OTTATA
Prolongation of a liturgical feast for eight days.
### I. IDEA AND ORIGINS
The prolongation of any solemn celebration, whether civil or religious, is a natural thing; one need only think, for example, of the celebrations for the dead, which, among many peoples and independently of religious form, are extended, especially when the deceased are venerated, for several days (three, seven, nine, or even nine days), as well as wedding celebrations prolonged for an entire week. Even the dedications of temples to worship, especially if of great religious or patriotic importance, were extended for several days.
The Old Testament also presents some examples of ritual celebrations prolonged for a week: such as the feast of Passover, which in reality consisted of two solemnities: Passover in the strict sense (14 Nisan), and the feast of Tabernacles, which included the feast itself, lasting from the 15th to the 21st of Tishrei, and a day of popular festivities on the 22nd of Tishrei. Likewise, the dedications of the Temple of Jerusalem were always prolonged for eight days: at the time of the first dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem under Solomon (2 Kings 8:62 ff.); as under Zerubbabel after the exile (Ezra 3:8 ff.; 6:13 ff.) and in the time of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 4:36 ff.; 10:1 ff.), which encountered the favor of symbolic-mystical explanations, so popular among the Hellenistic-influenced peoples of the East, from whom they passed to the Fathers and then to ancient and medieval writers. The number eight was considered, to limit ourselves to one point, as the perfect number (see the innumerable explanations of the Fathers, which, if adopted, would have highlighted their beauty and dignity). The Fathers, who saw themselves as a kind of anticipation of eternal Beatitude, also prefigured it mystically in the fact that the Apostle Thomas, absent at the first appearance of the Lord after His Resurrection, was present eight days later and was converted, thus partaking in the joy of Christ.
### II. DEVELOPMENTS
The first precise information about the celebration of an octave in the liturgy dates to the year 335, on the occasion of the solemn dedication of the Constantinian basilicas of Tyre and Jerusalem (Eusebius, *Vita Constantini*, III, 30). From the *Itinerarium Aetheriae* (attributed to the years 393–94), we also learn that at that time in Jerusalem the octaves of Easter and Epiphany were celebrated (ed. H. Pétre, Paris 1948, pp. 241, 205–207). St. Augustine, to omit other testimonies, frequently speaks of octaves, especially that of Easter (*"a octava infantium"*), *Sermo de temp.*, 228, 1: PL 38, 1101; *"Celebravimus feriam octavarum"*, in *De serm. Dom. in monte*, 4, 12: PL 34, 1235; *"In diebus sanctis octavarum"*, in *De divinatione daemon.*, I, 1: CSEL, XLI, 3, p. 599). The octave of Easter is closely linked to the practice of Baptism, conferred during the Easter Vigil, and to the daily participation of the neophytes in the liturgy until the laying aside of the white baptismal garments. Therefore, Pentecost, likewise a baptismal solemnity, also had an octave, which became universal only in the late Middle Ages, though the Roman Church adopted it very early. The octave of Easter became a civil holiday in the Theodosian Code (Cod. Theod., II, 8, 2).
The feast of Christmas, of Roman origin, soon had an octave, though of a particular kind, since from the beginning it was intertwined with the celebration of the *"comites Christi"*, whereas the octave of Easter had its own character as a Marian celebration. The octave of Epiphany entered into Western usage from the East, where, like Easter, Baptism was administered. Felix IV (526–30) was thought to be the author of a decretal ordering the celebration of the octave of the dedication of every church, based on synagogue usage; but the decretal, included in the *Decretum Gratiani* (De consec., dist. I, c. 17), which also serves as the lesson for the Second Nocturn of the eighth day of the dedication, is apocryphal.
The Council of Mainz of 813 (Mansi, XIV, 73 ff.) mentions only three octaves, two with eight festive days: Easter and Pentecost, and that of Christmas with four festive days plus the octave. Amalarius (see), in addition to the octaves of Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, and Epiphany, recalls those of certain saints’ feasts *"eorum scilicet quorum festivitas apud nos clarior habetur"* and mentions the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He also proposes the idea, later repeated by medieval liturgists, that the feast itself of a saint refers to the *"requies sanctorum"*, while the octave refers to the *"resurrectio corporum"* (Amalarius, *Liber officialis*, IV, chaps. 29, 32, 34, 35, ed. I. M. Hanssens [Studi e testi, 139], Vatican City 1938).
The *Micrologus* (chaps. 44) states that at that time, according to Roman practice, only octaves *"of Roman authority"* were celebrated, and these only on the eighth day, not on the other days, except for those of the Assumption and of St. Peter (PL 151, 1010). Honorius of Autun, in his famous *Gemma animae* (III. 17: PL 172, 647), develops Amalarius’ allegorical ideas about octaves, though without concrete dates. Sicard of Cremona, in his *Mitrale* (v. 7: PL 213, 225–33), subsequently adds to the octave of Christmas a treatise on octaves, enumerating those of Christmas, Epiphany, St. Stephen and companions, Easter, and Pentecost.
Radulfus of Rivo, in *De canonum observantia*, prop. 19 (ed. C. Mohlberg, *Rad. de R., der letzte Vertreter der altröm. Liturgie*, II, Münster 1915, p. 116 ff.), informs us that at that time, according to Roman practice, two kinds of octaves were observed: *maiores* and *minores*; the former with festive celebration on the first and eighth days, and on the Sunday falling within this period; while the latter were celebrated only on the last day as a simple feast with three lessons. The *maiores* octaves were those of Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, Trinity, Corpus Christi, Assumption, and the Nativity of Mary, Peter and Paul; the *minores* were those of Andrew, Lawrence, Martin, and, in some orders (the Carthusians), John the Baptist.
But by his time, the mendicant orders and not a few particular churches had already begun to observe octaves for an ever-increasing number of particular feasts, not only in the manner of the *minores* but with full celebration, at least with daily commemoration. It is therefore not surprising that St. Pius V, in his reform of the liturgical books (*Missal* and *Breviary*), severely limited octaves; beyond the great principal feasts, he permitted them only for the dedication of a church, the feast of its titular, and the principal patron canonically chosen. The monastic calendar approved under Paul V has no proper octaves.
In the edition of the *Breviary* by Urban VIII, octaves were excluded from December 17 and 23 (the following feast of Christmas with its octave extended this limitation to January 2) and from the entire Lenten season. Certain octaves (Easter, Pentecost, Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Christmas, Ascension) practically held a privileged position compared to others, though the technical term *"privileged octave"* appears only during the 18th century among some liturgists, while it entered official phraseology only with Pius X (1911–13).
### III. PRESENT STATE
At present, three kinds of octaves are distinguished: privileged, common, and simple. The privileged octaves are in turn of three orders; the privilege consists in the fact that they must be at least commemorated and can never be omitted. Common octaves yield to higher-ranking feasts, while simple octaves, introduced by Pius V in the manner of the medieval *minores* octaves, involve only a celebration on the eighth day.
Since the past century, the practice has spread of requesting, for particular churches or religious families, an octave for some important feast; for example, for Venice the feast of Corpus Christi (1815) and for Rome the feast of Saints Peter and Paul (1883; S. Congr. of Rites, *Decree auth.*, no. 3581).
The Universal Calendar currently has 7 privileged hours, divided into three orders: 1st order: Easter and Pentecost; 2nd order: Epiphany and Corpus Christi; 3rd order: Christmas, Ascension, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; 6 common hours: the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary; St. John the Baptist, the Patronage of St. Joseph, Sts. Peter and Paul, All Saints; and finally 5 simple hours: the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, and St. Lawrence. Additionally, there are particular hours for dedications, titular churches, and principal patrons, as well as, among religious orders, for their canonized founders.
In chronological order of their introduction (for the more recent ones), we have: 1243 (Innocent IV), hour of the Nativity of Mary; 1264 and 1317, Corpus Christi; 1471-84 (Sixtus IV), All Saints; 1691-1700 (Innocent XII), Immaculate Conception of Mary; 1911 (Pius X), solemnity of St. Joseph; 1929 (Pius XI), Sacred Heart of Jesus.