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.
Choose a date
Daily observance
Third Sunday after Easter
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Season: Eastertide
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
Third Sunday after Easter
Rank: Semi-Double Sunday
Color: white
Octave: Within the Common Octave of the Solemnity of St. Joseph (Common Octave).
Impeded feast: Ss. Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes and Martyrs. The temporal observance has precedence. The precise commemoration rule remains tied to the relevant proper and rubric.
Quote for the day
Our Lord Jesus Christ
“Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart.”
Matthew 11:29, Douay-Rheims
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - April 26
At Rome, the birthday of blessed Cletns, pope who governed the Church the second after the apostle St. Peter, and was crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Domitian. — In the same city, in the time of Maximian, St. Marcellinus, pope and martyr, who was beheaded for the faith of Christ, with Claudius, Cyrinus, and Antoninus. So great was the persecution at this time that within a month seventeen thousand Christians were crowned with martyrdom. — At Amasea, in Pontus, St. Basileus, bishop and martyr, whose illustrious martyrdom occurred under the emperor Licinius. His body was thrown into the sea; but being found by Elpidiphorus, through the revelation of an angel, it was honorably entombed. — At Braga, in Portugal, St. Peter, martyr, the first bishop of that city. — At Venice, St. Clarence, bishop and confessor. — At Verona, St. Lucidius, bishop. — In the monastery of Centula, St. Richarius, priest and confessor. — At Troyes, St. Exuperantia, virgin.
Highlighted saint
Third Sunday after Easter
A little while, and you shall see Me.
The Third Sunday after Easter gives Our Lord's promise that the disciples' sorrow shall be turned into joy.
The day teaches the rhythm of Christian exile: Christ may seem hidden for a little while, but faithful sorrow borne in Him becomes joy no enemy can take away.
Virtue to practice
Patient hope in promised joy.
Error to resist
The despair that treats present sorrow as final and forgets the Lord's promise.
For the pilgrim in exile
Hold fast through the little while. Exile is real, but it is not the last word spoken by the risen Christ.
Imitate today
- Bear present sorrow without bitterness.
- Keep hope when consolation is delayed.
- Measure trial by eternity, not by feeling.
Sources
- John 16:16-22, Douay-Rheims.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Third Sunday after Easter.
Breviary Witness
Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Matins - Third Sunday after Easter
Breviary witness
- The office of the Third Sunday after Easter keeps Our Lord's promise that the disciples' sorrow will become joy.
- Its witness forms the exiled soul in patience: the little while of Christ's hiddenness is not abandonment, and the joy He gives cannot be taken away.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not call present sorrow final. Christ measures the little while, and He promises joy beyond the reach of enemies.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for the Third Sunday after Easter.
- John 16:16-22, Douay-Rheims.
Gospel of the day
Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Third Sunday after Easter - John 16:16-22
“Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”
What Our Lord teaches
- Christ teaches that Christian sorrow is real but not final.
- The Church passes through absence, longing, and labor pains toward joy no man can take away.
Virtue to practice
Endure present sorrow with supernatural hope.
Error to resist
The despair that mistakes the passing hour for the final word.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not force joy before its time, but do not surrender hope. Our Lord knows the hour of sorrow and the hour of its turning.
Sources
- John 16:16-22, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for the Third Sunday after Easter.
Meditation
Victory Seen in Christ
The day lifts the pilgrim above mere survival. The Church suffers, but she suffers under the Lord who is risen, ascended, glorified, and victorious in His saints. Triumph is not a mood. It is the promised end toward which perseverance is ordered.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, recollect my scattered thoughts, govern my words, and teach me to return to Thee before the noise of the day rules my soul.
Thought for the pilgrim
Prayer keeps the day from becoming self-ruled.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Pause at midday for a brief act of faith, hope, charity, and contrition.
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, p. xv: the Ascension falls on the Thursday after the fifth Sunday after Easter.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, p. xv.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.