Journey with Mary, Path to Jesus

Calendar of Marian Feasts

A page from a 19th-century illuminated liturgical calendar

The Catholic year is woven through with feasts of the Mother of God. Some are ancient, some are quite recent, all of them carry the Church’s memory of Mary into every season. Here is the year, month by month.

January

  • 1 January — Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The oldest Marian feast in the Roman Calendar; the Church begins each new year under her protection.

February

  • 2 February — The Presentation of the Lord. Mary presents the Christ child in the Temple; sometimes called Candlemas.
  • 11 February — Our Lady of Lourdes. The 1858 apparitions to Saint Bernadette Soubirous.

March

  • 25 March — The Annunciation of the Lord. Nine months before Christmas. The angel Gabriel greets Mary; she gives her Fiat.

May

  • 13 May — Our Lady of Fátima. The 1917 apparitions in Cova da Iria, Portugal.
  • 24 May — Mary, Help of Christians. A title especially loved by Saint John Bosco.
  • 31 May — The Visitation. Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth and sings the Magnificat.
  • The Saturday after Pentecost — The Immaculate Heart of Mary.

July

  • 16 July — Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Carmelite tradition, the brown scapular.

August

  • 5 August — Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Salus Populi Romani).
  • 15 August — Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A holy day of obligation in many countries.
  • 22 August — The Queenship of Mary.

September

  • 8 September — The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary’s own birthday.
  • 12 September — The Most Holy Name of Mary.
  • 15 September — Our Lady of Sorrows. The seven sorrows.

October

  • 7 October — Our Lady of the Rosary. Instituted after the Battle of Lepanto, 1571. October is the Month of the Rosary.

November

  • 21 November — The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

December

  • 8 December — Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. A holy day of obligation in the United States. Patronal feast of the United States.
  • 10 December — Our Lady of Loreto.
  • 12 December — Our Lady of Guadalupe. The 1531 apparitions to Saint Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico.

Plus the regional Marian feasts of every Catholic country and many religious orders. Mary is remembered in the Catholic Church somewhere, every single day of the year.