This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as approved on 25 July 1960 by Pope John XXIII's motu proprio Rubricarum instructum and promulgated by the Sacred Congregation of Rites the following day, 26 July 1960, by the decree Novum rubricarum. [1] [2] This 1960 calendar was incorporated into the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, continued use of which Pope Benedict XVI authorized in his 7 July 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum , and which Pope Francis updated in his 16 July 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes , for use as a Traditional Roman Mass.
Novum rubricarum replaced the former classifications of Doubles, Semidoubles, and Simples with I, II, and III class feasts and commemorations. It removed a few feasts, in particular duplications such as the Feast of the Cross (3 May and 14 September), the Chair of Peter (18 January and 22 February), Saint Peter (1 August and 29 June), Saint John the Evangelist (6 May and 27 December), Saint Michael (8 May and 29 September), and Saint Stephen (3 August and 26 December).
This calendar is distinct from the General Roman Calendar of 1954 in that it also incorporates the changes made by Pope Pius XII in 1955, which included the reduction of octaves to three only, those of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. [3] See General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII.
Novum rubricarum abolished the traditional ranking of Sundays, ferias, and feast days as doubles (of varying degrees) and simples—the rank of semidouble having already been suppressed by Pius XII in 1955—and introduced a new system of ranking the various liturgical days of the Roman rite. Feasts previously ranked as doubles of the I class were reclassified as feasts of the I class. Feasts previously ranked as doubles of the II class were reclassified as feasts of the II class. Feasts ranked in 1954 as greater doubles, doubles, and semidoubles were reclassified as feasts of the III class. Feasts that had formerly been ranked as simples and had been reduced to commemorations in Pius XII's 1955 revision of the calendar remained commemorations. [4]
The Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Passiontide, and Low Sunday were classified as Sundays of the I class. All other Sundays of the year—excluding those perpetually impeded by feasts of the I class—became Sundays of the II class.
Ash Wednesday, the ferias of Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, and the days within the octaves of Easter and Pentecost (including the Ember Days of Pentecost) were classified as ferias of the I class. The ferias of Advent from 17 to 23 December inclusive, the days within the octave of Christmas not impeded by the feasts of saints (29–31 December inclusive), as well as the Ember Days of Advent, Lent, and September were ranked as ferias of the II class. The ferias of Advent, excluding 17–23 December, were ranked as ferias of the III class, as were the ferias of Lent and Passiontide. In addition, the ferias of Lent and Passiontide were given precedence over all feasts of the III class, with III-class feasts reduced to commemorations in years in which they fell during Lent or Passiontide. The remaining ferias of the year were classified ferias of the IV class.
The following feasts were reduced to commemorations:
The following days of the II class became liturgical days of the I class:
The following greater doubles became liturgical days of the II class:
The following feasts were deleted from the calendar:
The commemoration of St. Vitalis Martyr (28 April) was likewise deleted, due to doubts about the historicity of his martyrdom.
The following feasts were inscribed in the calendar:
The following feasts were transferred:
The commemoration of Ss. Sergius, Bacchus, Marcellus, and Apuleius Martyrs was transferred from 7 to 8 October, due to rubrical changes that restricted the number of commemorations allowed on a II-class feast (in this case, the 7 October feast of the Rosary) to only one.
The following titles were changed:
The new rubrics also restricted the transferral of impeded feast days that occur in a given year on the same day as a liturgical day of higher rank solely to feasts of the I class (formerly doubles of the I class). Under the older rubrics, both doubles of the I class and doubles of the II class (feasts of the II class under the 1960 rubrics) were transferred when impeded.
On 25 March 2020, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made public the decree Cum sanctissima, dated 22 February 2020, which introduced a number of options for use in contemporary celebration of the Office and Mass according to the 1961 Breviary and 1962 Missal. [5] [6] With regard to the liturgical calendar, the decree grants permission for the celebration of feasts of saints canonized after 26 July 1960, using the dates set forth by the Holy See for the liturgical observance of these saints for the universal Church. The decree also allows the option for the celebration of certain III-class feasts during Lent and Passiontide, which heretofore had been forbidden by the 1960 Code of Rubrics.
Sunday between the octave of the Nativity of the Lord and the Epiphany, or, with this lacking, 2 January: The Most Holy Name of Jesus, II class.
I Sunday after Epiphany: The Most Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, II class. [a]
In leap year the month of February is of 29 days, and the feast of St. Matthias is celebrated on the 25th day and the feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows on the 28th day of February, and twice is said Sexto Kalendas, that is on the 24th and 25th; and the dominical letter, which was taken up in the month of January, is changed to the preceding; that, if in January, the dominical letter was A, it is changed to the preceding, which is g, etc.; and the letter f is kept twice, on the 24th and 25th. [7]
Friday after the I Sunday in Passiontide: Commemoration of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Comm.
Last Sunday in October: Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, I class.
The source for the dates above is the Jan. 1960 edition of Acta Apostolicae Sedis . [4]
The 1962 typical edition of the Roman Missal—the edition incorporating the changes made for the 1960 General Calendar—collected many (though not all) Mass propers for feasts approved for celebration in certain places in a supplement placed at the end of the Missal; this supplement also incorporated changes mandated by Pope John XXIII regarding the suppression of some local feasts in his 14 February 1961 instruction De calendariis particularibus. Masses listed in this supplement may nowadays be said anywhere on days of the IV class. [8] Some saints listed below are also in the General Calendar above; these saints have proper Masses in the pro Aliquibus Locis supplement that may be said ad libitum in place of the Masses listed in the main body of the Missal. [9]
In accordance with De calendariis particularibus (par. 32 & 33), the following local feasts "introduced since the Middle Ages by private devotion in the public worship of the Church" were suppressed, unless "truly special reasons" required their continued observance: [4]
In addition, the feast of Saint Philomena (11 August) was removed from all local calendars (save for those of churches named for her and select locations where her cultus was permitted either by indult or tacit approval by the diocesan bishop) due to [ citation needed ] doubt regarding the historicity of her existence and martyrdom.
The following are the proper calendars for certain countries to be used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. National feasts and their ranks have been gathered from liturgical ordos published by various sources, including the FSSP, the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, and Romanitas Press. This list details only those feasts celebrated in all dioceses and archdioceses of the following countries and does not include feasts proper to specific dioceses and archdioceses.
The following are the proper adaptions currently in use for all members of traditionalist institutes who make exclusive use of the 1961 Breviary and 1962 Missal.
To fully comply with the calendar requirements outlined in the 1960 Code of Rubrics that governs the 1962 Missal and the 1961 Breviary, a number of local feasts must be inscribed in the calendars of particular churches where the extraordinary form is offered (and of religious orders and societies dedicated to the use of the sacraments in their 1962 forms) in addition to those listed in the General Calendar and in the national calendars section above. These local feasts include, but are not limited to:
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does not mean "a large meal, typically a celebratory one", but instead "an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint".
In the Catholic Church, holy days of obligation or precepts are days on which the faithful are expected to attend Mass, and engage in rest from work and recreation, according to the third commandment.
The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the Theotokos, and her being taken up into heaven. The Feast of the Dormition is observed on August 15, which for the churches using the Julian calendar corresponds to August 28 on the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Dormition not on a fixed date, but on the Sunday nearest 15 August. In Western Churches the corresponding feast is known as the Assumption of Mary, with the exception of the Scottish Episcopal Church, which has traditionally celebrated the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15.
Aug. 31 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - Sep. 2
September 30 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - October 2
Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, colloquially known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine icon and a purported Marian apparition. The image was enshrined in the Church of San Matteo in Via Merulana from 1499 to 1798 and is today permanently enshrined in the Church of Saint Alphonsus of Liguori in Rome, where the novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is prayed weekly.
January 31 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - February 2
This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as they were at the end of 1954. It is essentially the same calendar established by Pope Pius X (1903–1914) following his liturgical reforms, but it also incorporates changes that were made by Pope Pius XI (1922–1939), such as the institution of the Feast of Christ the King, and the changes made by Pope Pius XII (1939–1958) prior to 1955, chief among them the imposition of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary upon the universal Church in 1944, the inscription of Pius X into the General Calendar following his 1954 canonization, and the institution of the Feast of the Queenship of Mary in October 1954.
The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These celebrations are a fixed annual date, or occur on a particular day of the week. Examples are the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in January and the Feast of Christ the King in November.
Prior to the revision of the Anglican Church of Canada's (ACC) Book of Common Prayer (BCP) in 1962, the national church followed the liturgical calendar of the 1918 Canadian Book of Common Prayer. Throughout most of the twentieth century, the situation in Canada resembled that which pertained in much of the Anglican Communion: There was uncertainty as to whether post-Reformation figures could or should be commemorated. In the words of the calendar's introduction, "New names have been added from the ancient calendars, and also from the history of the Anglican Communion, without thereby enrolling or commending such persons as saints of the Church." The 1962 revision added twenty-six post-Reformation individuals, as well as commemorations of the first General Synod and of "The Founders, Benefactors, and Missionaries of the Church in Canada." Of the calendar days, twenty-eight were highlighted as "red-letter days" — that is, days of required observation.
The Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, also known as the Hong Kong Anglican Church (Episcopal), an Anglican Church in Hong Kong and Macau, has its own calendar of saints.
The Tridentine calendar is the calendar of saints to be honoured in the course of the liturgical year in the official liturgy of the Roman Rite as reformed by Pope Pius V, implementing a decision of the Council of Trent, which entrusted the task to the Pope.
The ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite is a regulation for the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church. It determines for each liturgical day which observance has priority when liturgical dates and times coincide, which texts are used for the celebration of the Holy Mass and the Liturgy of the hours and which liturgical color is assigned to the day or celebration.
Mysterii Paschalis is an apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Paul VI on 14 February 1969. It reorganized the liturgical year of the Roman Rite and revised the liturgical celebrations of Jesus Christ and the saints in the General Roman Calendar. It promulgated the General Roman Calendar of 1969.
December 9 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 11
December 25 – Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar – December 27
In the Calendar of the Church in Wales, each holy and saint's day listed has been assigned a number which indicates its category. Commemorations not included in this Calendar may be observed with the approval of the bishop.
National calendars of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church are lists of saints' feast days and other liturgical celebrations, organized by calendar date, that apply to those within the nation or nations to which each calendar applies who worship according to the Roman Rite of the Latin Church. Such calendars are "particular calendars" that build off of the General Roman Calendar. National calendars primarily add feast days of saints whose lives profoundly affected the particular nation in question, or whose veneration is especially prevalent there.
Institutional and societal calendars of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church are lists of saints' feast days and other liturgical celebrations, organized by calendar date, that apply to members of individual institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life of pontifical right that worship according to the Roman Rite of the Latin Church. They are "particular calendars" that build off of the General Roman Calendar.