III. Thirdly, the order of precedence among feasts will be determined by
the dignity of the person who is the special object of the office that
is to be recited. Hence, in the order set down in General Rubrics (Title
XI, _De Concurrentia officii_, sec. 2) all feasts of our Lord, other
things being equal, take precedence of the feasts of our Lady. And then,
in order, come the festivals of the angels, of St. John the Baptist, of
St. Joseph, of the Apostles and other saints. Amongst the saints who are
honoured as martyrs, confessors or virgins there is no precedence as to
personal dignity.

IV. Lastly, there is the note of "external solemnity," which may give
precedence to one or two feasts, which are equal in the above-mentioned
matters--i.e., in Gradation I., Classification II., Precedence III. But
the main point is that only doubles of first and second class have the
right, as a rule, of transference. Transference is now rather rare.

"From these rules it will be seen that in cases of concurrence,
occurrence, perpetual transfer or translation, precedence between two
feasts will first be decided by gradation of rite, a double of the first
class being preferred to one of the second, and so on. If the feasts are
of equal rank recourse must be had to the second test, the distinction
between primary and secondary feasts. If both happen to be primary, or
both are secondary, then precedence will be granted to the feast which
has the greater personal dignity. And if both feasts should have the
same dignity, then the fact of external solemnity would confer
precedence" (_The New Psalter and its Uses_, p. 79). For practical help,
a look at the first of the _Duae Tabellae_ is a guide to find out which
office is to be said, if more than one feast occur on the same day.

Before discussing new offices it may be well to remember that votive