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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.

Daily observance

St. Linus, Pope and Martyr

Thursday, September 23, 2027

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. Linus, Pope and Martyr

Rank: Semi-Double

Color: red

Quote for the day

St. John the Baptist

“It is not lawful for thee to have her.”

Matthew 14:4, 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the pilgrim learns compassion for the Passion of Christ, patience in affliction, and fidelity when consolation is withdrawn.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.

Thursday remembrance

The Most Blessed Sacrament

Thursday recalls the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood at the Last Supper. Adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and pray for priests, through whose consecrated ministry the Holy Sacrifice is offered.

Intention

For holy priests, worthy Communions, vocations, and reparation for neglect and sacrilege toward the Blessed Sacrament.

A faithful act

Make a visit or spiritual Communion and pray especially for priests by name.

Prayer

Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, increase our faith, receive our reparation, and sanctify Thy priests.

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - September 23

At Rome, St. Linus, pope and martyr, who governed the Roman church next after the blessed apostle Peter. He was crowned with martyrdom, and buried on the Vatican hill beside the same apostle. — At Iconium, in Lycaonia, St. Thecla, virgin and martyr, who was converted to the faith by the apostle St. Paul. Under the emperor Nero, she was victorious over the flames and the beasts to which she was exposed for the faith of Christ, and after many combats endured for the instruction of others, she went to Seleucia, where she ended her days in peace. Her memory has been eulogized by the Holy Fathers. — In Campania, the commemoration of blessed Sosius, deacon of the church of Misenum. The holy bishop Januarius, seeing a flame arise from his head as he was reading the Gospel in the church, foretold that he would be a martyr; and not many days after, when he was thirty years of age, he and the holy bishop suffered martyrdom by decapitation. — In Africa, the holy martyrs Andrew, John, Peter, and Anthony. — In the diocese of Coutances, St. Paternus, bishop and martyr. — At Ancona, St. C.onstantius, sacristan of the Church, renowned for the gift of miracles. — In Spain, the holy women Xantippa and Polyxena, who were disciples of the Apostles.

Read and verify the full entry

Highlighted saint

St. Linus

Pope and martyr next after blessed Peter.

The Martyrology honors St. Linus, pope and martyr, who governed the Roman Church next after the blessed apostle Peter and was buried on the Vatican hill beside him.

His feast teaches visible succession under the shadow of martyrdom. Apostolic office is not an abstraction, but a real charge borne in history for the guarding of the Church.

Virtue to practice

Apostolic continuity under trial.

Error to resist

The private religion that wants Peter's doctrine without visible apostolic succession.

For the pilgrim in exile

Let St. Linus steady your mind about continuity. The Church passes through persons and offices in history, yet the charge belongs first to Christ.

Imitate today

  • Honor apostolic succession rightly understood.
  • Pray for Roman fidelity.
  • Prefer martyrdom to betrayal of office.

Sources

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, September 23.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 23.

From Matins

The successor of Peter confessing Christ unto death.

Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Linus, Pope and Martyr

Roman Breviary and St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Proper lesson for St. Linus and the Common of One Martyr

“He was the immediate successor of Peter in the government of the Church.”

Doctrine taught

  • The Breviary identifies St. Linus as the immediate successor of St. Peter, placing visible apostolic succession within the history of confession and martyrdom.
  • The Common lessons teach that the martyr is persecuted without just cause because he speaks righteousness, salvation, and the Catholic Faith.
  • Holy fear strengthens rather than weakens the martyr, because temporal torments are judged beneath divine law and eternal judgment.

For the pilgrim in exile

Hold apostolic continuity beneath the Cross. St. Linus and the Common of Martyrs teach fidelity to office, fearless confession, holy fear of God, and endurance beyond the threats of men.

Full Breviary lessons

Fourth Lesson - The Immediate Successor of St. Peter

Pope Linus was by birth a native of Velletri in Tuscany, and was the immediate successor of Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were such that he not only cast out devils, but also raised the dead. He wrote the acts of Blessed Peter, and especially the history of his strife with Simon Magus. He forbade women to enter the Church without having a veil upon their heads. His own head was cut off, on account of his firmness in confessing Christ, by command of the godless Consular Saturninus, an unthankful wretch whose own daughter he had delivered from being tormented by a devil. He was buried upon the Vatican Mount, hard by the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, upon the 23rd day of September. He sat as Pope eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days. He held two December ordinations, wherein he made fifteen Bishops, and eighteen Priests.

Fifth Lesson - From the Common of One Martyr

They fight against him in vain who is accused of ungodliness among the ungodly and the unfaithful, because he teacheth Faith. Verily, him that is fought against without a cause it behoveth to be strong and patient. Wherefore then saith he: "My heart standeth in awe of Thy word?" Awe is the mark of the weak, the timid, and the fearful. But there is also a weakness unto salvation, there is a fear which is an holy fear. "O fear the Lord, all ye His Saints." (Ps. xxxiii. 10.) And again: "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord." (Ps. cxi. 1.) And wherefore is he blessed? because he "delighteth greatly in His commandments."

Sixth Lesson - The Martyr between Temporal and Eternal Things

Think, then, how the martyr standeth between two dangers. On the one hand the wild beasts, roaring for his blood, do indeed strike terror; he heareth the hissing of the plates of white-hot metal, and seeth surging up the flames of the fiery furnace; behind him is the clanking of fetters, and beside him the executioner, stained with fresh blood; think of him there, face to face with the apparatus of death - but think again - of what thinketh he? Of the Law of God, of the everlasting fire, of the eternal flames, wherein the unbelieving shall burn for ever, of that torture whereof the agony is for ever new. And then indeed his heart faileth for fear, lest by giving way under torment here, he should give himself up to everlasting torment hereafter: then indeed he trembleth, when Faith maketh to glitter before his eyes the awful sword of the judgment to come. And in this, the faithful trembling of the true-hearted, are there not both unshaken hope of the eternal things, and awe of the things of God?

Sources

  • The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Second Nocturn for St. Linus, proper lesson iv, printed pp. 580-581, with lessons v-vi from St. Ambrose in the Common of One Martyr, printed pp. 377-378.
  • 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 successor of Peter under martyrdom.

Matins - St. Linus

Breviary witness

  • The Breviary honors St. Linus as pope and martyr, governing the Roman Church next after blessed Peter.
  • His witness places apostolic succession beneath the sign of sacrifice, not worldly security.

For the pilgrim in exile

Hold visible apostolic continuity with sobriety. The office is Christ's gift, and history shows it carried under suffering.

Sources

  • Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for September 23, St. Linus.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 23.

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.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, when confusion, scarcity, or loneliness presses upon me, keep me from despair. Thou hast not abandoned the faithful who cling to truth.

Thought for the pilgrim

The soul in exile is not abandoned.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Name the graces God has preserved for you in exile and thank Him for them plainly.

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.
  • 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, Douay-Rheims.
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