If you’ve walked into a Catholic church lately, you might have noticed the priest is wearing green. It’s Ordinary Time. But honestly, "ordinary" is a bit of a mistranslation from the Latin ordinalis, which just means the weeks are numbered. It doesn't mean boring. This particular stretch of Catholic holidays this week—the third week of January 2026—is actually packed with some of the most heavy-hitting "Old School" saints and a major feast that basically defines the New Testament.
We’re talking about the heavyweights. St. Anthony of Egypt, the guy who invented being a monk. St. Sebastian, the patron of athletes who famously survived being turned into a human pincushion. And then there's the big one: the Conversion of St. Paul.
People get confused. They think "holiday" always means a day off work or a massive party. In the liturgical world, it’s about the "Sanctoral Cycle." It’s a rhythmic pulse of memory.
The Desert Father You’ve Probably Forgotten
January 17th is the Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot. He's often called Anthony of the Desert. Imagine a guy in third-century Egypt who hears a Gospel reading, sells everything he owns—which was a lot—and just walks into the wilderness to live in a tomb. He stayed there for decades.
He didn't do it because he hated people. He did it because he wanted to find out what happens when you strip away the noise. Most of what we know about him comes from St. Athanasius, who wrote Life of Antony. It’s basically the first spiritual biography ever written. It became a bestseller in the Roman Empire.
Anthony’s "holiday" this week reminds us of the "White Martyrdom." Since the Roman persecutions had mostly ended, Christians started looking for a way to give their lives to God without actually getting killed. They went to the desert. They fought demons—literally and figuratively. When you look at the Catholic holidays this week, Anthony stands out as the guy who proved that silence is actually a weapon. He lived to be 105. That’s insane for the year 356. Maybe the desert air was better than we think?
Sebastian and the Red Thread of History
Then we hit January 20th. St. Sebastian. You've seen the paintings. He’s the guy tied to a tree, looking slightly inconvenienced by the dozen arrows sticking out of his ribs.
Here is the thing most people get wrong: the arrows didn't kill him.
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According to the Passio Sancti Sebastiani, he was a captain of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian. When the Emperor found out Sebastian was a Christian, he ordered the archers to execute him. They left him for dead, but a widow named Irene went to recover his body and found him still breathing. She nursed him back to health. Instead of fleeing, Sebastian went right back to Diocletian to protest his cruelty. That is when he was finally beaten to death with clubs.
Why does this matter for the Catholic holidays this week? Because Sebastian is the patron saint of athletes and plague sufferers. In the Middle Ages, people associated the "random" strike of a plague with the random flight of an arrow. They figured if Sebastian could survive the arrows, he could help them survive the Black Death. Today, his feast is a massive deal in places like Brazil (Rio de Janeiro is named after him) and Spain.
The Pivot Point: St. Agnes and the Power of 'No'
January 21st brings St. Agnes. She’s one of the few women mentioned by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass. She was maybe twelve or thirteen years old when she was executed in Rome.
The story is brutal. She refused to marry the son of a high-ranking official because she had "consecrated her virginity" to Christ. In the Roman mind, this was basically treason. They tried to humiliate her, they tried to burn her, and eventually, she was beheaded.
Every year on this day, the Pope blesses two lambs. Their wool is later spun into the pallium, which is a special vestment given to new archbishops. It’s a weird, beautiful tradition that ties a teenage girl’s martyrdom to the highest levels of Church leadership. It reminds everyone that power in this system isn't supposed to come from titles, but from a willingness to say "no" to the world.
The Most Influential Catholic Holiday This Week: St. Paul
If you’re looking for the climax of the week, it’s January 25th: The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.
Usually, the Church celebrates a saint on the day they died (their "birthday" into heaven). Paul is different. We celebrate the day he fell off his horse—or, more accurately, the day he was knocked to the ground on the road to Damascus.
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Before this, he was Saul. He was a Pharisee. He was a hitman for the religious establishment. He was literally on his way to arrest Christians when he had a vision that blinded him and changed the course of Western civilization.
Think about this. Without this event, Christianity likely stays a small, messianic Jewish sect in Jerusalem. Paul is the one who took it to the Gentiles. He’s the one who wrote the letters that make up the bulk of the New Testament. He’s the reason the Church is "Catholic" (universal).
When we observe this as one of the Catholic holidays this week, it’s a feast of radical change. It’s the Church saying that no one—not even a guy literally murdering their members—is beyond hope.
Why the Liturgical Calendar Isn't Just for Old People
You might think this is all just trivia. It’s not.
The Catholic calendar is designed to break the "monotony of the now." We live in a world of 24-hour news cycles and instant refreshes. Everything feels urgent. But the liturgical year forces you to step back and look at a timeline that spans 2,000 years.
When you track Catholic holidays this week, you’re walking through:
- The Egyptian Desert (St. Anthony)
- Imperial Rome (St. Sebastian and St. Agnes)
- The Road to Damascus (St. Paul)
It’s a form of "sanctifying time." The idea is that the days themselves are holy, not just because of what we do in them, but because of who inhabited them before us.
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Practical Ways to Observe These Days
If you want to actually live these out rather than just reading about them, there are a few standard "insider" moves.
- The Blessing of the Lambs: If you’re in Rome, go to the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls on the 21st. It’s one of the coolest visuals in the Catholic world.
- The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: This actually concludes on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. It’s a time when Catholics are encouraged to pray specifically for ecumenical ties with Orthodox and Protestant traditions.
- Desert Moments: In honor of St. Anthony, find twenty minutes of total silence. No phone. No podcast. Just you and the walls.
Addressing the Common Misconceptions
There’s a lot of noise online about "pagan origins" of these feasts. You’ll hear people claim Sebastian is just a stand-in for Apollo or that Agnes is a myth.
While the Church has definitely "baptized" certain cultural customs over the centuries, the historical reality of these figures is backed by early Christian archaeology. The catacombs of St. Sebastian and St. Agnes are real places. You can go there. You can touch the walls. These aren't just stories; they are the memories of a community that was once underground and hunted.
The Catholic holidays this week serve as a bridge. They connect a high-tech 2026 world back to the gritty, dusty, and often violent beginnings of the faith.
How to Stay Updated on the Calendar
If you're trying to keep track of this stuff moving forward, don't just rely on Google. The Church uses a "General Roman Calendar," but different countries and religious orders have their own "Propers."
For example, a Jesuit church might be celebrating a Jesuit saint on a day the rest of the world is doing something else.
- Check the Ordo: This is the specific book priests use to know what color to wear and what prayers to say.
- Use an App: Laudate or Hallow are the standard choices for most laypeople these days. They sync to the 2026 calendar automatically.
- The USCCB Website: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops posts the daily readings, which is the easiest way to see whose feast day it is.
The rhythm of Catholic holidays this week is about more than just checking boxes. It’s about realizing that every day has a story attached to it. Whether it’s a desert monk, a Roman soldier, or a reformed persecutor, these figures are meant to be companions. They’re "the cloud of witnesses," and they make the "ordinary" time of January feel a lot more extraordinary.
To get the most out of this week, pick one saint whose story resonates with you—maybe it's the resilience of Sebastian or the radical change of Paul—and look up the specific "Collect" prayer for their feast day. It usually summarizes their entire life’s mission in two or three powerful sentences.