FEASTS, ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE.
On the day of Epiphany, after the Gospel, the deacon announces the six movable feasts of the new year. The melody that accompanies it is very ancient and almost identical to that of the Evangelist (v.). The phrase has a festive beginning, then gently descends and unfolds in a recitative that is a true model of the genre.
The custom of announcing the six or the principal recurring feasts for the assembly of the faithful dates back to the early days of Christianity, when the upcoming gatherings were truly convened by the bishop presiding over the assembly, as attested by St. Ignatius (PG 5, 271), St. Dionysius of Alexandria (Ep. ad Germanum; PG 10, 1324), and St. Cyprian (Ep. 63, no. 16; PL 4, 398). In the time of St. Jerome, Christians were summoned to the agape by the *praecones*, of whom he writes: *ad agapem vocaverint, preco condicuntur* (Ep. 22; PL 22, 418). These heralds were often deacons. The *Ordo de Si-Anand* states: «When a greater feast is to be held, the deacon shall announce it in the universal Church and say: "On such-and-such a weekday, the assembly will be in the basilica of that saint, and the station will be in the basilica of this other saint," and all respond: *Deo gratias*» (L. Duchesne, *Les origines du culte chrétien*, Paris 1925, p. 493).
In Alexandria, on 6 January each year, the *Epistola festalis* was published—a collective letter from the bishops announcing Easter and the movable feasts. Perhaps this is the origin of the pastoral letter that bishops still customarily address to their faithful at the beginning of Lent. In the Gallican Liturgy, the formulas abundant in Rome and the East are lacking; indeed, the Councils of Auxerre (578) and the Fourth Synod of Orléans ordain: "that all priests, before Epiphany, send their messengers to announce to them the beginning of Lent, and on Epiphany itself declare it to the people" (M. Gerbert, *Monumenta veteris liturgiae Alexandriae*, I, St. Blaise 1777, p. 450). In the Mozarabic liturgy, the annual announcement was made at Christmas, immediately after the Gospel.