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. Those in high church or Anglo-Catholic traditions may explicitly invoke saints as intercessors in prayer, though saints are mainly recognized in the Episcopal Church as merely examples in history of good Christian people.
This is the calendar of saints 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 and 2015 General Conventions. It includes provisional changes made in the new official lists of feasts, Holy Women, Holy Men and 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.
The Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer identifies four categories of feasts: Principal Feasts, other Feasts of our Lord (including Sundays), other Major Feasts, and minor feasts. Two major fast days are also listed (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday). 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:
PRINCIPAL FEASTS
The Feasts of the Holy Name, the Presentation, and Transfiguration
Sundays through the year
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Feasts of our Lord
Other Major Feasts
Weekdays of Lent
Minor feasts
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are appointed as fast days. Lesser fast days, called "days of special observance", are 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.
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.
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.
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".
Ash Wednesday
Good Friday
EASTER DAY
ASCENSION DAY
DAY OF PENTECOST
The First Book of Common Prayer, 1549, observed on a weekday following Pentecost
TRINITY SUNDAY
Thanksgiving Day
1 The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
2 Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah, First Indian Anglican Bishop, Dornakal, 1945
3 William Passavant, Prophetic Witness, 1894
4 Elizabeth Seton, Founder of the American Sisters of Charity, 1821
6 THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
8 Harriet Bedell, Deaconess and Missionary, 1969
9 Julia Chester Emery, 1922
10 William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1645
12 Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167
13 Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 367
15 (alternative date for Martin Luther King, Jr.; see April 4)
16 Richard Meux Benson, Religious, 1915, and Charles Gore, Bishop of Worcester, of Birmingham, and of Oxford, 1932
17 Antony, Abbot in Egypt, 356
18 The Confession of Saint Peter the Apostle
19 Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester 1095
20 Fabian, Bishop and Martyr of Rome, 250
21 Agnes, Martyr at Rome, 304
22 Vincent, Deacon of Saragossa, and Martyr, 304
23 Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, 1893
24 Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi, First Woman Priest in the Anglican Communion, 1944
25 The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle
26 Timothy, Titus, and Silas, Companions of Saint Paul
27 Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, Witnesses to the Faith
28 Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar, 1274
29 Andrei Rublev, Monk and Iconographer, 1430
30 Charles I of England, King and Martyr, 1649.
31 Juan Bosco, Priest, 1888. Samuel Shoemaker, Priest and Evangelist, 1963
1 Brigid (Bride), Abbess, 523
2 The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
3 The Dorchester Chaplains: Lieutenant George Fox, Lieutenant Alexander D. Goode, Lieutenant Clark V. Poling, and Lieutenant John P. Washington, 1943
4 Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
5 Roger Williams, 1683, and Anne Hutchinson, 1643, Prophetic Witnesses
6 The Martyrs of Japan, 1597
7 Cornelius the Centurion
11 Frances Jane (Fanny) Van Alstyne Crosby, Hymnwriter, 1915
12 Charles Freer Andrews, Priest and “Friend of the Poor” in India, 1940
13 Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818
14 Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869, 885
15 Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730
16 Charles Todd Quintard, Bishop of Tennessee, 1898
17 Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, and Martyr, 1977
18 Martin Luther, 1546
20 Frederick Douglass, Prophetic Witness, 1895
21 John Henry Newman, priest and theologian, 1890
22 Eric Liddell, Missionary to China, 1945
23 Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna, 156
24 Saint Matthias the Apostle
25 John Roberts, Priest, 1949
26 Emily Malbone Morgan, Prophetic Witness, 1937
27 George Herbert, priest, 1633
28 Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, 1964, and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, 1904, Educators
1 David, Bishop of Menevia, Wales, c. 544
2 Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, 672
3 John and Charles Wesley, Priests, 1791, 1788
4 Paul Cuffee, Witness to the Faith among the Shinnecock, 1812
6 William W. Mayo, 1911, and Charles Menninger, 1953, and their sons, pioneers in medicine
7 Perpetua & Felicity and their Companion Martyrs, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
8 Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, 1929
9 Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, c. 394
12 Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, 604
13 James Theodore Holly, bishop of Haiti and Dominican Republic
17 Patrick, Bishop and Missionary of Ireland, 461
18 Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, 386
19 Saint Joseph
20 Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1711
21 Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, 1556
22 James De Koven, Priest, 1879
23 Gregory the Illuminator, Bishop and Missionary of Armenia, c. 332
24 Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, 1980
25 The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary
26 Richard Allen, First Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1831
27 Charles Henry Brent, Bishop of the Philippines, and of Western New York, 1929
28 James Solomon Russell, Priest, 1935
29 John Keble, Priest, 1866
30 Innocent of Alaska, Bishop, 1879
31 John Donne, Priest, 1631
1 Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, 1872
2 James Lloyd Breck, Priest, 1876
3 Richard, Bishop of Chichester, 1253
4 Martin Luther King Jr., Pastor, Civil Rights Leader, 1968
5 Pandita Mary Ramabai, Prophetic Witness and Evangelist in India, 1922
6 Daniel G. C. Wu, Priest and Missionary among Chinese Americans, 1956
7 Tikhon, Patriarch of Russia and Confessor, 1925
8 William Augustus Muhlenberg, Priest, 1877. Anne Ayres, Religious, 1896
9 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theologian and Martyr, 1945
10 William Law, Priest, 1761. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Scientist and Military Chaplain, 1955
11 George Augustus Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, and of Lichfield, 1878
12 Adoniram Judson, Missionary to Burma, 1850
14 Edward Thomas Demby, 1957, and Henry Beard Delany, 1928, Bishops
15 Damien, Priest and Leper, 1889, and Marianne, Religious, 1918, of Molokai
16 Mary (Molly) Brant (Konwatsijayenni), Witness to the Faith among the Mohawks, 1796
19 Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1012
21 Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1109
22 John Muir, Naturalist and Writer, 1914, and Hudson Stuck, Priest and Environmentalist, 1920
23 George, Soldier and Martyr, c. 304. Toyohiko Kagawa, Prophetic Witness in Japan, 1960
24 Genocide Remembrance
25 Saint Mark the Evangelist
26 Robert Hunt, Priest and First Chaplain at Jamestown, 1607
27 Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
29 Catherine of Siena, 1380
30 Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, Editor and Prophetic Witness, 1879
1 Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles
2 Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, 373
4 Monnica of Hippo, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
7 Harriet Starr Cannon, Religious, 1896
8 Dame Julian of Norwich, c. 1417
9 Gregory of Nazianzus, Bishop of Constantinople, 389
10 Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, Prophetic Witness, 1760
13 Frances Perkins, Public Servant and Prophetic Witness, 1965
16 Martyrs of Sudan
17 William Hobart Hare, Bishop of Niobrara, and of South Dakota, 1909
19 Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
20 Alcuin, Deacon, and Abbot of Tours, 804
21 John Eliot, Missionary among the Algonquin, 1690
23 Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543, and Johannes Kepler, 1630, Astronomers
24 Jackson Kemper, First Missionary Bishop in the United States, 1870
25 Bede, the Venerable, Priest, and Monk of Jarrow, 735
26 Augustine, First Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
27 Bertha and Ethelbert, Queen and King of Kent, 616
28 John Calvin, Theologian, 1564
30 Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc), Mystic and Soldier, 1431
31 The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
1 Justin, Martyr at Rome, c. 167
2 The Martyrs of Lyons, 177
3 The Martyrs of Uganda, 1886
4 Pope John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli), Bishop of Rome, 1963
5 Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, Missionary to Germany, and Martyr, 754
6 Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945
7 The Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, 1890
8 Roland Allen, Mission Strategist, 1947
9 Columba, Abbot of Iona, 597
10 Ephrem of Edessa, Syria, Deacon, 373
11 Saint Barnabas the Apostle
12 Enmegahbowh, Priest and Missionary, 1902
13 Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
14 Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea, 379
15 Evelyn Underhill, Theologian and Mystic 1941
16 George Berkeley, 1753, and Joseph Butler, 1752, Bishops and Theologians
18 Bernard Mizeki, Catechist and Martyr in Rhodesia, 1896
22 Alban, First Martyr of Britain, c. 304
24 The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
25 James Weldon Johnson, Poet, 1938
26 Isabel Florence Hapgood, Ecumenist and Journalist, 1929
27 Cornelius Hill, Priest and Chief among the Oneida, 1907
28 Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, c. 202
29 Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles
1 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Writer and Prophetic Witness, 1896 and Pauli Murray, Lawyer, Poet, Author, Activist, Priest (First African-American Woman ordained in Episcopal Church), 1985
2 Walter Rauschenbusch, 1918, Washington Gladden, 1918, and Jacob Riis, 1914, Prophetic Witnesses
4 Independence Day
6 Jan Hus, Prophetic Witness and Martyr, 1415
11 Benedict of Nursia, Abbot of Monte Cassino, c. 540
12 Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala and Ecumenist, 1931
13 Conrad Weiser, Witness to Peace and Reconciliation, 1760
14 Samson Occom, Witness to the Faith in New England, 1792
16 "The Righteous Gentiles"
17 William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, 1836
18 Bartolomé de las Casas, Friar and Missionary to the Indies, 1566
19 Macrina, Monastic and Teacher, 379. Adelaide Teague Case, Teacher, 1948
20 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman
21 Albert John Luthuli, Prophetic Witness in South Africa, 1967
22 Saint Mary Magdalene
23 John Cassian, Abbot at Marseilles, 433
24 Thomas a Kempis, Priest, 1471
25 Saint James the Apostle
26 The Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (traditionally identified as Anne and Joachim)
27 William Reed Huntington, Priest, 1909
28 Johann Sebastian Bach, 1750, George Frederick Handel, 1759, and Henry Purcell, 1695, Composers
29 Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany
30 William Wilberforce, 1833 and Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury, 1885, Prophetic Witnesses
31 Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Monastic, 1556
1 Joseph of Arimathaea
2 Samuel David Ferguson, Missionary Bishop for West Africa, 1916
3 George Freeman Bragg, Jr., Priest, 1940. W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist, 1963
5 Albrecht Dürer, 1528, Matthias Grünewald, 1529, and Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1553, Artists
6 The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ
7 John Mason Neale, Priest, 1866. Catherine Winkworth, Poet, 1878
8 Dominic, Priest and Friar, 1221
9 Herman of Alaska, Missionary to the Aleut, 1837
10 Lawrence, Deacon, and Martyr at Rome, 258
11 Clare, Abbess at Assisi, 1253
12 Florence Nightingale, Nurse, Social Reformer, 1910
13 Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, 1667
14 Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Seminarian and Witness for Civil Rights, 1965
15 Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ
17 Samuel Johnson, 1772, Timothy Cutler, 1765, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler, 1790, Priests
18 William Porcher DuBose, Priest, 1918
20 Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1153
23 Martin de Porres, 1639, Rosa de Lima, 1617, and Toribio de Mogrovejo, 1606, Witnesses to the Faith in South America
24 Saint Bartholomew the Apostle
25 Louis, King of France, 1270 (also in the Philippines, alternative commemoration for Charles Henry Brent)
27 Thomas Gallaudet, 1902, and Henry Winter Syle, 1890
28 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 430. Moses the Black, Desert Father and Martyr, c. 400
29 John Bunyan, Writer, 1688
30 Charles Chapman Grafton, Bishop of Fond du Lac, and Ecumenist, 1912
31 Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 651. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 687
1 David Pendleton Oakerhater, Deacon and Missionary, 1931
2 The Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942
3 Prudence Crandall, Teacher and Prophetic Witness, 1890
4 Paul Jones, 1941
5 Gregorio Aglipay, Priest and Founder of the Philippine Independent Church, 1940
7 Elie Naud, Huguenot Witness to the Faith, 1722
8 Nativity of Mary, Søren Kierkegaard, Teacher and Philosopher, 1855. N. F. S. Grundtvig, Bishop and Hymnwriter, 1872
9 Constance, Nun, and her Companions, 1878
10 Alexander Crummell, 1898
11 Harry Thacker Burleigh, Composer, 1949
12 John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, 1830
13 John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, 407
14 Holy Cross Day
15 Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr of Carthage, 258. James Chisholm, Priest, 1855
16 Ninian, Bishop in Galloway, c. 430
17 Hildegard, 1179
18 Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, 1882
19 Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690
20 John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of Melanesia, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1871
21 Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
22 Philander Chase, Bishop of Ohio, and of Illinois, 1852
25 Sergius, Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow, 1392
26 Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, 1626. Wilson Carlile, Priest, 1942
27 Vincent de Paul, Religious, and Prophetic Witness, 1660. Thomas Traherne, Priest, 1674
28 Richard Rolle, 1349, Walter Hilton, 1396, and Margery Kempe, c. 1440, Mystics
29 Saint Michael and All Angels
30 Jerome, Priest, and Monk of Bethlehem, 420
1 Remegius, Bishop of Rheims, c. 530
3 George Kennedy Allen Bell, Bishop of Chichester, and Ecumenist, 1958. John Raleigh Mott, Evangelist and Ecumenical Pioneer, 1955
4 Francis of Assisi, Friar, 1226
6 William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, Translators of the Bible, 1536, 1568
7 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Lutheran Pastor in North America, 1787
8 William Dwight Porter Bliss, Priest, 1926, and Richard Theodore Ely, Economist, 1943
9 Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, Medical Missionary, 1940
10 Vida Dutton Scudder, Educator and Witness for Peace, 1954
11 Philip, Deacon and Evangelist
14 Joseph Schereschewsky, Bishop of Shanghai, 1906
15 Teresa of Ávila, Nun, 1582
16 Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, Bishops, 1555/
17 Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, and Martyr, c. 115
18 Saint Luke the Evangelist
19 Henry Martyn, Priest, and Missionary to India and Persia, 1812. William Carey, Missionary to India, 1834
23 Saint James of Jerusalem, Brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Martyr, c. 62
26 Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, 899
28 Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles
29 James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1885
30 John Wyclif, Priest and Prophetic Witness, 1384
31 Paul Shinji Sasaki, Bishop of Mid-Japan, and of Tokyo, 1946, and Philip Lindel Tsen, Bishop of Honan, China, 1954
1 ALL SAINTS
2 Commemoration of All Faithful Departed
3 Richard Hooker, Priest, 1600
6 William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1944
7 Willibrord, Archbishop of Utrecht, Missionary to Frisia, 739
10 Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461
11 Martin, Bishop of Tours, 397
12 Charles Simeon, Priest, 1836
14 Consecration of Samuel Seabury, First American Bishop, 1784
15 Francis Asbury, 1816, and George Whitefield, 1770, Evangelists
16 Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1093
17 Hugh, 1200, and Robert Grosseteste, 1253, Bishops of Lincoln
18 Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680
19 Elizabeth, Princess of Hungary, 1231
20 Edmund, King of East Anglia, 870
21 William Byrd, 1623, John Merbecke, 1585, and Thomas Tallis, 1585, Musicians
22 Clive Staples Lewis, Apologist and Spiritual Writer, 1963
23 Clement, Bishop of Rome, c. 100
25 James Otis Sargent Huntington, Priest and Monk, 1935
26 Isaac Watts, Hymnwriter, 1748
28 Kamehameha and Emma, King and Queen of Hawaii, 1864, 1885
30 Saint Andrew the Apostle
1 Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, 1637
2 Channing Moore Williams, Missionary Bishop in China and Japan, 1910
3 Francis Xavier, Missionary to the Far East, 1552
4 John of Damascus, Priest, c. 760
5 Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210
6 Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342
7 Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 397
8 Richard Baxter, Pastor and Writer, 1691
10 Karl Barth, Pastor and Theologian, 1968. Thomas Merton, Contemplative and Writer, 1968
13 Lucy (Lucia), Martyr at Syracuse, 304
14 Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross), Mystic, 1591
15 John Horden, Bishop and Missionary in Canada, 1893. Robert McDonald, Priest, 1913
16 Ralph Adams Cram, 1942, and Richard Upjohn, 1878, Architects, and John LaFarge, Artist, 1910
17 William Lloyd Garrison, 1879, and Maria Stewart, 1879, Prophetic Witnesses
19 Lillian Trasher, Missionary in Egypt, 1961
21 Saint Thomas the Apostle
22 Charlotte Digges (Lottie) Moon, Missionary in China, 1912. Henry Budd, Priest, 1875
25 THE NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST
26 Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr
27 Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
28 The Holy Innocents
29 Thomas Becket, 1170
30 Frances Joseph-Gaudet, Educator and Prison Reformer, 1934
31 Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Bishop in the Niger Territories, 1891
