The church calendar lists also a number of lesser days of commemoration which are known as black letter days, to distinguish them from the major festivals whose dates are often printed in red.
These lesser days are not generally observed unless they are patronal festivals (that is, days of saints after whom churches are named, such as St. Chad, St. Margarget, St. Alban, St. George, etc.). If they are observed, the choirmaster will have to ask his rector what lessons, collects, epistles and gospels are to be used.
The American Prayer Book lists five sets of lessons for patronal festivals (for a bishop, a confessor, a martyr, a virgin and a matron) which will suggest appropriate hymns for the occasions; and a collect epistle and gospel for a Saint's Day which is unsuitable for any saint's day not otherwise provided for.