As a devotee of the pre-1969 Latin Catholic liturgy, you won’t get me to defend the tinkering with the calendar (which also got eliminated feast days for the Holy Machabees and St. Barbara, among others). However, the whole “optional memorial” issue for St. Nicholas glosses over one detail- what priest in his right mind ISN’T going to remember St. Nicholas on December 6? The only reason why he wouldn’t is if it fell on a Sunday, as it did this year.
“The only reason why he wouldn’t is if it fell on a Sunday, as it did this year.”
The only priests who didn’t commemorate him this past Sunday were Latin ones and perhaps the Maronites, though about them I don’t know. All the other churches commemorate the saints whose feast day it is on Sunday at the close of the liturgies.
“However, the whole “optional memorial” issue for St. Nicholas glosses over one detail- what priest in his right mind ISN’T going to remember St. Nicholas on December 6?”
Yeah, right. That’s probably why Paul VI had no problem demoting him.