Alongside the liturgical seasons, which span different dates every year, the Church celebrates the feasts of the saints, which fall on the same days every year, no matter what. I have tried to capture in this post something of why we celebrate saints liturgically.
Helpful Books
To keep ourselves aware that saints are celebrated every day, my family has enjoyed Saints: A Year in Faith and Art. In our good periods, we read it nightly at dinner.
For special feasts in our family we have drawn on My Nameday: Come for Dessert. It has a lot more than just food ideas!
Martyrology Posts
From time to time I will post a translation from the 2004 Roman Martyrology, the current definitive source for Ordinary Form saints’ days. For more about the Martyrology, see my article here. To use one of the Martyrology posts as a prayer, simply: 1. Make the sign of the cross, 2. read the date aloud, 3. read the entry for the saint, and 4. read the prayers pasted in below. When celebrated as part of the Liturgy of the Hours, this prayer is recited the evening before the day in question: a prayer for an October 28 feast day, for example, would be said the evening of October 27.
You may be interested in Martyrology posts about Biblical Saints.
The Nameday Song
Although the Happy Birthday Song is a fond part of our secular heritage, what should one do on one’s nameday? Introducing the Nameday Song, with original music by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski and words by yours truly! The melody is jolly, as befits the occasion, but offers a discrete nod to the traditional chant for the Litany of the Saints. Sing all four parts if you happen to have a choir at your party; otherwise, just take the top line in unison.
Various
St. Jerome. Since devotion to St. Jerome seems to have flagged since the middle ages, I found an old Latin hymn for his feast day and translated it, and my friend Dr. Peter Kwasniewski gave it a fresh hymn setting. If you need to ramp up your celebration today, you can grab that hymn here; a midi file to help you get the melody is here.
