Saints’ Days – Ordinary Time & the Sanctoral Cycle – Video

Liturgy and Sacraments Video #9. In addition to the special seasons of Advent and Lent, Christmas and Easter, there is in the current Roman Calendar “Ordinary Time” during which saints’ days abound.  The cycle of memorials, feasts and Solemnities of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints is known as the sanctoral cycle.

The Catholic Church, in addition to a seasonal calendar, has a family calendar of “birthdays.”  These are saints’ days, occasions to remember the family heroes of past years, imitate their example, and invoke their intercession.  Though they are to be found throughout the year, they are more heavily concentrated in what the revised Roman Calendar calls “ordinary time.”  The yearly cycle of memorials, feasts, and solemnities of the Lord, his Blessed Mother Mary and the saints is known as the sanctoral cycle.  The origin and the development of this sanctoral cycle is explained in this lecture.

This video on ordinary time and the sanctoral cycle of saints days in the Catholic liturgical year is the ninth session of Theology 552 of the Catholic Distance University course Liturgy and Sacraments.

For the previous video (8) in this course, click here.

For the next video (10) in this course, click here.