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
Fourth Sunday after Easter
Sunday, May 14, 2028
Season: Eastertide
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
Fourth Sunday after Easter
Rank: Semi-Double Sunday
Color: white
Impeded feast: St. Boniface, Martyr. The temporal observance has precedence. The precise commemoration rule remains tied to the relevant proper and rubric.
Quote for the day
The Didache
“Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you.”
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - May 14
The birthday of the holy martyr Boniface, who - suffered at Tarsus, in Cilicia, under Diocletian and Maximian. His body was subsequently carried to Rome, and buried on the Latin road. — In France, St. Pontius, martyr. Having by his preaching and his zeal converted to the faith of Christ the two Caesars Philip, he obtained the palm of martyrdom under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus. — In Syria, the holy martyrs Victor and Corona, under the emperor Antoninus. Victor was subjected to various horrible torments by the judge Sebastian. As Corona, the wife of a certain soldier, was proclaiming him happy for his fortitude in his sufferings, she saw two crowns falling from heaven, one for Victor, the other for herself. She related this to all present, and was torn to pieces between two trees; Victor was beheaded. — In Sardinia, the holy martyrs Justa, Justina, and Henedina. — At Rome, pope St. Paschal, who took up from the crypts many bodies of the holy martyrs, and placed them honorably in various churches. — At Ferentino, in Tuscany, the holy bishop Boniface, who was renowned from his childhood for holiness and miracles, as is related by the blessed pope Gregory. — At Naples, in Campania, St. Pomponius, bishop. — In Egypt, St. Pachomius, an abbot, who erected many monasteries in that country, and wrote a monastic rule, which was dictated to him by an angel.
From Matins
The Comforter promised for the hour of witness.
Matins - Third Nocturn - Fourth Sunday after Easter
St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Tract 94 on St. John
“His visible Presence was then their sufficient Comfort.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary hears Christ tell the disciples that He goes to Him who sent Him and promises the Comforter.
- St. Augustine explains that the Lord had already foretold persecutions, but now speaks especially of the Paraclete who will be needed when His visible presence is withdrawn.
- The Holy Ghost strengthens the Church to bear witness under suffering, not by replacing Christ, but by testifying to Him.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not mistake the loss of visible consolations for abandonment. Christ sends the Comforter so that witness may remain firm when the world presses and the soul feels alone.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. II, Spring, Third Nocturn for the Fourth Sunday after Easter, lessons vii-ix.
- 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.
Gospel of the day
The Spirit of truth will teach you all truth.
Fourth Sunday after Easter - John 16:5-14
“When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth.”
What Our Lord teaches
- The Holy Ghost leads the Church into truth, not into novelty against Christ.
- He convinces the world of sin, justice, and judgment.
Virtue to practice
Receive correction as a grace from the Spirit of truth.
Error to resist
The false spirituality that opposes inner feeling to revealed truth.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask the Holy Ghost to make truth lovable. He does not humiliate the soul by correction; He frees it from illusions.
Sources
- John 16:5-14, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Easter.
Meditation
Victory Seen in Christ
The day lifts the pilgrim above mere survival. The Church suffers, but she suffers under the Lord who is risen, ascended, glorified, and victorious in His saints. Triumph is not a mood. It is the promised end toward which perseverance is ordered.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, keep the faithful in the Church's holy memory, and let this day's feast, feria, or witness draw my soul nearer to Thee.
Thought for the pilgrim
The Church's memory teaches the soul how to live in time.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Read the day's observance slowly, then ask what virtue it requires of you.
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 Ascension falls on the Thursday after the fifth Sunday after Easter.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.