WHITSUNWEEK, or the OCTAVE of PENTECOST
28 May. Solemnity of Pentecost, or Whitsunday
31. The Visitation of the Theotokos to St Elizabeth
1 Jun. St Justin (c. 100-165), Martyr
2. SS Marcellinus and Peter (?-304), Martyrs
3. St Charles Lwanga (1860-1886) and Companions, Martyrs
The FIRST PART of TRINITYTIDE
4. Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, commonly called Trinity Sunday
5. St Boniface (675-754), Martyr
9. St Ephrem the Syrian (306-373), Doctor of the Church
11. Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, commonly called Corpus Christi [transferred]
13. St Anthony of Lisbon or of Padua (1195-1231), Doctor of the Church
16. Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
17. Immaculate Heart of Mary
18. Second Sunday After Trinity
20. St. Alban (ca. 250-300?), Protomartyr of Britain
21. St Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591)
22. SS John Fisher (1469-1535) and Thomas More (1478-1535), Martyrs
24. Solemnity of the Nativity of the Baptist
25. Third Sunday After Trinity
27. St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444), Doctor of the Church
28. St Irenæus (c. 130-202), Doctor of the Church
29. Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul, Apostles and Martyrs
30. The First Martyrs of Rome
NOTES ON THE KALENDAR
General Notes
This kalendar pertains to the Ordinariate in the US—what is informally called the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite. Our liturgy is based on that of Rome, and we are in full communion with the Pope, yet we possess certain customs and distinctives as a peculiarly English or post-Anglican expression of faith. Sundays and feasts are marked in boldface; solemnities are designated as such in their written titles; saints’ days and other features peculiar to the English tradition are in blue; extra info is in italics.
Unless unable or dispensed, Catholics must attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. Holy days that oblige in the US are: Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8; Christmas Day, Dec. 25th; the Solemnity of the Mother of God, Jan. 1; Ascension, 10 days before Pentecost, but widely affixed to the following Sunday; Assumption of Mary, Aug 15; and All Hallows, Nov. 1. (Contrary to popular belief, Ash Wednesday is not an HDO and never has been.)
Catholics also have a duty to do penance on all Fridays of the year. Abstinence from meat is traditional and remains widely practiced, though it now obliges only during Lent.
Whitsunweek
In the standard form of the Roman Rite, “Ordinary Time” resumes on the Monday immediately following Pentecost; in the old kalendar, this same date began “Time after Pentecost.” However, the English tradition (both Anglican and Ordinariate) traditionally measures Sundays after Trinity, rather than Pentecost. The Octave of Pentecost, or Whitsunweek, therefore retains a more distinct character in the Anglican Use (a.k.a. Divine Worship). It was once customary to observe this octave as an Ember week, i.e. abstaining from meat on Wednesday and Saturday, and both abstaining and fasting on Friday.
The Post-Pentecostal Solemnities and the Month of June
Trinity, Corpus Christi, and Sacred Heart are sometimes spoken of together as the post-Pentecostal solemnities, like a sub-season; all three look back to the Paschal cycle we have just left—Trinity to the feast of Pentecost, Corpus Christi to Maundy Thursday, and Sacred Heart to Good Friday—and extend our commemoration of and meditation upon those mysteries from a fresh perspective. (The second and third in particular are seen in an entirely new light after Easter and Ascension.)
More generally, the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It contains two fixed solemnities: the first is the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, which is thus “opposite” Christmas in the year and nearly on the summer solstice; as observing Christ’s nativity when the days begin to get longer alludes to his character as “the light of the world,” so too observing that of the Baptist as the days get shorter alludes to his saying “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The other is the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul, traditionally held to have been martyred under Nero not only in the same city and year, but on the same day; Peter was of course crucified upside-down, while Paul, being a Roman citizen, was beheaded.
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