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
Our Lady of Ransom
Thursday, September 24, 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
Our Lady of Ransom
Rank: Greater Double
Color: white
Quote for the day
Pope St. Leo the Great
“A great safeguard is the entire faith, the true faith, in which neither anything whatever can be added nor anything taken away.”
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - September 24
The feast of our Lady of Ransom. — At Autun, the birthday of the holy martyrs, Andochius, priest, Thyrsus, deacon, and Felix, who were sent from the East by blessed Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, to preach in Gaul, where they were most severely scourged, hanged up a whole day by the hands, and cast into the fire. Remaining uninjured, they had their necks broken with heavy bars, and thus won a most glorious crown. — In Egypt, the holy martyrs Paphnutius and his companions. Whilst leading a solitary life, St. Paphnutius heard that many Christians were kept in bonds, and, moved by the spirit of God, he voluntarily offered himself to the prefect, and freely confessed the Christian faith. By him he was bound with iron chains, and a long time tortured on the rack. Then, being sent with many others to Diocletian, he was fastened by his order to a palm tree, and the rest were struck with the sword. — At Chalcedon, forty-nine holy martyrs, who, after the martyrdom of St. Euphemia, under the emperor Diocletian, were condemned to be devoured by the beasts, but being miraculously delivered, were finally struck with the sword, and went to heaven. — In Hungary, St. Gerard, bishop and martyr, called the Apostle of the Hungarians. He belonged to the nobility of Venice, and was the first to shed upon his country the glory of martyrdom. — At Clermont, in Auvergne, the departure out of this life of St. Rusticus, bishop and confessor. — In the diocese of Beauvais, St. Geremarus, abbot.
Highlighted saint
Our Lady of Ransom
The Mother invoked for captives and souls in bondage.
The feast of Our Lady of Ransom recalls Catholic mercy toward captives and the need to rescue souls from bondage.
It teaches that freedom is ordered to Christ. The Church's charity seeks deliverance from chains of body, sin, error, and false worship.
Virtue to practice
Merciful zeal for souls in bondage.
Error to resist
The indifference that sees captivity of soul and calls it another valid path.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask Our Lady of Ransom for a heart that wants souls free for Christ. True mercy never becomes indifferent to bondage.
Imitate today
- Pray for those captive to sin and error.
- Offer a sacrifice for conversions.
- Use freedom for worship and fidelity.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, September 24.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 24.
Breviary Witness
Mercy for captives and zeal for deliverance.
Matins - Our Lady of Ransom
Breviary witness
- The Breviary remembrance of Our Lady of Ransom keeps before the faithful the Catholic duty to seek deliverance for those in bondage.
- This devotion refuses indifference: captives of body and soul are to be remembered before God and helped toward Christ.
For the pilgrim in exile
Pray for those chained by sin, fear, error, and false worship. Freedom is not self-invention; it is deliverance for the service of God.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for September 24, Our Lady of Ransom.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, September 24.
Gospel of the day
The angel Gabriel was sent from God.
Our Lady of Ransom - Luke 1:26-38
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.”
What Our Lord teaches
- Our Lady's obedience stands at the beginning of the Incarnation and all true Christian deliverance.
- Ransom is not sentiment; it is rescue for souls in bondage, ordered to Christ.
Virtue to practice
Pray for captives of sin, error, fear, and false worship.
Error to resist
The indifference that forgets souls held in bondage.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask Our Lady of Ransom for a merciful heart. The free soul should remember those still chained.
Sources
- Luke 1:26-38, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for Our Lady of Ransom.
Meditation
The Church Made Public
Pentecost teaches that the Holy Ghost does not create private religious enthusiasm detached from doctrine, worship, and authority. He gathers, sends, teaches, and strengthens the visible Church. The remnant must therefore seek fire without disorder and zeal without novelty.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
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.