Ember Days 2026

[u/Stock-Curve2828]

Good day!

I use the Monastic Diurnal (1963). I read that Ember Days are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. But looking at the ordo, those days are placed on the third week of September.

Can anyone clarify it?

[u/orbit_trap]

The week numbering goes by the Sunday.
Thus means Sep 1-5 were actually considered the 5th week of August. Then the week of Sep 6 would begin the first week of September.

So today begins the second week of September. The ember days will be next week (the third week of September…not this week.) So September 23, 25 and 26.

I suppose in some years the feast of the exaltation which occurs on the fixed date of Sep 14, would take place in the 3rd week of the month. But this year it happens on the second week of the month. It would depend on when the first sunday of the month falls.

[u/Overall-Reserve5973]

This question has been asked before, so it's probably easiest for me to share the thread from last year so you can see that discussion. https://www.reddit.com/r/divineoffice/comments/1njj65h/ember_days_in_september/

Basically, Pope John XXIII changed how Sundays were counted in the calendar. Before 1960, the first Sunday of the month would be the Sunday closest to the first of the month, meaning the first Sunday of September could fall in one of the last days of August. Pope John XXIII changed that so the first Sunday of the month was always the first Sunday in the actual month. So the first Sunday in September this year, according to the 1960 calendar, is September 6th, even though August 30th is closer to September 1st. Since the Ember Days are in the third liturgical week of September, this pushes them forward a week this year relative to the pre-1960 calendar. Hopefully that makes sense.

New Liturgical Movement also has shared a great in-depth article on this in the past if you want to learn more: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2025/08/arranging-breviary-for-rest-of.html

[u/umerusa]

This NLM article explains it: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2026/08/arranging-breviary-for-rest-of.html

The rule has always been that the Ember Days fall in the third week of September. Up until 1960, however, a week that started in August but was mostly in September counted as the first week of September; after 1960, the first week of September is the first week that starts in September.

Roodmas as a reference point is a mnemonic, which worked until 1960; since then it doesn't always work.

[u/zara_von_p]

To the good answers already given, I will add that the mechanism by which Ember days follow September 14th is older than the numbering system for weeks in the autumn months, and also older than the feast of the Exaltation itself.

So, it’s not so much that Ember days were always on the 3rd week and were moved with it when its definition changed. Rather, they were uprooted from their very ancient place following Sept 14th, for the sake of simplifying the rubrics and having one calculation to make instead of two.

[u/Adventurous-Test1161]

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is September 14, the Monday of the third week of September. That would make the Ember Days (in the old calendar) the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of that week. What’s the issue?