Clavería's decree skips 31 December 1844 in the Philippines (1844–1845)

Governor-General Narciso Clavería, serving from July 1844, addressed a calendar drift in the Philippines. The archipelago had remained one day behind international calendars since 1521. Clavería and Archbishop Jose Segui agreed to remove Tuesday, December 31, 1844, from the calendar. Consequently, Monday, December 30, 1844, was followed directly by Wednesday, January 1, 1845, correcting the local date alignment.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Narciso Clavería became Governor-General of the Philippines on July 16, 1844. From 1521 to 1844, the Philippines was one day behind the calendars of Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Elsewhere, the Gregorian calendar had gone into effect in October 1582 under Pope Gregory XIII's bull Inter gravissimas, replacing the Julian calendar, whose leap-year spacing it modified to approximate the solar year more closely. The Philippine discrepancy required an administrative correction to align local dates with international standards.

Correction Decision. Governor-General Clavería and Archbishop Jose Segui agreed to remove Tuesday, December 31, 1844, from the Philippine calendar. This decision was made to correct the accumulated drift. The agreement resulted in Monday, December 30, 1844, being followed directly by Wednesday, January 1, 1845. This action effectively skipped a day to bring the Philippine calendar into alignment with the international standard.

People involved

Sources

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