Feast of Christ the King
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"Christ the King" redirects here. For the high school in New York, see Christ The King RHS.
The Feast of Christ the King (or properly, the Solemnity of Christ the King) is a holy day in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, and some other churches. Scriptural references: Psalm 23 [24]; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28.
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[edit] History of the Feast of Christ the King
Pope Pius XI instituted the Solemnity of Christ the King on 11 December 1925 in his encyclical Quas Primas. At that time he saw the rise of atheistic communism and secularism as a direct result of man's turning away from Christ's sovereignty, and man's denying of the authority of Christ's Church. This result was "disorder" or a move away from the Divine Order. The Feast of Christ the King was set on the last Sunday in October.
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS Xl DECEMBER 11, 1925: QUAS PRIMAS
After the Second Vatican Council, the calendar reforms of 1969 moved the date of the Feast of Christ the King to the last Sunday before the next liturgical year's Advent (Advent marking the start of the liturgical year and beginning four Sundays before Christmas Day). Before this change, the Sunday before Advent bore the designation "Last Sunday After Pentecost" and had its own special Mass, regardless of the number of Sundays there were between Pentecost and Advent (23 to 28) in that particular year.
[edit] Current practice
The current feast will fall on whichever day from November 20 through November 26, all inclusive, is a Sunday in a given year. It is reckoned as the 34th and last Sunday of Ordinary Time, and all previous Sundays from Pentecost onward are counted back from this number, which more than half the time results in one week of Ordinary Time (always from the 5th through the 10th) being omitted in that year; and since Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and, in the United States, the solemnity of Corpus Christi take the place of the first three such Sundays, this means four Sundays in Ordinary Time will be missing from the calendar in most years and three in the others.
White vestments are worn at masses on this Sunday, rather than the green that prevails during the rest of Ordinary Time, except for feasts that call for either white or red.
[edit] Non Roman Catholic Practices
The Church of England observes Christ the King as a Festival (with the subtitle "The Sunday next before Advent") on the same date as the Roman Catholic Church.
The calendar of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) celebrates Christ the King Sunday as the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar.
In some Methodist calenders the Feast of Christ the King is the last Sunday of Kingdomtide, and falls on the same Sunday as in the Catholic calendar.
The former date of the Christ the King feast—the last Sunday in October—is observed as Reformation Sunday by many Protestant denominations.
[edit] Schools and Churches
Many catholic Schools and Churches have taken this name to be the name used for the church, some examples are as follows.
