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JSchaaf
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| Posted: March 20 2005 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
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What is the difference between a solemnity, a feast, and a memorial? Is a solemnity the same as a day of obligations?
Thanks!
Jennifer
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MicheleQ
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JSchaaf wrote:
| What is the difference between a solemnity, a feast, and a memorial? Is a solemnity the same as a day of obligations? |
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No, solemnities are not the same as holy days of obligations. Some solemnities are holy days some are not.
From the Catholic Liturgy Library
I. The Liturgical Day in General
3. Each day is made holy through the liturgical celebrations of the people of God, especially through the eucharistic sacrifice and the divine office.
The liturgical day runs from midnight to midnight, but the observance of Sunday and solemnities begins with the evening of the preceding day.
II. Sunday
4. The Church celebrates the paschal mystery on the first day of the week, known as the Lord's Day or Sunday. This follows a tradition handed down from the apostles and having its origin from the day of Christ's resurrection. Thus Sunday must be ranked as the first holyday of all. [3]
5. Because of its special importance, the Sunday celebration gives way only to solemnities or feasts of the Lord. The Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, however, take precedence over all solemnities and feasts of the Lord. Solemnities occuring on these Sundays are observed on the Saturdays preceding.
6. By its nature, Sunday excludes any other celebration's being permanently assigned to that day, with these exceptions:
a. Sunday within the octave of Christmas is the feast of the Holy Family;
b. Sunday following 6 January is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord;
c. Sunday after Pentecost is the solemnity of the Holy Trinity;
d. the last Sunday in Ordinary Time is the solemnity of Christ the King.
7. In those places where the solemnities of Epiphany, Ascension, and Corpus Christi are not observed as holydays of obligation, they are assigned to a Sunday, which is then considered their proper day in calendar. Thus:
a. Epiphany, to the Sunday falling between 2 January and 8 January;
b. Ascension, to the Seventh Sunday of Easter;
c. the solemnity of Corpus Christi, to the Sunday after Trinity Sunday.
III. Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials
8. As it celebrates the mystery of Christ in yearly cycle, the Church also venerates with a particular love Mary, the Mother of God, and sets before the devotion of the faithful the memory of the martyrs and other saints. [4]
9. The saints of universal significance have celebrations obligatory throughout the entire Church. Other saints either are listed in the General Calendar for optional celebration or are left to the veneration of some particular Church, region, or religious family. [5]
10. According to their importance, celebrations are distinguished from each other and named as follows: solemnities, feasts, memorials.
11. Solemnities are counted as the principal days in the calendar and their observance begins with evening prayer I of the preceding day. Some also have their own vigil Mass for use when Mass is celebrated in the evening of the preceding day.
The celebration of Easter and Christmas, the two greatest solemnities, continues for eight days, with each octave governed by its own rules.
13. Feasts are celebrated within the limits of the natural day and accordingly do not have evening prayer I. Exceptions are feasts of the Lord that fall on a Sunday in Ordinary Time and in the Christmas season and that replace the Sunday office.
14. Memorials are either obligatory or optional. Their observance is integrated into the celebration of the occurring weekday in accord with the norms set forth in the General Instructions of the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Obligatory memorials occurring on Lenten weekdays may only be celebrated as optional memorials.
Should more than one optional memorial fall on the same day, only one may be celebrated; the others are omitted.
15. On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.
IV. Weekdays
16. The days following Sundays are called weekdays. They are celebrated in different ways according to the importance each one has.
a. Ash Wednesday and the days of Holy Week, from Monday to Thursday inclusive, have precedence over all other celebrations.
b. The weekdays of Advent from 17 December to 24 December inclusive and all the weekdays of Lent have precedence over obligatory memorials.
c. All other weekdays give way to solemnities and feasts and are combined with memorials.
God bless!
__________________
Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 20 2005 at 7:49pm | IP Logged
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Yes, what Michele quoted from is the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar .
All holydays of obligation are solemnities, but not all solemnities are holydays. Clear as mud? 
The Church has set aside certain days as holydays of obligation. See Code of Canon Law, TITLE II: SACRED TIMES (Cann. 1244 - 1258) CHAPTER I : FEAST DAYS
Can. 1246 §1 The Lord's Day, on which the paschal mystery is celebrated, is by apostolic tradition to be observed in the universal Church as the primary holyday of obligation. In the same way the following holydays are to be observed: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of St Joseph, the feast of the Apostles SS Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints.
§2 However, the Episcopal Conference may, with the prior approval of the Apostolic See, suppress certain holydays of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.
Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holydays of obligation, the faithful are obliged to assist at Mass. They are also to abstain from such work or business that would inhibit the worship to be given to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, or the due relaxation of mind and body.
Can. 1248 §1 The obligation of assisting at Mass is satisfied wherever Mass is celebrated in a catholic rite either on a holyday itself or on the evening of the previous day.
§2 If it is impossible to assist at a eucharistic celebration, either because no sacred minister is available or for some other grave reason, the faithful are strongly recommended to take part in a liturgy of the Word, if there be such in the parish church or some other sacred place, which is celebrated in accordance with the provisions laid down by the diocesan Bishop; or to spend an appropriate time in prayer, whether personally or as a family or, as occasion presents, in a group of families.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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