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

4th Sunday after the Epiphany

Sunday, October 31, 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

4th Sunday after the Epiphany

Rank: Semi-Double Sunday

Color: green

Vigil: Vigil of All Saints.

Quote for the day

Catechism of the Council of Trent

Fasting is most intimately connected with prayer.

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - October 31

The vigil of All Saints. — At Rome, the birthday of blessed Nemesius, deacon, and his daughter, the virgin Lucilla. As they could not be prevailed upon to abandon the faith of Christ, they were beheaded on the 25th of August by order of the emperor Valerian. Their bodies were buried by the blessed pope Stephen, and afterwards more decently entombed on this day, on the Appian road, by blessed Xystus. Gregory V. translated them into the sacristy of Santa Maria Nova, together with the Saints Symphronius, Olympius, tribune, Exuperia, his wife, and Theodulus, his son, who, being all converted by the exertions of Symphronius, and baptized by the same St. Stephen, had been crowned with martyrdom. These holy bodies were found there during the Pontificate of Gregory XIII., and placed more honorably beneath the altar of the same church, on the 8th of December. — The same day, the Saints Ampliatus, Urbanus and Narcissus, who are mentioned by St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans. They were put to death by the Jews and Gentiles for the Gospel of Christ. — At Saint-Quentin, in France, St. Quinctinus, Roman citizen and senator, who endured martyrdom under the emperor Maximian. By the revelation of an angel, his body was found incorrupt after the lapse of fifty-five years. — At Constantinople, St. Stachis, bishop, who was consecrated first bishop of that city by the blessed apostle Andrew. — At Milan, St. Antoninus, bishop and confessor. — At Ratisbon, St. Wolfgang, bishop.

Gospel of the day

An enemy hath done this.

Sunday after the Epiphany cycle - Matthew 13:24-30

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field.

What Our Lord teaches

  • Christ warns that the field will contain wheat and cockle until the appointed judgment.
  • The patience of God is not indifference, but ordered providence.

Virtue to practice

Be patient without becoming careless about truth.

Error to resist

The rash zeal that would uproot what God has not commanded us to uproot.

For the pilgrim in exile

Let Our Lord govern the field. Your task is fidelity, discernment, and patience; His task is the harvest.

Sources

  • Matthew 13:24-30, Douay-Rheims.
  • Traditional Roman Gospel in the Epiphany Sunday cycle.

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.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, do not permit me to admire truth without submitting to it. Give me the courage to obey what Thou hast already made known.

Thought for the pilgrim

Truth becomes fruitful when it is obeyed.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Choose one known duty and obey it without delay or complaint.

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, p. xv: the third through twenty-third Sundays after Pentecost are semi-doubles; the twenty-fourth Sunday is fixed at the end of the cycle.
  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xiii and xv: the remaining third through sixth Sundays after the Epiphany are restored before the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost as the year requires.
  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.