The Book of Common Prayer Table of
contents
Rules to Order the Service
1. When some
other greater Holy Day falls on Ash Wednesday, on Passion Sunday,
on Palm Sunday or one of the fourteen days following, on Ascension
Day, or on Whitsunday or on one of the seven days following, it
shall be transferred as appropriate to the Friday after Ash
Wednesday, or the Tuesday after Passion Sunday, or the Tuesday
after Easter 1, or the Friday after Ascension Day, or the Tuesday
after Trinity Sunday: except that if Easter Day falls on April
22nd, 24th or 25th, the festival of St Philip and St James shall be
observed on the Tuesday of the week following Easter 1, and the
festival of St Mark shall be observed on the Thursday of that
week.
2. On any
Sunday other than Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, Easter Day, Easter
1, Whitsunday and Trinity Sunday, the service of the Sunday may be
replaced by that of a greater Holy Day falling on the Sunday, or of
a patronal or dedication festival, or of a Harvest Thanksgiving, or
of a baptism or confirmation; or it shall be permissible to
transfer a greater Holy Day falling on a Sunday to the following
Tuesday, except that St Stephen's Day, Epiphany and All Saints' Day
may not be so transferred.
3. A lesser
Holy Day shall lapse if it falls on any Sunday, on Ash Wednesday,
on Palm Sunday or any of the fourteen days following, on Ascension
Day, or on Whitsunday or any of the seven days following. A lesser
Holy Day shall lapse when a greater Holy Day is transferred to the
date appointed for it, but the collect of the lesser Holy Day may
be used as a memorial. But when a lesser Holy Day is observed as a
patronal festival, it may be treated as a greater Holy Day and
observed in accordance with rules 1, 2 and 6; it shall take
precedence over other greater Holy Days falling on or transferred
to the same day.
4. When a
greater or lesser Holy Day falls on an Ember Day or a Rogation Day,
the service appointed for the Holy Day shall be said and the
collect only of the Ember Day or Rogation Day shall be said as a
memorial.
5. Except when other provision is
made, the collect of the Sunday is to be used on the remaining days
of the week; but the collect of Christmas Day, Ash Wednesday and
Ascension Day shall be used on the weekdays which follow when no
other provision is made.
The collect of every Sunday except Easter Day
shall be said at evening prayer on the Saturday evening before; and
the collect of other Holy Days except Christmas Day shall be said
at evening prayer on the evening before; except that at evening
prayer on Christmas Day, Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day and All
Saints' Day the collect of the day only shall be said.
6. A service
for evening prayer appointed for a greater Holy Day or for a
patronal or dedication festival may be used either on the evening
of the Holy Day or on the previous evening, or if circumstances
require it this service may be held on both evenings; except that
on St Stephen's Day, St John's Day, the Innocents' Day, Ash
Wednesday, Ascension Day, or All Saints' Day, it may be said on the
evening of the Holy Day only.
Text from The Book of Common Prayer, the
rights in which are vested in the Crown,
is reproduced by permission of the Crown's Patentee, Cambridge
University Press.