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Jen-joy
Guest
What are Feast Days and why/how are they celebrated? And is there a Mass in honor of each?
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John_Higgins
Guest
Jen-Joy,
First, welcome aboard.
The next thing to know is almost all Catholic churches have at least one Mass celebrated every day of the week. There is a Church calendar which gives certain saints and events feast days. There are a few you may have heard of–March 17, St. Patrick’s feast day, December 6, St. Nicholas’s feast day. I’ll post a link to the Church calendar.
John
First, welcome aboard.
The next thing to know is almost all Catholic churches have at least one Mass celebrated every day of the week. There is a Church calendar which gives certain saints and events feast days. There are a few you may have heard of–March 17, St. Patrick’s feast day, December 6, St. Nicholas’s feast day. I’ll post a link to the Church calendar.
John
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Psalm45_9
Guest
I’m not an expert on this, but I’ll give it a shot. The Church’s calendar had different ranking days I will start from lowest to highest: optional memorials, memorials/commemorations (depending on the season in which they fall) Feasts, and Solemnities.
Memorials are where a particular Saint is usually remembered, optional memorials are just that, the church is not obliged to observe them, it’s up to the celebrating priest. Memorials on the other hand must be oberved.
Feasts are in the middle. There are first and second class feasts, I don’t really know the difference. All of the days that honor the Apostles are feasts (with the exception of Sts. Peter and Paul) also some important faith events that are remembered durring the year are feasts: The Presentation of the Lord, the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Birth of Mary, and the Dedication of St. John Laternan just to name a few. Solemnities are the highest ranking days, they are equivalent to Sundays in the celebration structure.
Solemnities remember important events in the faith life of Christians. The Solemnities are: The Immaculate Conception, Christmas Day, St. Mary; the Mother of God, Epiphany, St. Joseph’s Day, The Annunciation of the Lord, The Easter Octave, The Ascension of the Lord, Pentecost Sunday, The Birth of St. John the Baptist, Corpus Christi, The Sacred Heart, Sts. Peter and Paul, The Assumption, and All Saint’s Day.
Many of these Solemnities are Holy Days of Obligation.
M
marty1818
Guest
Well done Psalm. Just as a clarifcation for Jen-joy, all Sundays are solemnities and optional memorials or feasts depend on place to place. For example, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is not celebrated in certain places outside of North America.
God Bless,
Matt
God Bless,
Matt
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Psalm45_9
Guest
Just to clarify, when a saints’ day is coming up, say St. Lucy; people often refer to it as, “St. Lucy’s Feast Day.” That’s just the way people talk, in reality, St. Lucy’s Day is a memorial, not a feast. Now St. Stephen’s day (December 26th) is a Feast, because he is the first Christian Martyr. If people are refering to a certain Saint’s Feast day, they are refering to the day the Saint is remembered, usually liturgically it is not technically a Feast.
J
Jen-joy
Guest
Thank you for your replies.
Okay I beginning to understand just a little. Are most Sundays Masses assigned a Solemnities or Feast day? Or is the Mass for lets say for Epiphany which I think is Friday the 6th of January said on Friday or the next Sunday?
And one other thing, on Sundays do RC have Sunday School like LDS and Protestants’ Churches?
I know these question may sound rather simple minded, but I promise their honest.
Thank you,
Jen-joy
Okay I beginning to understand just a little. Are most Sundays Masses assigned a Solemnities or Feast day? Or is the Mass for lets say for Epiphany which I think is Friday the 6th of January said on Friday or the next Sunday?
And one other thing, on Sundays do RC have Sunday School like LDS and Protestants’ Churches?
I know these question may sound rather simple minded, but I promise their honest.
Thank you,
Jen-joy
J
jpjd
Guest
All parishes have a religious education program. Whether the classes meet on Sunday or any other day of the week will vary from parish to parish depending on what best meets the needs of the parishoners.
In my parish, the elementary grades meet Wed evening for an hour, then the kids go to evening Mass, then back to the parish hall for milk and cookies. The middle and high school students meet Sunday after Mass. Other parishes may have a different schedule.
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muledog
Guest
Psalm45:9:
It’s akin to saying that you have priests and bishops, but in reality, bishops are priests (sacerdos), too. The English language is a funny thing.
I think there are traditionally two separate meanings for “feast.” One for the specific “rank” of the celebration, and the other that refers to any special celebration that isn’t “of the feria.”
It’s akin to saying that you have priests and bishops, but in reality, bishops are priests (sacerdos), too. The English language is a funny thing.
P
Psalm45_9
Guest
All Sundays are technically Solemnities. Durring the two liturgical seasons of Ordinary Time if one of the Solemnities I mentioned from the list falls on a Sunday, it will still be observed because it still has the same ranking as a Sunday. Durring Advent and Lent however, if a Solemnity falls on Sunday, it will not be obeserved, due to the penitential feeling of those two seasons, durring those two seasons, the Solemnity will be observed on the following Monday. For example, St. Joseph’s day is always durring Lent (March 19th) This year March 19th falls on a Sunday, so St. Joseph’s Day has been transfered to Monday, March 20th. I know it’s confusing.
Also some major feasts will still be observed if they fall on a Sunday. The Feasts that can be observed on Sunday are: The Holy Family, The Baptism of the Lord, The Presentation of the Lord, The Transfiguration of the Lord, The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and The Dedication of St. John Lateran. That is because of the ranking of the feast (remember I said earlier there are 1st and 2nd class feasts.)
Some Solemnities are always on Sunday: Divine Mercy Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, and Trinity Sunday for example.
OK, Durring Christmas season, Christmas Day (December 25th) the Octave Day (January 1st) and the Epiphany of the Lord (January 6th) are all Holy Days of obligation. In Europe, since most of the countries are Catholic, the days I mentioned are National Bank Holidays (work and school are closed those days) because of this, nothing hinders the faithful from attending Mass on these days.
Here in the USA though, the country is not Catholic by majority, and so all of those days are not considered Holidays, due to them being so close together, the Bishops here thought that it would be too hard on the faithful to attend Mass on all those days. Because of this, in the USA, The Epiphany of the Lord is observed on the 2nd Sunday after Christmas; this year it will be January 8th.
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi has also been moved to the Sunday after Trinity Sunday here in the USA from the traditional Thursday after Trinity Sunday for the same reason. In the Western part of the USA, the Ascension of the Lord has been moved to the Sunday before Pentecost Sunday instead of the traditional 6th Thursday after Easter Sunday; again for the same reason.
Also, in the USA if a Holy Day of obligation falls on a Saturday or Monday, the obligation is lifted, due to it being believed it is too hard on the faithful to attend Mass two days in a row.
I know it’s confusing, but I’ll be willing to explain it more if you want.
T
tee_eff_em
Guest
Psalm45:9:
(* As an example: In 1989 March 19 was Palm Sunday and March 25 was the Easter Vigil. For the sake of liturgical precedence, the Solemnity of St Joseph was translated backward to March 18, and the Annunciation was translated forward, across the Octave of Easter, to April 3.
However, in 2008, March 19 will fall during Holy Week and March 25 during the Easter Octave. Both feasts will translate forward, Annunciation to March 31 and St Joseph to April 1.)
(** There’s that colloquial use of “feast” to mean “celebration”, I am of course speaking of Solemnities.)
tee
It can get even more confusing than that*. The linked Table of Liturgical Days may help (or may make things more confusing :whacky: ).
(* As an example: In 1989 March 19 was Palm Sunday and March 25 was the Easter Vigil. For the sake of liturgical precedence, the Solemnity of St Joseph was translated backward to March 18, and the Annunciation was translated forward, across the Octave of Easter, to April 3.
However, in 2008, March 19 will fall during Holy Week and March 25 during the Easter Octave. Both feasts will translate forward, Annunciation to March 31 and St Joseph to April 1.)
(** There’s that colloquial use of “feast” to mean “celebration”, I am of course speaking of Solemnities.)
tee
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muledog
Guest
Psalm45:9:
Only in the brief period from 1960-1968 were feasts listed by classes I-IV. Sundays were either Class I or II. What we call “Solemnities” today were formerly listed as Class I feasts.
Again, I don’t think this is “technically” accurate. According to the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar, no. 5
As in the previous calendar, Sundays may take on the characteristics of Solemnities or Feasts, depending on the date in the Liturgical Year.
I’m not sure about “classes” of feasts in the current calendar. I believe they are listed in separate paragraphs (I and II) in the above-mentioned document, but they are not associated with classes, per se. They are listed in a table of precedences in the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar, no. 59.
Only in the brief period from 1960-1968 were feasts listed by classes I-IV. Sundays were either Class I or II. What we call “Solemnities” today were formerly listed as Class I feasts.
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Psalm45_9
Guest
Thank you, that is what I was trying to explain, I just did not know the terminology.
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