Holy days of obligation 2027

Here are the holy days of obligation for 2027 in the United States, with the weekday of each and whether the obligation applies. The dates follow the US bishops' liturgical calendar for 2027. Easter falls on March 28, 2027, which sets the date of the Ascension.

Holy days of obligation 2027 at a glance

• Mary, the Holy Mother of God: Friday, January 1, 2027. Obligation applies.
• The Ascension of the Lord: Thursday, May 6, 2027, in the provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha and Philadelphia (obligation applies). Everywhere else it moves to Sunday, May 9.
• The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Sunday, August 15, 2027. Obligation applies (it is a Sunday anyway).
• All Saints: Monday, November 1, 2027. Not obligatory this year, because it falls on a Monday.
• The Immaculate Conception: Wednesday, December 8, 2027. Obligation applies.
• Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord: Saturday, December 25, 2027. Obligation applies, and Sunday, December 26, follows with its own obligation.

Every Sunday of the year is also a day of obligation.

What a holy day of obligation is

A holy day of obligation is a feast on which Catholics are bound to attend Mass, as on a Sunday. Canon 1247 of the Code of Canon Law says, "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass." Canon 1248 adds that Mass "either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day" satisfies the obligation, which is why parishes hold vigil Masses the night before.

Canon 1246 lists ten holy days for the whole Latin Church: Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Mary the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, St. Joseph, Sts. Peter and Paul, and All Saints. It also lets each national conference of bishops, with the Holy See's approval, drop some or move them to a Sunday. So the list differs from country to country.

The US rules

The US bishops' complementary norm to canon 1246 keeps six holy days in the Latin dioceses of the United States. It also lifts the obligation for three of them, January 1, August 15 and November 1, whenever they fall on a Saturday or a Monday. The Immaculate Conception, the patronal feast of the United States, and Christmas are not covered by that exception; they are always obligatory.

That is why All Saints is not a holy day of obligation in 2027. The USCCB calendar says so plainly: "because it is a Monday, this year the obligation to attend Mass on this date is abrogated." The solemnity itself is still celebrated, and it remains a good day to go to Mass.

One state has a shorter list. The USCCB calendar notes that in 1992 the Bishop of Honolulu designated Christmas and the Immaculate Conception "as the only two Holydays of Obligation for the State of Hawaii."

The Ascension: Thursday or Sunday?

The Ascension comes forty days after Easter, which makes it Thursday, May 6, in 2027. Only five ecclesiastical provinces still keep it on that Thursday as a holy day of obligation:

• Boston: Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont
• Hartford: Connecticut and Rhode Island
• New York: New York State
• Philadelphia: Pennsylvania
• Omaha: Nebraska

All other provinces have transferred it to the following Sunday, May 9, 2027. If you aren't sure which applies, your diocese's website or parish bulletin will say.

Christmas on a Saturday

Christmas 2027 falls on Saturday, December 25, and the next day, Sunday, December 26, is the feast of the Holy Family. Both days carry an obligation, and the Saturday rule does not apply to Christmas. One Mass is understood to satisfy only one obligation, so most Catholics will attend two: a Christmas Mass on the evening of December 24 or during the day on December 25, and a Sunday Mass on the evening of December 25 or on December 26.

The Assumption is simpler. August 15, 2027, is a Sunday, and the solemnity takes the place of that Sunday's Mass, so a single Mass covers both.

Holy days the US doesn't keep

Four of the holy days on the universal list are not days of obligation in the United States. In 2027:

• The Epiphany is celebrated on Sunday, January 3, in the US.
• St. Joseph falls on Friday, March 19.
• The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) is kept on Sunday, May 30.
• Sts. Peter and Paul fall on Tuesday, June 29.

Mass is offered on all of them, but attendance on the weekdays isn't required.

Other countries and the Eastern Catholic churches

Holy days of obligation are set country by country, so travelers should check locally.

• Canada has only two besides Sundays: Mary, Mother of God (Friday, January 1, 2027) and Christmas (Saturday, December 25, 2027), as decreed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• England and Wales keep Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Sts. Peter and Paul, the Assumption and All Saints. Under a 1984 decision of their bishops, a holy day other than Christmas that falls on a Saturday or Monday is moved to the Sunday. In 2027 that moves All Saints to Sunday, October 31.
• Eastern Catholic churches, such as the Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Melkite and Maronite churches, follow their own code of canon law and their own calendars. Their holy days differ from the Latin list, so Eastern Catholics should follow their eparchy's calendar.

For how solemnities, feasts and memorials fit together, see feast days and the Church calendar. For the saints of November 1, see All Saints' Day, and to look up any date, see the feast day calendar.