Saints’ Days and Holy Days for December

Poinsettia

Image Source = Andre Karwath

1 (Charles de Foucauld, Roman Catholic Hermit and Martyr, 1916)

• Albert Barnes, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Abolitionist, and Alleged Heretic

• Brioc, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Tudwal, Roman Catholic Abbot and Bishop

• Douglas LeTell Rights, U.S. Moravian Minister, Scholar, and Hymn Writer

• Edward Timothy Mickey, Jr., U.S. Moravian Bishop and Liturgist

2 (Maura Clarke and Her Companions, U.S. Roman Catholic Martyrs in El Salvador, December 2, 1980)

• Channing Moore Williams, Episcopal Missionary Bishop in China and Japan

• Gerald Thomas Noel, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer; brother of Baptist Wriothesley Noel, Anglican Priest, English Baptist Evangelist, and Hymn Writer; and his niece, Caroline Maria Noel, Anglican Hymn Writer

• Hormisdas, Bishop of Rome; and his son, Silverius, Bishop of Rome, and Martyr, 537

• Rafal Chylinski, Polish Franciscan Roman Catholic Priest

3 (Francis Xavier, Roman Catholic Missionary to the Far East)

• Amilie Juliane, Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Lutheran Hymn Writer

• Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury

• Sophie Koulomzin, Russian-American Christian Educator

4 (John of Damascus and Cosmas of Maiuma, Theologians and Hymnodists)

• Alexander Hotovitzky, Russian Orthodox Priest and Martyr, 1937

• Bernard of Parma, Roman Catholic Bishop

• Joseph Mohr, Austrian Roman Catholic Priest; and Franz Gruber, Austrian Roman Catholic Teacher, Musician, and Composer

• Maruthas, Roman Catholic Bishop of Maypherkat and Missionary to Pesia

• Osmund of Salisbury, Roman Catholic Bishop

5 (Clement of Alexandria, Father of Christian Scholarship)

• Cyran, Roman Catholic Abbot

• Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, and Renewer of Society

• Nicetius of Trier, Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Bishop; and Aredius of Limoges, Roman Catholic Monk

• Peter Mortimer, Anglo-German Moravian Educator, Musician, and Scholar; and Gottfried Theodor Erxleben, German Moravian Minister and Musicologist

6 (Nicholas of Myra, Bishop)

• Abraham of Kratia, Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, Bishop, and Hermit

• Anne Ross Cousin, Scottish Presbyterian Hymn Writer

• Alice Freeman Palmer, U.S. Educator and Hymn Writer

• Henry Ustick Onderdonk, Episcopal Bishop, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer

• Philip and Daniel Berrigan, Roman Catholic Priests and Social Activists

7 (Maria Josepha Rossello, Cofounder of the Daughters of Our Lady of Pity)

• Emma Francis, Lutheran Deaconess in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Harlem

• Georg Friedrich Hellstrom, Dutch-German Moravian Musician, Composer, and Educator

• John Howard Bertram Masterman, Anglican Scholar, Hymn Writer, Priest, and Bishop of Plymouth

• John Greenleaf Whittier, U.S. Quaker Abolitionist, Poet, and Hymn Writer

• William Gustave Polack, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer and Translator

8 (Walter Ciszek, Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Political Prisoner)

• Amatus of Luxeuil and Romaric of Luxeuil, Roman Catholic Monks and Abbots

• Erik Christian Hoff, Norwegian Lutheran Composer and Organist

• Marin Shkurti, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1969

9 (Liborius Wagner, German Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1631)

• George Job Elvey, Anglican Composer and Organist

• Peter Fourier, “The Good Priest of Mattaincourt;” and Alix Le Clerc, Foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Canonesses Regular of Saint Augustine

10 (Karl Barth, Swiss Reformed Minister, Theologian, and Biblical Scholar; father of Markus Barth, Swiss Lutheran Minister and Biblical Scholar)

• Howell Elvet Lewis, Welsh Congregationalist Clergyman and Poet

• John Roberts, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr

• Olivier Messiaen, Claire Delbos, and Yvonne Loriod, French Roman Catholic Musicians and Composers

• Paul Eber, German Lutheran Theologian and Hymn Writer

• Robert Murray, Canadian Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer

11 (Luke of Prague and John Augusta, Moravian Bishops and Hymn Writers)

• Kazimierz Tomas Sykulski, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1942

• Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, Hans Peter Boerresen, and Paul Olaf Bodding, Lutheran Missionaries in India

• Martyrs of El Mozote, El Salvador, December 11-12, 1981

• Severin Ott, Roman Catholic Monk

12 (William Lloyd Garrison, Abolitionist and Feminist; and Maria Stewart, Abolitionist, Feminist, and Educator)

• Bartholomew Buonpedoni and Vivaldus, Ministers among Lepers

• William Louis Poteat, President of Wake Forest College, and Biologist; his brother, Edwin McNeill Poteat, Sr., Southern and Northern Baptist Minister, Scholar, and President of Furman University; his son, Edwin McNeill Poteat, Jr., Southern Baptist Minister, Missionary, Musician, Hymn Writer, and Social Reformer; his brother, Gordon McNeill Poteat, Southern and Northern Baptist and Congregationalist Minister and Missionary; and his cousin, Hubert McNeill Poteat, Southern Baptist Academic and Musician

• Ludwik Bartosik, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1941

• Thomas Canning, U.S. Composer and Music Educator

13 (Samuel Johnson, “The Great Moralist”)

• Christian Furchtegott Gellert, German Lutheran Minister, Educator, and Hymn Writer

• Ella J. Baker, Witness for Civil Rights

• Paul Speratus, German Lutheran Bishop, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer

• Pierson Parker, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Episcopal Priest, and Biblical Scholar

14 (Radegunda, Thuringian Roman Catholic Princess, Deaconess, and Nun; and Venantius Honorius Clementius Fortunatus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Poitiers)

• Dorothy Ann Thrupp, English Hymn Writer

• Henry Aldrich, Anglican Priest, Composer, Theologian, Mathematician, and Architect

• James Arnold Blaisdell, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Scholar, and Hymn Writer

• John of the Cross, Roman Catholic Mystic and Carmelite Friar

• William Adams Brown, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Theologian, and Social Reformer

15 (Thomas Benson Pollock, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer)

• Fred D. Gealy, U.S. Methodist Minister, Missionary, Musician, and Biblical Scholar

• Henry Fothergill Chorley, English Novelist, Playwright, and Literary and Music Critic

• John Horden, Anglican Bishop of Moosenee

• Ralph Wardlaw, Scottish Congregationalist Minister, Hymn Writer, and Liturgist

• Robert McDonald, Anglican Priest and Missionary

16 (Ralph Adams Cram and Richard Upjohn, Architects; and John LaFarge, Sr., Painter and Stained-Glass Window Maker)

• Filip Siphong Onphithakt, Roman Catholic Catechist and Martyr in Thailand, 1940

• Maude Dominica Petre, Roman Catholic Modernist Theologian

17 (Eglantyne Jebb and Dorothy Buxton, Founders of Save the Children)

• Dorothy Sayers, Anglican Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Translator, Apologist, and Theologian

• Frank Mason North, U.S. Methodist Minister, Social Reformer, and Hymn Writer

• Mary Cornelia Bishop Gates, U.S. Dutch Reformed Hymn Writer

• Olympias of Constantinople, Widow and Deaconess

18 (Marc Boegner, French Reformed Minister and Ecumenist)

• Alicia Domon and Her Companions, Martyrs in Argentina, 1977

• Giulia Valle, Roman Catholic Nun

• John Darwall, Anglican Priest and Composer

• John MacLeod Campbell Crum, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

19 (Raoul Wallenberg, Righteous Gentile)

• Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian Roman Catholic Priest and Composer

• Kazimiera Wolowska, Polish Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr, 1942

• Robert Campbell, Scottish Episcopalian then Roman Catholic Social Advocate and Hymn Writer

• William Henry Draper, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator

• William Howard Bishop, Founder of the Glenmary Home Missioners

20 (Dominic of Silos, Roman Catholic Abbot)

• Bates Gilbert Burt, Episcopal Priest, Hymn Writer, and Composer

• D. Elton Trueblood, U.S. Quaker Theologian

• Michal Piasczynski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940

21 (THOMAS THE APOSTLE, MARTYR)

22 (Frederick and William Temple, Archbishops of Canterbury)

• Chaeremon and Ischyrion, Roman Catholic Martyrs, Circa 250

• Chico Mendes, “Gandhi of the Amazon”

• Henry Budd, First Anglican Native Priest in North America; Missionary to the Cree Nation

• Isaac Hecker, Founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle

23 (John of Kanty, Roman Catholic Theologian)

• Charbel, Roman Catholic Priest and Monk

• James Prince Lee, Bishop of Manchester

• William John Blew, English Priest and Hymn Writer

24 (CHRISTMAS EVE)

25 (CHRISTMAS DAY)

26 (SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• STEPHEN, DEACON AND MARTYR

27 (THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• JOHN THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE

28 (FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• HOLY INNOCENTS, MARTYRS, 4 B.C.E.

29 (FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Antonio Caldara, Roman Catholic Composer and Musician

• John Burnett Morris, Sr., Episcopal Priest and Witness for Civil Rights

• Philipp Heinrich Molther, German Moravian Minister, Bishop, Composer, and Hymn Translator

• Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1170

• Thomas Cotterill, English Priest, Hymn Writer, and Liturgist

30 (SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Allen Eastman Cross, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer

• George Wallace Briggs, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

• John Main, Anglo-Canadian Roman Catholic Priest and Monk

• Frances Joseph-Gaudet, African-American Educator, Prison Reformer, and Social Worker

31 (SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Giuseppina Nicoli, Italian Roman Catholic Nun and Minister to the Poor

• New Year’s Eve

• Rossiter Worthington Raymond, U.S. Novelist, Poet, Hymn Writer, and Mining Engineer

• Zoticus of Constantinople, Priest and Martyr, Circa 351

Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.