Dominica in Capite-Quinquagesima Sunday. "Quadragesima" is here understood.

Dominica Indulgentiæ -Pardon, or Palm Sunday, which was called the Sunday of indulgence, not because penitence was relaxed-for throughout the week that was most rigid-but because the excommunicated were readmitted (see Dominica Competentium), pardon was granted to criminals in prison, and debtors were forgiven (Ambros., Serm. 33, ad Sororem). In the time of Hildebrand, any criminal at Paris might be discharged from prison on the intercession of the bishop (De Diebus Sanctis, p. 66). See Pardon Sunday.

Dominica Inferius -Low Sunday. "Pascha is sometimes added to "Inferius."

Dominica in Palmis.-Palm Sunday.

Dominica in Passione Domini.-Sunday in our Lord's Passion, the fifth Sunday in Lent, and sometimes all Sundays in Lent. Robert, bp. of London, delivered up the great seal 6 Ric. II, "die Martis proxime post diem dominicam in Passione, videlicet, decimo die Martii, anno præsenti” (1383).— Rymer, t. IV, p. 162.

Dominica in Ramis Palmarum.-Palm Sunday. The death of Richard I is dated, in Annal. Monast. Burton, "Decessit autem viii idus Aprilis, feria iii ante dominicam in ramis palmarum, xi die postquam percussus fuerat" (Gale, Script. Angl., t. I, p. 256). Others say that he died on the tenth or twelfth day after his wound Rymer, t. I, p. 74). See Marie day in Leinte.

Dominica Invocabit.-See Invocavit me.

Dominica Jerusalem.-Midlent Sunday. See Latare Jerusalem.

Dominica Jubilate.-The third Sunday after Easter (Bed. Oper., t. VII, p. 22). See Jubilate Omnis Terra.

Dominica Lætare.-Midlent Sunday. Sce Lætare Jerusalem.

Dominica Lazari.-Palm Sunday.

Dominical Letters.-The Solar Cycle is a revolution of twenty-eight years, beginning with 1, and ending with 28, after which they begin again, and end the same as before, whence the name cycle, a circle. In this cycle there are two sorts of years-the common, consisting of 365 days, or 52 weeks and 1 day, and bissextile or leap years, consisting of 366 days, or 52 weeks and two days. The common year ends on the same day of the week with which it began, because it consists of 52 weeks and 1 day, and leap-ycars end on the morrow of the day with which they began. If a common year begin on a Monday, it will end on a Monday, and Tuesday will be the first day of the next or new year; but the leap year will end on Tuesday, and Wednesday will be the new year's day. Thence it follows, that if there were only common years, their commencements, as well as those of the months, would successively run through all the days of the week without interruption, and produce a cycle of seven years. But as there are leap years, which derange this order every fourth year, the commencements of the year must pass through the seven days of the week, in order to a series of years perfectly like the first, in regard to the days of the month and the week. This is the foundation of the solar cycle, composed of 28 years; for 7 multiplied by 4, or 4 by 7, are 28.

The Western Christians, to facilitate the finding of Easter Sunday, as well as other days, represented the days of the week by the first seven letters of the alphabet, whence result several easy and useful problems; but the Eastern Christians employed the more troublesome method of the figures called Concurrents and Regulars, to find the proper day of the week, and the first days of each month. The Dominical Letters are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, which point to the Sunday throughout the whole course of the solar cycle, and they shift backwards, so that they stand thus in the cycle-G, F, E, D, C, B, A, which Bede expresses in the versicle

Grandia, Frendet Equus, Dum Cernit Belliger Arma."

In kalendars, except Galba (where the letters of the word Angelus are used), these letters are placed against the days of the month-A to Jan. 1, B to Jan. 2, and so on, ending A, Dec. 31; and when A is the dominical or Sunday letter of the year, B is Monday, C, Tuesday, and so on: if G be the Sunday letter, A is Monday, and so on. In a Bissextile year there are two dominical letters, the first of which denotes Sunday from the beginning of the year to the time of the intercalation, Feb. 24, and the other does the same service for the rest of the year. Now, as there are 7 intercalations or leap-days in the space of 28 years, or the solar cycle, it follows that the dominical letter is 7 times double in this cycle. The first year of the solar cycle has the letters G, F, and the 28th, or last, year has A. Hence, if the year of the cycle be known, the corresponding letter is readily found.

:

To find the Cycle of the Sun, and the Dominical Letter corresponding to it, for any Julian Year of Christ :-Add 9 to the proposed year, because the Christian era commenced in the 10th cycle of the sun, so that there were nine complete cycles before it-and divide the sum by 28. The quotient gives the number of cycles passed, and the remainder is the year of the cycle required if no remainder, 28 is the cycle. If the dominical letter of 1461 be required, adding 9 we have 1470, which, divided by 28, gives a quotient of 52 solar cycles, and a remainder of 14 years of another cycle, to which the letter D belongs. Owing to the change which was made in the kalendar, this method will not answer for the Gregorian years, which were introduced into English computation in 1752.

To find the Dominical Letters in the Gregorian Years :-Place the letters and figures in the following order—

To the given year add its fourth part, omitting fractions; divide the sum by 7, and the remainder will give the figure over which the dominical letter of that year is found. By adding 12 (the difference between the old and new style) to any year previous to 1752, and dividing by 7, the dominical letter will be found.

The following Tables of the Solar Cycle will serve to ascertain the DomiInical Letters for the Julian and Gregorian years :—

VOL. II.

N

By the following Table, the Dominical Letter or Letters may be found for any year before the Old Style, by simple inspection

A Table of Concurrents and Dominical Letters is useful, to shew the first and last day of any year of which the Letter is known, and also the Dominical Letter of any series of years, when the Letter beginning that series is known. Common years, as before stated, consist of 52 weeks and 1 day, and leap years of 52 weeks and 2 days. These supernumerary days are called the Concurrents, because they concur or run with the solar cycle (see Concurrentium Locus). The first year of this cycle takes the Dominical Letter F, and the concurrent 1-the second E, 2, and so on :

G Sun. G Mon. G Tue. G Wed. G Thu. G Frid. G Satu.

The following verse is given in some works, to find the day of the week on which any month begins, the initial letters being the Dominical Letters that stand against those days in the kalendars:

At Dover D well G eorge Brown, Esquire,

Good Christopher Finch And David Friar.

In charters, the Dominical Letters are sometimes expressed by their rank in the alphabet, as Littera i. for A, Littera ii. for B. They are often mentioned in dates; thus, the abbot of St. Petersborough tells that St. Guthlac died on Wednesday, April 11, in these terms-" In the year 714 died St. Guthlac, on the 4th day of Easter week, when the Sunday Letter was G."-Chron. Peterib., an. 714.

Anciently, the Sunday Letter was changed at other times than January 1, according to the commencement of the year. Du Cange extracts an observation from an ancient MS., that the Golden Numbers and Sunday Letters are changed annually at the Ascension; but in the year of the Incarnation in France, at the Annunciation,-and in some countries at the Nativity : "Nota quod numerus lunaris et littera dominicalis mutantur annuatim in Festo Ascensionis: anno vero Incarnationis Domini mutantur in terra ista in Festo Annuntiationis B. Mariæ, et in quibusdam regionibus in Festo Nativitatis Domini" (Gloss., tom. I, col. 463). In the Saxon kalendar V. 424, the Concurrents and Dominical Letters are directed to be changed at March 1, which of course applies to those who commenced the year at that day. The wrong letters are given to the years 1330, 1333, and

1387, in the Annales of Wilhelm Wyrcestre, where we find D for G, G for C, and C for E.

Dominica LUCA, prima, secunda, &c.—In the Gr. ch., the 18th Sunday after Pentecost is called the first of St Luke, because they begin to read his Gospel; and they count thirteen of these Sundays, of which the tenth answers to our Advent Sunday, and the last to the fourth Sunday of Advent. These Sundays are also named from the subject of the Gospel read on each: thus, the first Sunday of Luke is Dominica de Venatione Piscium-the second, de amandis Inimicis, &c.

Dominica LUCA decima quinta, sive ZACCHI.-The second Sunday after
Epiphany, when the Greeks resumed the Gospel of St. Luke.

Dominica LUCA duodecima.-The Greek 3rd Sunday after Epiphany.
Dominica Magna.-Palm Sunday.- Fest. Anglo-Rom., 1678.

Dominica Mapparum Albarum.-Second Sunday after Easter.

Dominica Mater.-Our Lord's Mother: "De celebritate festivitatis dominicæ matris."-Concil. Hispan., t. III, col. 2.

Dominica MATTHÆI, prima, secunda, tertia, &c.-The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, &c. Sundays after Whitsunday among the Greeks, who, on these days, read the Gospel of St. Matthew, divided into sections. The first of these Sundays answers to our first after Whitsuntide.

Dominica Mediana.-Passion Sunday. Folcuin, in his Chronicle, calls this day Mediana Octava-perhaps because it is the eighth Sunday from Septuagesima The week which precedes this Sunday is also called Hebdomada Mediana. The reason of this is, that when the six weeks of Lent were equally divided, the first week of the second part was called Hebdomada Mediana, which was the first of the Roman Lent; and because that fast began on the Monday of Mediana, Passion Sunday was also called Mediana.-See Mabillon, Musæum Ital., t. II; Ordo Rom., p. cxxvii. Dominica Media xl, or Media Quadragesima.-Midlent Sunday is often writen with the Roman notation of 40. Wikes, an. 1283, dates—“ Dominica media xl. scil. v kal. Aprilis" (p. 111), which quadrates with the time; Easter fell on April 18, and March 25 was Midlent Sunday. Dominica Mensis Pascha.-Sunday of Easter Month; Low Sunday, Dominica Modo Geniti.-Low Sunday. See Quasimodo.

Dominica Nova, Kvρiakη Nɛα.-In the Gr. church, the first Sunday after Easter (see Antipascha). Athanasius and Greg. Nazianzen have homilies on this day.-Naz., Orat. 43.

Dominica Olivarum.-Palm Sunday.

Dominica Orthodoxia.-The 1st Sunday of Lent among the Greeks, and so named on account of the restoration of image worship: on this day they chaunted creeds, and pronounced curses on those who would not believe in them. "Opodožia. Fuisse hanc primam dominicam quadragesima diserte docet Philotheus, Homil. in Prima Domin. Quadrag."—" In ea dominica Codinus, Lib. de Offic. innuit recitare solitum adstante imperatore Synodicum. Videtur significare formulam fidei, sive anathematismos in hæreses a synodis."-Possin. Gloss, in Pachymerii Hist. Andronic., p. 501.

Dominica Osanna, or Osannæ.-Palm Sunday, on which the hymn in excelsis" was sung.

Osanna