Education India, Colleges, Universities, Courses, Exams, Schools
New to Target Study? Sign Up to get started.
Forgot password?
Submit your email address and we'll send you a link to reset your password.
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:
|
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) |
(abolished) |
Difference between Gregorian and Julian Calendar Dates
|
Gregorian Range |
Julian Range |
Difference |
|
From 15 October 1582 |
From 5 October 1582 |
10 Days |
|
From 11 March 1700 |
From 29 February 1700 |
11 Days |
|
From 12 March 1800 |
From 29 February 1800 |
12 Days |
|
From 13 March 1900 |
From 29 February 1900 |
13 Days |
|
From 14 March 2100 |
From 29 February 2100 |
14 Days |
January 2012
|
Occasion |
Date |
Day |
|
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 |
|
Apr 06 |
Friday |
|
|
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 |
