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The General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of saints that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used. National and diocesan liturgical calendars, as well as those of religious congregations and even of continents, add other saints or transfer the celebration of a particular saint from the date assigned in the General Calendar to another date. These liturgical calendars also indicate the degree or rank of each celebration: Memorial, Feast or Solemnity. Among other differences, the Gloria is said or sung at a Feast, but not normally at a Memorial, and the Creed is added on Solemnities. The General Calendar assigns celebrations of saints to only about half the days of the year, and contains relatively very few of the saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, whose official list of saints is the 776-page volume Roman Martyrology (which does not claim to contain the names of all the saints legitimately venerated). The Martyrology assigns several saints to each day of the year and gives a very brief description of each saint or group of saints. "Feria" is a Latin word that, in ecclesiastical usage, means "weekday"; more precisely, it refers in the calendar to days on which no saint is celebrated. "Ferial" is an adjective formed from "feria" and is used in connection with a noun, as in the phrase "ferial Mass". The General Calendar is printed, for instance, in the successive editions of the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours. These are up to date when printed, but additional feasts may be added later. For instance, the celebration of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) on 23 September does not appear in the latest editions of these two books. For that reason, if those celebrating the liturgy have not inserted into the books a note about the changes, they must consult the current annual "Ordo" for their country or religious congregation. There are also "Ordos" that indicate only celebrations included in the General Calendar and not impeded, in the year in question, by celebrations such as those of Holy Week or Sundays. General Roman Calendar As already stated, the saints celebrated in one country are not necessarily celebrated everywhere. The General Roman Calendar contains only those celebrations that are intended to be observed throughout the world, in application of the decision of the Second Vatican Council: "Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or family of religious; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance."''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', 111. Variations from the following list of celebrations should be indicated not here but, below, under the heading "National Calendars". Moveable (General Calendar) Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday after 1 January, the Ascension of the Lord on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, and the Body and Blood of Christ on the Sunday after Holy Trinity in countries where the Episcopal Conference, with the prior approval of the Apostolic See, has decided that they are not treated as Holy Days of Obligation. "For the pastoral advantage of the people, it is permissible to observe on the Sundays in Ordinary Time those celebrations that fall during the week and have special appeal to the devotion of the faithful, provided the celebrations take precedence over these Sunday in the Table of Liturgical Days" (General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 58). January (General Calendar) February (General Calendar) March (General Calendar) April (General Calendar) May (General Calendar) June (General Calendar) July (General Calendar) August (General Calendar) September (General Calendar) October (General Calendar) November (General Calendar) December (General Calendar) National Calendars Only variations from the General Roman Calendar for celebrations according to the Roman Rite are given here. Eastern Rite Catholic Churches have completely different liturgical calendars, as have Latin Rite Catholics that use the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites. The calendars for England, Greece, Ireland, United States, and Wales are complete and up to date. Others require attention. Canada England According to the English national calendar: Greece Ireland According to the national calendar of Ireland: Portugal Scotland United States of America According to the national calendar of the United States of America: Moveable (United States of America Calendar) Fixed (United States of America Calendar) Wales According to the national calendar of Wales: Notes | |||||||
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