Our churches teach that the remembrance of the saints is to be commended in order that we may imitate their faith and good works according to our calling.
Augsburg Confession XXI
Lutherans have always understood that there is great benefit in remembering the saints whom God has given to the Church. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Article XXI) lists three reasons for such honor. First, we thank God for giving faithful servants to His Church. Second, through such remembrance our faith is strengthened as we see the mercy that God extended to His saints of old. Third, these saints are examples both of faith and of holy living to imitate according to our calling in life.
In our current worship book, Lutheran Service Book (2006), the calendar for the Church Year provides for certain days to be observed for the remembrance of the saints, as well as other observances recalling certain Biblical events recorded in the Gospels. These observances are classified into two groups: Feasts and Festivals and Commemorations.
The Feasts and Festivals remember some saints in particular whose lives on earth are so closely connected with the earthly life and ministry of Jesus that their stories are literally part of the Gospel itself. These saints would include Mary and Joseph, John the Baptist, and the Apostles and Evangelists. Included as well in this list is the memory of Stephen, the first martyr, and the unnamed child martyrs of Bethlehem, The Holy Innocents.
Along with these days to remember particular saints, there are also feast days kept to remember moments in the cycle of the story of the Incarnation–the events preceding Christ’s birth: The Annunciation (His conception), The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, The Circumcision of Jesus, and His Presentation in the Temple. Rounding out the Feasts are Holy Cross Day (in thanksgiving for our Redemption), Michael and all the Holy Angels, Reformation Day, and All Saints’ Day.
All of these days are really seen and celebrated as “Feasts of Christ,” that is to say as days when we remember, celebrate, and give thanks for the life that our Lord Jesus Christ lived for us in the flesh, remembering how Christ and His life is also seen in the lives of His saints.
The Commemorations remember a number of men and women from both the Old and New Testaments and from the first 19 centuries of the history of the Christian Church. They are remembered for their defense of the fundamental beliefs of the Christian Faith and/or for their virtuous living. These individuals have stood out over time as persons worthy of recognition. Yet as we remember them, we honor these saints not for their own sake, but as examples of those in whom the saving work of Jesus Christ has been manifest to the glory of His Holy Name and to the praise of His grace and mercy.
Here at Trinity, it has become a custom that the saints are remembered weekly during the final petition of the Prayer of the Church which remembers all those who have departed this world’s life in the faith of Jesus. Particular saints are named as a part of that petition during the week of the observance of their day. And on occasion, a saint may be remembered at a Sunday Divine Service with their proper prayers and readings when their day falls on (or sometimes near) a particular Sunday, especially during the “green seasons” of the year.
Traditionally, the memorial day of a saint is kept on the day of their death, their “heavenly birthday”. While this date is hard to know in the case of the Biblical Saints, their days have been set through tradition, usually because of the dedication of a church in their honor. In the case of other saints, the date of their observance has been selected to recall some important date in their life. There are also occasions where a person will be remembered on their earthly birth date, usually because the date of their death falls during the period when Holy Week and Easter Week is observed, which is a time when Feasts are often transferred to be celebrated after the Second Sunday of Easter, and Commemorations are many times omitted from their observance in that year.
Following this page, you will be able to find resources for keeping these days of celebrating the lives of the saints. Following the course of the Christian Church Year which begins with Advent, the days are listed in their order, with each month having its own page for easy reference. For each day, you will find a brief biography of the saint being celebrated or an explanation of the event commemorated. Also included is a Collect for the Day and suggested Scripture readings.
Links to access the resources by month are available by using the pull down menu at the top of the page by scrolling above “Worship”; find this page, “Celebrating the Saints”; and this will make the list by month available. The links are also available at the bottom of this page.
Key to the Abbreviations for the Resources:
BCP = The Book of Common Prayer (Episcopal Church USA)
DDSB = Daily Divine Service Book, H.R. Curtis, ed. (2010)
DRM = Daily Roman Missal (2010)
ELKG, SELK = Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchengesangbuch von Selbstaendige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche [Evangelical Lutheran Church Hymnal of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany] (1988)
LBW = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)
LSB = Lutheran Service Book (2006)
LW = Lutheran Worship (1982)
NBFC = New Book of Festivals and Commemorations, Phillip H. Pfatteicher (2008)
PAS = Selection by Peter A. Schiebel
TDP = Treasury of Daily Prayer (2008)
Useful resources, drawn from our Lutheran Service Book, are available from Concordia Publishing House:
Celebrating the Saints by William Weedon is a reference and devotional guide to the Feasts and Festivals and Commemorations as found in the Lutheran Service Book.
The Treasury of Daily Prayer is a guide for devotion using the daily lectionary found in the Lutheran Service Book, and provides orders of service for daily prayer and also provides readings for the commemorations as well.
Certain Readings suggested for some of the Commemorations are taken from the Apocrypha. Martin Luther himself translated these books in his German Translation of the Bible and said that they were useful for reading and edification, but not for the basis of doctrine. In some places, readings from the Apocrypha are still used during worship. Concordia Publishing House has made an edition of these books available for Lutherans in The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes.
Resources for Celebrating the Saints by Month: