New Feast Day?

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newcalling

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I apologize if this is already being discussed elsewhere on the forums. I didn’t see it when I looked for it.

Many of you know that I have been Catholic for a little over a year. I have some basic knowledge about feast days, but I had some questions.

I read in “Our Sunday Visitor” today, shared by a Catholic Facebook page, that Pope Francis declared that the day set aside to honor Mary Magdalene, I forget what they called it, is now a feast day on the liturgical calendar. I believe that it is this coming Friday, July 22.

Questions:

What exactly does it mean?

Does it become a holy day of obligation?

We follow the Friday meat abstinence year round, should we set that aside for the feast day?

How many feast days are on the liturgical calendar?

Thank you, and God bless.
 
newcalling said:
I read in “Our Sunday Visitor” today, shared by a Catholic Facebook page, that Pope Francis declared that the day set aside to honor Mary Magdalene, I forget what they called it, is now a feast day on the liturgical calendar. I believe that it is this coming Friday, July 22.
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He “elevated” the day. It used to be a memorial, now it’s a feast, basically a higher level of observance.
Does it become a holy day of obligation?
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No.
We follow the Friday meat abstinence year round, should we set that aside for the feast day?
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No. You set it aside for solemnities (a still higher level of observance).
How many feast days are on the liturgical calendar?
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Scads of them! I don’t know how accurate this list is, but even if it’s not perfect it will give you a sense of things: catholictradition.org/Saints/feast-days.htm
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
Scads of them! I don’t know how accurate this list is, but even if it’s not perfect it will give you a sense of things: catholictradition.org/Saints/feast-days.htm
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It isn’t accurate, at least, not for this purpose. That’s the traditional calendar, and as such, it’s overloaded with saints. Further, that calendar used the word “Feast” as a generic term for any celebration of a saint, the distinguisher being the “class”. Today, the rank of Feast is roughly equivalent to a saint’s celebration class II in the old calendar.

Examples of Feasts in the context of the original question and the modern calendar:

Baptism of the Lord (Sunday after Epiphany)
Conversion of St. Paul (Jan 25th)
Presentation (Feb. 2nd)
Chair of St. Peter (Feb 22nd)
Visitation (May 31st)
Transfiguration (Aug 6th)
Triumph of the Cross (Sept 14th)
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (Nov 9th)
Holy Family (Sunday after Jan 1st).

and some important saints:

All apostles (except Sts Peter and Paul–June 29th–which is a Solemnity)
Evangelists (Mark, Luke)
Important saints (St. Lawrence, Holy Innocents, St. Mary Magdalene: effective this year).

And then there are local Feasts, usually the secondary patron of a place or church.

St. Mary Magdalene has always been July 22nd on the modern calendar, except that her celebration was that of a Memorial, the lowest rank of any saint’s celebration (and the vast majority of them). Pope Francis’ action was an elevation of that celebration to a higher rank (and so affects the manner of celebration; for example, the Mass gets a Gloria and the Readings are mandated to become those of the saint, rather than a choice between the saint’s Readings or the weekday)
 
Thank you for the information, most helpful. I’ll eventually get a lot of this down, though there will always be more to learn, of course. I’ve studied religion intensely for decades, but the ins and outs of Catholicism I never studied because I had a very bad impression of the Catholic church for many years. It truly was a miracle that my eyes were opened to see the truth of the church. So, now that I’m Catholic, I’m trying to learn as much as I can.
 
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