Liturgical calendar
The liturgical calendar orders the Church's celebration of the mystery of Christ, Sundays, solemnities, feasts, memorials, and the commemorations of saints. The universal General Roman Calendar supplies the default calendar; national, diocesan, religious-order, and Eastern Catholic calendars require separate approved profiles.[1]
Saint of the day
Commemorated in the Roman Martyrology
Saint Isaac, bishop in Armenia
Commemorated on this date; not observed liturgically this year.
Isaac or Sahak of Armenia (c. 350 – c. 438) was the catholicos (or patriarch) of the Armenian Church from c. 387 until c. 438. He is sometimes known as Isaac the Great or Sahak the Parthian (Armenian: Սահակ Պարթեւ; Sahak Part῾ew) in reference to his father's Parthian origin.
Today in the liturgy
Feast
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a feast in the Roman Rite on which the Church celebrates Mary's birth as the dawn of salvation and the preparation for the Incarnation.
Liturgical ranks
- Solemnity — the highest rank of liturgical celebration.
- Feast — a celebration of the Lord, Our Lady, an apostle, or another major mystery or saint according to the calendar.
- Memorial — an obligatory observance integrated into the weekday liturgy.
- Optional Memorial — an observance that may be chosen according to the rubrics.
- Sunday — the primordial Christian holy day, with its own rules of precedence.
- Paschal Triduum — the summit of the entire liturgical year.[1]
Holy days of obligation
Every Sunday is a holy day of obligation. Canon 1246 also names the Nativity of the Lord, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Mary Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and All Saints. A conference of bishops may, with approval of the Apostolic See, suppress an obligation or transfer a celebration to Sunday; the applicable national and diocesan calendar must therefore be consulted.[2]
Sacred times
Every Friday and the season of Lent are penitential times. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are universal days of fasting and abstinence; episcopal conferences determine further particulars under canon law.[2]