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.
Choose a date
Daily observance
September Ember Day
Friday, September 25, 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
September Ember Day
Rank: Non-privileged Feria
Color: violet
Quote for the day
Holy Scripture
“Because it is written: You shall be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16, Original 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the pilgrim learns compassion for the Passion of Christ, patience in affliction, and fidelity when consolation is withdrawn.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.
Friday remembrance
The Passion and Sacred Heart of Jesus
Friday keeps Calvary before the Christian soul. Unite the day's labor and suffering to the Passion of Christ, remembering that His Sacred Heart was opened for sinners and that love proves itself by sacrifice and obedience.
Intention
In reparation for sin; for the conversion of sinners; and for those who suffer, are persecuted, or will die this day.
A faithful act
Keep the Church's Friday abstinence and add hidden self-denial in memory of the Passion.
Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, through Thy bitter Passion, have mercy on us and on poor sinners.
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - September 25
At Emmaus, the birthday of blessed Cleophas, disciple of Christ. It is related that he was killed by the Jews, for the confession of our Lord, in the same house in which he had entertained Him, and where he was honorably buried. — At Rome, under the emperor Antoninus, St. Herculanus, soldier and martyr, who, being converted to Christ by the miracles wrought during the martyrdom of the, blessed bishop Alexander, was put to the sword, after enduring many torments. — At Amiens, in France, in the persecution of Diocletian, blessed Firmin, bishop. Under the governor Rictiovarus, after various torments, he suffered martyrdom by being beheaded. — At Damascus, the holy martyr Paul, Tata, his wife, and Sabinian, Maximus, Rufus, and Eugenius, their sons. Accused of professing the Christian religion, they were scourged, and tortured in other ways, until they gave up their souls to God. — In Asia, the holy martyrs Bardomian, Eucarpus, and twenty-six others. — The same day, St. Anathalon, bishop, who was a disciple of the blessed apostle Barnabas, and succeeded him in the See of Milan. — At Lyons, the decease of St. Lupus, at one time an anchoret, but later a bishop. — At Auxerre, St. Anacharius, bishop and confessor. — At Blois, St. Solemnius, bishop of Chartres, renowned for miracles. — The same day, St. Principius, bishop of Soissons, brother of the blessed bishop Remigius. — At Anagni, the holy virgins Aurelia and Neomisia. — At San Severino, the decease of St. Pacificus of St. Severin, confessor, of the Order of the Reformed Minorites of the Observance of St. Francis, illustrious by his extraordinary patience and love of solitude. He was placed in the calendar of saints by pope Gregory XVI.
Meditation
Growth After Pentecost
The Time after Pentecost teaches perseverance after the great feasts. Many souls receive light and then return to forgetfulness. The pilgrim must instead turn light into rule: morning prayer, the Angelus, Rosary, examination, custody of speech, and fidelity to the duty before him.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, let the saints of this day teach me how doctrine becomes life, how virtue endures trial, and how fidelity resists the errors of its age.
Thought for the pilgrim
The saints are living teachers of doctrine and virtue.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Imitate the concrete virtues shown by today's saint, beginning in the hidden circumstances of your own state in life.
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, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xiii and xv: the September Ember Days are kept on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the third Sunday of September.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Division of the Ecclesiastical Year, p. x: Ember Days are non-privileged ferias; their commemoration remains distinct from the feast and from the separate 1952 fasting layer.
- 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.
- John 19:30-37, Douay-Rheims.