BUG: Inconsistent reference values in index ... or do we need a chart of recognized notations?

MJ. Smith

Boadt, Lawrence, and Celine M. Allen, eds. The Paulist Liturgy Planning Guide: For the Readings of Sundays and Major Feast Days. Vol. A–C. New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2004–2007.

shows the reference as:

while

The Roman Missal: Renewed by Decree of the Most Holy Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, Promulgated by Authority of Pope Paul VI and Revised at the Direction of Pope John Paul II. Third Typical Edition. Washington D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011.

shows the reference in two forms:

We need the documentation to show us how to build recognized liturgical dates just as we have for Bibles, et. al.

Louis St. Hilaire

In the Missal, you're seeing two data types. The first is the Catholic liturgical calendar data type, which models the Catholic liturgical calendar (mostly abstracted from any particular book, but tailored for the lectionary and related resources).

The second data type is the Roman Missal data type. The Missal is structured according to the liturgical calendar in a few sections, so the Roman Missal data type does parallel the liturgical calendar data type within these sections. So, "PrTm" in the Missal data type, refers to the section, Proper of Time, within the Roman Missal (as opposed to the Introduction [IGMR/GIRM], the Ordinary of the Mass, etc.) After that comes the particular liturgical occasion--which should match the liturgical calendar reference in how it parses and renders--then follows the parts of Mass proper: Entrance Antiphon, Collect, etc. (A distinct data type is necessary for a number of reasons: most of the Missal is not organized according to the calendar, and within the sections that are, it requires support for the propers, which are particular to the Missal and don't follow the 3-year cycle.)

You should find that the parsing and rendering of liturgical dates within the sections of the Roman Missal data type that follow it is consistent with the liturgical calendar data type, but the Missal data type also requires that you specify the section of the Missal first. The differences you see here in rendering the liturgical calendar date ("Easter Time 3 Sun" vs. "Ea 3 Sun") are just due to the application choosing a shorter form for the Roman Missal reference, since the addition of the part of the missal ("PrTm" for "Proper of Time") makes the rendered reference longer. Thus, both "PrTm, Ea 3 Sun" and "PrTm, Easter Time 3 Sun" will parse to the same reference within the Roman Missal data type, and "Easter Time 3 Sun" and "Ea 3 Sun" will parse to the same reference in the Catholic liturgical calendar data type.

So, confusing as it is, this is by design. The lack of documentation is a problem (though it's really a much wider problem--aside from Bible data types, I don't think we've got much public documentation of any data types).