The sacred rhythm of the Church year
Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Eusebius of Vercelli, Peter Julian Eymard
Monday of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
Lydia of Thyatira
Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest
Jean-Marie Vianney
Wednesday of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
The Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major
The Transfiguration of the Lord
Friday of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
Cajetan, Edmund Bojanowski, Sixtus II, Pope, and Companions
Saint Dominic, Priest
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr
Saint Clare, Virgin
Clare of Assisi
Wednesday of the nineteenth week of Ordinary Time
Jane Frances de Chantal
Thursday of the nineteenth week of Ordinary Time
Dulce Lopes Pontes, Pontian and Hippolytus
Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Stephen I of Hungary
Monday of the twentieth week of Ordinary Time
Hyacinth of Poland
Tuesday of the twentieth week of Ordinary Time
Helena
Wednesday of the twentieth week of Ordinary Time
Ezequiel Moreno, Jean Eudes
Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Bernard of Clairvaux
Saint Pius X, Pope
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Rose of Lima
Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
Tuesday of the twenty-first week of Ordinary Time
Joseph Calasanz, Louis IX of France
Wednesday of the twenty-first week of Ordinary Time
Our Lady of Częstochowa, Saint Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars
Saint Monica
Caesarius of Arles
Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Augustine of Hippo
The Passion of Saint John the Baptist
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fiacre of Breuil
Monday of the twenty-second week of Ordinary Time
Saint Paulinus of Trier
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the seventeenth week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the seventeenth week of Ordinary Time
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Thursday of the seventeenth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest
Wednesday of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
The Transfiguration of the Lord
Friday of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Dominic, Priest
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr
Saint Clare, Virgin
Wednesday of the nineteenth week of Ordinary Time
Thursday of the nineteenth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the twentieth week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the twentieth week of Ordinary Time
Wednesday of the twentieth week of Ordinary Time
Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Saint Pius X, Pope
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
Tuesday of the twenty-first week of Ordinary Time
Wednesday of the twenty-first week of Ordinary Time
Saint Monica
Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
The Passion of Saint John the Baptist
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday of the twenty-second week of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the twenty-second week of Ordinary Time
Wednesday of the twenty-second week of Ordinary Time
Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
Friday of the twenty-second week of Ordinary Time
Saturday of the twenty-second 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.
