| Trinity Sunday | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observed by | Western Christianity |
| Type | Christianity |
| Date | The Sunday afterPentecost (56 days afterEaster) |
| 2024 date |
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| 2025 date |
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| 2026 date |
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| 2027 date |
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| Frequency | Yearly |
| Related to | Pentecost Corpus Christi |
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday afterPentecost in theWestern Christianliturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost inEastern Christianity.[1] Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of theTrinity, the three Persons of God: theFather, theSon, and theHoly Spirit.[2]
Trinity Sunday is celebrated in all denominations of the Western liturgical churches:Latin Catholic,Lutheran,[3]Anglican,[4]Reformed (Continental Reformed,Presbyterian,[5]Congregationalist),[6] andMethodist.[7]
In the early Church, no special Office or day was assigned for the Holy Trinity. Whenthe Arian heresy was spreading, the Fathers prepared an Office with canticles, responses, a Preface, and hymns, to be recited on Sundays. In the Sacramentary ofGregory the Great there are prayers and the Preface of the Trinity. During the Middle Ages, especially during theCarolingian period, devotion to the Blessed Trinity was a highly important feature of private devotion and inspired several liturgical expressions.[8] Sundays are traditionally dedicated to the Holy Trinity.[9]
TheMicrologies written during the pontificate ofGregory VII list no special Office for the Sunday after Pentecost, but add that in some places they recited the Office of the Holy Trinity composed by BishopStephen of Liège (903–920). By others the Office was said on the Sunday before Advent.Alexander II (1061–1073), refused a petition for a special feast on the grounds that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church which daily honoured the Holy Trinity by theGloria Patri, etc., but he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed. A new Office had been made by the FranciscanJohn Peckham, Canon of Lyons, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1292).[10]
John XXII (1316–1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost and established it as a Double of the Second Class.[10] It was raised to the dignity of a primary of the first class, 24 July 1911, byPope Pius X (Acta Ap. Sedis, III, 351). Since it was after the first great Pentecost that the doctrine of the Trinity was proclaimed to the world, the feast becomingly follows that of Pentecost.
In theRoman Catholic Church, it is officially known as theSolemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Prior to the reforms of theSecond Vatican Council, it marked the end of a three-week period during which church weddings were forbidden. The period began onRogation Sunday, the fifth Sunday afterEaster.[citation needed] The prescribedliturgical color is white.[11]
In the traditionalDivine Office, theAthanasian Creed (Quicumque vult) is said on this day atPrime. Before 1960, it was said on all Sundays afterEpiphany and Pentecost which do not fall withinOctaves or on which a feast of Double rank or higher was celebrated or commemorated, as well as on Trinity Sunday. The 1960 reforms reduced it to once a year, on this Sunday.
In the 1962 Missal, the Mass for the First Sunday After Pentecost is not said or commemorated on Sunday (it is permanently impeded there by Trinity Sunday), but is used during the week if the ferial Mass is being said.[11]
The Thursday after Trinity Sunday is observed as the Feast ofCorpus Christi. In some countries, including theUnited States,[11]Canada, andSpain, it may be celebrated on the following Sunday, when the faithful are more likely to attend Mass and be able to celebrate the feast.
A distinctive feature of Lutheran worship is the recitation of theAthanasian Creed on Trinity Sunday duringMatins.[12] It may also supplant theNicene Creed during theMass.[12] TheLutheran Book of Worship,Lutheran Worship, andLutheran Service Book specify this.[12]
Trinity Sunday has the status of aPrincipal Feast in the Church of England and is one of seven principal feast days in theEpiscopal Church (United States).[13]
Thomas Becket (1118–1170) was consecratedArchbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday afterPentecost (Whitsun). His martyrdom may have influenced the popularity of the feast in England. This observance spread from Canterbury throughout the whole of western Christendom.[13]
TheAthanasian Creed, although not often used, is recited in certainAnglican churches, particularly those ofHigh Church tendency. Its use is prescribed in the 1662Book of Common Prayer of theChurch of England for use on certain Sundays atMorning Prayer, including Trinity Sunday, and it is found in many modern Anglican prayer books.[14] It is in the Historical Documents section of the 1979Book of Common Prayer (Episcopal Church), but its use is not specifically provided for in the rubrics of that prayer book.
Parishes with anAnglo-Catholic churchmanship follow acalendar whereCorpus Christi is observed on the following Thursday, or in some cases the following Sunday.[15]
In traditional Methodist usage,The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965) provides the following Collects for Trinity Sunday:[16]
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the unity: We beseech thee to keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities who livest and reignest, one God, world without end.Amen.[16]
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast revealed thyself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and dost ever live and reign in the perfect unity of love: Grant that we may always hold firmly and joyfully to this faith, and, living in praise of thy divine majesty, may finally be one in thee; who art three persons in one God, world without end.Amen.[16]
| Year | Western | Eastern |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | May 27 | |
| 2019 | June 16 | |
| 2020 | June 7 | |
| 2021 | May 30 | June 20 |
| 2022 | June 12 | |
| 2023 | June 4 | |
| 2024 | May 26 | June 23 |
| 2025 | June 15 | June 8 |
| 2026 | May 31 | |
| 2027 | May 23 | June 20 |
| 2028 | June 11 | June 4 |
| 2029 | May 27 | |
| 2030 | June 16 | |
| 2031 | June 8 | June 1 |
| 2032 | May 23 | June 20 |
Trinity Sunday is the Sunday following Pentecost, and eight weeks afterEaster Sunday. The earliest possible date is 17 May (as in 1818 and 2285). The latest possible date is 20 June (as in 1943 and 2038).
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In theEastern Orthodox,Eastern Catholic andEastern Lutheran churches, the Sunday ofPentecost itself is calledTrinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost isAll Saints Sunday). The Monday after Pentecost is calledMonday of the Holy Spirit, and the next day is called theThird Day of the Trinity. In the Eastern practice, green is used for Pentecost and itsAfterfeast.[17]
The oldest hymn still sung to this day on Trinity Sunday is a 12th century Italian hymn and recorded as such in theLaudario di Cortona, and known asAlta Trinità beata.
The Lutheran musicianJohann Sebastian Bach composed a number ofcantatas forTrinity Sunday. Three of them are extant, includingO heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165,Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV 176, andGelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129. The cantataHöchsterwünschtes Freudenfest, BWV 194, composed for dedication of the church and organ atStörmthal, was performed again inLeipzig for Trinity Sunday, first on 4 June 1724, a shortened version in 1726, and the complete version in 1731.
| Sundays of theEaster cycle | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Trinity Sunday June 15, 2025 | Sundays after Pentecost |
| International | |
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| National | |
