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TOMB & WOMB: RARE
MEET OF TWO KEY
CATHOLIC EVENTS
* The two religious celebrations have coincided only 14 times within a 500-year period from 1700 to 2200
* Incidentally, the very rare event has happened only twice this century (2005 and 2016)
* The next time that Good Friday and the Annunciation will converge will be 141 years later in 2157
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REMAIN ALERT: CHURCH
* Church exhorts its flock to remain alert against any government enacted laws and government organizations that go against society and environment
* In its message on Good Friday, it urged the members of the commubity to attend meetings including gram sabhas which are for the welfare of society
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ALL NOT WELL IN
THE STATE AND
NATION: FR GOMES
>> See pg 3
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THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI: It was a rare occasion for the Christian community this year as Good Friday fell on the same day as another important feast of the Catholic Church, the feast of the Annunciation.
So rare, that the two religious celebrations have coincided only 14 times within a 500-year period from 1700 to 2200. Incidentally, this has happened only twice this century (2005 and 2016) and the next time that Good Friday and the Annunciation will converge will be 141 years later in 2157.
While Good Friday marks the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, the Feast of the Annunciation commemorates the day Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb.
The Feast of the Annunciation is fixed on March 25, nine months preceding Christmas Day, while Good Friday is a movable celebration between March and April.
The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to Catholic faith and therefore, takes precedence over all other feast days.
But since the Annunciation is celebrated as a Solemnity “ the highest rank of all feasts in the Catholic Church “ the Holy See has adjusted the feast of the Annunciation whenever it falls in the Holy Week.
In such cases, the Church moves the feast of Annunciation to the first day after the Easter octave, which is always the Monday after Divine Mercy Sunday. This year, the feast of the annunciation will be celebrated on April 4.
Going by the Easter Sunday dates calculated by the Astronomical Society of South Australia in Adelaide, Good Friday and the Annunciation would have coincided 14 times between 1700 and 2200, a period of 500 years. These are in 1701, 1712, 1785, 1796, 1842, 1853, 1864, 1910, 1921, 1932, 2005, 2016, 2157, 2168, 2214, 2225 and 2236.
“Coincidently, the two celebrations have come together this year. The church Father Irenaeus of Lyons (early 2nd century “ c. AD 202) had stressed on the belief that Annunciation, being the day of conception of Jesus, was also the day of his death,” said Fr Victor Ferrao, professor at Rachol Seminary.
“The orthodox church, however, believes that the day of Annunciation is on April 6 and also considers it to be the day of crucifixion,” Fr Ferrao added.
