New Delhi: It is a common practice to hang a new calendar on the wall or keep one at the table whenever a new year arrives. Calendar plays the most important role in helping us to track dates and days. It is must be noted that today, in most part of the world, the Gregorian calendar is used. In October 1582, the Gregorian calendar came into effect for the first time after it was issued by Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar modified and eventually replaced the Julian calendar.
Who was Pope Gregory XIII?
Pope Gregory XIII was the head of the Catholic Church who ruled the erstwhile Papal States from May 13, 1572, till his death in April 1585. Born on January 7, 1502, as Ugo Boncompagni, he commissioned the Gregorian calendar and it was named after him. Notably, before he took holy orders, he had an illegitimate affair and a son out of him, which made him the last Pope to have left issue.
Becoming the Pope and works in that role
After the death of Pope Pius V in 1572, Cardinal Boncompagni was chosen to become the Pope. He took on the mantle with the name of Gregory XIII in homage to Gregory the Great who was a reforming Pope in the 6th century. According to many historians, the appointment of Pope Gregory XIII was backed by the Spanish king.
Pope Gregory XIII reformed the Catholic Church and the Council of Trent’s recommendations. It was his mandate that cardinals should reside in their sees and formed a committee which would update the Index of Forbidden Books. He did away with the Cardinals Consistories and the Colleges replaced them, giving them specific tasks and was famous for being an independent person.
He was a patron of Rome’s Jesuit colleges, notably the Roman College of the Jesuits which became Europe’s most important learning centre for a time and is known today as the Pontifical Gregorian University. Also, he commissioned artists to decorate the Vatican.
Pope Gregory XIII and the Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the lasting legacy of Pope Gregory XIII. He commissioned the calendar and Aloysius Lilius initially authored it and he was helped by Christopher Clavius, a Jesuit priest and astronomer who made the final modifications. It replaced the Julian calendar and is more accurate. In the Julian calendar, each year was 365 days and 6 hours in length while a year’s actual length is slightly less. Due to this, over 13 years, the date of the vernal equinox slipped to March 10.
Also, the March equinox was occurring before its March 21 date, something important to the Christian churches as it was fundamental to the calculation of the date of Easter. The Gregorian calendar corrected the Julian calendar and today, it is the calendar used in almost every part of the world. In 1752, the Great Britain, its American colonies and Ireland adopted the Gregorian calendar.
Pope Gregory XIII, head of the Catholic Church from 1572-1585, is best known for commissioning the Gregorian calendar, which replaced the Julian calendar. This reform corrected inaccuracies in the Julian calendar’s calculation of the year length. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
