tempus per annum
Ordinary Time
The thirty-three or thirty-four green weeks outside the great seasons, numbered in order and marked by green, not unremarkable.
time through the year
Ordinary Time is the part of the year that does not belong to Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter. It runs in two blocks, from after the Baptism of the Lord until Ash Wednesday and from after Pentecost until Advent. The name does not mean unimportant: the weeks are counted in order, and in Latin the season is simply tempus per annum, “time through the year.” Its purpose is to unfold the mystery of Christ in all its fullness, Sunday by Sunday, and its colour is green.
Councils
Where the Church settled or debated this. Follow a council to read our article on it, or the decrees themselves.
- 1962–1965Second Vatican Councilthe decrees
Sources
Church teaching
- Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman CalendarUniversal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar (1969), nn. 43–44, on Ordinary Time.
Sources checked 29 September 2026