From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
May 30, 2026 (#104)
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and the Feast of the Visitation
In this year of Our Lord, 2026, on May 31, the Roman Catholic Church will, as usual, celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on the octave day of, that is, one week after, the Solemnity of Pentecost. This feast to honor the Trinity was established for the Latin rite and set on this date in 1334 by Pope John XXII (1316-1344). Previous popes had declined to establish a special fest for this purpose, arguing that the Church honored the Holy Trinity in her liturgy every day of the year, especially Sundays. The liturgical changes made after Vatican Council II did not affect the observance of this feast.
When the liturgical calendar for the Catholic Church underwent significant changes in 1969, the feast of the Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary was moved from July 2 to May 31. This feast commemorates the visit of the Virgin Mary, who was then pregnant with Jesus, to her kinswoman, Elizabeth, who was expecting the birth of her first and only child, John the Baptist, as recounted in the Gospel of Luke (1:39-56). The Marian feast was inserted into the General Roman Calendar in 1389 by Pope Urban VI (1378-1389), fixed on the day following the octave day of the Nativity of John the Baptist (i.e., July 2). The justification for the transfer to the earlier (May) date in the late 1960s was so that the feast better conform to the sequence of the Gospel story: the Annunciation being celebrated on March 25 and the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist on June 24. However, the change also meant that there would be years in which the feast would not be celebrated liturgically because it was overshadowed by movable feasts of a higher rank, as happens this year.
The Visitation is also commemorated in the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Moreover, treasured words of this Gospel passage are on the lips of countless faithful each day in the devout recitation of the “Hail Mary” (see Luke 1:42: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb”) and the Magnificat (see Luke 1:46–55), which is sung or recited daily in Evening Prayer (Vespers) of the Liturgy of the Hours.
So, though the feast day of the Visitation will not be observed liturgically this year, Catholics would do well to remember on this day her extraordinary relationship to each (Divine) Person of the Holy Trinity, for she is well honored as the most faithful daughter of God the Father, the holy mother of God the Son, and the immaculate spouse of the Holy Spirit.
