Holy Day of Obligation
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In the Roman Catholic Church, Holy Days of Obligation or Holidays of Obligation, less commonly called Feasts of Precept, are the days on which, as canon 1247 of the Code of Canon Law states,
- the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass. Moreover they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.
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[edit] Eastern-Rite Catholics
Each Eastern Catholic Church decides which days it will treat as feast days or days of fast. But all of them have as holy days of obligation, in addition to Sundays, the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Dormition of Holy Mary the Mother of God, and the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. However, some holy days of obligation may be suppressed or transferred to a Sunday by the particular law of an autonomous Church, with approval by the Apostolic See.[1]
[edit] Feasts that are holy days of obligation in the Latin Church
The holidays of obligation for Latin Rite Catholics are indicated in canon 1246 of the Code:
- §1. Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation. The following days must also be observed: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, and All Saints.
- §2. With the prior approval of the Apostolic See, however, the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.
Placed in the order of the civil calendar, the ten days (apart from Sundays) that this canon mentions are:
- 1 January: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
- 6 January: the Epiphany
- 19 March: Saint Joseph
- Thursday of the sixth week of Easter: the Ascension
- Thursday after Trinity Sunday: the Body and Blood of Christ
- 29 June: the Apostles Peter and Paul
- 15 August: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- 1 November: All Saints
- 8 December: the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- 25 December: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas)
The number of holy days of obligation was once much greater. With the motu proprio Supremi disciplinae of 2 July 1911, Pope Pius X reduced the number of such non-Sunday holy days from 36 to 8 (the above 10 minus the feasts of the Body and Blood of Christ and Saint Joseph).[2] The present list was established by the 1917 Code of Canon Law.
In many countries the bishops had obtained, even before the time of Pope Pius X, the Holy See's approval to diminish the number of non-Sunday holy days of obligation, making it far less than 36. Today too, Episcopal Conferences have availed themselves of the authority granted them in law to reduce the number below the ten mentioned above.
Non-Sunday holy days of obligation all have the rank of solemnity. Accordingly, if in Ordinary Time one of them falls on a Sunday, the Sunday celebration gives way to it; but the Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter take precedence over all solemnities, which are then transferred to another day.[3]
[edit] Latin-Rite observance by country
In Vatican City, but not in the rest of the Diocese of Rome, Sundays and all ten days listed in canon 1246 are observed as holy days of obligation. This is probably not the case in any other country.
Ireland is exceptional in having as a holy day of obligation a feast (Saint Patrick's Day) that is not among those listed in canon 1246.
In countries where they are not holy days of obligation, three of the ten feast days listed above are assigned to a Sunday as their proper day:[4]
- The Epiphany to the Sunday that falls between 2 and 8 January;
- The Ascension of Our Lord to the following Sunday;
- The Body and Blood of Christ to the following Sunday.
If they are thus assigned to a Sunday, they are not included in the following national lists of holy days of obligation, since in every country all Sundays are holy days of obligation.
[edit] Australia
[edit] Belgium
- The Ascension of Our Lord
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- All Saints' Day
- Christmas
[edit] Canada
[edit] England and Wales
(See Liturgy Office)
- St Peter & St Paul (29 June)
- Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August)
- All Saints (1 November)
- Birth of the Lord (25 December)
[edit] Greece
Instead of being transferred to the following Sunday, the Ascension of Our Lord, though not a holy day of obligation in Greece, is kept on Thursday of the sixth week of Easter, in order to celebrate it on the same day as the Orthodox Church of Greece.
[edit] Ireland
(See Liturgical Calendar)
- The Epiphany
- St. Patrick's Day
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- All Saints' Day
- The Immaculate Conception
- Christmas
[edit] Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei
- Ash Wednesday
- The Ascension of Our Lord
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- All Saints' Day
- Christmas
[edit] The Netherlands
[edit] Poland
- Mary, the Mother of God
- Epiphany
- The Body and Blood of Christ
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- All Saints' Day
- Christmas
[edit] United States
(See United States norm complementary to canon 1246)
- Mary, the Mother of God
- The Ascension (except in the several ecclesiastical provinces that, since 1999, have transferred this celebration to the following Sunday)
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- All Saints
- The Immaculate Conception
- The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas)
However, whenever January 1 (solemnity of Mary, Mother of God), August 15 (solemnity of the Assumption), or November 1 (solemnity of All Saints) falls on a Saturday or Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.
[edit] References
- ^ Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 880
- ^ Supremi disciplinæ in Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 5
- ^ General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 7
