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
15th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, September 17, 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
15th Sunday after Pentecost
Rank: Semi-Double Sunday
Color: green
Impeded feast: Stigmata of St. Francis, Confessor. The temporal observance has precedence. The precise commemoration rule remains tied to the relevant proper and rubric.
Quote for the day
St. Martha
“I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God.”
John 11:27, 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the pilgrim learns compassion for the Passion of Christ, patience in affliction, and fidelity when consolation is withdrawn.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.
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 17
The commemoration of the Impression of the - Sacred Wounds which St. Francis, founder of the Order of Minorites, received, through a wonderful favor of God, in his hands, feet and side, on Mount Alvernia, in Tuscany. — At Rome, on the road to Tivoli, the birthday of St. Justin, priest and martyr, who distinguished himself by a glorious confession of the faith, during the persecution of Valerian and Gallienus. He buried the bodies of the blessed pontiff, Xystus, of Lawrence, Hippolytus, and many other saints, and finally consummated his martyrdom under Claudius. — Also, at Rome, the holy martyrs Narcissus and Crescentio. — In Phrygia, St. Ariadna, martyr, under the emperor Adrian. — In England, the holy martyrs Socrates and Stephen. — At Nevers, the holy martyrs Valerian, Macrinus, and Gordian. — At Autun, under the emperor Antoninus and the governor Valerian, St. Flocellus, a boy, who, after many sufferings, was torn to pieces by wild beasts, and thus won the crown of martyrs. — At Liege, blessed Lambert, bishop of Maestricht. Having, through zeal for religion, rebuked the royal family, he was undeservedly put to death by the guilty, and thus entered the court of the heavenly kingdom, to enjoy it forever. — At Saragossa, in Spain, St. Peter of Arbues, first inquisitor of the faith in the kingdom of Arragon, who received the palm of martyrdom by being barbarously massacred by apostate Jews, for defending courageously the Catholic faith, according to the duties of his office. He was canonized by Pius IX. in 1867. — The same day, St. Agathoclia, servant of an infidel woman, who was for a long time subjected by her to blows and other afflictions, that she might deny Christ. She was finally presented to the judge and cruelly lacerated, and as she persisted in confessing the faith, they cut off her tongue and threw her into the flames. — At Cordova, St. Columba, virgin and martyr. — At Milan, the departure from this world of St. Satyrus, confessor, whose distinguished merits are mentioned by his brother, St. Ambrose. — At Rome, in the persecution of Diocletian, St. Theodora, a matron, who carefully ministered to the martyrs. — At Bingen, in the diocese of Mayence, St. Hildegarde, virgin.
Highlighted saint
15th Sunday after Pentecost
Young man, I say to thee, arise.
The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost shows Our Lord raising the widow's son at Naim and returning him to his mother.
The day teaches Christ's sovereign mercy over death and the Church's maternal sorrow for souls spiritually dead, whom only the voice of Christ can raise.
This Gospel trains hope without making death small. A soul dead in sin is not helped by soft words, but by the voice of Christ, prayer, repentance, and grace.
Virtue to practice
Hope in Christ's life-giving mercy.
Error to resist
The despair that treats spiritual death as final or beyond the command of Christ.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not measure death by human sight alone. The Lord who touches the bier can command the soul to rise.
Imitate today
- Pray for a soul deadened by sin.
- Respond promptly when Christ calls you to rise.
- Comfort sorrow with faith in His power.
- Ask Christ to speak life into every deadened place.
Sources
- Luke 7:11-16, Douay-Rheims.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
From Matins
The widow's son and the raising of dead souls.
Matins - Third Nocturn - 15th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Discourse 44 on the Words of the Lord
“That souls of men are every day called to life is the joy of our Mother the Church.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary teaches that Christ's visible miracles are signs by which the faithful should understand spiritual realities.
- St. Augustine reads the raising of the widow's son as an image of souls dead in mind and called back to life by Christ.
- The Church rejoices not only when bodies are raised, but when sinners awake from interior death and receive light.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not despair of souls that seem dead. Christ sees the death hidden from others, and He alone can command the soul to rise.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. III, Summer, Third Nocturn for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, 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.
Breviary Witness
Christ raises the widow's son.
Matins - 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Breviary witness
- The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost contemplates Christ raising the dead young man at Naim and giving him back to his mother.
- Its witness teaches hope for souls spiritually dead and compassion for the Church's maternal sorrow over her children.
For the pilgrim in exile
Pray where life seems gone. The voice of Christ can raise what human hope already mourns.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
- Luke 7:11-16, Douay-Rheims.
Gospel of the day
Young man, I say to thee, arise.
15th Sunday after Pentecost - Luke 7:11-16
“And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her: Weep not.”
What Our Lord teaches
- Christ meets death with compassion and command.
- The widow of Naim shows the tenderness of God toward grief and helplessness.
Virtue to practice
Bring grief to Christ and console another sorrowing soul.
Error to resist
The hopelessness that forgets Christ can speak life into death.
For the pilgrim in exile
Hear the words 'weep not' as compassion, not rebuke. Our Lord first sees the tears, then raises what seemed lost.
Sources
- Luke 7:11-16, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for the 15th 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 Jesus Christ, by Thy Precious Blood cleanse my conscience, strengthen my will, and teach me never to treat grace as cheap.
Thought for the pilgrim
The Precious Blood teaches the price of grace.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Give thanks for the Precious Blood and guard every known occasion where grace could be wasted.
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.