Liturgical-Calendar
[Feature]: Liturgical Calendar for Vietnam
Is there an existing issue for this?
- [x] I have searched the existing issues
Current Behavior
No response
Wanted Behavior
In Vietnam, 1 October is ranked Feast and so is 3 December. 2 External Solemnities approved by Vietnamese Episcopal Conference on April 1991:
- Our Lady of Rosary: 1st Sunday of October
- Vietnamese Martyrs: 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Anything else?
Hello Tom, thank you for taking interest in the Liturgical Calendar API, I would be thrilled to add the Vietnamese liturgical calendar. The first step in preparing a national calendar is to translate all of the celebrations from the General Roman Calendar. Do you have a vietnamese Missal on hand, that you can use as a reference?
You can find an explanation of the components on the translation server that need to be addressed to complete a calendar: https://litcal.johnromanodorazio.com/translations.php , in any case I will list them again here:
- Proprium de Sanctis 1970
- Proprium de Sanctis 2002
- Proprium de Sanctis 2008
- Proprium de Tempore
- Decrees of the Dicastery for Divine Worship
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API strings. After you choose the language you would like to translate to, you will see a list of "labels" that you can click for the strings that are most important for the calendar, specifically:
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Calendar strings -
Commons -
Liturgical colors -
Liturgical grades -
Liturgical seasons
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The most important thing, is to not translate any of these strings free hand, but to translate them exactly as they are printed in the Missal.
And also:
- Epiphany is Sunday between 2 and 8 january
- Corpus Christi is in Sunday
- Christ the priest is not celebrated
In case of Ascension:
- North Vietnam (viz the Ecclesiastical Province of Hanoi): Thursday
- South Vietnam (the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Huế and Saigon): Sunday
Also Vietnamese New Year is dependent on the date of Tết in traditional Vietnamese calendar. Also, according to Vatican decree 2407/98L sent to Cardinal Paul Joseph Phạm Đình Tụng on Nov 26, 1998, should any of the 3 days of Vietnamese New Year is the day of Ash Wednesday:
- Liturgy of the Hours: still Ash Wednesday
- Mass: transferred into the 4th day of the Lunar New Year (https://hdgmvietnam.com/chi-tiet/uy-ban-phung-tu-thong-bao-ve-viec-cu-hanh-le-tro-nam-2026)
Thank you for this information, I saw the letter and here is an automated English translation for reference:
VIETNAMESE BISHOPS' COUNCIL
WORSHIP COMMITTEE
NOTIFICATION
On the celebration of Ash Wednesday 2026
Dear Fathers, Religious and People of God,
Ash Wednesday 2026 will coincide with the second day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. The Vietnamese Bishops' Conference has decided to celebrate the liturgy for the upcoming Lunar New Year as follows:
In document No. 2407/98L sent to Cardinal Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung on November 26, 1998, then President of the Vietnamese Bishops' Council, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments granted special permission to the Church in Vietnam: when Ash Wednesday coincides with the traditional New Year's Day of the nation (1st, 2nd, 3rd), it is allowed to move Ash Wednesday to the 4th day of the New Year.
So in Vietnam:
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Wednesday, February 18, 2026: on Ash Wednesday according to the general liturgical calendar, the Mass of the 2nd day of Tet will be celebrated - to remember ancestors and grandparents.
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Thursday, February 19, 2026: Celebrate the Mass on the 3rd day of Tet - Sanctifying work.
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Friday, February 20, 2026: celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass with the blessing and imposition of ashes, fasting and abstinence.
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Regarding the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, since it is not within the privilege granted by the Holy See, the general calendar will still be maintained, that is, Wednesday, February 18, 2026, the celebration of the Hours according to Ash Wednesday.
July 14, 2025
Signed
- Emmanuel Nguyen Hong Son, Bishop of Ba Ria Diocese, Chairman
Question: is Mary Mother of God still celebrated on January 1st in Vietnam?
Usually, the language edition of a Roman Missal will publish most of the changes compared to the General Roman Calendar in an introductory section of the Missal. Do you have any way of getting a PDF of the vietnamese Missal? Or at least pictures / photocopies of the introductory notes, and of the sanctorale?
For example, in the 2011 Roman Missal published by the USCCB for the United States, you can find the General Roman Calendar with particular celebrations for the United States here.
It is found right after the Universal Norms.
And right after the General Roman Calendar, there is a page with Special Days of Prayer for the Dioceses of the United States of America.
When you mention for example that Nov. 24 is a Solemnity, I see that you are referring to Saint Andrea Dung Lac. If you can get a copy of the General Roman Calendar from the Vietnamese missal, I believe all of these occurrences will be listed there.
In Vietnam, 1 October is ranked Feast and so is 3 December. So that would be Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1 Oct), and Saint Francis Xavier (3 Dec), correct?
It would seem that there is a new translation that is yet to be published, I found this information on the Bishops Conference website: https://hdgmvietnam.com/chi-tiet/uy-ban-phung-tu-tra-loi-ve-sach-le-roma
- The Vietnamese translation of the Roman Missal currently authorized for use is the “second standard edition” issued by the Liturgical Commission (under the Vietnamese Bishops' Conference) in 1992, together with the Rite of Mass issued by the Bishops' Conference on September 9, 2005 and applied from Easter 2006 (April 16, 2006).
The “Communication on the Vietnamese Translation of the Ordo Missae” signed by Bishop Phaolo Nguyen Van Hoa, President of the Episcopal Conference, stated that “no one has the right to print or distribute Vietnamese liturgical books without the consent of the [Liturgical] Commission.”
- In 2019, following the guidance of the Apostolic Letter in the form of a motu proprio Magnum Principium , the Conference of Bishops approved a new translation prepared and translated by the Liturgical Commission. This translation has been submitted and is awaiting approval by the Holy See.
Once this translation is approved by the Holy See, the Office of the Bishops' Conference will be responsible for printing, announcing and officially releasing it.
- Therefore, the new design of the Roman Missal being circulated is not a publication of the Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Conference.
So I guess for now any printed copies would be from 1992, which can be integrated with any subsequent decrees issued by the liturgical office, until the new Missal is published.
Question: is Mary Mother of God still celebrated on January 1st in Vietnam?
Usually, the language edition of a Roman Missal will publish most of the changes compared to the General Roman Calendar in an introductory section of the Missal. Do you have any way of getting a PDF of the vietnamese Missal? Or at least pictures / photocopies of the introductory notes, and of the sanctorale?
STILL Yes
In Vietnam, 1 October is ranked Feast and so is 3 December. So that would be Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1 Oct), and Saint Francis Xavier (3 Dec), correct?
Also yes