The Calendar of Saints: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Why do Anglicans celebrate “feast days” for various “saints” throughout the Church Calendar? After all, aren’t all Christians saints? Believe it or not, this practice finds its roots in the Bible.
In 1 Cor. 11:1, St. Paul writes: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” From this, we learn one of the most potent means of Christian discipleship: imitating other devout believers. Not for their own sake! Instead, we imitate devout believers because they, in turn, imitate Christ by seeking to obey and please the Father.
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The author of Hebrews enlarges on the theme. After cataloging the great heroes of the faith, he goes on to say:
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7
This past-tense description (…spoke….the outcome…) seems to imply that the leaders are no longer around—either being in exile, prison, or having been put to death. The Bible itself urges us to keep the holy lives of devout believers before our eyes to learn from them and let their example encourage us toward Christlikeness.
Commemorations in the Early Church
In our very earliest records of the Church after the New Testament era, we see this principle of imitation in action.
Honoring Polycarp
In the Martyrdom of Polycarp (executed for his faith as an 86-year-old man in the year 155 in Smyrna), we have this account from a contemporary eyewitness after Polycarp’s death by burning at the stake:
Later, we collected up his bones, more precious than jewels and better purified than gold, and put them in an appropriate place where, the Lord willing, we shall celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom each year with joy and rejoicing, both to remember those who have run their race and to prepare those yet to walk in their steps.
Martyrdom of Polycarp, 18 (trans. Lightfoot)
A century after the death of the first martyred apostles, many Christians had suffered under various antagonistic emperors. The great cloud of witnesses was beginning to become very great indeed!
What we see in the account of Polycarp’s martyrdom is that a custom had developed of observing the anniversary of a martyr’s death as an annual memorial. In this way, the Church could remember many great heroes of the faith individually throughout the year. Early believers held up the lives of the martyrs as examples of authentic Christian discipleship and devotion. Writing just two generations after Polycarp’s death, Tertullian offers a further glimpse into how the Church kept the memory of the blessed alive on their “heavenly birthday.”
As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honours.
De Corona Militis, 3 (trans. Thelwall)
In context, we find it clear that the “offerings” mentioned are none other than special celebrations of Holy Communion, where the Church thanks God (Eucharist) for his work, chiefly through Christ’s atoning death for us. But also, in a much smaller and secondary way, we thank God for the work that His Holy Spirit accomplished in the life of the saint remembered on that day.
Commemoration Over the Centuries
For many successive centuries, we see this pattern repeated in every corner of the Church: A person lives an exemplary Christian life—perhaps as a nun, a bishop (like Polycarp was), a teacher, or a prince. And, whether they suffered martyrdom or not, the Church held up the excellency of their life as a teaching tool in the local community they were a part of, even after they had died.
Sometimes, the memory of a holy man or woman became so cherished that their reputation extended beyond the local community. People heard about this great saint of God and would travel to visit the town where they ministered (and perhaps where their bones rested) to see for themselves the effect a sanctified life can have and to give thanks to God for doing such powerful work.
When a saint became so famous that the whole Church came to know about them, this is how the recognition of “saints” as we think of them now began. In this sense, “saints” are holy men and women whom the whole Church knows about and whose memory is universally cherished.
Medieval Corruptions
In the Middle Ages, the devotion (cultus) to the Saints began to balloon. Combined with false teachings about the afterlife, merit, purgatory, and whatnot, the remembered saints became seen as ambassadors to whom we on earth could appeal. Commemorations of their death in Holy Communion began to get out of hand, and the saint’s life became the major theme of the liturgy rather than the central, singular offering of Christ on the cross. Furthermore, as “cultural Christianity” or Christendom became established in Europe, Holy Days of remembrance became holidays from work—excuses for raucous festivals and often ungodliness (think of the Las Vegas strip!).
Widespread fabrication of relics and legends is common. What had once been an anthology of pious remembrances in the church became a farrago of tall tales and oddities coupled with the names of the great saints of old (for instance, stories of a “St. Christopher” who almost certainly never existed, or a miraculous recreation of Mary’s childhood home in Loreto, etc). By the 16th century, corruptions eclipsed whatever positive aspects had existed of devotion to the saints.
Reformation Corrections
This deformation of the holy memory of holy men and women was one of the things the Reformers set out to correct. Although the Swiss school of Reformers wanted to do away with such commemorations entirely, the more moderate Reformation in England didn’t want to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. After all, they should still commend the Early Church practices that followed Hebrews 13’s injunctions, even as the excesses were in dire need of pruning, and so they pruned.
Red Letter Days and Black Letter Days
The Book of Common Prayer took an axe to the over-elaborate structure and the vast number of commemorations. In the Prayer Book tradition, the only required commemorations (initially called “Red Letter Days” because the names were in red) are for saints who appear in the New Testament (Apostles, Evangelists, etc.). The dates for these commemorations remained those inherited from earlier traditions, which purport to be the saints’ deaths. All other commemorations became optional (referred to as “Black Letter Days” because they were printed in smaller, black type). These also received pruning. Whereas the medieval calendar had a saint for just about every day, the optional Prayer Book commemorations have, on average, only two per week.
Keeping Christ Central
Furthermore, all dubious legends were expunged. The mention of saints’ days during Holy Communion became much briefer so that Christ once again became the sole focus of worship and honor amid the holy feast. After all, Christ himself is the living wellspring of sanctity that makes the Saints exceptional.
The Roman Catholic Church also tried to clean up the mess of devotion to the saints by creating the Sacred Congregation for Rites in 1588. They intended this to organize and clarify the Church’s devotional life. However, this body merely created a new peculiar process for formally recognizing (canonizing) saints, which has done little to restrain overzealous devotion. They continue this work today.
The Anglican Calendar Today
Anglicans seek to embody the purity and the simplicity of the Early Church. For example, did you know that the 1571 Book of Homilies refers to the Church of the first five centuries in such glowing terms over a dozen times? For this reason, we do remember exemplary Christians of old in our calendars, in keeping with the two-tiered structure (Red Letter and Black Letter, required and optional) set forth by Thomas Cranmer. In addition, since spending too much time on the Saints clearly leads the Church into error (as we saw in the Middle Ages), the Anglican church has intentionally never fussed over “canonization” like the Roman Catholic Church has.
Local communities still remember the sanctity of the godly men and women who ministered among them. Sometimes, that fame spreads throughout the communion. Still, we have never styled anyone living on this side of the Reformation as “saint” the way the saints of the Early Church are (St. Augustine, etc.). Sometimes, the Church applies the title “Blessed” to those whose lives glowed with godliness and sacrifice, with that as the limit of recognition. Anglicans do not seek out saints as intercessors in the way that Roman Catholics pray to the dead, since this interferes with the singular mediatorial role of Christ Jesus in heaven. As Article XXII of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion puts it:
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.
How Do We Choose Whom to Commemorate?
When the Prayer Book revision prompted the updating of the Calendar of Holy Days and Commemorations, there were so many Christian worthies that one could feel spoiled for choice. The principles that guided the formation of the Calendar that appears in the Anglican Church in North America’s Book of Common Prayer (2019) had much in common with the principles required at the time of the Reformation:
- Only the saints in the New Testament are on the list of standard Holy Days
- Optional commemorations should not be too numerous so that the calendar year does not become overrun with remembrances, eclipsing the central work of Christ as it once did in the Middle Ages (the Sub-Committee of the Liturgy Task Force was told to shoot for roughly 100 total—about the same as in the 1662 BCP).
- Precedence should be given to optional commemorations that have always been near to the devotional heart of the Anglican tradition. (St. Lucy of Syracuse, Holy Michael the Archangel, St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Hugh of Lincoln, etc.)
(As an aside: since the great company of saints refers to men and women ransomed by Christ Jesus, one might wonder why the Church often refers to Michael the Archangel as a “saint” since, as he never fell, he needed no personal redemption. The logic is clear when we remember that the word “saint” evolved from the Latin word “sancta,” which means simply “holy.” The Church has often deemed Michael, being eminently holy as one of God’s creatures, as “Saint Michael. However, to clear up the occasional confusion this causes, the BCP 2019 has him styled “Holy Michael.”)
There were, however, some considerations unique to our own moment in Church history.
Not Only Bishops and Monks
First, with so many worthy believers to choose from, we should strive for equal representation of those who occupy different stations in life. Not just bishops and monks! This means that more non-monastic women and men appear than did before the 20th century.
Optional Commemorations
Second, since the Calendar of Saints is not a large feature in many Anglican churches today, and because there is a broad churchmanship spectrum, from low church to high church, the optional commemorations included two new features. It includes, first, a brief description of the station in life occupied by the holy person. Second, it appears divided into two columns, “Anglican” and “Ecumenical.” The reader now sees who comes from within our Anglican tradition and appreciates those who do not. We can, therefore, remember St. Pachomius, Billy Graham, and Martin Luther King, Jr., even though none of them were Anglicans.
No Perfect Saints
Also, since the Anglican Church is not in the business of formally canonizing, it is worth noting that just because someone appears on the optional commemoration list doesn’t mean every aspect of their life is worthy of imitation. For instance, St. Jerome did a great service to the Church through his translation of the Bible, but his famous crankiness is hardly exemplary. Billy Graham is a paragon of love for lost souls and zeal in preaching, even if his theological convictions were not identical to those of the Thirty-Nine Articles.
The Calendar of Holy Days and Commemorations in the BCP 2019 is based on these principles, old and new. The Liturgical Task Force discussed and prayed over each entry, making edits along the way to create a calendar that reflects the Church’s devotional emphases, both past and present. Ultimately—and most significantly—the goal of the Calendar was to create a list of men and women that we Christians need to hold up and study, to shine forth the light of Christ in our generation by imitating those who imitate Christ.
Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
3 John 1:11
Image: Rose Window at Sainte-Chapelle, by Stephanie LeBlanc, courtesy of Unsplsh.
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