LITURGICAL DAYS

   The Church attempts to live out the mystery of Christ and salvation history within the year. As such it designates specific days of the year to celebrate the chief events of this mystery. Additionally the Church commemorates the lives of great saints by designating certain days of the year to remember them. These days are both an act of remembrance, as well as a way to instruct the faithful by making the calendar reflect the life of Christ.

   These days of commemoration and instruction have been classified according to their importance. They are called, in order of precedence: solemnities, feasts, and memorials.

SOLEMNITIES: Solemnities are the great events of the Church, but they must not be confused with holy days of obligation. For example the solemnities of St. Joseph the Husband of Mary, and Saints Peter and Paul are indeed solemnities but not holy days. The general calendar is the calendar used for the majority of the Roman Rite. There are 24 solemnities in the general calendar. Certain religious orders, such as Dominicans and Carmelites have a slightly different list of solemnities. Solemnities begin with evening prayer (Vespers) the night before, unlike other liturgical days, which begin at midnight. For that reason the evening prayer before a solemnity is called evening prayer I, while that celebrated on the solemnity itself is called evening prayer II. Some solemnities have their own vigil masses, which are celebrated after evening prayer I. Every day in the Octave of Easter is a solemnity. Some solemnities have a fixed date on which they are celebrated, such as Christmas, which is always the 25th of December. Other solemnities are moveable, such as Easter, which is based on the Vernal Equinox. Solemnities usually take precedence over weekdays in the liturgy and in most cases over Sunday. If a solemnity takes precedence over the day it lands on, the readings and prayers are for the solemnity and not for that day. For instance, this year the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls on the Wednesday after the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Therefore, on that day the readings and prayers will be for the Assumption rather than for the Wednesday after the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar.

FEASTS: Down one step from solemnities are feasts. Feasts are celebrated within the normal liturgical day of midnight to midnight. There are 25 feasts listed in the general calendar. All feasts, except Holy Family, are fixed in date. Like solemnities, feasts sometimes take precedence over the liturgy for the day they fall on. Not all feasts are of equal stature. The "feasts of the Lord" take precedence over Sundays of Christmas and Ordinary Time, but the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary do not. All feasts take precedence over all weekdays except Ash Wednesday; Weekdays of Holy Week (including the Triduum) and days within the octave of Easter.

MEMORIALS: Lower in importance than solemnities and feasts are memorials. There are 159 memorials listed in the general calendar, and six more that are celebrated only in the dioceses of the United States. Many of the days dedicated in memory of a saint are memorials. All memorials are fixed in date. Memorials can be either obligatory or optional. Of the 165 memorials celebrated in the US, 71 are listed as obligatory and 94 are listed as optional. As the name implies, the celebrant may choose to use the prayers for an optional memorial or not. Many of the memorials, both optional and obligatory, have specific written prayers for each individual saint or other occasion for use at Mass. These prayers are known as the "proper" for the occasion. Some saints do not have specific prayers. There are generic prayers written for each category of saint being honored in a memorial. These generic prayers are known as the "common" for the occasion. Those such honored will usually fall into the category of: Saint, pope, bishop, priest, religious, virgin, or martyr. For instance St. Blase, which is an optional memorial, is both a bishop and a martyr. Therefore the readings can be either from the common for bishops or the common for martyrs.

   The liturgical celebrations of solemnities, feasts, and memorials enhance the richness of the Church's calendar. These enhancements turn the calendar into a living history lesson of the life of Christ and his Church.

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Published by The Minnesota St. Thomas More Chapter of Catholics United for the Faith, August 2001.