holy day of obligation

1. 1.

   a day when Catholics must attend Mass and refrain from servile work, and Episcopalians must take Communion

   BroaderChristian holy day

   NarrowerSolemnity of MaryAscensionAssumptionAll Saints' DayImmaculate ConceptionChristmas

Questions about holy day of obligation

What does holy day of obligation mean?

holy day of obligation means "a day when Catholics must attend Mass and refrain from servile work, and Episcopalians must take Communion".

Is holy day of obligation a common word?

holy day of obligation is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.