“To be Catholic is to have a faith that marks our hours, counts our days, and measures our months and seasons.” In his new book, The Feasts: How the Church Year Forms Us as Catholics, Cardinal Donald Wuerl (Washington, DC) writes of the significance of the many seasons and celebrations in course of a year which Catholics observe. “Our liturgical calendar is marked by special days – feasts – which are all celebrations of Jesus Christ,” he says, “reminding us who we are as people of faith. These feasts form a kind of catechism, a rich depiction of Jesus’ life which represents the fullness of creation and redemption.” That’s a terrific way to look at our calendar, isn’t it?
The start of a new liturgical year in the Roman Catholic calendar is always the first Sunday of Advent which this year falls on November 30. If you’d like a liturgical calendar to help you engage in the life of the Church a little bit more, take a look at what the digital Catholic world offers!
Digital Catholic Calendars
As with all liturgical calendars, many variations unique to your country/diocese may not be taken into account in these digital versions. Updates may lag. It is a good idea to double-check with the official liturgical calendar of your country/diocese.
Universalis ($13.33) iOS , Android — Roman Calendar, Liturgy of the Hours, Roman Missal (English 3rd Edition), Saint of the Day, and more! For other platforms, you can go to Universalis’ web site where they suggest setting up the daily email service, or creating your own e-book of their extensive offerings to read on your device. Of course, you can view everything on line for free; it is set up for mobile viewing. Once you download the App, you get it all, forever–equivalent of 5,000 pages! And this one-time subscription covers all your devices. YOU GET… liturgical calendar for every year from 1970 to 2300 and beyond. Feasts and celebrations according to the General Calendar and the local calendars of the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland, and others. Also features “About Today” pages giving more information about the saint of the day.
e-Ordo ($19.95/year) This is not an app, but it’s a digital version of the Roman Catholic Liturgical calendar (for the United States) purchased as a subscription. It can be imported into most electronic calendars and platforms (PC, Mac, smartphones, and tablets) delivered via .zip file. Just download, extract the files, and import to your calendar application of choice. Instructions. Purchase direct from their web site. To download and install E-Ordo on your calendar application, go to the E-Ordo download page and select the file to download and import. From Developer: Imagine the convenience of importing the liturgical year into your existing electronic calendar! E-Ordo is in compliance with the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the calendar and includes all the liturgical calendar information including colors, seasons, feasts, solemnities, memorials, and optional memorials. Includes the lectionary reading numbers, as well as the designation as to whether or not the Creed and/or the Gloria are said. All readings and alternative readings are listed for every day of the week, as is information about the Liturgy of the Hours. Local variants to the universal liturgical calendar may be edited once the calendar is imported.
e-Ordo can also be instantly accessed online using a web browser. It’s called E-Ordo Live, ($19.95/yr) and it is updated as soon as new information is available and published. Subscribers will never have to worry about updates, and each time a user loads the application, he or she is receiving the latest version. If you’re a subscriber on iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Kindle Fire, or Windows Phone, you can access the same application and run it just as well as on your desktop or laptop computer.
iPieta.($2.99) Full version for iOS. Android version is split up into several lite apps. TWO liturgical calendars are offered: the Ordinary Roman Calendar and also Extraordinary Roman Calendar (1962). This major app is loaded with so much more! It is a valuable addition to your mobile device.
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Laudete (Free) iOs and Android. This probably is the #1 free Catholic app because it is the most comprehensive with many resources packed into a scrolling list on the home page. Available in English, Español, Português, Italiano, Bahasa and Polski, Slovenian. Among other resources, it offers a Roman Catholic liturgical calendar with the most basic information for the day. This is one of our recommended essential apps for your mobile device.
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Liturgical Calendar Android only (free) While not particularly graphically artistic, this app form of the Liturgical Calendar contains all the basic information you need each day–season, holy day, feast, saint, liturgical color. Get calendar dates of the seasons, holy days and liturgical feasts. The Liturgical Calendar application is in English language. Developer has stated for quite some time that multiple languages will be added and published in the future. Video promoting this app here.
Variety of Calendars at iCal share (free annual subscriptions) to a variety of calendars that superimpose in your iCal program. Go to their web site and choose the category you’re interested in on the left-hand-column. I chose “religion” and scrolled to “Catholic” to find Roman Catholic Calendar (below). Examples of what you will find: a calendar for Carmelite feast days, a light version of the Roman Catholic Calendar that only includes Sundays, major feasts and solemnities, and a Traditional Roman Catholic Calendar according to the 1962 Missal for both Mass and the Breviary. You have to re-subscribe each year by going back to the site and downloading the next year’s calendar.
Roman Catholic Calendar for iCal–(free annual subscription) A Roman Catholic calendar of feast days, memorials, solemnities and holy days of obligation (United States). Includes links to find out more about saints and feast days of the Church. Very easy to download; it installed itself onto iCal on my Mac. Then I set it to upload on my iOS device at the next sync. iCal share offers free subscriptions to a variety of calendars that superimpose in your iCal program. Go to their web site and choose the category you’re interested in on the left-hand-column. I chose “religion” and scrolled to “Catholic” to find this calendar. You have to re-subscribe each year by going back to the site and downloading the next year’s calendar.
iMissal ($4.99) iOS , Android, Blackberry, Kindle Fire. Windows Phone version is $6.99. This valuable Missal app also contains a Roman Catholic liturgical calendar with bias to American calendar. It opens up to the correct day so you don’t have to hunt, and it offers information like color of the day, designations of Feast or Solemnity etc, and saint(s) of the day. Just enough information for general information, but offers no variants for dioceses, archdioceses. It does have its flaws, however, as occasionally it offers an incorrect day of a feast or memorial. So, as with all calendars, it is good to double-check with what your country/diocese posts on its official liturgical calendar.
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Saint of the Day ($2.99) iOS St. Anthony Messenger’s most popular Web feature since 1997 is now available as an iPhone app! Saint of the Day allows you to carry the wisdom of the saints with you everywhere you go. SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio option included; Saints for every day of the year; Revised and updated to include both new and classic saints; Extensive searchable database (by saint or cause); List of patron saints; Interactive calendar
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