The Strange History of the Gregorian Calendar Reforms

While a committee appointed by Pope Gregory XIII formulated the necessary reforms rather easily, implementing them was more difficult. Since the calendar had lost ten days over the years, it was necessary to first correct the mistakes in the old calendar before the new calendar could be used. To that end, Pope Gregory issued a Papal Bull in which he removed ten days from October of 1582. Thus, many Europeans went to sleep on October 4, 1582 and woke up on October 15, 1582. While those living in rural villages took little notice of what had happened, some were alarmed that the Pope had “taken ten days out of their lives.” Citizens in Frankfurt, Germany and other places rioted in the streets to demonstrate their displeasure.

Another problem was that by the 16th century, the power of the Pope in secular matters had been greatly reduced. The relatively recent creation of new Protestant countries that did not answer to the Pope meant that many countries refused to comply with the Papal Bull. The Pope had no authority, so neither did his calendar, these Protestants reasoned. One by one, however, countries around the world adopted the Gregorian calendar and it is now used in virtually every country in the world. That process took many years, however, so for centuries different countries in Europe reckoned their days differently. It should also be noted that in every case, the government had to strip several days out of the old calendar before adopting the new one. One of the last to give in the “new” calendar was British Empire which did not convert until the mid 18th century. Thus, any dates you see for anything in American history before 1752, might be reckoned in the “Old Style” and might be many days off our current calendar.