What happens when your patronal feast falls on a Sunday

[St_Annes]

Does any one know what the liturgical guidelines say about if a community (parish, etc.)'s feast day falls on a Sunday.
For the church at large, it seems to me that it falls off the calendar for that year (unless it is a solemnity).
However, is the feast of your community’s patron saint to be recognized a solemnity locally? May the prayers for that saint be used on a local level?
Thanks. Our patroness is St. Anne, whose feast would be coming up in July and I am looking ahead to this.

 

[pensmama87]

Does any one know what the liturgical guidelines say about if a community (parish, etc.)'s feast day falls on a Sunday.
For the church at large, it seems to me that it falls off the calendar for that year (unless it is a solemnity).
However, is the feast of your community’s patron saint to be recognized a solemnity locally? May the prayers for that saint be used on a local level?
Thanks. Our patroness is St. Anne, whose feast would be coming up in July and I am looking ahead to this.

At least around here, the parish celebrates it that Sunday (and IIRC, when it does not fall on a Sunday, it is still celebrated on the nearest Sunday - readings are changed etc.) We have people who are pretty big sticklers for liturgy, so it would surprise me to find out that they were doing this when it was not permitted.

 

[SMHW]

Does any one know what the liturgical guidelines say about if a community (parish, etc.)'s feast day falls on a Sunday.
For the church at large, it seems to me that it falls off the calendar for that year (unless it is a solemnity).
However, is the feast of your community’s patron saint to be recognized a solemnity locally? May the prayers for that saint be used on a local level?
Thanks. Our patroness is St. Anne, whose feast would be coming up in July and I am looking ahead to this.

I am no expert on this so I can’t give you a full answer other than to say that local solemnities are a complex matter and you ought to ask your diocese for guidance.

I believe the anniversary of the church dedication outranks the feast of the parish patron/patroness (if the days are different.) This means that the anniversary of the dedication might outrank a Sunday in Ordinary time while the feast of the parish patron/patroness might not.

 

[Gertabelle]

Below is the official list of what solemnities and feasts trump the others, from most important (top) to least important (bottom). The patron of a parish is either covered by 4.a, or by 8.e. Totally different rankings, I know – sorry I don’t have more information for you.

Our parish’s “name day” is a Sunday solemnity every year, so we never have to worry about this

Table of Liturgical Days

I.

1. Easter triduum of the Lord’s passion and resurrection.
2. Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, and Pentecost.
   Sundays of Advent, Lent, and the Easter season.
   Ash Wednesday.
   Weekdays of Holy Week from Monday to Thursday inclusive.
   Days within the octave of Easter.
3. Solemnities of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and saints listed in the General Calendar.
   All Souls.
4. Proper Solemnities, namely:
   a. Solemnity of the principal patron of the place, that is, the city or state.
   b. Solemnity of the dedication of a particular church and the anniversary.
   c. Solemnity of the title, or of the founder, or of the principal patron of a religious order or congregation.

II.

1. Feasts of the Lord in the General Calendar.
2. Sundays of the Christmas season and Sundays in Ordinary Time.
3. Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints in the General Calendar.
4. Proper feasts, namely:
   a. Feast of the principal patron of the diocese.
   b. Feast of the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral.
   c. Feast of the principal patron of a region or province, or a country, or of a wider territory.
   d. Feast of the title, founder, or principle patron of an order or congregation and of a religious province, without prejudice to the directives in no. 4.
   e. Other feasts proper to an individual church.
   f. Other feasts listed in the calendar of a diocese or of a religious order or congregation.
5. Weekdays of Advent from 17 December to 24 December inclusive.
   Days within the octave of Christmas.
   Weekdays of Lent.

III.

1. Obligatory memorials in the General Calendar.
2. Proper obligatory memorials, namely:
   a. Memorial of a secondary patron of the place, diocese, region, or province, country or wider territory, or of an order or congregation and of a religious province.
   b. Obligatory memorials listed in the calendar of a diocese, or of an order or congregation.
3. Optional memorials; but these may be celebrated even on the days listed in no. 9, in the special manner described by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and of the Liturgy of the Hours.
   In the same manner obligatory memorials may be celebrated as optional memorials if they happen to fall on the Lenten weekdays.
4. Weekdays of Advent up to 16 December inclusive.
   Weekdays of the Christmas season from 2 January until the Saturday after Epiphany.
   Weekdays of the Easter season from Monday after the octave of Easter until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive.
   Weekdays in Ordinary Time.

 

[pianistclare]

We always celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew on the nearest Sunday.
We never change the readings.
They always tend to be something that can be applied just fine.
We do always lead up to it with a Novena of evening Masses with various themes from St. Matthew’s Gospel.

 

[porthos11]

Does any one know what the liturgical guidelines say about if a community (parish, etc.)'s feast day falls on a Sunday.
For the church at large, it seems to me that it falls off the calendar for that year (unless it is a solemnity).
However, is the feast of your community’s patron saint to be recognized a solemnity locally? May the prayers for that saint be used on a local level?
Thanks. Our patroness is St. Anne, whose feast would be coming up in July and I am looking ahead to this.

In the church itself, St. Anne would be elevated to the rank of Solemnity. The rules for Solemnities then apply.

Since July is within Ordinary Time, a Solemnity trumps Sunday, and therefore the Mass said is that of St. Anne.

Had it been in any other privileged season, such as Lent, Advent and Easter, the Solemnity would be transferred to the next available day, as Solemnities never trump the Sundays of those seasons.

For the rest of the Church outside of the territory, the memorial is simply omitted on that day.

 

[tee_eff_em]

In the church itself, St. Anne would be elevated to the rank of Solemnity. The rules for Solemnities then apply.

Porthos is correct, as are these practices:

IIRC, when it does not fall on a Sunday, it is still celebrated on the nearest Sunday - readings are changed etc.

We always celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew on the nearest Sunday.

From the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar

1. For the pastoral advantage of the people, it is permissible to observe on the Sundays in Ordinary Time those celebrations that fall during the week and have special appeal to the devotion of the faithful, provided the celebrations take precedence over these Sundays in the Table of Liturgical Days. The Mass for such celebrations may be used at all the Masses at which a congregation is present.

tee
Armchair Liturgical Calendar Nerd

 

[Vico]

Does any one know what the liturgical guidelines say about if a community (parish, etc.)'s feast day falls on a Sunday.
For the church at large, it seems to me that it falls off the calendar for that year (unless it is a solemnity).
However, is the feast of your community’s patron saint to be recognized a solemnity locally? May the prayers for that saint be used on a local level?
Thanks. Our patroness is St. Anne, whose feast would be coming up in July and I am looking ahead to this.

**Table of Liturgical Days
**

catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/documentText/Index/2/SubIndex/38/ContentIndex/104/Start/97

 

[St_Annes]

Thank you so much! Very helpful!
Although we’d use the collect and other prayers, etc. of St. Anne (and Joachim), would we still use the Sunday readings or would we use those for the Saint’s day?

 

[St_Annes]

nesday.
Weekdays of Holy Week from Monday to Thursday inclusive.
Days within the octave of Easter.

1. Solemnities of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and saints listed in the General Calendar.
   All Souls.
2. Proper Solemnities, namely:
   a. Solemnity of the principal patron of the place, that is, the city or state.
   b. Solemnity of the dedication of a particular church and the anniversary.
   c. Solemnity of the title, or of the founder, or of the principal patron of a religious order or congregation.

II.

1. Feasts of the Lord in the General Calendar.
2. Sundays of the Christmas season and Sundays in Ordinary Time.
3. Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints in the General Calendar.
4. Proper feasts, namely:
   a. Feast of the principal patron of the diocese.
   b. Feast of the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral.
   c. Feast of the principal patron of a region or province, or a country, or of a wider territory.
   d. Feast of the title, founder, or principle patron of an order or congregation and of a religious province, without prejudice to the directives in no. 4.
   e. Other feasts proper to an individual church.
   f. Other feasts listed in the calendar of a diocese or of a religious order or congregation.

Looking at this again, I’m a bit confused. St. Anne is the patroness of our local community (St. Anne’s Guest Home), not of our city/state. Therefore, does it fall below a Sunday in rank?

 

[FrDavid96]

nesday.
Weekdays of Holy Week from Monday to Thursday inclusive.
Days within the octave of Easter.

1. Solemnities of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and saints listed in the General Calendar.
   All Souls.
2. Proper Solemnities, namely:
   a. Solemnity of the principal patron of the place, that is, the city or state.
   b. Solemnity of the dedication of a particular church and the anniversary.
   c. Solemnity of the title, or of the founder, or of the principal patron of a religious order or congregation.

II.

1. Feasts of the Lord in the General Calendar.
2. Sundays of the Christmas season and Sundays in Ordinary Time.
3. Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints in the General Calendar.
4. Proper feasts, namely:
   a. Feast of the principal patron of the diocese.
   b. Feast of the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral.
   c. Feast of the principal patron of a region or province, or a country, or of a wider territory.
   d. Feast of the title, founder, or principle patron of an order or congregation and of a religious province, without prejudice to the directives in no. 4.
   e. Other feasts proper to an individual church.
   f. Other feasts listed in the calendar of a diocese or of a religious order or congregation.

Looking at this again, I’m a bit confused. St. Anne is the patroness of our local community (St. Anne’s Guest Home), not of our city/state. Therefore, does it fall below a Sunday in rank?

The patron saint of a guest-house (as such) doesn’t really fall anywhere in the calendar. It would instead be simply whatever ranking the day would otherwise have.

Having said that, there is provision in the norms for the calendar for a pastor to celebrate a saint that’s important to the local community, even though that day is not elevated to being a local solemnity.

The end result is that if St Anne’s day falls on a weekday in Ordinary Time, the priest can celebrate the occasion on the Sunday before or after; provided that Sunday doesn’t happen to be a more important feast—which coincidentally won’t happen at the end of July. If we were talking about a different feast in a different month, it might not be possible.

 

[porthos11]

n
Looking at this again, I’m a bit confused. St. Anne is the patroness of our local community (St. Anne’s Guest Home), not of our city/state. Therefore, does it fall below a Sunday in rank?

Ooh, I don’t know of a guest house, as it isn’t strictly an ecclesial institution. I would think that in the guest house, you would simply celebrate the Sunday.

 

[St_Annes]

It is not a guest house but an assisted living community with a chapel where Mass is celebrated daily.

 

[FrDavid96]

It is not a guest house but an assisted living community with a chapel where Mass is celebrated daily.

Still, there are no specific provisions in the calendar for celebrating that patronal saint according to the place.

It would fall under the provisions of a saint/feast that is important to the local community (ie pastoral advantage).

See the GIRM
374. In cases of serious need or pastoral advantage, at the direction of the diocesan Bishop or with his permission, an appropriate Mass may be celebrated on any day except solemnities, the Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Easter, days within the Octave of Easter, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day), Ash Wednesday, and Holy Week.

This is one reason why it can be done. I think there might be others, but one is sufficient.

Again, although the situation is not addressed directly in the norms, it is permitted.

 

[St_Annes]

See the GIRM
374. In cases of serious need or pastoral advantage, at the direction of the diocesan Bishop or with his permission, an appropriate Mass may be celebrated on any day except solemnities, the Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Easter, days within the Octave of Easter, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day), Ash Wednesday, and Holy Week.

So, we’d need the bishop’s permission if we wanted to do the mass for St. Anne (and be liturgically correct in doing so)?

 

[FrDavid96]

So, we’d need the bishop’s permission if we wanted to do the mass for St. Anne (and be liturgically correct in doing so)?

I’m saying that it is one way to do it. There might be more than one way. I do think that there is more than one way, but that doesn’t matter much because as long as it can be done it doesn’t matter if someone can quote 1 liturgical law or 20 liturgical laws, only 1 is necessary.

The point is that what you are asking about is possible (although it would not be called a “local solemnity” which is what you wrote in the OP).

That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, as I don’t have any knowledge of what’s on the schedule for that place. I’m just saying that if the priest wants to do it that way, it is possible for him to do it.