The sanctorale (English pronunciation /saŋktəˈreɪli/, /saŋktəˈrɑːleɪ/) is one of the two main cycles that, running concurrently, comprise the

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

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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, defined by the

General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These celebra ...

, 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,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
(which falls on a different Sunday every year), including Ascension,
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
(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 Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

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, 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 pries ...

known as the

Breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') 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 a ...

. 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 founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

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 ( ang, Ælfrīc; la, Alfricus, Elphricus; ) 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. H ...

.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