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Liturgy
Formation through the structure, symbolism, and historical continuity of the Church.
Symbolism
A circle of evergreens holding four candles, one lit for each week of Advent, whose growing light marks the approach of Christmas and the coming of Christ the light of the world.
Glossary term
The daily prayers at morning, midday, and evening by which the faithful recall the Incarnation, and the Easter antiphon that replaces the Angelus throughout the fifty days.
Solemnity
On November 2 the whole Church prays for the dead who are still being purified, offering the Eucharist for them and pleading God's mercy on every soul in purgatory.
Optional memorial
The Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles — an optional memorial of the General Roman Calendar celebrated during Ordinary Time.
Mass structure
The great prayer of thanksgiving and consecration at the center of the Mass, of which the Roman Missal offers four principal forms together with others for particular occasions.
Optional memorial
The First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church — an optional memorial of the General Roman Calendar celebrated during Ordinary Time.
Mass structure
The ordered arrangement of Scripture readings for Mass, which opens the treasures of the Bible more lavishly to the faithful across a three-year Sunday cycle and a two-year weekday cycle.
Glossary term
The colors of the vestments and altar cloths that mark the seasons and feasts of the liturgical year.
Glossary term
The garments worn by ordained and instituted ministers in the liturgy, which signify the office each exercises and give visible beauty to the sacred action.
Liturgical year
The Church's yearly cycle, which unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from the Incarnation to Pentecost and to the expectation of his return, and sanctifies time itself.
Liturgical season
The eight days from Christmas Day through January 1, during which the Church prolongs the celebration of the Nativity and closes with the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.
Liturgical season
The eight days from Easter Sunday through the Second Sunday of Easter, each celebrated as a solemnity of the Lord, prolonging the one day of Resurrection.
Marriage rite
The liturgical book and rite by which a baptized man and woman exchange consent before the Church, entering the covenant that Christ has raised to the dignity of a sacrament.
Funeral rite
The Church's rites for the dead, in which she commends the deceased to God's mercy, comforts the mourners, and proclaims the hope of resurrection given in baptism.
Mass structure
The Church's process for initiating adults, whose Lenten scrutinies purify the elect and whose goal is the celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil.
Symbolism
The great candle blessed at the Easter Vigil and marked with the cross, the Alpha and the Omega, and the year, which stands as the sign of the risen Christ, the light of the world.
Glossary term
Solemnity, feast, obligatory memorial, optional memorial, and weekday: the grades by which the Church orders her calendar and settles which celebration takes precedence.
Mass structure
The order of celebration by which infants and young children are baptized, freed from original sin, made children of God, and incorporated into the Church.
Mass structure
The rite by which the baptized are sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands and anointing with sacred chrism, ordinarily by the bishop.
Ordination rite
The liturgy by which a bishop, through the laying on of hands and the prayer of consecration, confers one of the three degrees of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
Mass structure
The liturgical book containing the prayers and rubrics for the celebration of Mass in the Roman Rite, in the Latin edition of 2002 and the English translation implemented in 2011.
Liturgical season
The three holiest days of the liturgical year: from the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday through Easter Vespers on Easter Sunday.
Glossary term
The chalice, paten, ciborium, monstrance, and other vessels that hold or carry the Body and Blood of Christ, together with the norms that govern their material and care.
Mass structure
The public prayer of the Church that sanctifies the whole course of day and night, composed of psalms, Scripture, hymns, and intercessions distributed across the hours.
Mass structure
The Mass has two principal parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, framed by Introductory Rites and Concluding Rites.
