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vel
Guest
What are all the Holy Days of Obligation.
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zagjames
Guest
In the US:
Every Sunday
January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension;
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints;
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Days of Fasting:
-All Fridays of the Year Catholics of age must either abstain from meat or conciously do a work of mercy.
-Abstinence from all meat is to be observed by all Roman Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent.
-Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Roman Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59.
Every Sunday
January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension;
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints;
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Days of Fasting:
-All Fridays of the Year Catholics of age must either abstain from meat or conciously do a work of mercy.
-Abstinence from all meat is to be observed by all Roman Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent.
-Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Roman Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59.
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1ke
Guest
You need to go to the USCCB website and look them up.
Each year, certain days may be transferred to Sunday depending upon what day of the week they fall. The USCCB publishes a calendar each year.
Also, Ascension is transferred to Sunday on a diocese-by-diocese basis with only a couple of diocese retaining Thursday. So, you should also check with your diocese.
V
vel
Guest
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I am updating our parish Ministry Schedule for Weekly Mass and wanted to include the Holy Days as a reminder to all parishioners. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Your Sister in Christ.
V
Your Sister in Christ.
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zzuftnnyl
Guest
What about during Easter week? Are we obligated to attend on Holy Thursday? Good Friday? I would gladly go to all of the week’s events, but I’m the mother of a 4 year old and my husband is not Catholic and I have to really defend my attendance at church. It is an annoying, never-ending argument with him. 
Thanks!
Lina
Thanks!
Lina
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Spirithound
Guest
No, Holy Thursday and Good Friday are not Holy Days of Obligation. I recommend attending anyways
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SuscipeMeDomine
Guest
Holy Thursday and Good Friday are NOT holy days of obligation. Neither is Ash Wednesday though many people treat it as if it were.What about during Easter week? Are we obligated to attend on Holy Thursday? Good Friday? I would gladly go to all of the week’s events, but I’m the mother of a 4 year old and my husband is not Catholic and I have to really defend my attendance at church. It is an annoying, never-ending argument with him.
Thanks!
Lina
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zagjames
Guest
I think more people around here treat Ash Wednesday as a Holy Day of Obligation than any other day. (It may help that it is obvious if you dont go.
) Some of the Jesuits at my school joke that we should do ashes every sunday of lent, churches would be packed… 
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Kristine1957
Guest
What about Holy Saturday? Does that fit in just like Holy Thursday and Good Friday?No, Holy Thursday and Good Friday are not Holy Days of Obligation. I recommend attending anyways
I will probably go to all the Mass’s this week but trying to get my teenagers to go to Mass so many times is a difficult task.:banghead:
Thank you…
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SuscipeMeDomine
Guest
Either the Easter Vigil on Saturday or Mass on Sunday morning is required.
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Spirithound
Guest
There is actually no liturgical action on Holy Saturday (only day of the year). The Easter Vigil counts as Sunday privilege
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bpbasilphx
Guest
**
What about during Easter week? Are we obligated to attend on Holy Thursday?**
Easter Week is AFTER Easter (Pascha). While you should attend on Holy Thursday if possible, it’s not of precept.
**
There is actually no liturgical action on Holy Saturday (only day of the year).**
There’s the Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours on Holy Saturday. Do any parishes observe them publicly?
What about during Easter week? Are we obligated to attend on Holy Thursday?**
Easter Week is AFTER Easter (Pascha). While you should attend on Holy Thursday if possible, it’s not of precept.
**
There is actually no liturgical action on Holy Saturday (only day of the year).**
There’s the Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours on Holy Saturday. Do any parishes observe them publicly?
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SuscipeMeDomine
Guest
Since there’s no morning Mass my parish substitutes Morning Prayer on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
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mesl4
Guest
I haven’t read through all the posts, but doesn’t it seem wrong that there are more holy days of obligation dedicated to Mary than to Jesus/God? How can Good Friday and Ash Wed. not be?
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LilyM
Guest
Did you notice how EVERY Sunday (that’s 52 in a year) is a day of Obligation? Sundays are ALL about Christ - honouring His life, His passion and resurrection. And you speak as if Christ is somehow separate from God. What’s with that?
Bear in mind also that EVERY HDO obliges us to go to Mass - the prayers of which are solely about God and offered directly to Him, although on Marian Holy Days there may be a handful of mentions of her in some of the minor prayers.
Ash Wednesday - why should that be a Holy Day? It marks the beginning of Lent, but not any event in the life of Christ.
Good Friday? His crucifixion is commemorated every Sunday, but most especially on Palm Sunday, where the whole Passion is recited, as well as on the actual day. You know we celebrate His birth on December 25 even though it is unlikely that He was actually born on that date, don’t you? Why not His passion?
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mesl4
Guest
Oh! I never thought of that , Duh! That makes me feel much betterDid you notice how EVERY Sunday (that’s 52 in a year) is a day of Obligation? Sundays are ALL about Christ - honouring His life, His passion and resurrection. And you speak as if Christ is somehow separate from God. What’s with that?
Bear in mind also that EVERY HDO obliges us to go to Mass - the prayers of which are solely about God and offered directly to Him, although on Marian Holy Days there may be a handful of mentions of her in some of the minor prayers.
ANd, the reason I speak of Jesus/God that way, is because I thought someone might say the other days are celebrated because their relation to Jesus (ie. Catholics call Mary “Mother of God” saying , “well, Jesus is God,” which is true, but I mean not just the Jesus part, but the whole Godhead. There is a difference between the Eternal Word of God and the earthly man Jesus who didn’t exist prior to his birth. Mary is not the mother of the Eternal Word of God, but of the physical incarnation of him).
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japhy
Guest
Interesting historical note: There is no day dedicated to a single Divine Person (in His divinity alone). As per Pope Leo XIII:
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teachccd
Guest
Mary is the mother of the person of Jesus Christ. The person of Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. This was hashed out in the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century. Jesus is one person with two natures. Mary could no more give birth to only one nature of a person than your mother could. Would you say that as a body/soul unity that your mother only gave birth to your body and not your soul? Of course not. She gave birth to you, body and soul.
Mary did not give birth to the Eternal Word of God and the Church NEVER taught that. She gave birth to the person of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is God. Jesus=God Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Mary is the Mother of God.You cannot split up the person of Christ. This hypostatic nature of Christ is a mystery that we can never comprehend but we do apprehend it. This is the central core of Christianity. No Christian, Catholic or Protestant can deny the divinity of Christ.
Just thought I’d clear that up…God Bless…teachccd
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jf77
Guest
Hmmmmm…to the original concern’s point of the emphasis on Mary. I am very thankful that she surrendered her to will to the Father. She is a model for all of us. However, the original question was posed by a Catholic that is questioning the emphasis on Mary relative to Jesus and it seems odd that we’re required to go to church on Solemnity (New Years Day) but not Good Friday given what Christ did for us that day!Did you notice how EVERY Sunday (that’s 52 in a year) is a day of Obligation? Sundays are ALL about Christ - honouring His life, His passion and resurrection. And you speak as if Christ is somehow separate from God. What’s with that?
Bear in mind also that EVERY HDO obliges us to go to Mass - the prayers of which are solely about God and offered directly to Him, although on Marian Holy Days there may be a handful of mentions of her in some of the minor prayers.
Ash Wednesday - why should that be a Holy Day? It marks the beginning of Lent, but not any event in the life of Christ.
Good Friday? His crucifixion is commemorated every Sunday, but most especially on Palm Sunday, where the whole Passion is recited, as well as on the actual day. You know we celebrate His birth on December 25 even though it is unlikely that He was actually born on that date, don’t you? Why not His passion?
From churchyear.net/motherofgod.html …FOLLOWING Vatican II, Pope Paul VI decided to change the feast of Jesus’ Circumcision to the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God to reclaim the ancient Western Marian emphasis at the end of the Octave of Christmas. Celebrating Mary’s divine maternity during the Christmas octave makes complete sense in that the celebration is connected closely to Christ’s birth. Pope Paul VI gave his reasoning for the change:
In the revised arrangement of the Christmas season, we should all turn with one mind to the restored solemnity of the Mother of God. This feast was entered into the calendar in the liturgy of the city of Rome for the first day of January. The purpose of the celebration is to honor the role of Mary in the mystery of salvation and at the same time to sing the praises of the unique dignity thus coming to "the Holy Mother...through whom we have been given the gift of the Author of life."
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peary
Guest
Holy Days of Obligation differ from country to country. In the United States, the Days of Obligation that Catholic Christians where Catholic Christians must attend Mass are:
Christmas (Dec. 25)
Solemnity of the Mother of God (Jan. 1)
Easter
Ascension Thursday
Assumption (Aug. 15)
Feast of All Saints (Nov. 1)
Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)
all Sundays
In Canada:
Christmas
Epiphany (Jan. 6)
Easter
Ascension
Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ
Assumption
all Sundays
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