✦ zenith calendar · the catholic almanac
the solemnities and the movable feasts in one quiet layer of your sky, each one explained in the church's own words.
catholic is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the roman calendar: the general roman calendar's solemnities, whole in itself, with its own easter and its own christmas.
its movable feasts are read from the same published western easter table the christian almanac uses, so the two never drift apart, and nothing is worked out on your phone. tap a day and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
gregorian · the roman calendar, with easter by the gregorian computus
a sunday, beginning about four weeks of advent
the first day of the church's year and of advent: waiting for christ, remembering his first coming at bethlehem and looking for his coming again in glory.
the church is dressed in violet, and the gloria is left out of the sunday masses until christmas. families light the first candle of the advent wreath, and the season is kept with prayer, simplicity and care for the poor.
the nativity of the lord
25 december
the birth of jesus christ at bethlehem, god made man. after easter it is the greatest feast of the year, and it opens the christmas season, which runs to the baptism of the lord.
the church celebrates mass at night, at dawn and during the day, and midnight mass is loved in many places. families set up the crib and gather for the feast and gifts; it is a holy day of obligation.
easter sunday of the resurrection of the lord
a sunday, by the gregorian computus
the day christ rose from the dead: the greatest feast of the whole year, the feast of feasts.
the alleluia is sung again after lent, and the faithful renew their baptismal promises and are sprinkled with easter water. in many places eggs and food for the easter table are blessed, and the joy runs for eight days as one great day, then fifty days to pentecost.
pentecost sunday
fifty days after easter
the day the holy spirit came down on the apostles. it closes the easter season and is called the birthday of the church.
the church is dressed in red, and before the gospel the sequence veni sancte spiritus, come, holy spirit, is sung. many keep a vigil the night before.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, catholic puts its feasts on their days on that ring, in ice blue. its mark is ✞, the slanted cross.
each of its feasts carries three short paragraphs in its notes: what it is, where it comes from as its own tradition tells it, and how it is kept.
catholic arrives locked, so nothing in it changes by accident. the lock guards your hand, not your eye: you can still read it, shine it or eclipse it. one tap unlocks it, and then it is yours to rename, recolour or add to.
tap its chip in the legend to eclipse it (kept, but not drawn) and tap again to bring it back. nothing is deleted either way.
catholic shares one sky with your own commitments. like every almanac that comes with the app, it never counts toward the almanacs you can make for free, and it lives on your phone: zenith calendar has no server of its own.
✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it
catholic is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.
the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.
drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.
tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.
tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.
zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.
catholic is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
catholic · the roman calendar ·
Easter Sunday falls on 28 March 2027. In Zenith Calendar it sits on the ring of your year in the catholic almanac, with the feasts that move with it.
The first Sunday of Advent falls on 29 November 2026, the first day of the church's year.
Pentecost Sunday falls on 16 May 2027, fifty days after Easter. It closes the Easter season.
It follows the general Roman calendar. A diocese or a country can move a holy day of obligation to the nearest Sunday, and several do; where yours does, its day will differ from the almanac's.
Catholic is the Roman calendar, whole in itself, with its own Easter and its own Christmas. Christian holds the days the western churches keep broadly. Both read the same western Easter table, so they never drift apart.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called catholic: the Roman calendar's solemnities and movable feasts, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
The fixed solemnities keep their dates every year, and the movable feasts are read from a published western Easter table. Nothing is worked out on your phone.