The liturgical calendar

The year in Cross is governed by liturgical cycles established by the Curia after the Intervention of the Archangels (1786). Before the Cataclysm the calendar inherited the tradition of the ancient Church; after 1786 it was reformed and expanded with new feasts, vigils and fasts tied to the events of the Cataclysm.

Each Kingdom and Republic adapts the calendar with a national feast of its own + the common universal feasts.

"The year turns seven times around the Sun before each wax melts once. But the Perpetual Vigil turns seven times within every hour." — Ordo Liturgicus, preface.

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The general structure of the year

• Year: 12 months analogous to the real Gregorian calendar.
• Four Greater Vigils (one per season) — the equivalent of the real Ember Days.
• Twelve Universal Feasts (one per month) — universal to all recognised Christendom.
• Seven Pontifical Feasts (movable within the year) — tied to the seven Archangels.
• National Feasts proper to each Kingdom and Republic.
• The Perpetual Vigil in Aurum Roma (seven eternal candles) — independent of the annual calendar.

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I. The Universal Feasts — one per month

January — The Feast of the Rising Light (1 January)

• The liturgical New Year. A blessing of labour and of the harvests to come. A solemn Mass in every cathedral. White candles in the window all night.

February — The Feast of the Cold Wind (2 February)

• The real Candlemas-analogue. A blessing of candles for the year (candles distributed in the parish + a domestic blessing + sacramentals). In Meridia, the eve of the Feast of the Lava.

March — Dies Cataclysmi (The Feast of the Cataclysm) (14 March)

• The anniversary of the beginning of the Cataclysm of 1780. A day of total fast, public prayers, memorial Masses. A black candle on every altar. The bells strike 1,780 times in honour of the year. No wedding, no baptism, no public festivity. The Reformed Inquisition makes routine administrative arrests on this day (the tradition: heresies show themselves on a day of sorrow).

April — Pascha Coronata (a movable date — between 22 March and 25 April)

• The Easter-analogue. The greatest universal Christian feast. The Sacred Triduum (Good Friday → the Paschal vigil → Resurrection Sunday). White Mediums receive revelations at a statistical peak in this period. The pontifical Mass in Aurum Roma is transmitted by blessed telegraph to the whole global Curia.

May — The Feast of the Bell (1 May)

• A blessing of new bells and a reconsecration of the old. A consecrated bell is a minor anti-demonic instrument. A procession of bishops circles every parish bell.

June — Festum Interventionis (The Feast of the Intervention) (23 June)

• The anniversary of the descent of the Archangels in 1786. The greatest annual feast after Easter. The Cathedral of the Choir open 24 hours. A pontifical procession through the 7 districts of Aurum Roma. The Candle of the Seven Candles changes its wax (the one occasion in the year on which the wax is renewed — a canonical operation conducted by 7 Contemplative Whites in absolute silence). A public visitation to the Chapel of the Seven Candles (the only one of the year).

July — The Feast of the Choir (7 July)

• The renewal of liturgical vows. Canons, Liturgists and Deacons renew their commitments before the Mitred. At the Schola Coronata, the thesis defence of the students of theology.

August — The Feast of the Sea (8 August)

• A blessing of the clerical and merchant fleet. In Velinia, the greatest civil-religious feast. The Doge of the Sails attends in person the Mass in San Velino. In Meridia, a blessing of the fishing nets + the local Feast of the Sea (8 September — a minor canonical confusion; some sources date it to August in certain Kingdoms, September in others).

September — The Feast of the Martyrs of the Ash (1 September)

• The memory of the 2-3 million dead during the Era of the Ash (1780-1815). A general Requiem Mass. Cemeteries visited by relatives; white flowers laid down. The Holy Ash renewed on the domestic altar.

October — The Feast of the Forge (16 October)

• A blessing of the foundries, factories, workshops. In Ferrum Alpina, the greatest industrial-liturgical feast. The Hashmalite miners (the Broken Glass) have a special Mass — a heretical current tries to appropriate the feast as a labour claim (the Inquisition watches).

November — The Feast of the Angels (1 November)

• The All Saints' Day-analogue. The memory of the Guardian Angels. A night procession with candles. Small children receive a brooch of Lumen on the breast.

December — Natalis Coronatus (Crowned Christmas) (25 December)

• The Christmas-analogue. The Incarnation. In Aurum Roma, the Pontiff celebrates the Midnight Mass in the Cathedral of the Choir. Across the continent, a family supper + a ringing bell.

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II. The Four Greater Vigils

Analogous to the real Ember Days. Each marks the transition between seasons. Three days of fasting + prayer + canonical readings + liturgical ordinations.