Today is John the Baptist's birthday. In the EF, yesterday was the vigil of this feast. I don't see why the OF did away with vigils. They're very nice, extend the feast, and during tempus per annum you get a bit of penance because their colour is purple.
The EF uses the psalms from the common of confessor bishops for Matins, which I find odd. We have a common of martyrs, so why not use those? I guess maybe since this isn't the feast of his martyrdom, that aspect of him isn't emphasized.
I always found it interesting that his birthday isn't tomorrow. It ought to be, to sync up perfectly with Jesus' birthday. One of my friends said an Eastern Catholic priest told her it's because since he is only human, and thus imperfect, that's why his feast is a day off.
For you music lovers, Fr Z says that today's vespers hymn, Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, is the original source for do-re-mi. Interesting, eh?
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