Phase 1 Complete

The first phase of our research is complete with the incorporation of all thirty-four temporal calendars into the missal database. The bulk of the 58,000+ records was previously cataloged by the Usuarium team from Hungary, saving us roughly six months of intensive effort.

Allow me to explain what this means. The image above from the Brandenburg Missal highlights the mass for Thursday of Pentecost. The first Latin words (incipit) of each element have been recorded as shown below:

Now that the temporal calendars have been cataloged in this way, we can put the data to work. The following table shows just the Alleluia verse for this occasion:

When Veni Sancte Spiritus appears in The Lutheran Missal as the Alleluia for Thursday after Pentecost (in English form, of course), this choice will reflect the consensus of Western tradition as contained in the missals of pre-Reformation Germany.

With the completion of the temporal calendars (Phase 1), we can begin work on the larger sanctoral calendars (Phase 2). Unfortunately, we have caught up to the Usuarium team. This time, volunteers for The Lutheran Missal project will undertake the massive data-entry task, sharing our completed work with Usuarium.