How to use this page
The perpetual Ordo begins with every observance that may fall on a date, applies the temporal calendar and the fixed calendar, resolves occurrence, transfers impeded first- and second-class doubles, adds commemorations, and finally calculates the Divine Office and concurrence at Vespers.
The Divine Liturgy and the Divine Office are calculated separately. A commemoration appointed at the Liturgy is not automatically made at every Office.
The openable Martyrology section beneath the source entry normally follows the civil month and day directly. It is independent of liturgical occurrence and transfer: when a feast moves in the Ordo, the Martyrology does not move with it.
Leap years carry the exception printed in the source. February 23 retains its leap-year directions but omits the Vigil of St. Matthias. The Vigil moves to February 24, and the second-class Feast of St. Matthias moves from February 24 to February 25. In the Martyrology, the usual texts for February 24–28 are read on February 25–29 respectively, each with an explanatory leap-year note. March 1 resumes the ordinary civil-date sequence.
Additional Liturgies
If an additional Liturgy is said on a particular day, then it may, unless otherwise prohibited by the rubrics, be that of any commemoration given for the day, or else a votive Mass; in both cases following the color for that specific Liturgy, and also subject to the limitations on the number of times a Divine Liturgy may be celebrated by a specific priest during the span of one day. For example, if the color of the day is green and the commemoration is of a simple feast of a martyr, a second Liturgy may be said of the martyr using red vestments.
Ranks and precedence
- vig. 1 — Major Vigil of the First Class
- s1 — Sunday of the First Class
- d1 — Double of the First Class
- gpf — Greater Privileged Feria
- oct. 1 — Privileged Octave of the First Class
- s2 — Sunday of the Second Class
- d2 — Double of the Second Class
- vig. 2 — Major Vigil of the Second Class
- oct. day 2 — Octave Day of the Second Class
- gd — Greater Double
- d — Double
- sd — Regular Sunday or Semidouble
- oct. 2 — Day in a Second-Class Privileged Octave
- oct. / oct. 3 — Nonprivileged Octave
- gnpf — Greater Nonprivileged Feria
- min. vig. — Minor Vigil
- s — Simple Feast
- f — Lesser Feria
Interactive Rubrical Tables
These tables are generated from the same matrices and calculation functions used by the Daily Ordo. The traditional numbered cells remain visible for reference; the selectors translate any cell into plain language. The general matrices are applied first, and then the calendar engine applies the seasonal and feast-specific exceptions listed with each table.
How to read the terms: in occurrence, the first and second observances fall on the same civil date. In concurrence, the current observance supplies II Vespers and the following observance supplies I Vespers.
Table I: Occurrence
Select two kinds of observance to see the result returned by the Ordo’s occurrence resolver. The complete traditional matrix follows the lookup.
Swipe or scroll sideways to see the entire matrix on a narrow screen. The first column remains fixed.
- 1 — Office of first; second omitted.
- 2 — Office of second; first omitted.
- 3 — Office of first; commemoration of second.
- 4 — Office of second; commemoration of first.
- 5 — Office of first; transfer of second.
- 6 — Office of second; transfer of first.
- 7 — Office of nobler; commemoration of other.
- 8 — Office of nobler; transfer of other.
- ○ — No separate competing Office is supplied by that pairing; the governing rank or special rubric remains.
Exceptions and additional rules applied after the occurrence matrix
- Regular semidouble Sundays: a Double or higher feast governs and the Sunday is commemorated. Otherwise the Sunday governs. Commemorations are ordered by rank, with the Sunday taking its proper place among them.
- Sundays of Great Lent: the Sunday is always celebrated; an occurring feast is handled by the applicable commemoration or transfer rule.
- Holy Week: Monday through Holy Thursday remain principal. First- and second-class doubles transfer; lower feasts may be commemorated. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, first- and second-class doubles transfer and all lower feasts are omitted without commemoration.
- Pascha: from Latin Pascha through Paschal Tuesday, and separately on Eastern Pascha, nothing else is celebrated or commemorated; first- and second-class doubles transfer and lower feasts are omitted. From Paschal Wednesday through Saturday, first- and second-class doubles transfer while lower feasts may be commemorated.
- Pentecost: from the Vigil through Whit Tuesday, first- and second-class doubles transfer and lower feasts are omitted. From Whit Wednesday through Saturday, first- and second-class doubles transfer and lower feasts may be commemorated. No feast is celebrated until after Trinity Sunday.
- Protected fixed days: Eastern Christmas remains January 7; if it coincides with the Holy Family, the Holy Family transfers to January 8. When December 24 is Sunday before a Monday Christmas, the privileged Vigil of the Nativity remains principal and the Fourth Sunday of Advent is neither celebrated nor commemorated.
- Other express rules: the Epiphany Vigil remains principal on January 5 and causes the Holy Name to be anticipated when necessary; Lazarus Saturday governs lower observances; and the Holy Family governs the Sunday within the Epiphany octave except for the January 7 rule above.
Table II: Concurrence at Vespers
Select the current and following observances to see which governs Vespers and whether the other is commemorated.
Swipe or scroll sideways to see the entire matrix on a narrow screen. The first column remains fixed.
- 1 — All of following; nothing of current.
- 2 — All of current; nothing of following.
- 3 — All of following; commemoration of current.
- 4 — All of current; commemoration of following.
- 5 — All of the nobler; commemoration of the other. If equal, the following begins from the Chapter with commemoration of the current.
- ○ — The following observance contributes no competing Vespers under this pairing.
Exceptions and additional rules applied after the concurrence matrix
- Holy Week: Wednesday of Holy Week, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday retain their own Vespers in black (purple). Our Lady of Seven Sorrows retains her own Vespers on Friday of Passion Week without commemoration of Lazarus Saturday.
- Pascha and Pentecost: Eastern Pascha has Vespers only of Eastern Pascha. The privileged Paschal and Pentecost sequences continue without an artificial commemoration of the next day. Ember Saturday of Whitsunweek retains its own red Vespers.
- Christmas and Epiphany: the Vigil of the Nativity retains its own Vespers. When December 24 is Sunday, Saturday December 23 has Vespers of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. On January 6, Epiphany retains Vespers with commemoration of Eastern Christmas.
- Ash Wednesday: Vespers remain of Ash Wednesday, with a permitted following feast commemorated. On February 1, First Vespers of the Purification are white.
- Semidouble Sundays: a following Double or higher feast takes Vespers with commemoration of the Sunday. A current Double or higher feast before an ordinary semidouble Sunday retains Vespers without commemorating Sunday.
- Trinity and octaves: Trinity retains Vespers over a following second-class double, which is commemorated. Redundant self-commemorations within the same octave are suppressed, including Corpus Christi and the Epiphany octave.
- Saturday Liturgy of Our Lady: it begins on a ferial Friday, or after a simple Friday feast with its commemoration. A Marian Friday feast does not redundantly commemorate the following Saturday Liturgy of Our Lady. Higher Friday feasts follow the concurrence matrix.
Table III: Reassignment of Overplus Sundays
Choose a year to calculate its actual reassignment schedule from the same Easter, Septuagesima, Trinitytide, and Advent functions used by the Daily Ordo.
General rule: omitted Epiphany propers are assigned first to the available Thursday, Friday, or Saturday immediately before Septuagesima. Where Trinitytide contains more than twenty-five Sundays, the remaining omitted Epiphany propers occupy the additional late Sundays. Where fewer than twenty-five Trinity Sundays occur, the missing final Trinity propers are assigned to the available Thursday, Friday, or Saturday immediately before the Sunday Next before Advent. That final Sunday always retains its own proper.
How the calculated assignments are celebrated
- A reassigned Sunday celebrated as the principal or as an additional Liturgy enjoys all the privileges of a Sunday.
- If it is only commemorated in another Liturgy, those Sunday privileges do not attach to the principal Liturgy.
- After placement, ordinary occurrence and concurrence are still applied. Thus a higher observance can govern the civil date even though the reassigned Sunday proper remains assigned there.
Occurrence
Occurrence is the meeting of two observances on the same civil date. It determines which observance supplies the principal Liturgy and Office, whether the other is commemorated, transferred, or omitted, and when nobility must decide between observances of equal rank.
Nobility
When the occurrence table directs that the nobler observance be kept, the order is: Our Lord; Our Lady; Apostles; Popes and Supreme Pontiffs; Bishop Martyrs; other Martyrs; Doctors; Confessor Bishops; other Confessors; Virgins; other Holy Women.
Great Lent
Every ordinary feria of Great Lent is a greater non-privileged feria (gnpf). The Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Rite uses black and the Anglo-Roman Rite uses purple. The First Sunday in Great Lent is White (Purple), including its First Vespers on Saturday. During the fourth week of Great Lent, rose may optionally be used in both rites.
No feast is celebrated as principal on a Sunday of Great Lent. The Sunday is always kept, with any transfer or commemoration required by the occurrence table. On a weekday, whenever a feast of semidouble or higher rank is celebrated, the feria of Great Lent is commemorated and appears explicitly in the Ordo.
The four Sundays are also identified as the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, the Sunday of the Holy Cross, and Laetare Sunday. Great Lenten stations begin only with Great Lent; Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima receive no Great Lenten station. Our Lady of Seven Sorrows is always observed as a Greater Double in Marian Blue or White on Friday of Passion Week; the feria is commemorated, as is any lower occurring feast. The following day is Lazarus Saturday: the Liturgy of Saturday of Passion Week is celebrated with double rank and white vestments in all rites.
Ash Wednesday carries the complete seasonal instructions concerning colors, commemorations, nuptial masses, ferial prayers, the Divine Office, anticipation of the Offices, Holy Week rites, fasting, abstinence, penance, and self-denial. As a greater privileged feria it retains its own Vespers; a permitted following feast is commemorated.
Transfers
Only doubles of the First and Second Class are transferred automatically when impeded, except for express special rules such as All Souls. Transferred feasts are placed on the first subsequent day on which they may be principal and which is not within any octave. This restriction concerns the destination of a transferred feast: a feast occurring naturally within an octave may still be celebrated there when the occurrence rules permit. The express patronal-feast reassignment to the Sunday within the Corpus Christi octave remains an exception.
Higher class is placed first; equal ranks are ordered by nobility and then by their original dates. The Office, occurrence, and concurrence are recalculated on the transferred date. If a feast with an octave is transferred, only the feast moves; its octave remains in its original calendar position.
Latin and Eastern Pascha
Throughout Holy Week, the Holy Week office and liturgy always remain principal. From Monday through Holy Thursday, occurring feasts below the first and second class may be commemorated but are not celebrated. On each of these four days, an occurring d1 or d2 is placed in the transfer queue instead of being commemorated. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, no feast is celebrated or commemorated: an occurring d1 or d2 is transferred, while every lower feast is omitted.
The Ordo prints the complete annual practical instructions for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday in the Liturgical Note box. These cover celebration of the continuous Triduum, the reduced Good Friday rite when the full Triduum cannot be held, bells and instruments, the Offices, the Altar of Repose, the Maundy, public penitents, stripping the altar, the Presanctified Liturgy, the Paschal obligation, and the return to the regular time of the Offices.
From Pascha through Paschal Tuesday no other feast is celebrated or commemorated. An occurring d1 or d2 is transferred outright; lower feasts are omitted for that year. In general commemorations may resume at II Vespers of Paschal Tuesday, but no feast is celebrated until after Low Sunday. From Paschal Wednesday through Saturday, first- and second-class doubles are transferred without commemoration, while lower feasts may be commemorated but are not celebrated. A generic feria is never commemorated during Paschal Week.
Latin Pascha, Pascha Monday, and Pascha Tuesday are Red (white). In the GRB, the color changes to white at Vespers on Paschal Tuesday. From Paschal Wednesday through Trinity, ordinary feriae are white. Eastern Pascha is always shown on its calculated Julian-calendar date as the completion of the same Paschal celebration and is Red (white) for its one Sunday. It has no separate octave. An occurring d1 or d2 is transferred; every lower feast is omitted without commemoration.
When the Latin and Eastern Paschal dates coincide, the single observance is titled Sunday in the Resurrection of Our Lord — Pascha (Latin & Eastern Feast).
Pentecost
From the Vigil of Pentecost through Pentecost Tuesday, first- and second-class doubles are transferred and lower feasts are omitted. From Wednesday through Saturday, first- and second-class doubles are transferred without commemoration; lower feasts may be commemorated. The Pentecost Ember Days remain red and retain the Alleluia. Ember Saturday of Whitsunweek also retains its own red Vespers; Trinity begins on Sunday.
Rogation and Ember Days
Rogation Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday immediately precede the Ascension and are greater non-privileged feriae. The September Ember Days are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the Sunday falling September 12–18. The Advent Ember Days are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the third week of Advent. The Ember Days of Great Lent occur in its first full week, while the Pentecost Ember Days retain the rank and red color of the privileged octave.
Ascension and Corpus Christi octaves
The Ascension is followed by its non-privileged octave, whose octave day is a Greater Double. Its feriae are white. A feast permitted to govern on its Sunday explicitly commemorates the Sunday. Commemorations, including St. Boniface when applicable, remain permitted during the Ascension octave. Corpus Christi is followed by a privileged octave of the Second Class; only a first-class double may supersede its octave day, and the octave is commemorated whenever a permitted feast is celebrated.
East–West movable observances
Maslenitsa, Forgiveness Sunday, Clean Monday, Eastern Pascha, and Radonitsa are calculated from the Julian Paschal date. Where one of these does not replace the principal Latin-calendar Office, it appears separately under “Other Movable Observances.” Radonitsa is always the Tuesday following Eastern Pascha.
On the first day of Maslenitsa, the Ordo explains that Maslenitsa remains festal in its obligations even when it overlaps Great Lenten Ember Week or Ash Wednesday. The liturgical rite nevertheless remains the rite appointed by the calendar, including the Rite of Ashes when applicable.
Supernumerary Sundays
The number of Sundays available after Epiphany and after Trinity changes with the Paschal date. Omitted Epiphany propers and the final Trinity propers are reassigned according to the traditional table: some occur on the Thursday, Friday, or Saturday before Septuagesima or the Sunday Next before Advent, while additional late Trinity Sundays receive the remaining Epiphany propers. The final Sunday is always the Sunday Next before Advent. Sundays after Trinity also display their parallel Pentecost number, which is one greater; the Sunday Next before Advent retains its unique name. When a reassigned Sunday liturgy is itself celebrated, including as a secondary liturgy, it has all the privileges of a Sunday; this does not apply when it is merely commemorated in another liturgy.
Principal patronal feast
The Feast of Saints Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark is observed on the fourth Sunday of May. If that Sunday is Pentecost or Trinity, the feast transfers to the Sunday immediately following Corpus Christi.
Kingship of Our Lord
The Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ is a Double of the First Class on the last Sunday of October. When an equal first-class feast of a saint occurs, the Kingship governs by nobility and the saint’s feast transfers.
Christmas and Epiphany octaves
St. Stephen is styled Apostle, Archdeacon, and Protomartyr on his feast, octave day, and intermediate octave commemorations. There is no separate liturgy or commemoration of a “Second Sunday after Christmas” on January 1–5.
The Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany is always the Feast of the Most Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, a Greater Double in white, with the Sunday as its only commemoration. Redundant commemorations of the same Epiphany octave are omitted at First Vespers and before the octave day.
On January 6, Epiphany exceptionally retains Vespers with commemoration of the following Eastern Nativity. The Epiphany Vigil similarly takes Vespers from an occurring Holy Innocents octave day, commemorating that octave day. The Ordo also carries the customary Epiphany house-marking notice; St. Blaise carries the customary Blessing of Throats notice.
Vigils and the Holy Name
Every vigil except the Vigil of the Epiphany is purple and may neither be celebrated nor commemorated on Sunday. A Sunday vigil is anticipated to the immediately preceding Saturday without moving its feast; its Offices conclude with None, and Saturday Vespers are of the Sunday or governing Sunday feast. The Vigil of Pentecost retains its special sequence, Red → Green (Purple → Red). The Vigil of the Nativity retains its own purple Vespers without commemoration.
If January 5 is Sunday, the Vigil of the Epiphany remains principal and the Holy Name is anticipated to January 2.
Saturday Liturgy of Our Lady
Outside Advent and Great Lent, when Saturday is a simple feast or lesser feria and is not within an octave, the Saturday Liturgy of Our Lady is used. Its Offices begin at Vespers on Friday and continue through None on Saturday.
If Friday is a feria, Friday Vespers are of Our Lady. If Friday is a simple feast, Vespers are of Our Lady with commemoration of the simple feast. With a semidouble or higher Friday feast, the concurrence table decides whether Our Lady is commemorated. Saturday Vespers are of Sunday or, when required, of a feast occurring on Sunday.
Monthly Liturgy of the Dead
Outside Advent, Great Lent, and Paschaltide through Trinity Sunday, the Liturgy of the Dead is appointed on the first genuinely ferial day of the month. If no ferial day occurs, the month has no such observance.
Concurrence and Vespers
Concurrence occurs when II Vespers of the preceding observance meet I Vespers of the following observance. The concurrence table decides whether Vespers are of the preceding or following observance, and whether the other is commemorated. This calculation does not alter the Divine Liturgy. A greater non-privileged feria yields Vespers to a following semidouble or higher feast. A semidouble Sunday similarly yields Vespers to a following Double or higher feast, with commemoration of the Sunday. Conversely, when a Double or higher feast occurs on Saturday before an ordinary semidouble Sunday, Vespers remain entirely of the Saturday feast without commemoration of the Sunday.
The daily Ordo therefore reports the color of the civil day, the color actually used at Vespers, and the color of the following civil day separately. Redundant octave commemorations are omitted when Vespers are already of the same feast or its octave day; thus Corpus Christi Vespers do not commemorate their own following octave. The Vespers of Wednesday of Holy Week, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday are explicit Holy Week exceptions and remain of the current day in black (purple).
Liturgical colors and penitential texts
g. green; p. purple; r. red; w. white; b. black; mb. Marian blue; rs. rose. When usages differ, the Ordo gives the Gallo-Russo-Byzantine color first, followed by the Anglo-Roman color in parentheses. Marian feasts and principal days of Marian octaves use Marian Blue or White, except that the Purification uses Purple → White: purple for the blessing and procession of candles, then white for the Divine Liturgy and Offices. Its First Vespers on February 1 are white. On days whose principal GRB color changes during the liturgy, the color bar is divided evenly between the two colors.
On a day whose principal color is purple, rose, or black, the Alleluia and the Te Deum at Matins are omitted. During Advent the Alleluia is retained, except at the Liturgy of a principal Ember Day. Rose Week permits Rose or purple, but a principal Advent Ember Day is always purple. A feast celebrated during Great Lent or on an Advent Ember Day follows its own festal rule when the penitential feria is merely commemorated.
Both Latin and Eastern Nativity are red (white), as are unsuperseded days of Christmas through January 4, the Presentation of Christ, and the Holy Name. Every superseded day from December 26 through 31 commemorates the Nativity octave. St. Sylvester remains white. The Conversion of St. Paul, St. Luke, St. Mark, and the Imperial Passion Bearers are red; the Invention of the Holy Cross is green (red). Trinity is Green (White). Every feast or octave observance of St. Peter or St. Paul carries the rule that the other Apostle is always commemorated.
Palm Sunday is green in the Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Rite; the Western rites use red and then purple. Its day color is Green (Red → Purple). Vespers on both the preceding Saturday and Palm Sunday use Green (Purple). Holy Saturday Vespers and the following-day color use red (white).
The Additional Observance box records recurring notices that do not alter occurrence: Birthday of Rome on April 21 and the Procession of the Greater Litanies whenever St. Mark is celebrated, including after transfer.
Passiontide and Tenebrae
From after None on Saturday before Passion Sunday until the Liturgy of the Paschal Vigil, the Gloria Patri is omitted except in the liturgy and offices of feasts. In the Western rites, crosses and statues may optionally be veiled during the same period. The Ordo also identifies the Tenebrae Offices of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday on the preceding Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week carry the notice for the Liturgy of the Holy Chrism. This episcopal afternoon Liturgy does not replace the morning Liturgy of the day; the oils may alternatively be blessed on Holy Thursday morning.
Stations
Every fixed and movable station is displayed in the dedicated Station box. Festal stations follow the feast if it is transferred. Great Lenten stations remain attached to their appointed relative weekday in Great Lent.