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The Church often has a difficult time assigning a saint’s feast day on the universal calendar. With thousands of canonized saints, it is impossible to give each saint their own individual day.
Normally when a saint is recognized in the Catholic Church, their feast day is assigned to the day of their death. This day would technically be the anniversary of their entrance into Heaven.
Sometimes the date of a saint’s death lands on a day when the Church celebrates a major feast or is in the midst of a penitential season.
St. John Paul II, for example, died on April 2, which is normally during Lent or Holy Week. Since his feast day would always be superseded by a different celebration, the Church assigned his feast day to the anniversary of his inauguration Mass on October 22.
St. John Cantius
On December 23, the universal calendar lists St. John Cantius, but the Roman Martyrology explains when he actually died:
St. John Cantius, priest, who, after ordination to the priesthood, taught for many years at the University of Krakow. After receiving the assignment of the pastoral care of the parish of Olkusz, he added to his virtues the testimony of an upright faith and was for his collaborators and disciples a model of piety and charity towards others. On the day following this, at Krakow in Poland, he passed to the celestial banquet.
That day was December 24 and since it is Christmas Eve, his feast day would never be celebrated by the universal Church.
The Church decided to simply move it to the day before his death, placing his feast on December 23 to avoid it being superseded by Christmas Eve.
Interestingly, his feast is moved to October 20 in Poland, likely because it does not interfere with Advent and all the preparations for Christmas.
And today we celebrate...