Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1968, Qupperneq 212

9TH DEC. DE S. ANNA
dignam, 3 Et] En, 4 reads: Nos hac die tibi gregatos serua mater
de luce mundi qua prodisti qua peperisti conditoris matrem, cf.
AH 53, No. 95, v. 10.
The Missale Romanum has the celebration of St. Anna, mother
of the Holy Virgin, on the 26th July; but as the Missale Nidrosiense
has it on the 9th December, we place it there.
The celebration of St. Anna was introduced in the Roman Catholic
Church in 1378, to be held on 26th July.
Mr. Christopher Hohler (University of London) writes to me:
“The history of the devotion to St. Anna in England is worked out
by Dom. A. Wilmart... and began at Worcester under Bishop Simon
1125—50. Her name, on 26th July of course, is in a few English
calendars of the 13th and 14th century and in nearly all of the 15th
century”.
Also in the Eastern (Greek Orthodox) Church, St. Anna was
celebrated a considerable time before 1378; her festival day there
was (and is) 9th December.
There are some rather puzzling traits about the St. Anna cult in
Norway (and to some extent in Sweden and Denmark too).
It seems to have been established in the two southernmost dioceses
of Norway (viz. Stavanger and Oslo) in the first part of the 15th
century, at least some time before 1436, and connected with 26th
July. Only in this year — according to the Diplomatarium Norve-
gicum V, 6601 — was it introduced in the other Norwegian dioceses,
and there connected with 9th December, to which day the first
named dioceses must soon have transferred it, because it is the only
one prescribed in the Miss. Nidr.
In this connection see Moberg, I, p. 13, where the author informs
us that in the years 1417 and 1436 “zwei Synoden in Schweden die
Verlegung des Anna-Festes von dem 26. Juli auf den 9. November
(sic) bestimmten.”
Also in both the Danish printed Missals St. Anna’s day is 9th De-
cember.
1. Here it is related that in 1436 the Archbishop Aslak Bolt summoned a provin-
cial church council, one of whose decisions was: “Item quod festum sancte Anne
celebretur duplex in crastino concepcionis beate virginjs per totam prouinciam
exceptis diocesibus Asloensi Stawangrensi vbi celebretur secundum quod ibi insti-
tutum est.”
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