The sacred rhythm of the Church year
Monday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Brigid of Kildare
The Presentation of the Lord
Wednesday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Ansgar, Blaise of Sebaste
Thursday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Rabanus Maurus
Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
Agatha of Sicily
Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Richard the Pilgrim
Monday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Gerolamo Emiliani, Josephine Bakhita
Tuesday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Apollonia of Alexandria
Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Thursday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Our Lady of Lourdes
Friday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Meletius of Antioch
Saturday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Jordan of Saxony
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cyril and Methodius, Valentine of Rome
Monday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Onesimus
Tuesday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Juliana of Nicomedia
Wednesday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
Thursday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Theotonius of Coimbra
Friday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Conrad of Piacenza
Saturday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Jacinta and Francisco Marto
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Peter Damian
The Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle
Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr
Polycarp of Smyrna
Wednesday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Praetextatus of Rouen
Thursday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Walpurga of Heidenheim
Friday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Porphyry of Gaza
Saturday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Gregory of Narek, Leander of Seville
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Romanus of Condat
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
The Presentation of the Lord
Wednesday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Thursday of the fourth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Thursday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Friday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Saturday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the sixth week of Ordinary Time
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
The Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle
Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr
Wednesday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Thursday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Friday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Saturday of the seventh week of Ordinary Time
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time
Wednesday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time
Thursday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time
Friday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time
Saturday of the eighth week of Ordinary Time
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.
