Solemnity, feast, memorial: the ranks of the liturgical day

The Ordinary Form ranks its celebrations in three grades: solemnities, the greatest days of the year; feasts; and memorials, which are either obligatory or optional. Sundays and ordinary weekdays have their own places in the same order. When two celebrations fall on one day, a single table of precedence decides which is kept, and the other is moved or, far more often, simply left out that year.

The rules are set out in the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, published with the reformed calendar in 1969. The ranks are described in nos. 10–16, Sundays in nos. 4–7, and the table of precedence in no. 59, with the rules for clashes in nos. 60–61.

Solemnity, feast and memorial

Solemnities

These are the principal days. A solemnity begins on the evening before, with Evening Prayer I in the Liturgy of the Hours, and some have a Vigil Mass of their own. At Mass the Gloria and the Creed are said and there are two readings before the Gospel, even on a weekday. Christmas and Easter are each prolonged by an octave of eight days. The fixed solemnities of the General Calendar include Mary, Mother of God (1 January), the Epiphany, St Joseph, the Annunciation, the birth of John the Baptist, Saints Peter and Paul, the Assumption, All Saints and the Immaculate Conception; the moveable ones include Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart and Christ the King.

Feasts

A feast is kept within its own day, with no Evening Prayer the night before unless it is a feast of the Lord falling on a Sunday. The Gloria is said but not the Creed, unless the feast falls on a Sunday, and there is usually one reading before the Gospel. The apostles and evangelists have feasts, as do the Presentation of the Lord, the Transfiguration, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the birthday of Our Lady on 8 September.

Memorials

Most saints are kept as memorials. The saint is honoured within the weekday rather than replacing it: the opening prayer is the saint’s, there is no Gloria, and the readings are normally the weekday’s unless the saint has readings of their own. An obligatory memorial must be kept. An optional memorial may be kept or passed over, at the priest’s choice. On a Saturday in Ordinary Time with no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of Our Lady may be celebrated (Universal Norms, no. 15).

The next solemnity on a weekday in your calendar is The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on 8 December 2026. The next feast is Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles, on 28 October 2026. The next obligatory memorial is Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, on 15 October 2026. And on 9 October 2026 the priest may choose between the weekday and the optional memorials of Saint Denis, Bishop, and Companions, Martyrs or Saint John Leonardi, Priest or Saint John Henry Newman, Priest and Doctor of the Church.

Sundays and weekdays

Sunday is the original feast day of the Church, and it ranks high. The Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter outrank every solemnity: if a solemnity falls on one of them, it moves, normally to the Monday. The Sundays of Christmas Time and Ordinary Time give way only to solemnities and to feasts of the Lord. A few celebrations are assigned to Sundays: the Holy Family, the Baptism of the Lord, the Holy Trinity and Christ the King, though the first two move to a weekday in some years. Where the Epiphany, the Ascension and Corpus Christi are not holy days of obligation, they too are moved to a Sunday (Universal Norms, no. 7).

Weekdays are not all equal. Ash Wednesday and Monday to Thursday of Holy Week outrank every saint’s day. The weekdays of Lent, the days from 17 to 24 December and the days within the octave of Christmas outrank memorials: a memorial falling on one of them can be marked only by using the saint’s opening prayer at the weekday Mass (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 355). Every other weekday gives way to any solemnity, feast or obligatory memorial, and may give way to an optional one.

The table of precedence

No. 59 of the Universal Norms ranks every kind of liturgical day in thirteen places, gathered into three groups. In outline, from the highest:

1. The Paschal Triduum.
2. Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension and Pentecost; the Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter; Ash Wednesday; Monday to Thursday of Holy Week; the days of the Easter octave.
3. The solemnities of the General Calendar, and All Souls’ Day, which ranks with them.
4. Local solemnities, such as the principal patron of a place or the dedication and title of one’s own church.
5. Feasts of the Lord in the General Calendar.
6. The Sundays of Christmas Time and Ordinary Time.
7. Feasts of Our Lady and the saints in the General Calendar.
8. Local feasts, such as the principal patron of a diocese or a nation, or the anniversary of the cathedral’s dedication.
9. The weekdays from 17 to 24 December, the days within the octave of Christmas, and the weekdays of Lent.
10. Obligatory memorials in the General Calendar.
11. Local obligatory memorials.
12. Optional memorials.
13. All other weekdays.

When two fall on the same day

The rule is simple: the day higher in the table is kept (Universal Norms, no. 60). What happens to the other depends on its rank. A solemnity is transferred to the nearest day that is not itself one of the first eight places in the table. Anything lower is simply omitted for that year.

• When 8 December is the Second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday wins and the Immaculate Conception moves to Monday 9 December, as happened in 2024.
• When 25 March falls in Holy Week or the Easter octave, the Annunciation is moved to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.
• When the feast of an apostle or evangelist, such as St Luke on 18 October, falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Sunday is kept and the feast is not celebrated that year.
• When a feast of the Lord, such as the Transfiguration or the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time, it takes the Sunday’s place. The next Sunday in Ordinary Time to give way in your calendar is 1 November 2026, kept as All Saints.

Rank, obligation and local calendars

Rank is not the same as obligation. The holy days on which Catholics must attend Mass are listed in the Code of Canon Law (canon 1246), and each bishops’ conference may, with the Holy See’s approval, remove some of them or move them to a Sunday. So the Sacred Heart and the birth of John the Baptist are solemnities that are not on the Code’s list of holy days, and a solemnity that is a holy day in one country may not be in the next. Day pages on this site mark the holy days of the calendar you have chosen.

National and diocesan calendars also change ranks. A country’s principal patron is usually raised to a solemnity there: St Patrick in Ireland, St David in Wales, St Andrew in Scotland and St George in England. A saint who is an optional memorial in the General Calendar may be an obligatory memorial or a feast in a national one. Your own diocese, parish or religious order may keep celebrations that no national calendar shows.

The 1962 Missal ranks its days differently, in four classes with commemorations; see the classes of feast in the 1962 Missal. The colour of each rank of day is explained in the liturgical colours.