TRM Ordo: Editorial Notes

The basic principle of this kalendar is to reflect traditional Anglo-Catholic practice in conformity to the formularies of the Anglican Church of Canada. Some local, traditional, and American observances are included in italics.

The Ordo assumes the use of the Revised Common Lectionary on Sundays and holy days and the Daily Office Lectionary (or the Weekday Eucharistic Lectionary) on memorials, commemorations, and at daily votive Masses. These lectionaries, together with the major propers for Sundays and holy days, are printed in the Book of Alternative Services. (In communities with a tradition of daily Morning and Evening Prayer, the table of lessons in the Book of Common Prayer is more suited to this purpose, but if the BAS lectionary is preferred, the Weekday Eucharistic Lectionary may be used at Daily Mass). On memorials and commemorations, the collect, secret, and postcommunion are taken from For All the Saints. The minor propers and additional liturgical material, including the propers of Our Lady and of the Departed and proper prayers in traditional language, are always found in the Anglican Gradual & Sacramentary; on days not included in the American kalendar, an appropriate common is used for these. During traditional octaves, a commemoration of the feast is suggested after the orations of the day.

A requiem is assigned on free days. Provision is made for the traditional Saturday votive Mass of Our Lady. The BAS enjoins a distinction between "memorials" (which use the colour of the day and a reading from the Common of Saints) and "commemorations" (which use the colour of the season and the ferial readings). Here the colour of the day and the ferial readings are instead appointed for both.

The colour sequence gives traditional Roman and English options, drawing from Ritual Notes (9) and Western Rite Orthodox sources. I have also consulted the chart at Full Homely Divinity. In parishes of more modest means, purple vestments may take the place of crimson, rose, and/or black. For much of the Church's history, the now oft-lamented "local custom" was the norm rather than an anomaly, and some leeway must be allowed for circumstance.