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
St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola and Confessor
Monday, June 22, 2026
Season: Time after Pentecost
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. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola and Confessor
Rank: Double
Color: white
Quote for the day
Our Lord Jesus Christ
“They shall put you out of the synagogues.”
John 16:2, Douay-Rheims
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.
June intention
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sacred Heart reveals the human love of the Incarnate Word, burning for His Father's glory and the salvation of souls. Draw near in reparation, obedience, and confidence rather than sentiment alone.
Intention
For reparation to the Sacred Heart, the conversion of sinners, and hearts made meek, humble, and faithful to the commandments of Christ.
A faithful act
Accept contradictions without resentment and offer them in reparation for coldness toward Our Lord.
Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us and make our hearts like unto Thine.
Monday remembrance
The Holy Souls in Purgatory
Begin the working week with an act of mercy toward the faithful departed. Their helplessness calls forth charity, while their purification reminds the living to repent before death.
Intention
For the most abandoned soul in Purgatory and for deceased relatives, benefactors, priests, and those who have no one to pray for them.
A faithful act
Offer the first difficulty of the week for the Holy Souls and pray the De profundis.
Prayer
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - June 22
At Nola, in Campania, the birthday of blessed Paulinus, bishop and confessor, who, although a most noble and wealthy man, made himself poor and humble for Christ; and what is still more admirable, became a slave to liberate a widow's son, who had been carried to Africa by the Vandals, when they devastated Campania. He was celebrated, not only for his learning and exceptional holiness of life, but also for his power over the demons. His great merit has been extolled by Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory, in their writings. His body, at first transferred to Benevento, and thence to Rome, was restored to Nola by order of Pius X. — At Rome, blessed Innocent V., pope, who labored with mildness and prudence to maintain liberty for the Church and harmony among Christians. The veneration paid to him, pope Leo XIII. approved and confirmed. — On Mount Ararat, the martyrdom of ten thousand holy martyrs, who were crucified. — At Verulam, in England, in the time of Diocletian, St. Alban, martyr, who gave himself up to save a cleric whom he had harbored. After being scourged and subjected to bitter torments, he was sentenced to capital punishment. With him suffered also one of the soldiers that led him to execution, who was converted to Christ on the way, and merited to be baptized, in his own blood. — At Samaria, fourteen hundred and eighty holy martyrs, under Chosroes, king of Persia. — At Rome, the translation of St. Flavius Clemens, ex-consul and martyr, who was put to death for the faith of Christ by the emperor Domitian. His body was found in the basilica of pope St. Clement, and buried there with great pomp. — The same day, St. Mcseas, bishop of the town of Bomatia, celebrated for his learning and holy life. — At Naples, in Campania, St. John, bishop, who was called to the kingdom of heaven by blessed Paulinus, bishop of Nola. In the monastery of Cluny, St. Consortia, virgin.
Highlighted saint
St. Paulinus of Nola
Noble bishop who became poor and humble for Christ.
St. Paulinus of Nola, bishop and confessor, was noble and wealthy but made himself poor and humble for Christ.
The Martyrology praises his learning, holiness, power over demons, and charity so great that he became a slave to ransom a widow's son carried away by the Vandals.
Virtue to practice
Humble charity and ransom of souls.
Error to resist
The respectability that admires charity but will not become poorer, lower, or inconvenienced for it.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask St. Paulinus for charity with weight. Mercy becomes real when it costs rank, comfort, money, or time.
Imitate today
- Use possessions for mercy.
- Choose humility over social standing.
- Help the captive, poor, or burdened concretely.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, June 22.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, June 22.
From Matins
The nobleman who became poor enough to ransom another.
Matins - Third Nocturn - St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola and Confessor
Roman Breviary, Historical lesson for St. Paulinus of Nola
“He gave himself up to slavery in her son's stead.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary remembers St. Paulinus as noble, learned, wealthy, and yet made poor and lowly for Christ.
- After spending his goods in mercy, he gave himself into slavery to ransom a widow's son taken by the Vandals.
- Freed by providence, he returned to Nola as bishop, where by word and example he stirred souls to Christian godliness.
For the pilgrim in exile
Mercy must cost something. St. Paulinus teaches that Christian nobility is not possession, but the willingness to spend oneself for the captive, the poor, and the afflicted.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. III, Summer, historical lesson for St. Paulinus within the June 22 office.
- 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
The noble man who became poor for Christ.
Matins - St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola and Confessor
Breviary witness
- The Breviary honors St. Paulinus of Nola as bishop and confessor, noble by birth yet poor and humble for Christ.
- His witness teaches learning joined to mercy, and charity willing to lose status to ransom the afflicted.
For the pilgrim in exile
Make charity costly in some concrete way. St. Paulinus teaches mercy that descends to help the captive.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for June 22, St. Paulinus of Nola.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, June 22.
Gospel of the day
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord shall find watching.
St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola and Confessor - Luke 12:35-40
“Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching.”
What Our Lord teaches
- The holy bishop watches for the Lord by humility, poverty, learning, and costly mercy.
- St. Paulinus teaches that Christian nobility becomes true when it descends to ransom and serve the afflicted.
- Mercy is more than kind feeling. It gives what it can, loses what it must, and sees Christ in the suffering.
Virtue to practice
Make charity concrete and costly.
Error to resist
The respectable mercy that gives admiration but not sacrifice.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask St. Paulinus for charity that is willing to descend. Mercy becomes luminous when it costs something real.
Sources
- Luke 12:35-40, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel from the common of confessors.
Meditation
Charity That Descends and Pays the Cost
St. Paulinus surrendered wealth and rank for Christ and carried mercy so far that he gave himself to ransom a widow's captive son. His life explains supernatural charity concretely: it does not merely admire suffering, but gives possessions, time, comfort, and even liberty when love of God requires it.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O God, through St. Paulinus, free me from respectable charity that avoids sacrifice. Make me willing to descend in rank, comfort, time, or possessions to serve the afflicted.
Thought for the pilgrim
Mercy becomes visible when it costs something real.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Give money, time, labor, or attention to a burdened person in a way that costs you something you would otherwise keep.
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 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, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., 1953 edition; proper Mass or devotion named in this entry.
- Matthew 11:29, Douay-Rheims.
- Psalm 129 and 2 Machabees 12:43-46, Douay-Rheims.