Feast
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
A feast honoring the Holy Family of Nazareth as the model of Christian family life.
Liturgy
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Liturgy
Formation through the structure, symbolism, and historical continuity of the Church.
Feast
A feast honoring the Holy Family of Nazareth as the model of Christian family life.
Feast
On December 28 the Church honors the children of Bethlehem killed by Herod, martyrs who died for Christ without knowing him.
Feast
On September 8 the Church celebrates the birth of Mary, kept nine months after the Solemnity of her Immaculate Conception on December 8.
Feast
The presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple forty days after his birth, when Simeon and Anna recognized him.
Feast
The revelation of Christ's divine glory on the mountain before Peter, James, and John.
Feast
On May 31 the Church remembers Mary's journey to the hill country to serve her kinswoman Elizabeth, the meeting at which the Magnificat was first sung.
Liturgical season
The Third Sunday of Advent, named from its entrance antiphon "Rejoice in the Lord always," when rose vestments may be worn and the season's note of expectation turns to nearby joy.
Solemnity
Good Friday — a solemnity of the General Roman Calendar celebrated during Easter Triduum.
Liturgical season
The day of Christ's death, on which no Mass is celebrated anywhere and the Church keeps the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord with word, veneration of the Cross, and Communion.
Glossary term
The days besides Sunday on which the faithful are bound to participate in Mass and to refrain from work that impedes worship; the list is set by universal law and adapted by each conference of bishops.
Liturgical season
The day the Church waits at the Lord's tomb, ending in the Easter Vigil, the mother of all vigils, at which the elect are baptized and the Resurrection is proclaimed.
Solemnity
Holy Thursday — a solemnity of the General Roman Calendar celebrated during Easter Triduum.
Liturgical season
The evening Mass that opens the Easter Triduum, commemorating the institution of the Eucharist and of the priesthood and the Lord's command of fraternal charity.
Liturgical season
The final week of Lent, from Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday, in which the Church accompanies Christ from his entrance into Jerusalem to the tomb and into the Easter Triduum.
Symbolism
Two of the oldest signs in Christian worship: rising smoke that figures prayer ascending to God, and burning light that figures Christ, the light no darkness overcomes.
Liturgical season
The Fourth Sunday of Lent, named from the entrance antiphon "Rejoice, Jerusalem," on which rose vestments may be worn and the austerity of Lent is briefly relaxed.
Memorial
A memorial of the sufferings of the Blessed Virgin Mary in union with the Passion of her Son.
Memorial
Kept on October 7, this memorial gives thanks for the Rosary, the contemplative prayer in which the faithful walk with Mary through the mysteries of Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
Memorial
July 26 honors the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the grandparents of Jesus in the flesh, and with them all who hand on the faith within a family.
Memorial
October 2 gives thanks for the angels whom God assigns to watch over each person, a truth the Church has always held and expressed in her prayer.
Memorial
Kept on the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, this memorial honors the heart of the Mother of God, wholly given to the Father's will and pierced in union with the Passion of her Son.
Memorial
November 21 celebrates the offering of the child Mary to God, a memorial that honors her total consecration to the Lord from the beginning of her life.
Memorial
Celebrated on August 22, the octave day of the Assumption, this memorial honors Mary as Queen of heaven and earth, crowned in glory beside her Son the King of the universe.
Optional memorial
May 13 recalls the first of the 1917 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal, with its call to prayer, penance, and conversion.
Optional memorial
On February 11 the Church remembers the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in 1858, and prays with and for the sick throughout the world.
Optional memorial
July 16 honors the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title given her by the Carmelite Order, whose life of contemplation began among the hermits of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land.
Optional memorial
May 1 honors Saint Joseph the carpenter as the patron of workers, placing the dignity of human labor under the protection of the man who taught Jesus a trade.
Optional memorial
August 5 keeps the anniversary of the dedication of the great Roman basilica of Saint Mary Major, the oldest church in the West dedicated to the Mother of God.
Optional memorial
Kept on January 3 within the Christmas Season, this optional memorial honors the name given to the Son of God at his circumcision, the name at which every knee should bend.
Optional memorial
September 12, four days after the Nativity of Mary, honors her name, as a child's naming follows shortly upon birth.