Catholic names by date of birth. The complex history of Catholic names

Catholic calendar of names, like the Orthodox one, was created in the traditions of veneration of Christian saints. However, the different historical paths of the Western and Eastern Churches determined the differences in the names. Saints who are included in both the Catholic and orthodox calendar, were canonized before the split of the common Christian church in 1054. After the 11th century, this process in Catholicism and Orthodoxy proceeded independently of each other. Therefore, in Catholic calendar there are not many Greek names (Athenodorus, Dositheus, Galaktion), and in the Orthodox you will not find Wilhelm, Edgar and Amalia. In addition to the names mentioned in the Bible, canon include names of Latin and Germanic origin. Some Catholic names have Russian counterparts, for example, Lara - Lawrence, Angelica - Angelina, Zhanna - Joanna. Memorial Day of many saints in both calendars are celebrated on the same day. You just have to remember that in catholic church the chronology is conducted according to the Gregorian calendar (new style), and in the Orthodox - according to the Julian (old style).

Since the emergence of the Christian religion of the century, there has been a single christ church. But from the 9th century, its disintegration began, which ended in the 11th century with the formation of the Eastern Catholic (Byzantine) and Roman Catholic Church. Since that time, while maintaining the main features of the general Christian teaching, features and differences in dogmas, rituals, discipline and rules are clearly manifested in Catholicism. These differences also affected the traditions in the Orthodox and Catholic naming.

Catholic names of the period of the collapse of the One Church.

As in Orthodoxy, in the Catholic Church, at baptism, a person's name is given from the Catholic calendar. Those names that were included in the Catholic calendar before the split of the church coincide with the Orthodox ones. As a rule, these are the names mentioned in the Bible. But the list of such names was scarce - in the first centuries of the formation of Christianity, not many ascetics of the faith had time to "deserve" holiness. The Catholic Church "inherited" the vast possessions of the former Roman Empire, where pagan peoples lived. In Western Europe, the main languages ​​- English, German, French, Spanish - were in the process of formation. The Italian language was just developing. The first significant additions to the list of Catholic names were brought by the invasion of Germanic tribes, which gradually joined the ranks of Christians. Some Germanic names were canonized, and among the Catholic names appeared Adolf (noble wolf), Bernard (strong as a bear), Siegfried (conqueror of the world).

Changes in the Catholic name.

At times crusades Catholic rites were not very respected, people attended churches little. And then Pope Gregory VII decided to revive the cult of veneration of saints. This was facilitated by the crusaders who returned to Europe, who worshiped Saints George, Anatoly and Nicholas. In the Middle Ages, the influence of Catholicism increased, people began to believe that different saints help them in a particular life situation. The naming of Catholic names was becoming more common.

In the XVI- XVII centuries in the era of the Reformation, there were attempts to change the Catholic nomenclature. The Puritans rejected names that are not mentioned in Holy Scripture (Alexander, Helena, George). Protestants invented new ones - Peace, Humility, Hating Sin. And yet the main list Catholic male and female names remained unchanged.

Catholic traditions of naming.

The modern traditions of the Roman Catholic Church prescribe to choose baptismal names only from Catholic saints. In some countries, still at baptism boys and girls called several Catholic names. So the child acquires more than one heavenly patron who helps him throughout his life. Catholics are jealous of their names and do not accept their reduction or distortion.

Peculiarities

The Catholic tradition of naming is based on the choice of the names of saints enshrined in church calendars. The saints of Catholics and Orthodox coincide only in part- if the saints were canonized before the beginning of the eleventh century - before the Great Schism of the Churches. Later canonization of saints in both branches Christian Church carried out in their own way.

Names mentioned in the Bible and names of Latin and Germanic origin are considered Catholic.

Often, parents first give a name to the child, and then look for his holy protector in the calendar., check whether such a saint even exists. However, it is better to do the opposite - first choose a church intercessor, and then give the child a name. And it is absolutely not necessary that the day of veneration of this saint be on the same dates as the birthday of the child is celebrated, as the abbots of the Catholic parish say.

The fact is that the day of memory of the saint, whose name is given to a Christian at baptism, is called name day. In Catholic calendars, as in Orthodox ones, the date of their death is marked - when they passed into a new, eternal life.

Attention! Catholic calendars practically do not coincide with those in the Orthodox calendar.

Catholics treat their names with great reverence and name their children after saints. Therefore, when pronouncing, distortions or abbreviations of names are not allowed. However, names may sound different in different Catholic countries. At the same time, individual saints called themselves differently than is customary according to modern spelling traditions.

The relationship of Catholics to their heavenly patrons is closer and more reverent than that of representatives Orthodox faith. For Orthodox Christians, the saint after whom he is named is an abstract concept. And a Catholic communicates not only with the patrons of the same name, but also with those saints who patronize certain deeds performed by a person.

When choosing, the following points are taken into account:

  • month and day of birth of the child;
  • some Catholic names have Russian counterparts, for example, Angelica - Angelina, Jack - Eugene, Zhanna - Joanna;
  • the meaning of the name and character of the saint;
  • compatibility of the name with the surname and patronymic.

In the Catholic Church, saints are marked according to the Gregorian calendar - the new style, while the Julian (old) style is observed in the Orthodox calendar.

Naming according to the holy calendar by months

January

Men's names according to the calendar in January and their meanings:

February

According to the calendar in February, the following Catholic names are chosen:

March

In March, according to the calendar, they are called by the following Catholic names:

April

The following Catholic saints are venerated in April:

  • Akakiy - a martyr put on trial for faith in Christ;
  • Wilhelm - Saint William of Zhelonsky;
  • Gerard - martyr Gerard of Hungary;
  • Herman - venerable Spanish priest;
  • Donan, Bishop of Arezzo;
  • Ezekiel - Christian prophet;
  • Marcel - French priest;
  • Pankarty - an early Christian martyr;
  • Plato is a healer from Ancyra;
  • Richard - Saint Richard of Wales.

May

The following Catholic saints are commemorated in May:

June

In June such saints are venerated:

  • Anastasius - martyr of Epirus;
  • Anthony of Padua, Catholic preacher;
  • Isidore of Seville, scientist, bishop;
  • Lawrence - Archdeacon of the Christian community in Rome;
  • Manuel the martyr from Persia;
  • Onesimus - an apostle from the city of Colosse;
  • Zinovy ​​- Bishop of the Aegean;
  • Solomon - prophet, king of Israel;
  • Trofim is a disciple of the Apostle Paul;
  • Leonty - Patriarch of Jerusalem;
  • Macarius is a reverend hermit.

July

Name days of such saints are celebrated in July:

August

In August, according to the calendar, Catholics are called by such names:

  • Augustine the Blessed - a hermit monk;
  • John is a Christian prophet;
  • Conrad - British priest;
  • Marian - a holy martyr from Rome;
  • Hippolytus - early Christian Roman writer, theologian;
  • Karl - Bishop of the Milanese Church;
  • Felix - holy British apostle;
  • Aristarchus - Bishop of Apamea;
  • Ustin - an apologist killed for the Christian faith;
  • Tryphon is a holy martyr.

September

In September, the memory of such saints is honored:

October

In October, the memory of the following personalities is honored:

  • Anthony of Padua, priest;
  • Arthur is an English monk who defended the interests of the Catholic Church;
  • Gregory - Roman educator-theologian;
  • Rustik - early Christian great martyr, presbyter;
  • Maxim the Monk Confessor;
  • Nicephorus Syrian monk, holy martyr;
  • Renat is an Italian Catholic bishop.

November

In November, the memory of such saints is honored:

December

In December, the name day of such Catholic saints is celebrated:

  • Alan - Bishop of Kemper;
  • Orestes of Sebaste - Hieromartyr;
  • Nicholas is the patron saint of Aarhus;
  • Franz Jägerstetter - Blessed of the Roman Church;
  • Gabriel - blessed archangel;
  • Hartmann is a member of the Order of St. Anne;
  • Evgraf - a holy martyr who died because of faith in Christ;
  • Claudius Interamnsky - a blessed warrior, a Catholic who suffered for the faith;
  • Roger Cadwallador - Catholic blessed;
  • Edmund - priest of the Berlin diocese;
  • Jason is a church leader of the Principality of Lithuania.

Choosing suitable name for a boy, it is important to remember the main thing - the son will bear this name all his life. You should carefully consider all options before making a decision. It is better to abandon rare unusual names if they do not go well with the surname and patronymic, so that in the future this will not cause ridicule and condemnation from others.

In the lower right part of the program window there is a button Saints. If you select a name and press this button, the program will automatically transfer you to the Saints tab (Fig. P.2) and show all the days of saints with this name. If the name you have chosen does not have a corresponding saint, the button will be inactive.

ATTENTION

In the calendar, special, Church Slavonic forms of names are used, so do not be surprised if, when searching for saints for the name Julian, you will be sent to St. Julian.

Rice. P.2. Saints

Go to tab Saints you can also click on the tab name in the upper part of the window, but the selected name will not match the days of saints.

On the tab Saints in the upper left corner is a search box where you can enter a specific name.

ATTENTION

Many modern Russian names are slightly different in spelling from the accepted ones. Orthodox Church names. For example, there are no Ivanovs in the calendar, but there are Johns. Before switching to the Saints tab, check with the Dictionary of Names, or go to it from the Dictionary of Names, correcting the name you are interested in after the transition (that is, correcting Ivan for John in the search box).

There is a switch below the search box. Choose a denomination, with which you can select Catholic or Orthodox saints(Fig. A.3). To do this, the switch is set to the appropriate position.

Below the switch is a calendar where you can set a specific date of birth to find the name day.

Rice. P.3. The subsection "Select a denomination" helps to switch to the corresponding calendars

In the holy calendar, you can often find several saints with the same name. In addition, the saint can be venerated several days a year. It can be very tiring to celebrate all the namesake saints on all the due days, so it is customary for the name day (or angel's day) to choose one of the days, but not any one. According to church ideas, your name day will be the first day from the birthday (they are baptized) dedicated to your saint.

For example, there is a girl, Juliana, who was born on July 1 and was baptized on December 14. Strictly speaking, name days should be counted from christening, but not everyone now knows the day they were baptized. Thus, for Juliana we will find two days of name day according to Orthodox or Catholic calendar, depending on her faith.

So, in the search box, enter the name.

To set the day when Yuliana should celebrate her name day according to the Orthodox calendar, select the radio button Choose a denomination into position Orthodox. Click the button in the lower left corner of the screen Name day search.

What happens? Unfortunately, nothing, because you misspelled the name. It was said above that you need to write not Yuliono, but Juliana!

After correcting the name, press the button again Name day search. In the results window you will receive July 5th.

Now set the calendar to December 14th and press the button Name day search. You will receive December 17th.

What if Juliana is a Catholic? First of all, in the search box you need to enter Yuliono, and not the Church Slavonic form of this name.

Set the switch Choose a denomination into position Catholic. Catholic Juliana should celebrate her name day on February 16, since this is the nearest date from both July 1 and December 14. There are two more Julians in the Catholic calendar, but they are further - April 5 and June 19.

In the old days, Juliania (or, in Russian, Ulyana) would not have had a double name day, because children were baptized almost immediately after birth. Parents were asked to look at the calendar and select names from a list of saints whose birthdays fell on the coming days. For boys - for three days, for girls - for eight, since there are much fewer female names in the calendar.

If you want to find a name for a girl born on July 1 according to these old rules, you should indicate the date on the calendar and press the button Calendar of Saints(Fig. A.4). The program will show you eight days - from 1 to 8 July. Basically there are male names, however, there are also female ones.

Rice. P.4. Choosing a name from the calendar

For a boy, we would have to limit ourselves to three days, and the list would still be longer.

button Calendar of Saints you can also use it to find out which saints' name days are celebrated on a particular day.

The Catholic calendar of names, like the Orthodox one, was created in the tradition of honoring Christian saints.

However, the different historical paths of the Western and Eastern Churches determined the differences in the names. The saints, who are included in both the Catholic and Orthodox calendars, were canonized before the schism of the general Christian church in 1054.
After the 11th century, this process in Catholicism and Orthodoxy proceeded independently of each other. Therefore, in the Catholic calendar there are not many Greek names (Athenodorus, Dositheus, Galaktion), and in the Orthodox you will not find Wilhelm, Edgar and Amalia. In addition to the names mentioned in the Bible, Catholic saints include names of Latin and Germanic origin. Some Catholic names have Russian counterparts, for example, Lara - Lawrence, Angelica - Angelina, Zhanna - Joanna. Memorial Day of many saints in both calendars are celebrated on the same day. You just need to remember that in the Catholic Church, the chronology is kept according to the Gregorian calendar (new style), and in the Orthodox Church, according to the Julian (old style).