Calculate the Catholic liturgical year, its seasons and lectionary cycles, then view the principal movable dates with common territorial options for Ascension and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
| Observance, boundary or feast | Date | Meaning or local note |
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This calculator is for Catholics, parish volunteers, catechists, teachers, families, event planners and anyone who needs to check the principal dates of the modern Roman liturgical year. It calculates Western Easter and the observances whose dates are counted from it, including Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, the Sacred Paschal Triduum, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
It also identifies Christ the King, the First Sunday of Advent, Christmas Day, the lectionary cycles and an optional planning list of selected fixed solemnities, feasts and saint days. The selected calendar year is not identical to a liturgical year: the First Sunday of Advent begins the next numbered liturgical year. The result makes that change explicit instead of labelling Advent as though it belonged only to the ending calendar year.
The tool uses the Gregorian computus for the modern Western calendar. The rule uses an ecclesiastical full moon and a fixed ecclesiastical equinox of 21 March. These are calendar constructs and do not always match the observed astronomical full moon or equinox.
Once Easter Sunday is known, related dates are exact day offsets. Ash Wednesday is 46 days before Easter, Palm Sunday 7 days before, Ascension Thursday 39 days after, Pentecost 49 days after and Trinity Sunday 56 days after.
The First Sunday of Advent is the Sunday falling between 27 November and 3 December. Christ the King is the preceding Sunday. Advent begins a new liturgical year even though the civil calendar year has not yet ended.
The General Roman Calendar places Ascension on Thursday and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on Thursday. Competent territorial authorities may transfer them to Sunday, so the selected basis changes which date is emphasised.
Selected fixed solemnities, feasts and saint days are placed on their calendar dates as a planning reference. Some can be transferred or omitted in official local calendars when higher-ranking celebrations intervene.
Gregorian computus gives Easter Sunday as 5 April 2026. Applying the fixed offsets and the England and Wales observance pattern produces:
The year begins within liturgical year 2026, Sunday Cycle A and Weekday Cycle II. Advent on 29 November begins liturgical year 2027, Sunday Cycle B and Weekday Cycle I.
With fixed feasts switched on, the same 2026 table also lists planning references such as Saint Joseph on 19 March, Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June, All Saints on 1 November, the Immaculate Conception on 8 December and the Christmas Octave feasts from 25–28 December.
The modern Roman liturgical year is commonly described through Advent, Christmas, Lent, the Sacred Paschal Triduum, Easter and Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time occurs in two spans: after Christmas Time and again after Easter Time. The seasonal cycle is accompanied by the sanctoral cycle of celebrations of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, but the evening of Holy Thursday is not simply another day of Lent. Lent ends before the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper; the Sacred Paschal Triduum then begins. It continues through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil and concludes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday. Easter Time continues for fifty days through Pentecost.
This calculator shows principal boundaries, movable observances and a selected fixed-date planning list. It does not attempt to reproduce every daily celebration, rank, colour, local saint, holy day of obligation, lectionary citation or diocesan proper.
Supports the central place of Sunday, the Paschal Mystery and the ordering of the liturgical year.
Promulgates the revised ordering of the liturgical year and General Roman Calendar.
Explains the seasonal and sanctoral cycles, the six seasons, recent General Roman Calendar additions and the fact that the liturgical year begins with Advent.
Supports the England and Wales observance pattern, including Ascension on Thursday and local transfer rules.
Explains the ecclesiastical equinox and full-moon rule used by the Gregorian computus.
The tool uses the Western Gregorian computus. Easter is the Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after the fixed ecclesiastical equinox of 21 March; this can differ from the observed astronomical full moon or equinox.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. In the Roman Rite it ends before the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, when the Sacred Paschal Triduum begins.
The Triduum is distinct from Lent. It begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, continues through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and concludes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday.
The General Roman date is the fortieth day of Easter, a Thursday. Some territories transfer the celebration to the following Sunday. England and Wales retain Thursday; in the United States the rule varies by ecclesiastical province.
The General Roman date is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Some territories, including England and Wales and the United States, normally transfer the celebration to the following Sunday.
A liturgical year begins on the First Sunday of Advent in the preceding calendar year. For example, Advent beginning in November 2026 starts liturgical year 2027.
The Sunday cycle follows a repeating A, B and C pattern. The weekday cycle is I in odd-numbered liturgical years and II in even-numbered liturgical years.
Yes, if the fixed-feasts option is switched on. It includes principal fixed solemnities, feasts and selected saint days as a planning checklist. It is not a complete martyrology, sanctoral calendar or diocesan Ordo.
Some fixed observances can be transferred, omitted or affected when they coincide with Sundays, Holy Week, the Easter Octave or local proper celebrations. This tool marks them as fixed-date references and points users back to official local calendars for liturgical planning.
No. It is a planning and checking tool for the modern Roman Rite. National, diocesan, parish and religious calendars can add observances or apply local transfers, so official local calendars remain the final reference.
