The sacred rhythm of the Church year
Wednesday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Brigid of Kildare
The Presentation of the Lord
Friday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Ansgar, Blaise of Sebaste
Saturday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Rabanus Maurus
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Agatha of Sicily
Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs
Tuesday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Richard the Pilgrim
Wednesday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Gerolamo Emiliani, Josephine Bakhita
Thursday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Apollonia of Alexandria
Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Saturday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Our Lady of Lourdes
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Meletius of Antioch
Monday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Jordan of Saxony
Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop
Valentine of Rome
Wednesday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Onesimus
Thursday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Juliana of Nicomedia
Friday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
Saturday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Theotonius of Coimbra
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Conrad of Piacenza
Monday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Jacinta and Francisco Marto
Tuesday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Peter Damian
Ash Wednesday
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Polycarp of Smyrna
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Praetextatus of Rouen
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Walpurga of Heidenheim
First Sunday of Lent
Porphyry of Gaza
Monday of the first week of Lent
Gregory of Narek, Leander of Seville
Tuesday of the first week of Lent
Romanus of Condat
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Saint John Bosco, Priest
Wednesday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
The Presentation of the Lord
Friday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Saturday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs
Tuesday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Wednesday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Thursday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Saturday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop
Wednesday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Thursday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Friday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Saturday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Ash Wednesday
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
First Sunday of Lent
Monday of the first week of Lent
Tuesday of the first week of Lent
Wednesday of the first week of Lent
Thursday of the first week of Lent
Friday of the first week of Lent
Saturday of the first week of Lent
On the First Sunday of Advent, four Sundays before Christmas — so the Church's year opens in late November or early December, not in January.
Advent, Christmas, Lent, the Sacred Paschal Triduum, Easter and Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time is the longest, and falls in two stretches: between Christmas and Lent, and between Pentecost and Advent.
Green for Ordinary Time, violet for Advent and Lent, white for Christmas, Easter and most feasts of the Lord, Our Lady and non-martyr saints, and red for Pentecost, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and the martyrs.
They are ranks. A solemnity is the highest and keeps its own Mass with Gloria and Creed; a feast ranks below it; a memorial lower still, and an optional memorial may be kept or passed over at the priest's discretion.
A day on which the faithful are bound to attend Mass and to rest from work that would hinder it. Every Sunday is one, along with a handful of solemnities that vary by country.
