Moving Patronal Feasts
Date: September 6, 2025
Author: Fr. Edward McNamara, LC
Question: Last September you published a response clarifying a question about duplicating the celebration of a liturgical feast. However, according to the Table of Liturgical Days, the Sunday of Ordinary Time takes precedence over the feast of the patron saint of a diocese, is that correct? For example, if in a diocese the patronal feast is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15) and in the civil calendar that date does not coincide with a Sunday: a) can the diocesan bishop move that patronal feast to the following Sunday? b) if so, would it be correct for the bishop to order that the patronal feast day be celebrated in the diocesan cathedral on August 15 with the presbyterate and the lay faithful, and that in the parishes the celebration of the liturgical feast be doubled both on August 15 — as indicated by the general liturgical calendar — and on the following Sunday — according to the disposition of the diocesan bishop? — J.G., Zipaquirá, Colombia
Answer: While this is an interesting question, our correspondent did not choose the most suitable possible example to illustrate his question.
This is because the feast of the Assumption is already a solemnity in the general Roman calendar and hence, will always be celebrated as such on August 15. The fact that it is also the diocesan patron does not enhance its position in the Table of Liturgical Days as it already occupies a higher position.
The relevant part of this table is:
3. Solemnities inscribed in the General Calendar, whether of the Lord, of the Blessed Virgin Mary or of Saints. The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.
4. Proper Solemnities, namely:
a. The Solemnity of the principal Patron of the place, city or state.
b. The Solemnity of the dedication and of the anniversary of the dedication of one’s own church.
c. The Solemnity of the Title of one’s own church.
d. The Solemnity either of the Title or of the Founder or of the principal Patron of an Order or Congregation. […]
5. Feasts of the Lord inscribed in the General Calendar.
6. Sundays of Christmas Time and the Sundays in Ordinary Time.
7. Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Saints in the General Calendar.
8. Proper Feasts, namely:
a. The Feast of the principal Patron of the diocese.
b. The Feast of the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral church.
c. The Feast of the principal Patron of a region or province, or a country, or of a wider territory.
d. The Feast of the Title, Founder, or principal Patron of an Order or Congregation and of a religious province, without prejudice to the prescriptions given under no. 4.
e. Other Feasts proper to an individual church.
f. Other Feasts inscribed in the Calendar of each diocese or Order or Congregation.
As can be seen from the table, a diocesan patron can be classed either as a solemnity or as a feast.
This is not always easy to determine as it often depends on historical factors such as the way the calendar has been structured and the varying criteria used for assigning the degree of precedence of feasts over the course of several centuries.
For example, in the Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, the patron St. Idelphonse, January 23; St. Lawrence O’Toole, patron of Dublin, Ireland, November 14; and in Lima, Peru, St. Rose of Lima, on August 30 (a date that differs from the general calendar) are all celebrated as solemnities in the whole diocese.
In some cases, there can be mixed celebrations. For example, in the Italian diocese of Agnani-Alatri, one of the historical suburbican dioceses surrounding Rome, the diocesan patron, St. Magno of Agnani, a second-century bishop and martyr, is celebrated on August 19. In the town of Agnani he is celebrated as a solemnity, in the rest of the diocese as a feast. This double practice of the diocesan patron being celebrated as a solemnity in the principal town or city and as a feast in the rest of the diocese is quite common in Italy.
However, one of the most recent official documents on this matter, a 1997 notification by the Congregation for Divine Worship, stated that it did not favor the elevation of diocesan patrons to the level of solemnity. In the following, unofficial translation from the Italian, this document stated:
“19. The diocesan calendar includes: the feast of the (principal) Patron of the diocese, the Feast of the Dedication of the cathedral church as well as the obligatory memorial of any secondary Patron. The celebrations of those Saints and Blesseds who have a special bond with the diocese itself are also included in the same diocese: for example, those who were born there, served the Church there for a long time, or died there, especially if their bodies or major relics are preserved in the place, or if they are the objects of an immemorial and continuing veneration (cf. Normae, no. 52a; Table nos. 8a, 8b, 11a; Calendaria particularia, no. 9).
“The request, made not infrequently, that the (principal) Patron of the diocese be able to have a celebration with the degree of Solemnity is not in full harmony with the norms (cf. Tabula, no. 8a) and is not advisable.”
Regarding the transfer of such feasts the document says:
“12. For the future, therefore, the Congregation intends to insist more on the need to maintain the celebrations of the General Calendar on the day assigned to them, and not to allow the transfer to another day of impeding celebrations, except for exceptional pastoral reasons involving a considerable number of the faithful. The same will be true for the national calendars and those of inter-diocesan regions with regard to the diocesan calendar.
“13. In fact, if it is a question of the impediment of a celebration to be held at a subsidiary level, the principle that establishes the transfer of the impeded celebration rather than that of the celebration that prevents it will normally be adhered to.
“14. Transfers of impeding celebrations are sometimes motivated by the existence of processions or other celebrations of popular piety among the Catholic people. These cases deserve special attention. When, however, these events are of a popular folkloric rather than of a liturgical nature, they can take place independently of the liturgical functions and therefore do not need the transfer of a celebration. There remains, however, proper solemnities and feasts where a deep-rooted and immemorial popular tradition will constitute sufficient reason for the transfer of the impeding celebration (cf. Calendaria particularia, n.23b).
“16. Legislation has provided for the possibility of changing the date of celebration of certain solemnities, namely those of the Epiphany, the Ascension, and the Body and Blood of the Lord. When they are no longer holy days of obligation, they are transferred to the nearest Sunday (Normae, n. 7). The Solemnity of St. Joseph, when it is not a holy day of obligation, can also be transferred outside of Lent, if the bishops deem it opportune (Normae, n. 56). In the case of the Solemnity of All Saints, for example, there could be valid reasons for a transfer, so that it coincides with a day more in harmony with the local culture (cf. Calendaria particularia, no. 36). Apart from these cases, the dates of the General Calendar should be adhered to, and in general the liturgical year should be safeguarded with great care, and especially the very special character of Sunday as the ‘Lord's Day’ on which the Church commemorates the Passion, Resurrection and glory of the Lord Jesus (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 106).”
In the light of the above, it would not normally be within the bishop’s province to transfer a liturgical feast to the following Sunday as this would be tantamount to elevating it to the level of a solemnity. Nor can he transfer a solemnity already in the general calendar, such as the Assumption, to the following Sunday, at least not without obtaining express approval from the Holy See. From this it should be clear that he may not duplicate the feast.
If the reason for the transfer to Sunday is to facilitate processions and other expressions of popular piety, then, as seen above in No. 14, it must be evaluated if these can be decoupled from the liturgical feast.
If the patronal celebration has the category of solemnity in the diocesan calendar alone, it should normally be celebrated as such on the assigned day.
However, in this latter case, for sound pastoral reasons involving most of the diocese, the bishop could transfer it to the nearest Sunday if it falls within Ordinary Time. He may not do so if it falls within one of the major liturgical seasons of Advent, Lent or Easter as the Sundays of these times are among the highest celebrations in the table and may not be substituted.
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