Updated for 2011!
Big thank you to Catholic Faith Education for providing this update on their site: “Very easy to do indeed and in only a few clicks. Note that the Universalis Web site has been redesigned since this blog article was written and the link to the yearly calendar is now situated on the left hand side and not at the top of the page as indicated in the article.”
One of the staples of Catholicism is its liturgical calendar. The Catholic liturgical calendar takes us on a journey through the life of Christ, the saints, and the Church every year – and helps to share in the joys and sorrow that are intrinsic to the human experience. Wouldn’t it be nice to have access to the liturgical calendar in your Google Calendar without having to input each day yourself? Well it’s possible, and very easy!
Universalis Gives You the Liturgical Calendar Online
Probably the most notable online source for everything liturgical is Universalis. Universalis offers the Catholic Calendar, daily and Sunday Mass readings, and the Liturgy of the Hours online. All of the texts are in the New Jerusalem translation, so it’s a bit hard to use them in a group if you are in the United States, but the resources offered by Universalis are fantastic for individual use. Of course, the Catholic calendar can be used at anytime by anyone in the United states since there aren’t any texts associated with it.
Importing the Liturgical Calendar into GCal with Universalis
Importing the liturgical calendar for 2010 (and any other year) couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is the following:
On the top of the site, click on the “Calendar” hyperlink, which will take to to the liturgical calendar page.
Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the “Add to Google Calendar” button.
You will see a pop up that asks if you are sure that you want to add the calendar. Press “Yes, add this calendar” (duh).
That’s it! Now you should have the the Catholic liturgical calendar in your Google Calendar. You should be able to see it in your shared calendars, and can easily remove or hide it if your calendar gets too cluttered
*Update* Thanks to Rosamundi, here is how you can also get the Catholic Calendar via iCal:
Next to the Google Calendar link there is a link to download in vCalendar/iCal format. Click on that and save it to your computer desktop. I use the Lightning add-on for Thunderbird as my calendar, and I clicked on “File” and chose “import calendar” from the menu. Browse to where you saved the iCalendar file, and it imports.
*One More Update* via Marie and Brito:
Marie: “Oh and I used Safari and I just clicked on the link and it brought me right into iCal.”
Brito: Had a hard time since the site has been updated. So here are the links as of 1/2010.
Calender in HTML
http://www.universalis.com/calendar.htm
For Google Calendar:
http://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.universalis.com%2FGeneral%2Fvcalendar.ics
iCal:
http://www.universalis.com/vcalendar.ics
Thanks guys!
catholic, catholic calendar, catholic liturgical calendar, catholicism, Church, google calendar, Liturgical, liturgy, liturgy of the hours, sunday mass readings, universalis
Gina
September 6, 2009 at 7:50 amThank you so much, this was so helpful!! I posted your link on my FB page and I'll be passing thre link on to all of the moms on my Catholic Mom's Group! As a convert Catholic, its hard to keep track of Feast Days…not anymore! Thanks so much and God bless!
Dean Soto
September 7, 2009 at 3:55 amYou are welcome Gina! I am so glad that it was helpful! Let me know if there is anything else hard to keep track of and I'll find an easy way of doing it. Oh, and by the way, welcome home!
Mary Beth
October 15, 2009 at 1:18 amThank you for your easy instructions. Since I already use Universalis every day, it was easy enough to do- I had just not paid attention to the Google button at the bottom of the page. (You were the first site that popped up under my query "Google Catholic Calendars". THANK YOU and God bless!Mary Beth Ohio
Dean Soto
October 15, 2009 at 2:49 amHi Mary Beth! You are welcome! Yeah, I felt like I was kind of cheating when I wrote this post because Universalis made it so darn easy. But, their placement of the button to do so was so hidden, that it most people (including me) didn't know about it. I love Universalis, but not having to go to their site to view the Catholic Calendar everyday is great.Thanks for visiting and thanks for your comment! God bless! =)
Name
October 25, 2009 at 7:28 amThanks for this tip!!
Dean Soto
October 25, 2009 at 4:28 pmNo problem! Thanks for stopping by!
Mary Kay
December 6, 2009 at 9:25 amthank you! So helpful!
Matthew Warner
January 15, 2010 at 9:43 amGreat stuff! Thanks so much!
Dean Soto
January 15, 2010 at 11:13 amNo problem Matt. Love your Fallible Blogma
Marie
January 15, 2010 at 9:50 amAnyone know of a way to add one to iCal?
rosamundi
January 15, 2010 at 10:00 amMarie, next to the Google Calendar link there is a link to download in vCalendar/iCal format. Click on that and save it to your computer desktop. I use the Lightning add-on for Thunderbird as my calendar, and I clicked on “File” and chose “import calendar” from the menu. Browse to where you saved the iCalendar file, and it imports.
Dean Soto
January 15, 2010 at 11:14 amAwesome. Thanks for the iCal hack. I will update the post with it and a link to your site tonight! God Bless!
Marie
January 19, 2010 at 7:20 pmSweet! Just found this & posted it on Twitter. I know there’s some Mac using Catholics who’d want to know this.
Oh and I used Safari and I just clicked on the link and it brought me right into iCal.
Brito
January 27, 2010 at 12:11 pmHad a hard time since the site has been updated. So here are the links as of 1/2010.
Calender in HTML
http://www.universalis.com/calendar.htm
For Google Calendar:
http://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.universalis.com%2FGeneral%2Fvcalendar.ics
iCal:
http://www.universalis.com/vcalendar.ics
Dean Soto
January 27, 2010 at 1:05 pmAwesome man, thanks! I posted your links!
Sean McGaughey
February 13, 2010 at 6:57 pmHi Dean: Today I was working on adding an event calendar on my Catholic Roundup site. I’m also working on a site for my Knights of Columbus council. This tutorial was just the ticket for what I was doing.
Rose Paz Wierenga
February 17, 2010 at 3:05 pmThank you! This is very useful!
Rayy0
August 18, 2010 at 12:17 amThanks this helps alot lord willing google will catch on as well
Dean Soto
August 24, 2010 at 10:32 pmYou are welcome! thanks for visiting. I WISH Google were a Catholic company lol.
Sue
June 2, 2011 at 8:58 pmGreat tip thanks! Can you tell me if there is a way to post prayers on my calendar as it syncs with my phone. I am looking for reminders to pray at specific hours like the Angelus, the Divine Mercy, certain psalms throughout the day, etc….
Dean Soto
June 3, 2011 at 12:41 pmNo problem!! Do you mean that you'd like to use your google calendar to create prayer events with reminders and sync them with your phone? What kind of phone do you have?
Easy way to sync anything on your google calendar with you phone is to go here: http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/
I would just create events that correspond to the prayers you want to do during the day. =)
henry b. hisona
July 5, 2011 at 7:14 pmi do hope it will bring us good.
henry b. hisona
July 5, 2011 at 7:17 pmcan your site be kind enough to provide to provide calendar of the day for roman catholic?
deansoto
July 27, 2011 at 4:32 amHi Henry,
Do you mean to have a calendar on this actual site? =)
Dean
Jackie
September 16, 2011 at 7:28 amAny tips for those who use a yahoo calendar???
Many thanks!
Jackie
Dean Soto
September 22, 2011 at 10:40 pmHi Jackie!
Thanks for the comment! There is an iCal option on the page that lets you add the liturgical calendar to any calendar that uses iCal. That’s what I would use. =)
You may have to copy the link and add it to the yahoo calendar manually.
Dean
Grant
November 29, 2011 at 12:16 pmThat’s a nice service Universalis has provided, but I can’t imagine stumbling on it if it weren’t for you posting these instructions. Thanks!