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"General Norms for the Liturgical Year
and the Calendar: Precedence"
TABLE OF LITURGICAL DAYS
according to their order of precedence
I
1. Easter triduum of the Lord's passion and resurrection
2. Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, and Pentecost, Sundays of Advent,
Lent, and the season of Easter
Ash Wednesday
Weekdays of the Holy Week, 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 Saints' Day; All
Souls' Day
4. Proper solemnities, namely:
a) Solemnity of the principal patron of the place, city, or state
b) Solemnity of the dedication and anniversary of the dedication
of a particular church
c) Solemnity of the titular saint of a particular church
d) Solemnity of the titular saint, founder, or principal patron
of an order or congregation
II
5. Feasts of the Lord in the general calendar
6. Sundays of the Christmas season and Sundays in ordinary time
7. Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints in the general
calendar
8. 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 the territory, province, country,
or more extensive territory
d) Feast of the titular saint, founder, or principal patron of an
order or congregation and religious province, observing the directives
in no. 4
e) Other feasts proper to an individual church
f) Other feasts listed in the calendar of the diocese, order, or
congregation
9. Weekdays of Advent from December 17 to December 24 inclusive
Days within the octave of Christmas
Weekdays of Lent
III
10. Obligatory memorials in the general calendar
11. Proper obligatory memorials, namely:
a) Memorial of a secondary patron of the place, diocese, region
or province, country, or more extensive territory; or of an order,
congregation, or religious province
b) Obligatory memorials proper to an individual church
c) Obligatory memorials listed in the calendar of a diocese, order,
or congregation
12. Optional memorials, as described in the instructions indicated
for the Mass and office, may be observed even on the days in no.
9.
In the same manner obligatory memorials may be celebrated as optional
memorials if they happen to fall on the Lenten weekdays.
13. Weekdays of Advent up to December 16 inclusive
Weekdays of the Christmas season from January 2 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
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Concurrent Celebrations
60. If several celebrations fall on the same day,
the one that holds the higher rank according to the above table
is observed. A solemnity, however, which is impeded by a liturgical
day that takes precedence over it should be transferred to the closest
day which is not a day listed in nos. 1-8 in the table of precedence,
the rule of no. 5 remaining in effect. Other celebrations are omitted
that year.
61. If on the same day vespers of the current office and first
vespers of the following day are to be celebrated, the vespers of
the day holding the higher rank in the table of liturgical days
takes precedence; if both days are of the same rank, vespers of
the current day takes precedence.
Source: "General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar"
in The Roman Missal: The Sacramentary (Collegeville,
MN 56321-7500: The Liturgical Press, 1974) 62.
Notes
The general principles for the creation of the "Table of Liturgical
Days" are found in the following passages from "The Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy" (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium,
4 December 1963):
"106. .... The Lord's Day is the original feast day, and it should
be proposed to the faithful and taught to them so that it may become
in fact a day of joy and of freedom from work. Other celebrations,
unless they be truly of the greatest importance, shall not have
precedence over Sunday, which is the foundation and kernel of the
whole liturgical year.
"107. The liturgical year is to be revised so that the traditional
customs and discipline of the sacred seasons shall be preserved
or restored to suit the conditions of modern times. Their specific
character is to be retained so that they duly nourish the piety
of the faithful who celebrate the mysteries of the Christian redemption
and, above all, the paschal mystery. If certain adaptations are
necessary because of local conditions, they are to be made in accordance
with the provision of Articles 39 and 40.
"108. The minds of the faithful should be directed primarily toward the feasts
of the Lord whereby the mysteries of salvation are celebrated throughout the
year. For this reason The Proper of the Time shall be given due preference over
the feasts of the saints so that the entire cycle of the mysteries of salvation
may be suitable recalled" Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar
Documents, gen. ed., Austin Flannery, OP, (The Liturgical Press,
1980) 30.
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