Calendar of saints

  (Redirected from Feast days)


A medieval manuscript fragment of Finnish origin, c. 1340–1360, utilized by the Dominican convent at Turku, showing the liturgical calendar for the month of June

The system arose from the early Christian custom of commemorating each martyr annually on the date of their death, or birth into heaven, a date therefore referred to in Latin as the martyr's dies natalis ('day of birth'). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a calendar of saints is called a Menologion.[2] "Menologion" may also mean a set of icons on which saints are depicted in the order of the dates of their feasts, often made in two panels.


A Welsh calendar of saint days c. 1488–1498






Ranking of feast daysEdit

Feast days are ranked in accordance with their importance. In the post-Vatican II form of the Roman Rite, feast days are ranked (in descending order of importance) as solemnities, feasts or memorials (obligatory or optional).[7] Pope John XXIII's 1960 Code of Rubrics, whose use remains authorized by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, divides liturgical days into I, II, III, and IV class days. Those who use even earlier forms of the Roman Rite rank feast days as Doubles (of three or four kinds), Semidoubles, and Simples. See Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite.


The Lutheran Churches celebrate Festivals, Lesser Festivals, Days of Devotion, and Commemorations.[8]

In the Church of England, mother Church of the Anglican Communion, there are Principal Feasts and Principal Holy Days, Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations.

Connection to tropical cyclonesEdit

Before the advent of standardized naming of tropical storms and hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin, tropical storms and hurricanes that affected the island of Puerto Rico were informally named after the Catholic saints corresponding to the feast days when the cyclones either made landfall or started to seriously affect the island. Examples are: the 1780 San Calixto hurricane (more widely known as the Great Hurricane of 1780) (the deadliest in the North Atlantic basin's recorded history; named after Pope Callixtus I (Saint Callixtus), whose feast day is October 14),[9] the 1867 San Narciso hurricane (named after Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem, feast day October 29),[9] the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane (the deadliest in the island's recorded history; Saint Cyriacus, August 8),[9][10] the 1928 San Felipe hurricane (the strongest in terms of measured wind speed; Saint Philip, father of Saint Eugenia of Rome, September 13),[9] and the 1932 San Ciprian hurricane (Saint Cyprian, September 26).[9]

This practice continued until quite some time after the United States Weather Bureau (now called the National Weather Service) started publishing and using official female human names (initially; male names were added starting in 1979 after the NWS relinquished control over naming to the World Meteorological Organization). The last two usages of this informal naming scheme in P.R. were in 1956 (Hurricane Betsy, locally nicknamed Santa Clara after Saint Clare of Assisi, feast day August 12 back then; her feast day was advanced one day in 1970) and 1960 (Hurricane Donna, nicknamed San Lorenzo after Saint Lawrence Justinian, September 5 back then; feast day now observed January 8 by Canons regular of St. Augustine).[9]

See alsoEdit


  4. ^ John 15:13
  9. ^ a b c d e f Mújica-Baker, Frank. Huracanes y tormentas que han afectado a Puerto Rico (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, Agencia Estatal para el Manejo de Emergencias y Administración de Desastres. pp. 4, 7–10, 12–14. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  10. ^ "San Ciriaco Hurricane". East Carolina University, RENCI Engagement Center.

External linksEdit