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Sacred Calendar

The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.

Calendar standard

Pre-1955 Roman usage

The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.

The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.

Daily observance

Today in the City of God

The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.

Daily observance

St. Peter Nolasco, Confessor

Saturday, January 31, 2026

Season: Time after Epiphany

The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.

Today's pilgrimage

St. Peter Nolasco, Confessor

Rank: Double

Color: white

Quote for the day

Pope St. Pius X

“Many suffer everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed.”

Acerbo Nimis, n. 2

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - January 31

At Barcelona, in Spain, St. Peter Nolasco, confessor, who slept in the Lord on the 25th of December. — At Rome, on the road to Ostia, the holy martyrs Cyrus and John, who were beheaded after suffering many torments for the name of Christ. — At Alexandria, in the time of the emperor Decius, the birthday of St. Metran, martyr, who, because he refused to utter blasphemous words at the bidding of the Pagans, was scourged until he was covered with bruises, and pierced through the face and eyes with sharp-pointed reeds. He was then driven out of the city, overwhelmed with stones and killed. — In the same place, the holy martyrs Saturninus, Thyrsus and Victor. — In the same city, the holy martyrs Tharsicius, Zoticus, Cyriacus, and their companions. — At Cyzicum, in Hellespont, St. Triphenes, martyr, who overcame various torments, but was finally killed by a bull, and thus merited the palm of martyrdom. — At Modena, St. Geminian, bishop, made illustrious by his miracles. — In the province of Milan, St. Julius, priest and confessor, in the reign of the emperor Theodosius. — At Rome, St. Marcella, a widow, whose meritorious deeds are related by St. Jerome. — In the same place, blessed Louisa Albert onia, a Roman widow, of the Third Order of St. Francis, distinguished for her virtues. — The same day, the translation of the evangelist St. Mark, when his sacred body was brought from the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, then occupied by barbarians, to Venice, and with the greatest honors placed in the large church dedicated to his name.

Read and verify the full entry

Highlighted saint

St. Peter Nolasco

Confessor and redeemer of captives.

St. Peter Nolasco is honored for works of mercy toward Christian captives and for religious zeal ordered to deliverance.

His witness teaches that charity is concrete: souls and bodies in bondage are not abstractions, but persons to be helped for Christ.

Virtue to practice

Mercy that seeks deliverance.

Error to resist

The indifference that notices bondage but refuses costly charity.

For the pilgrim in exile

Ask St. Peter Nolasco for practical mercy. The free soul should not forget those still chained.

Imitate today

  • Pray for those in captivity of body or soul.
  • Make one concrete act of mercy.
  • Use freedom for worship and service.

Sources

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, January 31.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, January 31.

From Matins

Ransom for captives and liberty from sin.

Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Peter Nolasco, Confessor

Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Peter Nolasco

“He wished he could be sold himself to ransom more.”

Doctrine taught

  • The Breviary remembers St. Peter Nolasco for love of neighbor so great that he spent his fortune to ransom Christians held in captivity.
  • The lessons connect his work to the Blessed Virgin, whose apparition directed the founding of a religious order for the redemption of Christian captives.
  • His charity became vowed readiness to suffer for others, even to remain hostage if needed for their liberation.

For the pilgrim in exile

Measure charity by sacrifice. St. Peter Nolasco teaches that devotion to Our Lady should make the Christian ready to spend himself for souls, bodies, and true liberty in Christ.

Study the price of ransom

Sources

  • The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. I, Winter, Second Nocturn for St. Peter Nolasco, lessons iv-vi.
  • Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.

Breviary Witness

Mercy for captives.

Matins - St. Peter Nolasco

Breviary witness

  • The Breviary honors St. Peter Nolasco for religious charity toward captives.
  • His witness teaches that mercy is not vague sympathy, but costly action for persons in bondage.

For the pilgrim in exile

Remember those chained in body or soul. Catholic freedom becomes fruitful when it spends itself for deliverance.

Sources

  • Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for January 31, St. Peter Nolasco.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, January 31.

Meditation

Apostolic Fidelity

Today the Church turns the pilgrim toward apostolic order: the faith received, guarded, preached, and suffered for. In exile this is not an abstraction. The faithful must love the visible form Christ gave His Church without confusing office, truth, and fidelity.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, strengthen the little duties of this day with Thy grace, that nothing entrusted to me may be wasted through negligence or vanity.

Thought for the pilgrim

Grace is guarded by ordinary fidelity.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Fulfill one ordinary duty promptly and offer it for the glory of God.

Source notes

Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X

Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952

Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.

The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
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