Remarks upon the solar and the lunar years, the cycle of 19 years, commonly called the golden number, the epact, and a method of finding the time of Easter, as it is now observed in most parts of EuropeMacclesfield, George Parker, Earl of
Religion
Remarks upon the solar and the lunar years, the cycle of 19 years, commonly called the golden number, the epact, and a method of finding the time of Easter, as it is now observed in most parts of Europe
Macclesfield, George Parker, Earl of
Calendar -- Early works to 1800; Calendar reform -- Early works to 1800; Easter -- Early works to 1800
When Pope _Gregory_ XIII. reformed the _Julian_ Solar Year, he likewise
made a Correction as to the Time of celebrating the Feast of _Easter_,
by placing the Epacts (which he directed to be made use of for the
future instead of the Golden Numbers) much nearer to the true Times of
the New Moons than the Golden Numbers then stood in the old Calendar:
I say, _much nearer to the true Times_; because in fact the Epacts, as
placed by him, were not prefixed to the exact Days upon which the New
Moons then truly fell. And this was done with Design, and for a Reason
which it is not material to the Purpose of this Paper to mention.
But the Church of _England_, and that of _Rome_ or the _Gregorians_, do
still agree in this; that both of them mark (the former by the Golden
Numbers, and the latter by the Epacts corresponding to them) the Days
on which their Ecclesiastical New Moons are supposed to happen: And
that fourteenth Day of the Moon inclusive, or that Full Moon, which
falls upon, or next after, the 21st Day of _March_, is the Paschal
Limit or Full Moon to both: And the _Sunday_ next following that Limit
or Full Moon, is by both Churches celebrated as _Easter_ Day. But the
21st of _March_ being reckoned, according to the _Gregorian_ Account or
the New Style, eleven Days sooner than by the _Julian_ Account or the
Old Style, which is still in Use amongst us; and their Ecclesiastical
New Moons being three Days earlier than those of the Church of
_England_; it happens that although the Church of _England_ and that of
_Rome_ often do, yet more frequently they do not, celebrate the Feast
of _Easter_ upon the same natural Day.
It might however be easier for both, and could occasion no
Inconvenience, now that Almanacks, which tell the exact Times of the
New Moons, are in most Peoples Hands; if all the Golden Numbers and
Epacts now prefixed to those Days of the Calendar, in our Book of
Common Prayer, and in the _Roman Breviary_, on which the respective
Ecclesiastical New Moons happen, were omitted in the Places where they
now stand; and were set only against those fourteenth Days of the Moon,
or those Full Moons, which happen betwixt the 21st Day of _March_ and
the 18th of _April_, both inclusive. Since no fourteenth Day or Full
Moon, which happens before the 21st of _March_, or after the 18th Day
of _April_, can have any Share in fixing the Time of _Easter_. By which
means the Trouble of counting to the fourteenth Day, and the Mistakes
which sometimes arise therefrom, would be avoided.
We do as yet in _England_ follow the _Julian_ Account or the Old Style
in the Civil Year; as also the Old Method of finding those Moons upon
which _Easter_ depends: Both of which have been shewn to be very
erroneous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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