Calendars based on the movements of the sun and moon
have been used since ancient times, but none has been
perfect. The Julian calendar, under which western nations
time until 1582 A.D., was authorized by Julius Caesar in
46 b.c.e., the year 709 of Rome. His expert was a greek,
Sosigenes. The Julian calendar, on the assumption that the
true year was 365 1/4 days long, gave every 4th year 366
days. The Venerable Bede, an Anglo-Saxon monk, announced in
730 A.D. that the 365 1/4 day Julian year was 11 minutes
and 14 seconds too long, making a cumulative error of about
a day every 128 years, but nothing was done about it for
over 800 years.
By 1582 the accumulated error was estimated to have
amounted to 10 days. In that year Pope Gregory decreed
that the day following October 4, 1582, should be called
October 15, thus dropping 10 days.
However, with common years 365 days and a 366 day leap
every fourth year, the error in the length of the year
would have recurred at the rate of a little more than 3
days every 400 years. So 3 out of every 4 centesimal years
(ending in 00) were made common years, not leap years. Thus
1600 was a leap year, 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not, but
2000 will be. Leap years are those divisible by 4 except
centesimal years, which are common unless divisible by
400. The World Almanac and Book of Facts

Offa;
My question is this, "Why did th Catholic Church wait 800
years?" (of course I know the answer)

Toto

I give, why? Other than the usual bureaucratic inertia, and that most people probably didn't run their lived by a calendar during the middle ages.

[/B]
Julius Caesar authorized the Julian Calendar in 46 b.c.e.
Bede made his announcement in 730 A.D. The error of 11
minutes and 14 seconds caused a difference of 1 day every
~128 years. This time span (-46+730) of 776 years should
have been a difference of 6 days (776/128=>6.1). Pope
Gregory did not make the intercalation of 10 days until
1582 or 852 years (1582-730) later. The additional
cumulation should have been another ~7 days (852/128=>7.0).
What we have is a ~13 day difference from 1582 A.D. back to
46 b.c.e. That problem is easy enough to resolve. Julius
Caesar chose the original New Year about 3 days too late.
My problem is why did Pope Gregory wait until the Julian
calendar got 10 days behind our solar year before he made
the intercalation?

This answer is also quite simple.

Kings 2-20:11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the
LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by
which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

The above verse in Kings is an example of MAGIC.
Isaiah was making an intercalation and biblical scholars
have been searching for centuries for some proof that the
earth reversed its rotation. Let us further delve into this
story.

Kings 2-19:35 And it came to pass that night, that the
angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when
they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all
dead corpses.

The solution to the above mystery is that those dead
corpses were very alive. They were dead as far as
the Jewish GOD (Isaiah) was concerned. However, they did
arise and return to Nineveh. GOD or no GOD, the Jews paid
the demanded tribute. There is a little humor in this episode
and it is about a sickness that king Hezekiah fell into at
this time. The sickness appears to be that Sennacherib was a
pain in the arse for Isaiah had to prepare a potion
of figs and apply it to this boil of Hezekiah's.

There was a little more Magic at this time.

Kings 2-19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed,
and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

Kings 2-19:37 And it came to pass, as he was
worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that
Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword:
and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon
his son reigned in his stead.


According to the Encyclopedia Britannica king Hezekiah
died in the year 686 b.c.e. and Sennacherib was assassinated
in the year 681 b.c.e. and thus outlived Hezekiah. This also
informs us that King II was written after the death
of Sennacherib.

Now, getting back to the original question. Pope Gregory
waited for a convenient date to make his intercalation
knowing full well that Isaiah's miracle was nothing more than
an intercalation.

Thanks,
Offa