St. Matthew

August (pronunciation) (help·info) is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with a length of 31 days.^[1]

This month was originally named Sextilis in Latin, because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, when March was the first month of the year. About 700 BC it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 45 BC giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC it was renamed in honor of Augustus, who did not take a day from February (see the debunked theory on month lengths). He chose this month to take his name rather than his birth month - which was traditional - as a mark of honour to the defeated Queen Cleopatra the last ruler of Egypt, this being her birth month.

In common years no other month starts on the same day of the week as August, though in leap years February starts on the same day.