Liturgical Calendar

Understanding the Liturgical Year

The liturgical year is made up of six seasons:

  • Advent – four weeks of preparation before the celebration of Jesus’ birth
  • Christmas – recalling the Nativity of Jesus Christ and his manifestation to the peoples of the world
  • Lent – a six-week period of penance before Easter
  • Sacred Paschal Triduum – the holiest “Three Days” of the Church’s year, where the Christian people recall the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus
  • Easter – 50 days of joyful celebration of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead and his sending forth of the Holy Spirit
  • Ordinary Time – divided into two sections (one span of 4-8 weeks after Christmas Time and another lasting about six months after Easter Time), wherein the faithful consider the fullness of Jesus’ teachings and works among his people

The mystery of Christ, unfolded through the cycle of the year, calls us to live his mystery in our own lives. This call is best illustrated in the lives of Mary and the saints, celebrated by the Church throughout the year. There is no tension between the mystery of Christ and the celebration of the saints, but rather a marvelous harmony. The Blessed Virgin Mary is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son, and the feasts of all the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in his servants and offer the faithful fitting examples for their imitation.

Each liturgical year begins on the First Sunday of Advent during the preceding calendar year (i.e., the First Sunday of Advent in 2019 began the 2020 liturgical year).

Liturgical Calendar

The organization of each liturgical year is governed by the Church and ultimately integrated into a liturgical calendar.

The Second Vatican Council brought renewed emphasis to Sunday as a unique liturgical category: “the Lord’s day is the original feast day” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 106), and it “must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation” (Code of Canon Law, canon 1246 §1). Thus, only a limited number of feasts of the Lord or the saints may take the place of the scheduled Sunday celebration.

Saints and other celebrations are distinguished in accordance with the importance assigned to each one: each is a Solemnity, Feast, or Memorial. Sundays and Solemnities begin their celebration on the evening before, Feasts and Memorials are celebrated over the course of one day, and Memorials are either Obligatory or Optional.

Holy days of obligation (also known as feasts of precept) are days when the faithful are obliged to participate at Mass and abstain from unnecessary work or other activities which hinder the suitable relaxation of mind and body. Each Sunday is a holy day of obligation, and six Solemnities are also observed as feasts of precept in the United States.

Finally, other days of prayer and special observances throughout the year are promoted by the Holy See or the USCCB. For the most part, they are not part of the Church’s liturgical calendar, but they can help focus the prayers of the Church toward the particular needs of the human family.

Understanding the Liturgical Colors

In the liturgical calendar, the color for each day corresponds to that day’s main liturgical celebration, even though Optional Memorials (perhaps with a different color) might be chosen instead.  The four main colors shown are:

White – Christmas Time and Easter Time; celebrations of the Lord (except of his Passion), of Mary, of the Angels, and of Saints who were not Martyrs; solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity (Sun. after Pentecost), of All Saints (Nov. 1), and of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24); feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25), of the Chair of St. Peter (Feb. 22), and of St. John (Dec. 27); also permitted in the United States at Masses for the Dead

Red – Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Pentecost Sunday; celebrations of the Lord’s Passion, of Apostles, and of Evangelists; celebrations of Martyrs

Green – Ordinary Time

Violet – Advent and Lent; Masses for the Dead

Other liturgical colors not represented on this calendar include Rose (Third Sun. of Advent and Fourth Sun. of Lent), Black (Masses for the Dead), and Gold or Silver (permitted in the United States for more solemn occasions).