Days on which the faithful are obliged to attend Mass and to refrain from unnecessary work — sacred festivals that interrupt ordinary time with the extraordinary things of God.
United States · Ordinary & Extraordinary Form · With obligation calculator
View the Holy Days ↓Holy Days of Obligation — formally called dies festivi or feasts of precept — are days beyond Sunday on which the faithful are bound by grave obligation to participate in Mass and to abstain from unnecessary servile work. The obligation arises from canon 1247 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which itself restates the tradition codified in the 1917 Code.
The universal Church has ten such days beyond Sunday (CIC 1246 §1). However, episcopal conferences have authority, with the approval of the Holy See, to suppress certain holy days or transfer them to the nearest Sunday. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has exercised this authority, reducing the number observed in the U.S. to six — and adding an important abrogation rule for three of them.
Missing Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation without serious reason (illness, care of infants, moral impossibility) or without a dispensation from one's pastor constitutes a grave matter. The Catechism teaches that those who deliberately miss are guilty of a grave sin (CCC 2181).
Six Holy Days of Obligation in the United States.
Scroll down for the abrogation rule and year-by-year details.
Since 1992, the USCCB has exercised its authority under Canon 1246 §2 to abbrogate the obligation for three of the six holy days when they fall on a Saturday or Monday:
When any of these three falls on a Saturday (the day before Sunday) or a Monday (the day after Sunday), the obligation to attend Mass on that date is abrogated — that is, lifted entirely for that year. The Sunday Mass fulfills the obligation.
This rule does NOT apply to: Christmas (Dec 25), the Immaculate Conception (Dec 8), or the Ascension.
In September 2024, the Vatican's Dicastery for Legislative Texts issued a formal clarification in response to a query from Bishop Thomas Paprocki (Springfield, IL): when a Holy Day of Obligation is transferred from its proper date to another day (as when December 8 falls on a Sunday in Advent and is moved to Monday), the obligation transfers with the feast.
This ruling addressed the situation with the Immaculate Conception in 2024, which fell on the 2nd Sunday of Advent and was transferred to Monday, December 9. The Vatican confirmed: "Those feasts are always days of obligation, even when the aforementioned transfer of the feast occurs."
Always confirm the obligation status with your diocese or pastor, especially in years when feasts are transferred, as diocesan bishops retain authority to grant dispensations for just cause.
Select a year to see the date and obligation status of each Holy Day — including when the Saturday/Monday rule applies.
Those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass (1962 Missale Romanum) are bound by the same legal obligation as all Latin Rite Catholics — canon 1246 §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law applies regardless of which form of the Roman Rite one attends. Mass in the Extraordinary Form fulfills the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days.
However, the EF liturgical calendar differs from the Ordinary Form in several important ways that affect how Holy Days are observed:
In the EF calendar, January 1 is celebrated as the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord (not the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God). The day is identical; only the liturgical title changes. The obligation is the same.
In the EF, the Ascension of the Lord is always celebrated on the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter — the traditional 40th day. It is never transferred to Sunday. Those attending EF Masses in provinces that have transferred Ascension to Sunday should note that the Thursday obligation applies to them.
November 1 is All Saints' Day in both forms. The EF Mass is the classic Roman form with the traditional Collect, Epistle (Rev 7:2–12), and Gospel (Mt 5:1–12). The obligation is the same in both forms.
The 1962 calendar does not include Corpus Christi or St. Joseph as obligatory in the United States. The universal ten HDOs established by the 1917 Code include these, but the USCCB has not restored them for American Catholics in either form.
"Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation. The following days must also be observed: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and finally, All Saints."
"With the prior approval of the Apostolic See, however, the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday."
"On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to attend Mass. Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord's day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body."
"Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin."