Читать книгу The Book of Gratitudes - Pablo R. Andiñach - Страница 12

It was the year 1269 in the Roman calendar. This calendar counted the years from the foundation of Rome, and governed all documents in the western world. Dionysius Exiguus,—or “Dennis the Small,” because he was short in stature—wished to replace this method for counting years with a new calendar beginning with the Christian era. To do this, it was necessary to establish the year in which Jesus had been born, something that until then no one had thought of determining. Dionysius was a monk and well versed in the science of his time. He mastered mathematics and history, and was an expert in astronomy. He fulfilled every condition for carrying out this task.

With the means available at the time, he calculated dates, estimated stellar data and pored over books in the library. After much investigation, he sentenced the sought-after date, the year in which the Lord had been born. At that time, he concluded that they were living in the year 527 after the birth of Christ. However, even those who know a lot, make mistakes, and Dionysius Exiguus was no exception. Pope Hormisdas—who had commissioned the task—blessed the new date, and we have been dragging the error in our calendar ever since.

Much later it was possible to ascertain that Herod the Great died in the year 4 before Christ. Since the Gospels tell that Jesus was born in the days of Herod, it is obvious that his birth had to have taken place one or two years before the ruler’s death, that is, in our current year 5 or 6 before Christ.

Dionysius also confirmed, through his doubtful scientific research, that the birth of Jesus had taken place on December 25th, a date which coincided with the Natalis Solis Invicti, a Roman pagan celebration for the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. In the northern hemisphere, this is the date of the spring solstice, when the days begin to lengthen. Therefore, it celebrated the victory of the sun over the darkness which until then had taken minutes away from the light every day.