Catholic Calendar

Explore the seasons, Sundays and saints’ days of the present General Roman Calendar, with suggested Rosary mysteries. Choose a year to see its key dates or download a printable calendar.

On this page

Simple liturgical calendar

Choose a date to find the Church’s season, celebrations and saints’ feast days, with suggested Rosary mysteries for prayer. This simple guide follows the General Roman Calendar; local observances may vary, so check your parish calendar.

Seasons and months

About the dates and the Church’s year

Following the year with Christ

The Church's year draws us into the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Advent prepares for his coming; Christmas celebrates the Incarnation. Lent leads toward Easter, and the Easter season continues through Pentecost. During Ordinary Time, the Sunday readings continue to follow Christ's teaching and ministry.

Sundays stand at the heart of this rhythm. The Church gathers for the Eucharist and remembers the Resurrection each week. Solemnities and feasts bring particular mysteries and saints before us. A celebration's place in the calendar helps the whole community pray together, while a local parish calendar also includes its own patrons and observances.

Exploring the calendar

Use the date tool to explore years from 1900 to 2199. Turn on “Include saints’ feast days and memorials” to see the feast days and memorials of the General Roman Calendar alongside the seasons. You can choose a month and enter a year directly. Memorials that yield to a Sunday or a greater celebration are omitted; some may be commemorated on a weekday in Lent.

The tool applies the Church’s present calendar. It does not describe the calendar used in a past century or anticipate every future addition.

The suggested mysteries follow the familiar weekday distribution. On Sundays, the recommendation turns toward the Joyful Mysteries in Advent and Christmas, the Sorrowful Mysteries in Lent, and the Glorious Mysteries in Easter and Ordinary Time. On celebrations associated with the Rosary’s mysteries, the suggestion follows the feast: Joyful for Christmas, Luminous for the Baptism of the Lord and Corpus Christi, and Glorious for Ascension and the Assumption. The Easter Octave is also Glorious. A transferred celebration uses its actual date. These are devotional choices; a parish or family may follow another custom.

Keeping a printed copy

Choose a year in the simple calendar, then use “Print or download” to save a copy. The downloads gather the selected year’s Sundays and principal celebrations, with suggested Rosary mysteries and notes about local dates.

A one-page sheet gathers the key dates for a prayer book or a place of prayer at home. A fuller PDF contains the year’s Sundays and principal celebrations. A third edition adds saints’ feast days and memorials, including optional observances and their liturgical grades. Each copy names its year so that the dates remain clear when it is kept or shared.

Universal dates and local customs

Epiphany appears here on 6 January, and Ascension and Corpus Christi on Thursday. Many places celebrate one or more of these feasts on Sunday instead.

The Church also honors saints and patrons whose celebrations belong to a particular country, diocese, parish or religious community. These local observances are not all listed here.

The Triduum and Easter

The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, reaches its center in the Easter Vigil, and closes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday. Holy Thursday therefore begins in Lent; the Triduum begins that evening. Easter Sunday celebrates the Resurrection while bringing the Triduum to its conclusion.

Rosary customs can reflect the themes of Lent and Easter.

Sources