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. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Monday, September 21, 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. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Rank: Double of the Second Class
Color: red
Quote for the day
Our Lord Jesus Christ
“Follow me. And he rose up and followed him.”
Matthew 9:9, 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.
September intention
The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Our Lady did not flee the Cross. By remembering her sorrows, the pilgrim learns compassion for the Passion of Christ, patience in affliction, and fidelity when consolation is withdrawn.
Intention
For those crushed by grief, for sinners at the hour of death, and for the grace to carry every cross without abandoning Christ.
A faithful act
Accept sorrows without murmuring and offer them with Our Lady for dying souls.
Prayer
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, keep us faithful beside the Cross of Jesus.
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 - September 21
The birthday of St. Matthew, apostle and evan- - gelist, who suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, while engaged in preaching. The Gospel written by him in Hebrew was, by his own revelation, found in the time of the emperor Zeno, together with the relics of the blessed apostle Barnabas. — In the land of Saar, the holy prophet Jonas, who was buried in Geth. — At Rome, St. Pamphilus, martyr. — At twenty miles from Rome, on the Claudian way, the martyrdom of St. Alexander, bishop, in the time of the emperor Antoninus. For the faith of Christ he was loaded with fetters scourged, tortured, burned with torches, torn with iron hooks, exposed to the beasts and cast into the flames, but having overcome all these torments, he was finally beheaded, and so attained the glory of eternal life. His body was afterwards carried into the city by the blessed pope Damasus, on the 26th of November, on which day his feast is to be celebrated by order of the same Pontiff. — In Phoenicia, St. Eusebius, martyr, who, of his own accord, went to the prefect, and declaring himself a Christian, was subjected by him to many torments, and finally beheaded. — In Cyprus, St. Isacius, bishop and martyr. — In the same place, St. Meletius, bishop and confessor. — In Ethiopia, St. Iphigenia, virgin, who being baptized and consecrated to God by the blessed apostle Matthew, ended her holy life in peace.
Highlighted saint
St. Matthew
Apostle, Evangelist, and publican called by mercy.
St. Matthew was called by Christ from the receipt of custom—the station where he collected taxes—and became an apostle and evangelist.
His feast teaches that mercy does not leave the sinner seated in the old life. Christ calls, and the forgiven soul rises to follow.
Virtue to practice
Prompt obedience to mercy.
Error to resist
The false mercy that consoles the sinner without calling him to rise.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not negotiate with the old table. When Christ says follow Me, obedience begins before every difficulty is solved.
Imitate today
- Rise promptly from known sin.
- Give thanks for mercy that changes the life.
- Love the Gospel as the inspired testimony handed down from Christ's apostles.
Sources
- Matthew 9:9-13, Douay-Rheims.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 21.
From Matins
The publican who rose, followed, preached, and wrote.
Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Roman Breviary and St. Jerome, Proper apostolic lessons and homily on Matthew 9
“He arose, and followed Him.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary honors St. Matthew as a publican called by Christ, an Apostle sent to preach, an Evangelist who preserved the Gospel, and a martyr.
- St. Jerome explains that the Lord's table fellowship with publicans is medicinal mercy: Christ approaches sinners to call them to repentance.
- Matthew's prompt rising shows grace producing conversion, mission, doctrine, and sacrifice rather than leaving the sinner seated in his former life.
For the pilgrim in exile
When Christ calls, rise. St. Matthew teaches the presence of the Physician summoning sinners into repentance, apostolic service, and witness.
Full Breviary lessons
Fourth Lesson - St. Matthew Called and Sent
It came to pass one day at Capernaum, that Christ "went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom; and He said unto him: Follow Me. And he left all, rose up, and followed Him. And Levi made Him a great feast in his own house." This Levi is the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. After that Christ was risen again from the dead, and while he was yet in Judea, before he set forth for that land which had fallen to the lot of his preaching, he wrote the Gospel of JESUS Christ in the Hebrew tongue, for the sake of them of the circumcision who had believed. His was the first written of the four Gospels. Thereafter he went to Ethiopia, and there preached the Gospel, confirming his preaching with many miracles.
Fifth Lesson - The Apostle Crowned with Martyrdom
Of his miracles, the most notable was that he raised the King's daughter from the dead, and thereby brought to believe in Christ the King her father, his wife, and all that region. After that the King was dead, Hirtacus, who came after him, was fain to take his daughter Iphigenia to wife, but by the exhortation of Matthew she had made vow of her maidenhood to God, and stood firm to that holy resolution, for which cause Hirtacus commanded to slay the Apostle at the Altar while he was performing the mystery. He crowned the dignity of the Apostleship with the glory of martyrdom upon the 21st day of September. His body had been brought to Salerno, where it was afterwards buried in a Church dedicated in his name during the Popedom of Gregory VII., and there it is held in great worship and sought to by great gatherings of people.
Sixth Lesson - From the Common of Apostles and Evangelists
"And every one had four wings." For they do all with one accord preach Our Lord JESUS Christ, the Son of Almighty God: toward Whose Godhead lifting up the eyes of their mind, they do lift the wings of contemplation, and do fly. In the Evangelists, the face pertaineth to the Lord's Manhood, and the wings to His Godhead: for they turn their face toward Him Whom they see in bodily shape: but when they say that He is, as touching His Godhead, Incomprehensible, and Incorporeal, the wings of their contemplation do, in a manner, carry them in flight heavenward. Because, then, they have all one faith in the Incarnation, and all equally look by contemplation toward the Godhead: it is well written of them, "Every one had four faces, and every one had four wings."
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Second Nocturn for St. Matthew, lessons iv-v, printed pp. 575-576, with lesson vi from the Common of Apostles and Evangelists, printed pp. 364-365.
- 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 publican who rose when mercy called.
Matins - St. Matthew
Breviary witness
- The Breviary honors St. Matthew as apostle and evangelist, called by Christ from the receipt of custom.
- His witness shows mercy as a summons to rise, follow, preach, and preserve the Gospel.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not accept a mercy that leaves you unchanged. Christ's call is gentle, but it still commands the soul to rise.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for September 21, St. Matthew.
- Matthew 9:9-13, Douay-Rheims.
Gospel of the day
Follow me.
St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist - Matthew 9:9-13
“Follow me. And he rose up and followed him.”
What Our Lord teaches
- Christ calls the publican, a tax collector, away from his tax station into apostolic discipleship.
- Mercy does not deny sin; it calls sinners to rise and follow.
Virtue to practice
Leave promptly whatever keeps you at the old table.
Error to resist
The false mercy that keeps the sinner seated where Christ found him.
For the pilgrim in exile
Rise when He calls. St. Matthew did not become worthy first; he became obedient first.
Sources
- Matthew 9:9-13, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for St. Matthew.
Meditation
Apostolic Fidelity
Today the Church recalls that Christ entrusted His doctrine, sacraments, and authority to the apostles and commanded them to hand these gifts on. Catholics therefore receive the Faith from the Church rather than inventing it privately. They must also remember that sacred office is meant to serve revealed truth: holding an office and remaining faithful to its duties are related, but they are not identical.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, purify my love for Catholic beauty. Let it lead me to obedience, reverence, valid worship, and sanctity rather than taste alone.
Thought for the pilgrim
The Church's beauty is order, truth, sacrifice, and holiness.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Let Catholic beauty move you toward concrete duty, prayer, and repentance.
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.
- Luke 2:34-35 and John 19:25-27, Douay-Rheims.
- Psalm 129 and 2 Machabees 12:43-46, Douay-Rheims.