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, applies verified United States propers, and preserves the Roman Martyrology 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

Feria of Septuagesima

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Season: Septuagesima

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

Feria of Septuagesima

Rank: Feria

Color: violet

Quote for the day

Thomas à Kempis

“My son, the more thou canst go out of thyself, so much the more wilt thou be able to enter into Me.”

Of the Imitation of Christ, Book III, chapter 56, §1, p. 214

The pilgrim's devotional rhythm

Keeping the month and the weekday in prayer

This chosen devotional rhythm does not change the feast, rank, or obligations shown above. It gives the passing days a steady intention, helping the pilgrim honor God, intercede for souls, and carry one Catholic practice into the day. It is a household aid to devotion, not another law of the Roman Calendar.

February intention

The Holy Family

At Nazareth, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph show how hidden duties become holy when they are performed in obedience and charity. This month asks the pilgrim to carry the order of Nazareth into his own home.

Intention

For Catholic homes, the preservation of marriage and family life, and families divided by sin, error, absence, or sorrow.

A faithful act

Perform your ordinary household duties promptly and without complaint for the good of those entrusted to you.

Prayer

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, order our homes in truth, purity, obedience, and peace.

Tuesday remembrance

The Holy Angels

God has appointed His angels as ministers of His providence. Honor them by greater purity, recollection, and prompt obedience to grace, never forgetting that their whole service leads the soul to God.

Intention

For protection against temptation, guidance in duty, and the defense of children, travelers, and souls in spiritual danger.

A faithful act

Before a difficult duty or conversation, ask your Guardian Angel to help you act without sin and for God's glory.

Prayer

Holy Angel, my guardian, keep me from sin and direct me in the faithful accomplishment of today's duties.

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - February 17

At Rome, the passion of St. Faustinus, whom forty-four others followed to receive the crown of martyrdom. — In Persia, during the persecution of Decius, the birthday of blessed Polychronius, bishop of Babylon, who, being struck in the mouth with stones, stretched out his hands, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and expired. — At Concordia, the holy martyrs Donatus, Secundian, and Romulus, with eighty-six others, partakers of the same crown. — At Caesarea, in Palestine, St. Theodulus, an aged man, in the service of the governor Firmilian. Moved by the example of the martyrs, he confessed Christ with constancy, was fastened to a cross, and thus by a noble victory merited the palm of martyrdom. — In the same place, St. Julian, a Cappadocian, who, because he had kissed the relics of the martyrs, was denounced as a Christian, and led to the governor, who had him consumed with a slow fire. — In the territory of Terouanne, St. Silvinus, bishop of Toulouse. — In Ireland, St. Fintan, priest and confessor. At Florence, blessed Alexius Falconieri, confessor, one of the seven Founders of the Order of the Servites of the blessed Virgin Mary, who, in the one hundred and tenth year of his age, terminated his blessed career in the consoling presence of Jesus Christ and the angels.

Meditation

Today in the City of God

The Church does not leave the faithful to pass through time as though days were neutral. This observance teaches the soul to receive the day under grace, to remember what God has done, and to let sacred time order study, prayer, and perseverance.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, do not let me seek more knowledge while neglecting known duty. Make me prompt, recollected, humble, and faithful to grace.

Thought for the pilgrim

The illuminative way asks whether the soul obeyed the light already given.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Ask what light God has already given you, then obey it visibly throughout your conduct.

Source notes

Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with verified United States propers

Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952

Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts ordinarily come from eligible Catholic sources issued no later than December 31, 1954: Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, Roman Pontiffs, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, and received liturgical texts. Legitimate additions promulgated under Pope Pius XII may be retained when identified precisely; this does not adopt the reformed Holy Week or later rubrical changes.

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, Division of the Ecclesiastical Year, p. x: Lent has a proper Mass for each feria; other ferias without a proper Mass use the Mass of the Sunday.
  • This is a temporal fallback only; it does not assert a saint, a fast, or an unentered proper Mass.
  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., 1953 edition; proper Mass or devotion named in this entry.
  • Luke 2:51-52, Douay-Rheims.
  • Psalm 90:11 and Matthew 18:10, Douay-Rheims.