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What happened on October 5th, 1582?

This was a truly unique time in history. What happened?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Nothing happened on October 5th, 1582—or October 6th through the 14th, for that matter—because those days never happened.

They are pure historical fiction. They never existed!

Why, you ask?

Those days were “deleted” from the calendar as part of the implementation of the Gregorian Calendar, which replaced the very faulty Julian Calendar. The old calendar on paper didn’t match up to the actual solar year—it was off by about 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Over time, this was adding up to a big problem.

The old calendar didn’t match the solar year, and it was causing problems

The biggest issue this caused had to do with the calculation of the date of Easter, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. The gap between the actual equinox and Easter grew increasingly large as the years wore on. The problem was known for many centuries, but it wasn’t until the Council of Trent that we nailed down an action plan.

Trent decreed that a new calendar should be implemented, and after copious work, study, and research, the new calendar was promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII. The primary geniuses involved in the design of the calendar were Italian scientist Aloysius Lilius and the German Jesuit priest, mathematician, and astronomer Fr. Christopher Clavius.

According to our research, those particular days in October were selected for removal (in order to initiate the big “calendar fix”) because there were no big feast days during that time.

And just like that, they disappeared. The Catholic world leapt from October 4th to October 15th.

Protestants and Orthodox regions didn’t like taking orders from the pope, so they lagged behind in the adoption of the new calendar—but eventually everyone got on board, and today, the “Gregorian Calendar” is nearly universal.

Want to know more amazing facts drawn from the captivating history of our Church? Get yourself a copy of 101 Surprising Facts About Church History. In this delightful and fascinating book, filled with beautiful photographs and artwork, you’ll discover the answers to such questions as: Does the Church have a patron saint of fireworks? What was the first book printed by the Gutenberg Press? Who was the “cappuccino” named for? And so much more! Pick up your copy today!

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