How many saints days are there? (Part 2)

Last week, I explained how feast days work on the liturgical calendar. This time, I'll give some information specifically about the saints and their special days.

Though they don't all get "officially" listed on our liturgical calendar, there is at least one saint for every single day of the year. There are actually thousands of saints who have been canonized, or officially recognized by the Catholic Church, as well as countless other holy men and women in Heaven whose deeds are not publicly known. Some of these saints, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary, have many different feast days. Others, like the North American Martyrs, all share a single day. Some traditionally-recognized feast days, such as St. Valentine's Day on February 14, aren't even published on the calendar anymore (but could still be celebrated as an optional memorial). Incidentally, February 14 is now occupied by the memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

So, how does the Church celebrate all of the saints if there aren't enough days in the year to give each saint his or her own day? And what about all of those saints whose names and stories we don't even know? All of the saints, including the ones who are not honored with an individual memorial, feast, or solemnity, are included in the celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1st--which is a Holy Day of Obligation.


If you really want to know exactly how many saints days will be celebrated in a given calendar year, you'll need to actually look at a liturgical calendar and count. Remember that some saints will miss their usual day if, for example, it falls on a Sunday that year. The website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB.org) has an interactive calendar right there on the front page.

For more questions and answers in video format, visit our YouTube Channel:  https://goo.gl/2To8Xy .