26/05/2026
The Pope surprised
On the Monday after Pentecost in 1970, Pope Paul VI went to his chapel to celebrate Mass and found green vestments laid out instead of red. When he asked his sacristan why item vestments are not red for the Pentecost octave, the sacristan replied, "Your Holiness, the octave of Pentecost was abolished." When the Pope asked who did it, the sacristan answered, "Your Holiness, you did.”
Revising the calendar
It had been recognised that the liturgical calendar of readings had got too complicated. in particular there had been too many feasts with their own octaves, In 1955 Pope Pius XII reduced them to the three, the major feasts of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
In fact it was a Vatican 2 Committee, the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, headed by Cardinal Annibale Bugnini (see photo), who abolished the Pentecost Octave on the grounds that it only went back to the 6th century, i. e. 1400 years. In his memoirs of Vatican 2 Louis Bouyer described Bugnini as "a man as bereft of culture as he was of basic honesty."
Maybe Bugnini did not want to give any encouragement to the burgeoning charismatic movement in the Church.
The Church of England
From 1980 to 2000 the Church of England celebrated the feast of Pentecost by having a complete week of Bible readings on the Holy Spirit. But in 2000 the new service book, ‘Common Worship’ abandoned that inspiring practice of the ancient church, dating back fifteen hundred years. Abolishing the Octave has made both the Roman Liturgy and since 2000 also the Anglican liturgy, the poorer
A Suggestion
But help is at hand! We can do our own Pentecost celebration. Below are my suggestions for daily readings for the week after Pentecost, i.e. now. Perhaps one reading in the morning and one in the evening. (They are my own suggestions. I have not tried to copy what we know of other schemes of readings for this period). My hope is simply that they will be able to help us pray “Come, Holy Spirit”.
READINGS FOR PENTECOST WEEK
MONDAY Beginnings
Acts 2.22-42
Mark 1.9-15
TUESDAY Receiving
Ephesians 1.11-14
John 3.1-12
WEDNESDAY Living
Galatians 5.16-25
Luke 11.5-13
THURSDAY Mission
Isaiah 61.1-3
Acts 10.34-48
FRIDAY New Life
Romans 8.1-17
John 7.37-39
SATURDAY Father, Son, Spirit
1 Corinthians 12.1-13
John 14.15-23
