Church Calendar

At the heart of our life as a parish, families and individuals, is the celebration of the Church Calendar, and all its beautiful holy days, commemorations, high days and remembrances. We believe that if we are to capture the heart and mind of our young and old, and battle secularism and post-modernity well, we are to be saturated with the majestic rituals and traditions left to us by our fathers for our daily, weekly, monthly and annual worship of Christ. Our fellowship is defined by this. We invite you to join us. We hope these publications and resources are helpful.

Celebrating Holy Days & Seasons

JANUARY

  • 6 – Feast of the Epiphany
  • 12 – Aelred, Bishop of Rievaulx, 1167
  • 13 – Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 367
  • 17 – Antony, Abbot in Egypt, 356.
  • 18 – The Confession of Saint Peter the Apostle
  • 21 – Agnes, Martyr at Rome, 304
  • 25 – The Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle
  • 26 – Timothy and Titus
  • 27 – John Chrysostom, 407
  • 28 – Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar

FEBRUARY

  • 2 – The Purification of the Blessed Virgin
  • 3 – Anskar (865)
  • 4 – Cornelius the Centurion
  • 14–Cyril and Methodius (869, 885)
  • 15 – Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730
  • 18 – Martin Luther, Reformer, 1546.
  • 23 – Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna, 156.
  • *24 – Saint Matthias the Apostle
  • 27 – George Herbert–Priest, 1633

MARCH

  • 9 – Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, 394
  • 17 – Patrick, Bishop and missionary of Ireland, 461.
  • 18 – Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, 386.
  • 19 – Saint Joseph
  • 25 – The Annunciation of Our Lord
  • 31 – John Donne, Priest, 1631

APRIL

  • Palm Sunday*
  • 4 – Ambrose (340-397)
  • Maundy Thursday*
  • Good Friday*
  • Easter Day*
  • 14 – Justin Martyr (100-165)
  • 21 – Anselm (1034-1109)
  • 25 – St. Mark the Evangelist

MAY

  • 1 – Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles
  • 2 – Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria (293-373)
  • 9 – Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389)
  • Rogation Days*
  • Ascension Day*
  • 19 – Dunstan (909-988)
  • 20 – Alcuin, Deacon and Abbot of Tours (735-809)
  • 24 – Vincent of Lerins
  • 26 – Augustine of Canterbury (?-604)
  • Pentecost*
  • 27 – Bede the Venerable – Priest and Monk (673-753)

JUNE

  • Trinity Sunday*
  • 7 – Corpus Christi
  • 9 – Columba (521-597)
  • 10 – First Book of Common Prayer (1549)
  • 11 – St. Barnabas
  • 14 – Basil of Caesarea (330-391)
  • 22 – Alban (?-304)
  • 24 – St. John the Baptist
  • 28 – Irenaeus (130?-200)
  • 29 – St. Peter

JULY

  • 11 – Benedict of Nursia (480-547)
  • 22 – St. Mary Magdalene
  • 24 – Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)
  • 25 – St. James*
  • 29 – Mary and Martha

 

AUGUST

  • 1 – Joseph of Arimathea
  • 6-Transfiguration of our Lord*
  • 13 – Jeremy Taylor
  • 15 – St. Mary the Virgin
  • 20 –Bernard of Clairvaux
  • 24 – St. Bartholomew the Apostle*
  • 28 – St. Augustine of Hippo
  • 31 – St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 651

 

SEPTEMBER

  • 13 – Cyprian – Bishop of Carthage, 258
  • 19, 21, and 22 – Ember Days
  • 21 – Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist*
  • 26 – Lancelot Andrewes
  • 29 – Saint Michael and All Angels*
  • 30 – Jerome, Priest & Monk of Bethlehem, 420

 

OCTOBER

  • 4 – Francis of Assisi—1181-1226
  • 6 – William Tyndale (1484-1536)
  • 13 – Edward the Confessor (1004-1066)
  • 16 – Oxford Martyrs
  • 17 – Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (35-107)
  • 18 – St. Luke, Evangelist
  • 19 – Henry Martyn (1781-1812)
  • 23 – St. James of Jerusalem
  • 26 – Alfred the Great (849-899)
  • 28 – St. Simon and St. Jude

 

NOVEMBER

  • 1 – All Saints Day
  • 3 – Richard Hooker (1554-1600)
  • 11 – Martin of Tours—(316-397)
  • 16 – Margaret of Scotland (1045-1093)
  • 17 – Hugh of Lincoln- (1135-1140)
  • 22 – Thanksgiving Day
  • 23 – Clement of Rome—(99)
  • 30 – St. Andrew, the Apostle

 

DECEMBER

  • 4 – Clement of Alexandria (150-216)
  • 6 – Nicholas of Myra (346)
  • 7 – Ambrose (338-397)
  • 21 – St. Thomas the Apostle
  • 25 – Christmas Day
  • 26 – St. Stephen
  • 27 – St. John the Apostle
  • 28 – Holy Innocents
  • 29 – Thomas Becket (1118-1170)

* These days fall on different dates every year. See table in the middle of this publication for the dates each year.

Celebrating the Church Calendar

“For All the Saints”

By Father Toms

The custom of observing saints’ days goes far back into Christian history.  It became a custom early in our history to remember the martyrs who had given their lives for their testimony to Jesus Christ.  People began to commemorate the anniversaries of their deaths, sometimes visiting their graves on these anniversaries. Thus, it became a common practice in the Church to set aside certain days to remember those who had departed this life in God’s faith and fear.  Saints days are a wonderful custom for helping us to increase in the grace and holiness of those who have gone on before.  But there is another benefit as well.  Observing saints days, and thinking of those who have gone on before reminds us of a very important doctrine:  the communion of saints.  In the Apostle’s Creed we say, “And I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.”   We know that we have communion or fellowship with one another.  We also have fellowship and communion with all Christians around the world, in that we are all gathered to worship the same Lord, all engaged in the same purpose, all praying together in the Spirit.  We have fellowship and communion with those people that we don’t even know, and we also have communion with those who are dead, with those who have gone on to be with the Lord.  In the hymn The Church’s One Foundation, we sing,

Yet she on earth hath union,

With God, the three in one,

And mystic sweet communion

With those whose rest is won.

 

What is this mystic, sweet communion?  First, it is a communion in worship.  Hebrews 12:18-24 teaches us that that we “have come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect.”  In a mystical sense, when we worship in a local church, we are also in the heavenly Jerusalem.  Who is in this heavenly Jerusalem?  God, Jesus, angels, the spirits of just men made perfect, and we are all worshiping in the heavenly Jerusalem.  All of us are gathered in the presence of God, worshiping and glorifying him.  What a wonderful thing to remember, that as we are drawing near to Christ in our worship, we are also drawing near to those beloved Christians who have died before us.   

The Church has always had this concept of a kind of unity, a communion of some kind, between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven.  There is a union of worship, a union of remembrance, a union of love, and according to our current liturgy, a union of prayer. But not only does our liturgy have this daily remembrance, we also set aside one day in the year to remember this union in a special way:  All Saints.  All Saints is the time when we remember the lives, not just of the great martyrs, but all the saints, those that are famous, those that are unknown, those who lived in obscure places, and who went unrecognized in all the good things they did for Christ and his Church.  In the collect for All Saints, we pray, “O Almighty God, who has knit together Thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord.”  Once again, we are reminded of this mystic sweet communion.  The elect are composed of  saints on earth and the saints in heaven.  Notice how close this union and communion is.  We are knit together with all the saints on earth and the saints in heaven.  It is a wonderful thing that we can be knit together with all the saints, not just the ones that we have physical contact with, but all the saints on earth and in heaven.  Our hearts are knit together in love for one another, in love for God,  and in love for his glory.  We are knit together because we are all in the same body, the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and so his blood, his power, his life, flows through us all and we all have this awareness that we are members of one body, members of one another.  

Then the collect calls us to pray, “Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living.”  The Gospel Reading for All Saints is that section of Scripture we call The Beatitudes.  Why did our forefathers choose that passage for All Saints?  When we pray for grace to follow their good examples, we are praying that we would be as they were—poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful , pure in heart, willing to suffer persecution for Christ’s sake.  Then we pray that we would come to that place of unspeakable glory, heaven itself, and enjoy heaven with all the saints who have gone on before:  “that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee.” As you can see, the observation of saints’ days is a means of grace.  By reflecting on the lives of the saints, we are encouraged to live holy lives as they did, and we are also encouraged to be faithful to Christ until that time when are reunited with Him and all the saints in Heaven itself.

 

This booklet is designed to help you observe these days in an effective manner.    Here is a good model to follow for family and private devotions.  It is short, with those people- on- the- go in mind.  It can be used morning and/or evening:

Short Scripture Reading

Hymn & Apostle’s Creed

Readings about the Saints

Prayers for ourselves and others

The Lord’s Prayer

The Collect.

The days with an asterisk (*) are those that  the 1928 Prayer Book lists as those that should be observed.  The other days are those observed by various parts of the Church to be used at your own discretion.

Read Our Church Calendar Publication

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