The sanctorale ( ) is one of the two main cycles that, running concurrently, comprise the

Liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be obse ...

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, defined by the

General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar (GRC) is the liturgy, liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and Sacred mysteries, mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgic ...

, and used by a variety of Christian denominations.

Description

The term comes into English from medieval Latin ''sanctorāle'' (from ''sanctus'' 'saint'), modelled on the name of the other main cycle, the ''

temporale The temporale ( or ) is one of the two main cycles that, running concurrently, comprise the Liturgical year in Roman Catholicism, defined by the General Roman Calendar. (The other cycle is the ''sanctorale''.) The term comes into English from medie ...

''.

The ''temporale'' consists of the movable feasts, most of them keyed to
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
(which falls on a different Sunday every year), including
Ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...
,
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
(Whitsun), and so on. The ''sanctorale'' consists of the fixed feasts, celebrated on the very same date each year (no matter what the day of the week), including Christmas and all the saints' days.

The ''sanctorale'' is also known as the proper of the saints, with ''proper'' a noun in the sense 'that part of the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

or liturgical offices which is varied according to the calendar or the particular occasion; an office or part of an office, as a psalm, lesson, etc., or portion of the Eucharist, appointed for a particular occasion or season'. Because the events of ''sanctorale'' and the ''temporale'' do not occur in the same order every year, the two cycles are often written separately in

liturgical books A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic C ...

, specifically that section of the

Missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest ...

known as the

Breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

. Accordingly, a collection of

saints' lives A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

arranged in liturgical order may also be called a ''sanctorale''. One prominent example of these is the hagiographies by

Ælfric of Eynsham Ælfric of Eynsham (; ; ) was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as '' ...

.Michael Lapidge, 'Ælfric's ''sanctorale''’, in ''Holy Men and Holy Women: Old English Prose Saints’ Lives and their Contexts'', ed. P. E. Szarmach (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1996).

References

{{reflist Catholic liturgy Christian terminology Catholic liturgical books