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The Feast of the Holy Family falls on Sunday, December 27, 2026 . It celebrates Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Catholic calendar, the feast is normally observed on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, the eight-day period beginning with the Nativity of the Lord on December 25 and ending on January 1.

Christmas Day falls on Friday, December 25, 2026 . This major Christian feast celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, when the eternal Son of God entered human history to bring salvation and eternal life to the world. Unlike Easter, Christmas is a fixed holy day that is celebrated on December 25 every year.

Gaudete Sunday falls on Sunday, December 13, 2026 . It is the Third Sunday of Advent, when the Church gives special expression to Christian joy as Christmas draws nearer.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on December 12 . It recalls the appearances of the Virgin Mary to Saint Juan Diego at Tepeyac, near Mexico City, in 1531 and the image associated with his tilma. The feast is especially important across the Americas because its message expressed the Christian faith within the language and culture of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico.

The Feast of Annai Velankanni, or Our Lady of Good Health, falls on September 8 . Celebrations at Velankanni (also spelled Vailankanni), in Tamil Nadu begin on August 29 and continue through September 8. The devotion recalls ancient traditions of Mary appearing with the Child Jesus and is centered at one of India’s most important Christian pilgrimage shrines.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls on Tuesday, December 8, 2026 . This Catholic dogma and feast day celebrates the belief that Mary, from the first instant of her conception in the womb of her mother, was preserved immune from original sin by a unique gift of God’s grace through the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ.

Advent begins on Sunday, November 29, 2026 , and continues until Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 2026 . It has four Sundays. Its starting date changes because Advent begins on the Sunday falling between November 27 and December 3. The season prepares Christians for Christ's birth and for His return in glory.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2026 falls on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 . This fixed Catholic feast celebrates the birth of Mary, the woman chosen by God to become the Mother of Jesus Christ. Catholics sometimes affectionately call September 8 “Mama Mary's birthday,” but the Church's official liturgical title is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary .

Purgatory is the final cleansing of a person who dies in God’s friendship but is not yet fully ready for the complete holiness of heaven. Catholic teaching explains that every soul in purgatory is already saved by Jesus Christ and will certainly enter heaven once their purification is complete. Purgatory is not a second chance to choose God after death, nor is it a permanent middle place between heaven and hell.