De classibus dierum liturgicorum
The classes of feast in the 1962 Missal
First, second, third and fourth class days in the 1962 Missal, commemorations, and how they compare with the ranks of the Ordinary Form.
The 1962 Missal ranks every liturgical day in one of four classes, from the first class, the greatest feasts and most privileged days, down to the fourth, the ordinary weekday. When two observances meet on one day, the higher class is celebrated, and the lesser is often not lost but commemorated, by adding its prayers to the Mass. The scheme comes from the Code of Rubrics of 1960, and it broadly parallels the solemnities, feasts and memorials of the Ordinary Form, though the two do not match exactly.
Where the classes came from
For centuries the Roman calendar ranked its days by an intricate system of doubles of the first and second class, greater doubles, doubles, semidoubles and simples, with octaves and vigils of several grades on top. By the twentieth century it had grown very complicated, and a reform of 1955 had already removed most of the octaves and many of the vigils.
In 1960 Pope John XXIII approved a new Code of Rubrics, which came into force on 1 January 1961. It swept the old grades away and put every kind of day (Sunday, feast, weekday, vigil, or day within an octave) into one of four classes. The typical edition of the Roman Missal published in 1962 incorporates the Code, and it is that edition which is used for the Traditional Latin Mass today. This site applies those rules to every year it shows, including years before 1960.
The four classes
| Class | What it includes |
|---|---|
| First | The Sundays of Advent and Lent, including Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday, with Easter, Low Sunday and Pentecost; the greatest feasts, such as Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, Christ the King, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, St Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul and All Saints; Ash Wednesday and Holy Week; the octaves of Easter and Pentecost; the vigils of Christmas and Pentecost; All Souls’ Day |
| Second | All other Sundays; many feasts of Our Lord and Our Lady, such as the Holy Family, the Purification, the Transfiguration and the Nativity of Mary; most apostles and evangelists; the days within the octave of Christmas; the weekdays of Advent from 17 to 23 December; the Ember days of Advent, Lent and September; some vigils, such as those of the Assumption and of St John the Baptist |
| Third | Most saints’ days; the weekdays of Lent; the weekdays of Advent up to 16 December |
| Fourth | Ordinary weekdays, called ferias, and the Saturday Mass of Our Lady |
The class affects more than precedence. Every feast, even of the third class, has the Gloria; the Creed is reserved to Sundays and the greater feasts. Lesser saints who had been “simple” feasts under the old system have no class of their own and are kept only as commemorations.
The next first-class day is Christ the King, on 25 October 2026. The next second-class day other than a Sunday is Sts. Simon & Jude, on 28 October 2026. The next of the third class is St. Bridget of Sweden, on 8 October 2026.
Commemorations
A commemoration is the 1962 Missal’s way of keeping two things on one day. The Mass is that of the higher observance, but after its Collect, Secret and Postcommunion the priest adds those of the lesser one. The saint or season is remembered without displacing the day. The 1960 rubrics regulate which commemorations are made and limit how many may be added, so that the prayers do not pile up.
Commemorations turn up in a few regular ways:
- A saint whose day falls on a weekday of Lent is commemorated at the Lenten Mass, since the Lenten weekday outranks most saints.
- A second-class saint’s feast that falls on a Sunday after Pentecost gives way to the Sunday and is commemorated at the Sunday Mass.
- When a great feast takes over a privileged day, the day itself can be commemorated: St Joseph’s day in Lent carries a commemoration of the Lenten weekday.
- Some lesser saints are only ever commemorated, on their own day, at the Mass of whatever else is kept.
On this site, day pages list each commemoration under the 1962 Mass. For example, on 11 October 2026 the 1962 Missal keeps XX Sunday after Pentecost, with the commemoration of Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Which day wins
The higher class is kept, and the Code’s table of precedence settles any tie. Some rules worth knowing:
- First-class Sundays exclude other celebrations. A first-class feast that falls on one is moved to the next free day, as St Joseph is when 19 March is a Sunday of Lent. The Immaculate Conception is the notable exception: it keeps 8 December even on a Sunday of Advent, and the Sunday is commemorated.
- Second-class Sundays give way to first-class feasts and to second-class feasts of the Lord, such as the Transfiguration or the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Other second-class feasts falling on them are commemorated.
- A first-class feast that is impeded is transferred; lesser feasts are commemorated or, on the greatest days, simply omitted.
The difference from the Ordinary Form shows clearly in 2024, when 8 December was the Second Sunday of Advent. The Ordinary Form kept the Sunday and moved the Immaculate Conception to Monday; the 1962 Missal kept the Immaculate Conception on Sunday 8 December with a commemoration of the Sunday.
How the classes compare with the Ordinary Form
The two systems answer the same question, which day comes first, and line up roughly like this:
| 1962 Missal | Nearest in the Ordinary Form | Worth noting |
|---|---|---|
| First class | Solemnity | Ash Wednesday, Holy Week and the major Sundays sit at the top of both systems |
| Second class | Feast | Covers ordinary Sundays too, which outrank most saints’ feasts in both systems |
| Third class | Obligatory memorial | A third-class feast has a full Mass of its own with the Gloria; a memorial is woven into the weekday |
| Fourth class and commemorations | Weekday and optional memorial | The nearest thing to a commemoration is the Ordinary Form’s provision for using a saint’s opening prayer on a Lenten or late Advent weekday (GIRM no. 355) |
It is a comparison, not a translation. The two calendars do not always give the same saint the same weight: St Joseph the Worker is a first-class feast in 1962 and an optional memorial in the Ordinary Form, and many third-class saints of 1962 are optional memorials, or absent, in the calendar of 1969. Ember days and the octave of Pentecost have no counterpart in the General Roman Calendar of 1969. For the Ordinary Form’s own system, see Solemnity, feast, memorial, and for why saints moved between the calendars, the two calendars compared.