(ZENIT News / Abu Dabi, 08.23.2025).- When the Vatican unveiled a new liturgical calendar for the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA) this August, it did far more than adjust dates for feasts and memorials. It carved out a distinct spiritual identity for Catholics scattered across Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates—believers who often practice their faith quietly in Muslim-majority societies.
Bishop Paolo Martinelli, who leads the vicariate from Abu Dhabi, framed the initiative as an effort to strengthen memory and belonging in a community drawn largely from migrant workers. The message is clear: Catholicism in the Gulf is not a transplant without roots, but a faith woven into the region’s long and often overlooked Christian history.
At the heart of the calendar are new patrons. Saints Peter and Paul, founders of the apostolic Church, now officially guide AVOSA as its pillars of faith, honored on June 29. Alongside them stands the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Arabia, declared patroness of the entire Arabian Peninsula. Her feast will be celebrated on the Saturday following the Baptism of the Lord, a reminder that even in lands where Christianity is a minority, Mary is invoked as protector and intercessor.
The calendar also recovers voices from Arabia’s own soil. Among them are sixth-century martyrs such as Arethas and his companions, witnesses to faith in pre-Islamic Yemen, and King Caleb of Ethiopia—better known as Saint Elesbaan—who defended Christians in the region. The inclusion of modern figures such as Blessed Charles Deckers, a missionary priest who fostered interreligious dialogue in Yemen before dying a martyr in Algeria, reflects an awareness that the Church’s testimony in Arabia is both ancient and contemporary.
To further bind this diverse Church together, two commemorations will highlight its living presence: the dedication of St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Abu Dhabi on February 25, and an annual remembrance on November 5 of all missionaries who served the vicariate. For a multilingual and multiethnic flock, these feasts underscore the unity of a Church made up of many nations but gathered around a single altar.
Beyond Arabia’s borders, the calendar reaches into the broader Christian East. Names such as Cosmas and Damian, Simeon the Stylite, and the Syrian martyrs Sergius and Bacchus now mark AVOSA’s liturgical life. Even Saint Isaac the Syrian, a seventh-century ascetic revered across Christian traditions, is honored. His inclusion—alongside biblical figures like Abraham, Moses, and Job—reveals the vicariate’s ecumenical horizon, affirming ties with the spirituality of the wider Middle East.
The Vatican also established three annual penitential days for AVOSA, aligning them with the rhythms of both the liturgical year and the natural seasons. On these Fridays, the faithful will pray for vocations, for peace, and in gratitude for the fruits of creation. In a region where natural resources are both abundant and contested, the prayers take on an added layer of urgency, linking ecology with spirituality.
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