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
14th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, September 10, 2028
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
14th Sunday after Pentecost
Rank: Semi-Double Sunday
Color: green
Impeded feast: St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor. The temporal observance has precedence. The precise commemoration rule remains tied to the relevant proper and rubric.
Quote for the day
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection
“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”
The Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of a Holy Life, Fourth Conversation
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the pilgrim learns compassion for the Passion of Christ, patience in affliction, and fidelity when consolation is withdrawn.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.
Sunday remembrance
The Most Holy Trinity
Sunday belongs first to the worship of God and the commemoration of the Resurrection. Adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, from Whom every grace descends and to Whom the whole Christian life must return.
Intention
For the worthy worship of God, fidelity to Sunday Mass, and the restoration of Christian observance of the Lord's Day.
A faithful act
Protect the day from unnecessary servile work and give God an unhurried period of worship, doctrine, or spiritual reading.
Prayer
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and forever.
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - September 10
At Tolentino, in the March of Ancona, the departure from this life of St. Nicholas, confessor, of the Order of Augustinians. — In Africa, the birthday of the holy bishops Nemesian, Felix, Lucius, another Felix, Litteus, Polyan, Victor, Jader, Dativus, and others. As a violent persecution was breaking out under Valerian and Gallienus, they were at their first courageous confession of Christ beaten with rods, then put in irons, and being sent to dig in the metal mines, they terminated their combat and glorious confession. — At Chalcedon, in the persecution of Diocletian, the holy martyrs Sosthenes and Victor. Under Priscus, proconsul of Asia, after they had been loaded with fetters and exposed to the beasts, they were condemned to be burned. But whilst they were saluting each other with a holy kiss and praying, they expired. — In Bithynia, the holy virgins Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora, sisters. Under the emperor Maximian and the governor Fronto, they were crowned with martyrdom, and went to eternal glory. — Also, the holy martyrs Apellius, Luke, and Clement. — At Liege, in Belgium, St. Theodard, bishop and martyr, who laid down his life for his flock, and after his death was renowned for the gift of miracles. — At Rome, blessed Hilary, pope and confessor. — At Compost ell a, St. Peter, bishop, who was celebrated for his many virtues and miracles. — In the city of Albi, St. Salvius, bishop and confessor. — At Novara, St. Agapius, bishop. — At Constantinople, St. Pulcheria, empress and virgin, distinguished by her piety and zeal for religion.
Highlighted saint
St. Nicholas of Tolentino
Confessor of penance, prayer, and mercy for suffering souls.
The Martyrology remembers St. Nicholas of Tolentino as a confessor of the Order of Augustinians.
His feast keeps together penance, prayer, and charity toward the faithful departed, especially souls undergoing purification in Purgatory. Catholic devotion does not reduce mercy to sentiment; it prays, fasts, and offers sacrifice.
Virtue to practice
Merciful penance.
Error to resist
The comfortable mercy that speaks kindly but refuses sacrifice.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask St. Nicholas for a merciful seriousness. Souls are helped by prayer and sacrifice, not by vague goodwill alone.
Imitate today
- Pray for the faithful departed.
- Offer a small penance for souls in need.
- Let mercy become intercession.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, September 10.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 10.
From Matins
No man can serve God and Mammon.
Matins - Third Nocturn - 14th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount
“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary presses Our Lord's warning that the soul must choose between God and Mammon—riches treated as a master that claims the heart's service.
- St. Augustine teaches that the servant of Mammon is led captive by lust and held by a destroying master.
- Even necessary earthly cares can divide the heart if the soul seeks them with a corrupted intention.
For the pilgrim in exile
Name the master your choices reveal. Seek first the kingdom of God, and do not let necessary things become ruling things.
Full Breviary lessons
Seventh Lesson - St. Augustine on the Two Masters
The Lesson is taken from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew (vi. 24.) At that time: JESUS said unto His disciples: No man can serve two masters. And so on. Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop [of Hippo.] (Bk. ii. on the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, ch. xiv.) "No man can serve two masters," and this is further explained--"for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." These words we ought carefully to weigh, for the Lord showeth straightway who be the two masters whom we have choice of: "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Mammon is a term which the Hebrews are said to use for riches. It is also a Carthaginian word; for the Punic for "gain" is "mammon."
Eighth Lesson - The Hard and Destroying Master
He which serveth mammon, serveth that evil one who hath perversely chosen to be lord of these earthly things, and is called by the Lord "the prince of this world." (John xiv. 30.) Of these two masters, either a man will hate the one and love the other, that is God--or he will hold to the one and despise the other. He which serveth mammon holdeth to an hard and destroying master, for he is led captive by his lust, and sold a slave to the devil, and him loveth no man--is there any man that loveth the devil? And yet there be that hold to him.
Ninth Lesson - Necessary Cares and the Divided Heart
"Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on"--lest, albeit such things are not idle, but needful to be sought after, yet the seeking for things even needful should divide the heart; and our intention should be corrupted when we do something as it were mercifully; that is, lest, when we would seem to be seeking another's good, it should be profit to ourselves, rather than benefit to him, that we seek; and therefore we seem not to ourselves to sin, because we would seek things not idle, but needful.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Third Nocturn for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, lessons vii-ix, printed pp. 326-327.
- 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
Penance made merciful.
Matins - St. Nicholas of Tolentino
Breviary witness
- The Breviary honors St. Nicholas of Tolentino as an Augustinian confessor, a witness of prayer, penance, and charity toward souls.
- His feast reminds the faithful that mercy is strengthened, not weakened, by sacrifice offered for others.
For the pilgrim in exile
Let mercy cost something. Pray for the faithful departed and offer small penances for souls in need of God's mercy.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for September 10, St. Nicholas of Tolentino.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 10.
Gospel of the day
Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
14th Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 6:24-33
“No man can serve two masters.”
What Our Lord teaches
- Christ forbids divided service and commands trust in the Father's providence.
- Anxiety is corrected by seeking first the kingdom and justice of God.
Virtue to practice
Put the duties of God's kingdom before anxious calculation.
Error to resist
The servitude of mammon and the worry that acts as its prayer.
For the pilgrim in exile
Let tomorrow remain in the Father's hands. Today has enough room for fidelity, and fidelity is lighter than anxious control.
Sources
- Matthew 6:24-33, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost.
Meditation
The Church Made Public
At Pentecost the Holy Ghost strengthened the apostles to preach Christ publicly and carry the Gospel to the nations. His work is not private excitement separated from doctrine, worship, and the authority Christ established. The faithful should ask Him for zeal that makes them more obedient to revealed truth, more constant in charity, and more courageous in Catholic witness.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, bless every natural good, but do not let me confuse it with the life of grace. Draw my family, my work, and my affections beneath the Catholic Faith.
Thought for the pilgrim
Natural kindness is not the same as supernatural fidelity.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Thank God for natural goods and order their use to grace and truth.
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, 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.
- 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.
- Matthew 28:19, Douay-Rheims.