IN FRATERNAM MEAM

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Monday, March 01, 2004

LEAP YEAR/FEBRUARY ENDED
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february 29 ended and thus the Leap Year calendar will come again after four years.
in order to understand Leap Year , we have to undertstand the calendar that the christians are using.

there are different types of calendar. 1) the chinese are using the Lunar calendar, 2). there is an Orthodox calendar, 3). there is also the Muslim calendar and there is also the 4). Jewish calendar.

the christians are using the Gregorian calendar.

by the late 15th century, the Julian Calendar called as such, cuz it was promulgated by Julius Ceasar in 46 B.C. was 10 days out of step with the seasons. in response, to the growing agricultural and navigational turmoil, Pope Sixtus IV contracted an astronomer Johann Muller to reform the calendar, but shortly later Muller was murdered. efforts at calendar reform shifted then to the secular arena for the next century, but the obstacles of nationalism quashed any hope of concerted efforts there.

finally Pope Gregory XIII was able to assemble a team of scholars under the supervision of Lilius. when Lilius dies, before completion of the calculations, the renowed Jesuit mathematician Clavius took over and finished the task. in Febraury 1582, the Supreme Pontiff issued a brief which corrected the system of reckoning days within the calendar and to erase the ten day error, decreed that October 5, 1582 would be October 15, 1582. Lingering suspicions of Rome's motives nothwithstanding, most of Europe quickly adopted the Gregorian Calendar, although for a brief period during the French Revolution, it was discarded in favor of a decimal based week.

the Orthodox Chruches notably have not yet adopted the Gregorian Calendar, and their Julian Calendar is now thirteen days off. the Gregorian Calendar is considered accurate to within one day in 20,000 years.

(extracted from the research of Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, PhD. S.T.L.)

posted by infraternam meam @ 3:59 AM

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