General Roman Calendar


The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. It indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of Jesus according to Christianity wherever this liturgical rite is in use. Some celebrations are a fixed annual date, or occur on a particular day of the week, for example the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in January and the Feast of Christ the King in November. Other dates relate to the date of Easter, such as the celebrations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Description

and diocesan calendars, including that of the Diocese of Rome itself as well as the calendars of religious institutes and even of continents, add other saints and mysteries or transfer the celebration of a particular saint or mystery from the date assigned in the General Calendar to another date.
These liturgical calendars indicate the degree or rank of each celebration: memorial, feast, or solemnity. Among other differences, the Gloria is said or sung at the Mass of a feast but not at that of a memorial. The Nicene Creed is added on solemnities.
The last general revision of the General Roman Calendar was in 1969 and was authorized by the motu proprio of Pope Paul VI, Mysterii Paschalis. The motu proprio and the decree of promulgation were included in the book Calendarium Romanum, published in the same year by Libreria Editrice Vaticana. This contained the official document Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, and the list of celebrations of the General Roman Calendar. Both these documents are printed, in their present revised form, in the Roman Missal, after the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

Selection of saints included

Saints included in General Roman Calendar are a selection of canonized saints. All canonized saints' names are added to the Roman Martyrology.
There is a common misconception that certain saints, were "unsainted" in 1969 or that veneration of them was "suppressed". Christopher is recognized as a saint of the Catholic Church, being listed as a martyr in the Roman Martyrology under 25 July. In 1969, when Paul VI issued Mysterii Paschalis, he said that the written Acts of Saint Christopher are legendary, and attestations to the veneration of the martyr date from ancient times. His change in the calendar of saints included "leaving the memorial of Saint Christopher to local calendars", because of the relatively late date of its insertion into the Roman calendar.

Liturgical year

In the liturgical books, the document General Roman Calendar, which lists fixed celebrations and some moveable ones, is printed immediately after the document Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, which states that "throughout the course of the year the Church unfolds the entire mystery of Christ and observes the birthdays of the Saints". A saint's feast day is as a rule celebrated on a fixed day of the year, and sometimes they may be moved either to or from a Sunday. The mysteries of Christ are often celebrated on dates that always vary from year to year.
The Catholic Church's year combines two cycles of liturgical celebrations. One is called the Proper of Time or Temporale, associated with the moveable date of Easter and the fixed date of Christmas. The other is associated with fixed calendar dates and is called the Proper of Saints or Sanctorale. The General Roman Calendar includes celebrations that belong to the Proper of Time or Temporale as well as Proper of Saints or Sanctorale. An instance where two observances occur on the same date is called an occurrence.

Transfer of celebrations

Some celebrations listed in the General Roman Calendar are transferred to another date:

List of celebrations inscribed in the GRC

This list contains all celebrations currently inscribed in the General Roman Calendar. It is updated whenever the pope makes changes to the celebrations in the General Roman Calendar.
When no citation is provided for a particular celebration, it comes from Calendarium Romanum Generale as printed in the Latin original of Roman Missal, ed. typ. tertia, released in 2008. Celebrations that are added or changed are cited from official decrees.
Celebration names are used from English Roman Missal.

January