The proclamation of feasts on Epiphany
Epiphany and the ordering of Christian time
The Feast of the Epiphany is not only the celebration of Christ manifested to the Magi; it is the liturgical moment at which the Church publicly asserts that time itself belongs to Him. From late antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages, this conviction took concrete form in the solemn proclamation of the principal movable feasts of the year. Sung under the title Noveritis, fratres carissimi, the proclamation situates the unfolding of months and seasons within the light that has appeared at Bethlehem and now shines before the nations. It is the Church’s annual declaration that history is neither cyclical fate nor secular accident, but a redeemed order governed by the Paschal Mystery.¹
From calculation to proclamation
In the early centuries, the dating of Easter was a matter of genuine importance and, at times, controversy. Unlike Christmas, Easter could not be assigned a fixed date. Its determination required astronomical calculation and ecclesiastical authority. Once the date of Easter was known, the rest of the movable cycle followed with precision. The Church therefore faced a practical question: how should this information be communicated to clergy and faithful alike? The answer was characteristically liturgical. Rather than issuing a private notice or administrative decree, the Church proclaimed the feasts within the Mass itself, transforming necessity into worship.²
Epiphany, already associated with manifestation, kingship, and cosmic signs, provided the natural locus for this act. As Christ is revealed as Lord of the nations, so He is proclaimed Lord of the year that lies ahead.
Stabilisation in the Roman tradition
By the early medieval period, the proclamation had assumed a stable textual and musical form in the Roman Rite. It was transmitted through sacramentaries, graduals, and later through authoritative chant collections. Its definitive Roman recension was preserved in the Roman Martyrology, appended to the entry for 6 January. The chant opens with a solemn address—Know, dearly beloved—before announcing the date of Easter, followed by Ash Wednesday, Ascension, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, and, finally, the First Sunday of Advent, thus framing the entire liturgical year from Resurrection to expectation.³
The tone traditionally assigned to the proclamation closely resembles that of the Exsultet, the great Easter proclamation. This musical kinship is deliberate. Both chants announce light in darkness; both declare salvation in time; both situate the Church’s life within the victorious work of Christ.
More than information: a theology enacted
To hear the proclamation sung is to encounter a theology of time enacted rather than explained. First, it affirms that Easter is the axis of the year. The Resurrection is not one feast among many, but the source from which all others flow. The proclamation makes this hierarchy audible.
Secondly, it expresses the Church’s claim that sacred time is public and communal. The dates are not reserved to clerics or printed quietly in calendars; they are sung aloud before the faithful. The Church thereby asserts that her rhythm of fasting and feasting shapes not only private devotion but the shared life of the Christian people.
Thirdly, it reinforces the link between Epiphany and Pascha. The Magi’s journey does not end at the crib; it points forward to the Cross and the empty tomb. By proclaiming the Paschal feasts on Epiphany, the Church binds manifestation to redemption, revelation to sacrifice.⁴
Liturgical placement and ritual dignity
Traditionally, the proclamation may be sung after the Gospel or after Communion. Each placement carries meaning. After the Gospel, it underscores that the ordering of time flows from the Word proclaimed. After Communion, it suggests that the year itself unfolds from the Eucharistic Sacrifice just received. In either case, its liturgical dignity is unmistakable: it is sung by a deacon or cantor, often from the ambo, vested and incensed in more solemn celebrations, reinforcing that this is an act of worship, not instruction.
Obscurity and loss in the modern period
The gradual disappearance of the Epiphany proclamation in the twentieth century mirrors a broader erosion of the Church’s sense of sacred time. Simplification of rites, the decline of chant, and an increasingly secularised calendar all contributed to its neglect. Yet significantly, the rite was never abrogated. It fell silent not by decree, but by omission.
Its absence coincided with a growing tendency to experience the liturgical year as fragmented—a series of disconnected observances rather than a single coherent movement centred on Easter.
Contemporary recovery and catechetical power
In recent decades, the proclamation has been quietly restored in cathedrals, monastic churches, and traditional communities. Where it is sung, it functions as a powerful catechesis without a single explanatory word. The faithful hear, often for the first time, that the year ahead already belongs to Christ; that Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Advent are not abstractions but appointed encounters with divine grace.⁵
In a culture governed by fiscal years, academic terms, and political cycles, the Epiphany proclamation offers a counter-vision: a year measured not by productivity or profit, but by salvation.
Conclusion
To proclaim the feasts on Epiphany is to confess, publicly and liturgically, that Christ is King of time. On the day when He is manifested to the nations, the Church declares how His light will order the months ahead—through penitence and joy, through Cross and Resurrection, until expectation dawns again in Advent. The chant is brief, but its claim is immense: history is not adrift. It is gathered, named, and redeemed in Christ.
The Proclamation
Know, dear brethren,
that as we have rejoiced at the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ,
so by leave of God’s mercy
we announce to you also the joy of His Resurrection,
who is our Saviour.
On the eighteenth day of February
will fall Ash Wednesday,
and the beginning of the fast of the most sacred season of Lent.
On the fifth day of April
you will celebrate with joy Easter Day,
the Paschal feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On the fourteenth day of May
will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On the twenty-fourth day of May
the feast of Pentecost.
On the fourth day of June
the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
On the twenty-ninth day of November
the First Sunday of Advent
of the coming year.
To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come,
Lord of time and of history,
be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Latin Adapted for 2026
¹ Missale Romanum (pre-1955), In Epiphania Domini; Liber Usualis, “Noveritis, fratres carissimi.”
² Bede the Venerable, De temporum ratione, on the ecclesiastical computation of Easter.
³ Roman Martyrology, 6 January, appendix “Noveritis, fratres carissimi.”
⁴ Catechismus Romanus (Catechism of the Council of Trent), I.10, on the sanctification of time through the mysteries of Christ.
⁵ Cathedral and monastic customaries restoring the Epiphany proclamation in the modern Roman Rite tradition.
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