Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)


The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important and influential people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Episcopalians believe in the communion of saints in prayer and as such the Episcopal liturgical calendar accommodates feasts for saints.
This is the Liturgical Calendar found in the Book of Common Prayer, Lesser Feasts and Fasts'' and additions made at recent General Conventions; the relevant official resources of the Episcopal Church.

About feasts, fasts, the Anglican Communion and the liturgical calendar

The Episcopal Church publishes Lesser Feasts and Fasts, which contains feast days for the various men and women the Church wishes to honor. This book is updated every three years, when notable people can be added to the liturgical calendar by the General Convention. This list reflects changes made at the 2009, 2015, and 2018 General Conventions. It includes provisional changes made in the new official lists of commemorations, A Great Cloud of Witnesses.
There is no single calendar for the various churches making up the Anglican Communion; each makes its own calendar suitable for its local situation. As a result, the calendar here contains a number of figures important in the history of the church in the United States. Calendars in different provinces will focus on figures more important to those different countries. Different provinces often borrow important figures from each other's calendars as the international importance of different figures become more prominent. In this way the calendar of the Episcopal Church has importance beyond just the immediate purpose of supporting the liturgy of the American church. It is one of the key sources of the calendar for the international daily office Oremus.
Because of its relation to the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines follows this calendar rather closely.

Ranking of observances

The Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer identifies four categories of feasts: Principal Feasts, other Feasts of our Lord, other Major Feasts, and minor feasts. Two major fast days are also listed. In addition to these categories, further distinctions are made between feasts, to determine the precedence of feasts used when more than one feast falls on the same day. In addition, Lesser Feasts and Fasts gives further rules for the relative ranking of feasts and fasts. These rules of precedence all establish a ranking, from most to least important, as follows:
and Good Friday are appointed as major fast days with special services. "Days of special observance" or lesser fast days include all the weekdays of Lent and every Friday in the year, with the exception that fasting is never observed during the Easter or Christmas seasons, or on Feasts of our Lord. The Episcopal Church does not prescribe the specific manner of observance of these days.
Other days for prayer and optional fasting include rogation days, traditionally observed on April 25 and the three weekdays before Ascension Day, as well as the sets of Ember days four times each year.

Baptismal feasts

The Great Vigil of Easter, Pentecost, All Saints' Day, and The Baptism of our Lord, are appointed as baptismal feasts. It is preferred that baptism be reserved for those occasions.

Calendar

Principal Feasts are in BOLD, ALL CAPS. Feasts of our Lord are in bold italics. Other Major Feasts and Fasts are in bold. Appropriate Collects and Prayers for use in celebrating the commemorations are in brackets.

Movable days

These celebrations can occur on different dates depending on the date of Easter, which has no fixed date. In addition, every Sunday in the year is observed as a "feast of our Lord".