Christian Calendar 2012

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Christian Calendar is a Calendar associated with the Catholic Church and the Papacy (Government of the Roman Catholic Church). The Gregorian Solar Calendar is an Arithmetical Calendar. It counts days as the basic unit of time, grouping them into Years of 365 or 366 Days; and repeats completely every 146,097 Days, which fill 400 Years, and which also happens to be 20,871 Seven-Day Weeks. Of these 400 Years, 303 (the "common years") have 365 Days, and 97 (the leap years) have 366 Days. This gives an average Calendar-Year length of exactly 365.2425 Days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. The Calendar though represents Christian Events and Celebrations; it has over the years become an internationally accepted Civil Calendar.

Many Christian Festivals like Christmas are celebrated all over the world irrespective of the religion of a particular country. The Christian Calendar followed in modern times is also known as the Gregorian Calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the Calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582. Before the Gregorian Calendar, Julian Calendar was commonly used. Julian Calendar was a reform of the Roman calendar and was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. The need for the Gregorian Calendar stemmed from the fact that the Julian Calendar System assumes time between vernal equinoxes as 365.25 days, when in fact it is about 11 minutes less. The Accumulated Error between these values was about 10 days when the reform was made, resulting in the equinox occurring on March 11 and moving steadily earlier in the Calendar. Since the Equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the Reform in the Calendar was undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Gregorian Calendar Reform contained two parts, a Reform of the Julian Calendar as used up to Pope Gregory's time, together with a Reform of the Lunar Cycle used by the Church along with the Julian Calendar for calculating dates of Easter. The Reform was a modification of a proposal made by the Calabrian  doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio). Lilius' proposal included reducing the number of Leap Years in Four Venturies from 100 to 97, by making 3 out of 4 Centurial Years common instead of Leap Years: this part of the Proposal had been suggested before by, among others, Pietro Pitati. Lilio also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the Epacts of the Moon for completing the calculation of Easter Dates, solving a long-standing difficulty that had faced proposers of Calendar Reform. The Gregorian Calendar continues the previous year-numbering system based on the Anno Domini system, which counts years from the traditional Incarnation of Jesus, and which had spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.

The Julian Months were formed by adding ten days to a regular Pre-Julian Roman year of 355 days, creating a regular Julian Year of 365 days: Two extra days were added to Ianuarius, Sextilis (Augustus) and December, and one extra day was added to Aprilis, Iunius, September and November, setting the lengths of the months to the values they still hold today:

 Julian Months

Months

Lengths before 45 BC

Lengths as of 45 BC

           Ianuarius (January)

                    29

                     31

          Februarius (February)

     28 (leap years: 23 or 24)

       28 (leap years: 29)

             Martius (March)

                    31

                     31

               Aprilis (April)

                    29

                     30

               Maius (May)

                    31

                     31

         Junius - Iunius (June)

                    29

                     30

        Quintilis - Iulius (July)

                    31

                     31

      Sextilis - Augustus (August)

                    29

                     31

                September

                    29

                     30

                 October

                    31

                     31

               November

                    29

                     30

               December

                    29

                     31

               Intercalaris

             0 (leap years: 27)
   (inserted between the shortened
       February and March)

             (abolished)

 

Difference between Gregorian and Julian Calendar Dates

Gregorian Range

Julian Range

Difference

          From 15 October 1582
             to 10 March 1700

                  From 5 October 1582
                   to 28 February 1700            

          10 Days              

         From 11 March 1700
            to 11 March 1800

                  From 29 February 1700
                    to 28 February 1800

          11 Days

        From 12 March 1800
           to 12 March 1900            

                  From 29 February 1800
                    to 28 February 1900  

          12 Days     

        From 13 March 1900
           to 13 March 2100      

                  From 29 February 1900
                    to 28 February 2100

          13 Days     

       From 14 March 2100
          to 14 March 2200     

                  From 29 February 2100
                    to 28 February 2200

          14 Days  


Christian Calendar 2012

January 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Epiphany

Jan 06

Friday

Orthodox Christmas Day

Jan 07

Saturday

Baptism of Lord Jesus / 1st Sunday after Epiphany

Jan 08

Sunday

Saint Hilary's Feast Day

Jan 13

Friday

2nd Sunday after Epiphany

Jan 15

Sunday

Saint Agnes Day

Jan 21

Saturday

3rd Sunday after Epiphany

Jan 22

Sunday

Saint Paul's Day

Jan 25

Wednesday

Saint Thomas Aquinas Day

Jan 28

Saturday

4th Sunday after Epiphany

Jan 29

Sunday


February
2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Candlemas

Feb 02

Thursday

Saint Blaise Day

Feb 03

Friday

Our Lady of Lourdes

Feb 11

Saturday

Saint Valentine's Day

Feb 14

Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday

Feb 21

Tuesday

Ash Wednesday

Feb 22

Wednesday

Clean Monday - Beginning of Lent (Orthodox)

Feb 27

Monday

 

March 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Saint David's Day

Mar 01

Thursday

Saint Piran's Day

Mar 05

Monday

Saint Patrick's Day

Mar 17

Saturday

Mothering Sunday

Mar 18

Sunday

Saint Joseph's Day

Mar 19

Monday

Annunciation

Mar 25

Sunday

 

April 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Palm Sunday

Apr 01

Sunday

Maundy (holy) Thursday    

Apr 05

Thursday

Good Friday 

Apr 06

Friday

Easter 

Apr 08

Sunday

Easter Monday

Apr 09

Monday

Saint George's Day

Apr 23

Monday

Saint James The Great Day

Apr 30

Monday

 

May 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Ascension of Jesus

May 17

Thursday

St. Bede The Venerable

May 25

Friday

Pentecost

May 27

Sunday

 

June 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Trinity Sunday

Jun 03 

Sunday

Corpus Christi

Jun 07

Thursday

Saints Peter and Saint Paul’s Day

Jun 29

Friday

 

July 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Saint Vladimir

Jul 15

Sunday

St. Swithin's Day

Jul 15

Sunday

St. Mary Magdalene

Jul 22

Sunday

 

August 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Lammas

Aug 01

Wednesday

The Assumption of Mary

Aug 15

Wednesday

Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Aug 29

Wednesday

 

September 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Nativity (birthday) of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sep 8

Saturday

Holy Cross Day / Triumph of the Cross

Sep 14

Friday

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

Sep 23

Sunday

Michael and All Angels

Sep 29

Saturday

 

October 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Feast of the Guardian Angels

Oct 02

Tuesday

Feast of St Francis of Assisi

Oct 04

Thursday

St. Edward's Day

Oct 13

Saturday

Milvian Bridge Day

Oct 28

Sunday

Halloween Day (All Hallows' Eve)

Oct 31

Wednesday

 

November 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

All Saints' Day (Hallowmas, All Hallows')

Nov 01

Thursday

All Souls' Day

Nov 02

Friday

St. Hilda

Nov 17

Saturday

Thanksgiving

Nov 22

Thursday

Feast of Christ the King

Nov 25

Sunday

St. Andrew's Day

Nov 30

Friday

 

December 2012

Occasion

Date

Day

Advent - First Sunday         

Dec 02

Sunday

St. Nicholas Day

Dec 06

Thursday

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Dec 08

Saturday

Our Lady of Guadeloupe

Dec 12

Wednesday

St. Lucy's Day

Dec 13

Thursday

Christmas Eve

Dec 24

Monday

Christmas

Dec 25

Tuesday

St. Stephen's Day

Dec 26

Wednesday

Holy Innocents

Dec 28

Friday 

Watch Night

Dec 31

Monday