The Last Sunday After Pentecost


That's what today is in the traditional Roman Rite, complete with the apocalyptic Gospel of Matthew 24:15-35 which apparently terrified the composers of the Pauline rite so greatly that they failed to include it anywhere in the new rite. This is fairly unusual as it cannot be denied that the new rite does contain considerably more scripture in the Mass liturgy than the traditional rite. But And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. appears to have been too much for them.

In the Pauline rite it is the feast of Christ the King, which was celebrated on the 26th of October in the traditional Roman rite. The feast of Christ the King originated with Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas, a portion of which used to appear as one of the Matins lections. The full text is here.