Dies festi de praecepto
Holy days of obligation 2016 Scotland
Besides every Sunday, the Church in Scotland keeps five holy days of obligation. In 2016, three of them bind on a weekday: Catholics go to Mass that day, or at a vigil Mass the evening before.
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland publishes no list of holydays online; this one follows diocesan calendars and parish notices, which agree with one another. Keeping All Saints on a Monday rests on a single diocesan source.
- Thursday 5 May
The Ascension of the Lord
- Wednesday 29 June
Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
- Sunday 14 August
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Falls on a Monday this year, so it moves to Sunday 14 August.
- Tuesday 1 November
All Saints
Moved to Sunday 2 November from a Saturday, but kept on a Monday.
- Sunday 25 December
The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
Falls on a Sunday this year.
Not holy days of obligation in Scotland
- The Epiphany: on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January.
- The Body and Blood of Christ: on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday.
- Mary, the Holy Mother of God (1 January), Saint Joseph (19 March) and the Immaculate Conception (8 December): not days of obligation.
How the rules work
Canon law names ten holy days for the whole Church and lets each bishops’ conference move some of them to a Sunday or lift the obligation, so the list differs from country to country. Some conferences also move a holy day that falls on a Saturday or a Monday to the Sunday beside it, or keep the feast but lift the obligation that year.
When the calendar itself moves a holy day — the Immaculate Conception off a Sunday of Advent, Saint Joseph off a Sunday of Lent or out of Holy Week — the Dicastery for Divine Worship ruled in January 2025 that the obligation does not move with it.
Dioceses can grant their own dispensations in a particular year; your parish will say. See also the liturgical year 2016 and the ranks of celebrations.