Universalis

Local calendar information

The Local Calendars page lets you set the Universalis web site to use your own local calendar.

Not every local calendar is listed there. We'd like to add more local calendars to Universalis, and this page tells you what you can do to help.

The information we need

A local calendar can differ from the General Calendar in the following ways:

Different options - The feasts of the Epiphany, the Ascension, and Corpus Christi can be celebrated on their proper days or moved to the nearest Sunday.

Different rank - Some feasts may have more importance in the local calendar than in the General Calendar. For instance, in England St George (23 March) is a Solemnity instead of an Optional Memorial; and in the whole of Europe St Benedict (11 July) is a Feast instead of a Memorial.

Changed dates - Other feasts in the General Calendar may be moved. Here are two examples:

Local feasts - Some feasts of local significance may not occur at all in the General Calendar. For example, St Brendan (Optional Memorial, 16 May) in Ireland, or the Shipwreck of St Paul (Feast, 10 February) in Malta.

Sources of information

The best source of all is a list, in much the way we've presented it here, published on the site of the local bishops' conference. When we find these lists, we use them.

Second best is a liturgical calendar for the year, from an official source. This is more difficult to handle because we have to work out the differences between that calendar and the General Calendar. Moreover, a liturgical calendar for any one year is not always enough. It's hard to decide whether the Epiphany is being celebrated on 6 January or on the Sunday, if all we have is a calendar for a year when 6 January is a Sunday! And if a local saint falls on a Sunday and so isn't celebrated, some calendars will say "(St XXX is not celebrated this year because of the Sunday)" but others will just say nothing at all.

Blogs, unofficial web sites and Wikipedia aren't reliable enough sources of information. They may be inaccurate or they may be out of date.

How local?

If we listed every diocese in the world then the Local Calendars page would be too long to be usable. Besides, the list would take a lifetime to compile! Generally we like to stick to countries rather than dioceses.

How to contact us

Use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page.