Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar widely used in the Western world. A modification of the Julian calendar, it was first proposed by the Neapolitan doctor Aloysius Lilius, and was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, for whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 (Note: The papal bull Inter gravissimas was signed in the year 1581 for unknown reasons, but printed on 1 March in 1582. Although 1581 is often attributed to the use of years beginning on 25 March by the papacy, other contemporaneous papal bulls have years that do not agree with March years, let alone years since a pope was named or other types of years.)

Number of leap years starting on a given day of the week

Because there are 97 leap years in every 400 in the Gregorian Calendar, there should, in each "cycle", be either 13 or 14 leap years starting on each day of the week. However, the effects of the "common" centennial years (1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 etc.) cause major alterations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is because the absence of an extra day in such years causes the following leap year (1704, 1804, 1904, 2104 etc.) to start on the same day of the week as the leap year twelve years before (1692, 1792, 1892, 2092 etc.). Similarly, the leap year eight years after a "common" centennial year (1708, 1808, 1908, 2108 etc.) starts on the same day of the week as the leap year immediately prior to the "common" centennial year (1696, 1796, 1896, 2096 etc.). Thus, those days of the week on which such leap years begin gain an extra year or two in each cycle. In each cycle there are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• 13 leap years starting on Monday
• 14 leap years starting on Tuesday
• 15 leap years starting on Wednesday
• 13 leap years starting on Thursday
• 15 leap years starting on Friday
• 13 leap years starting on Saturday
• 15 leap years starting on Sunday