7 Catholic Devotions to Change Your Week — and Your Life, by Deacon Thomas L. McDonald
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Each day of the week has a traditional devotion, from the Resurrection on Sunday, to the souls in purgatory, the angels, St. Joseph, the Blessed Sacrament, the crucifixion of Our Lord, and Our Lady on Saturday. (photo: Wikimedia Commons / Register Staff)
By Deacon Thomas L. McDonald, National Catholic Register, June 26, 2025
Deacon Thomas L. McDonald Thomas L. McDonald serves as a deacon in the Diocese of Trenton, where his ministries include catechesis and consolation. He writes at An Owl Among the Ruins and Weird Catholic.
Rooted in centuries of Catholic tradition, these daily devotions offer a practical way to sanctify time and live your faith more intentionally all week long.
In Catholic tradition, each day of the week has some particular devotional subject. These entered popular piety over time with the rise of votive Masses in the early Church. Votive Masses, offered for a special intention rather than a fixed feast, eventually led to texts being assigned to different days of the week in order to commemorate certain mysteries and persons.
Some of these took shape through Alcuin’s Liber Sacramentorum, proliferating over the centuries until various popes and councils reined them in, leaving the days with different liturgical characters. The Missal of Paul V (1570) organized the votives this way:
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Monday: Trinity
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Tuesday: Angels
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Wednesday: Apostles (also St. Joseph, after 1920)
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Thursday: Holy Spirit (also the Eucharist was added in 1604)
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Friday: The Cross and the Passion
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Saturday: Mary
Since the revision of the liturgy, the votives are left up to the priest and not associated with particular days. …
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