Catholics observe Trinity Sunday

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will preside over a high mass at the Holy Trinity Parish in Sampaloc, Manila at 9 a.m. today in solemn observance of Trinity Sunday.

Nine masses will be celebrated at the church today starting at 5 a.m. until 7:15 p.m. The grand procession was held yesterday afternoon.

Observed a week after Pentecost Sunday or eight weeks after Easter, the liturgical color for today’s masses is white to symbolize the holiness and perfection of God.

According to tradition, many congregations will recite the Athanasian Creed, the Christian Church’s confession of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity - the three persons in one God - all

three of whom as distinct and coeternal persons.

Named after Athanasius, a fourth century Egyptian bishop and theologian, the Athanasian Creed is one of the three ecumenical creeds universally accepted by the Christian Church along with the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.

Pope John XXII instituted the celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity for the Universal Church as early as 1334 A.D. Aside from the Roman Catholic Church, all Western

liturgical churches – Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist will likewise hold religious rites in celebration of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.