Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite serves two purposes. The rank indicates some particular points about the manner of celebrating the day: for instance, the Mass of a Solemnity will include recitation of Gloria in Excelsis and Creed, that of what is now called in a specific technical sense a Feast will have Gloria but not Creed. and a Memorial will have neither. The other purpose is to determine which Mass is to be said when two feasts coincide (or "occur") on the one day, as well as when a feast falls on a Sunday or certain other privileged days.
Each day in the Catholic liturgical calendar has a rank. The five basic ranks are as follows:
- Solemnity—the highest ranking feast day. It commemorates an event in the life of Jesus or Mary or celebrates a saint important for the Church as a whole or for the local community. The Mass of a solemnity has proper readings, and the Gloria and Creed are recited. Outside of Advent, Lent and Eastertide, if a solemnity falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated in place of the Sunday.
- Feast—the rank of secondary liturgical days including lesser events in the life of Jesus, Mary or an Apostle (theologically speaking) or for major saints.
- Memorial—the commemoration of a saint of lesser importance. Many memorials are optional or only observed in specific dioceses, regions or nations.
- Seasonal Weekday—a weekday in a "strong" liturgical season (Advent, Christmas Season, Lent, Easter Season) on which no solemnity, feast, or memorial is observed.
- Feria or Ferial Weekday—a weekday in ordinary time on which no solemnity, feast or memorial is observed.
Read more about Ranking Of Liturgical Days In The Roman Rite: Feast Days, Sundays, Ferias, Vigils, Octaves
Famous quotes containing the words ranking, liturgical, days, roman and/or rite:
“We should spend less time ranking children and more time helping them to identify their natural competencies and gifts and cultivate these. There are hundreds and hundreds of ways to succeed and many, many different abilities that will help you get there.”
—Howard Gardner (20th century)
“But how is one to make a scientist understand that there is something unalterably deranged about differential calculus, quantum theory, or the obscene and so inanely liturgical ordeals of the precession of the equinoxes.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)
“Trusting as we did to the virtue of the people, the real people, not the politicians and demagogues, we passed through the most responsible and trying scenes, sustained by the bone and sinew of the nation, the laborers of the land, where alone, in these days of Bank rule, and ragocrat corruption, real virtue and love of liberty is to be found.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Every ceremony or rite has a value if it is performed without alteration. A ceremony is a book in which a great deal is written. Anyone who understands can read it. One rite often contains more than a hundred books.”
—George Gurdjieff (c. 1877–1949)