

Holy-days, i.e., the Saints' Days, etc., "to be observed." The Holy Communion (see the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels provided for these days), and Catechizing, in addition to Mattins and Evensong.

Theological Reading

The 1928 saints' days teach the communion of saints by prayer, Scripture, and eucharistic praise. Their collects regularly ask for obedience, steadfast faith, holy doctrine, pastoral fidelity, repentance, perseverance, healing, unity, and virtuous living. Their appointed readings place the saints under the witness of Christ and the apostles: Andrew follows Christ's call, Thomas confesses the risen Lord, Stephen forgives persecutors while seeing Christ at God's right hand, John bears witness to the Word of life, Peter feeds Christ's flock through preaching, Luke proclaims the healing love of the Son, and All Saints' Day gathers the whole company of the redeemed before the throne and the Lamb.

This makes the 1928 treatment distinctively Anglican. It is catholic in keeping the great commemorations and in joining the earthly Church's praise with the company of heaven. It is reformed in testing the calendar by Scripture, revising collects away from prayers for saintly intercession, and directing every commemoration toward Christ, grace, and holy living.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Collect for All Saints' Day
• Collect for A Saint's Day

External Links

• The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Propers for various occasions from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter IX
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII
• E. Clowes Chorley, The New American Prayer Book, chapter VII
• Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book