Technical Notes 

liturgical calendar. It is reasonable to conclude that any knowledge about new moons the Romans had would 

be desired and obtained by the Jewish religious leaders soon after the Roman occupation of Israel began. 

    The Jewish religious leaders were able to calculate new moons, using knowledge obtained from the 

Romans. But what would cause them to apply that knowledge to the liturgical calendar, changing the way that 

the start of each month was determined? 

    Herod's capture of Jerusalem brought changes to the Jewish religion. Herod now controlled who was high 

priest, and, according to Josephus, Herod began to choose high priests from a different group of men among 

the Jews.  Herod was then made king by the Romans, but did no longer appoint high priests out of the family 

of Asamoneus; but made certain men to be so that were of no eminent families, but barely of those that were 

priests . 

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 The Jewish high priest had authority over calendar decisions. When Herod brought about a 

change in leadership among the Jews, he may have unwittingly brought about changes to the Jewish calendar. 

The new high priests were from a different group and so likely had somewhat different ideas about religious 

issues, including calendar decisions. When you have someone from a different group making decisions, the 

decisions are likely to be different. This change in leadership was likely the cause of the change in the calendar, 

from an observation based to a calculation based calendar system. This change in leadership also brought 

other changes to the calendar, such as changing the start of the Sabbatical year from spring to autumn (see 

chapter 16). 

The Jewish Calendar in the Writings of Blessed Anne Catherine 

    The writings of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich contain various references to Sabbaths, Jewish calendar 

dates, and dates in the Julian calendar, which would only fall in place as she describes them if the basis for the 

start of each Jewish month was a calculation of  the astronomical new moon, and not the observation of the 

lunar crescent. 

    For example, when speaking about the days following the Birth of Jesus Christ, Blessed Anne Catherine 

said that the feast of Hanukah on Kislev 25 (the  Feast of the Consecration of the Temple ) would have 

coincided with a Sabbath that year, and so was postponed a day (to avoid a conflict between the Sabbath day 

of rest and the celebration of Hanukah).

1223

 In 15 

B.C.

, Kislev 25 (by calculation) would have fallen on a 

Saturday (Dec. 15), and so Hanukah that year may well have been postponed until Sunday. If the calendar 

was determined by observation, Kislev 25 would have fallen one day later, on Sunday, Dec. 16. 

    In 15 

B.C.

, the new moon which began the month of Kislev occurred on Nov. 20 at 12:45. Since the new 

moon fell after noontime, the next calendar day, Nov. 21, was Kislev 1, by the calculation based system. The 

Jewish day begins at sunset, so Kislev 1 began at sunset on Nov. 20 and ended at sunset on Nov. 21. In 

calculating the first day of any month, if the time of the new moon began after apparent solar noon, the next 

calendar day would begin the month. If the time of the new moon began before noon, that same calendar day 

would begin the month. Since this was determined by calculation, it could be known in advance which day 

began the month. And, of course, noontime in the ancient Jewish calendar was determined by the sun, so that 

noontime was not 12:00 hours, but rather `solar transit,' when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. The 

Jews called this time `the sixth hour,' astronomers today call this time `apparent solar noon.' This time of day 

is noon by a sundial. 

    If the calendar in 15 

B.C.

 had been determined by observation, then Kislev 1 would have coincided with 

Nov. 22. The new crescent moon would have been visible the evening of Nov. 21 after sunset. Thus Kislev 1 

would have begun at sunset on Nov. 21 and ended at sunset on Nov. 22. This would make Kislev 25 a 

Sunday, in contrast to Blessed Anne Catherine's statement that Kislev 25 was a Saturday.

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    Other mentions of dates and days of the week in Blessed Anne Catherine's writings fit well into this revised 

chronology, with the start of each month begin determined by calculation, not observation. In general, my 

revised chronology and the chronological comments made by Blessed Anne Catherine are complementary and 

support one another. 

    This book establishes that Christ was crucified in 

A.D.

 19. Support for this year is found in the revised dates 

for the reigns of the Roman emperors (see chapter 13). All four Gospels tell us that Christ died on a Friday. 

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