St Mark the Evangelist feast is celebrated on the 25th of April with the liturgical colour red, honouring him as both Evangelist and martyr. His 16 chapter Gospel is the shortest, yet one of the most vivid, is usually read in Liturgical Year B, which starts on the first Sunday of advent the 29th of November 2026.

St Mark is traditionally represented by a winged lion, a symbol drawn from the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the four living creatures and later applied to the four Evangelists. 

The lion reflects the strength and boldness of Mark’s Gospel, which opens with the powerful voice of John the Baptist “crying out in the wilderness” like a lion’s roar. The wings point to the divine inspiration of the Gospel and its mission to lift hearts toward God.

Mark’s message also resonates deeply with the Fatima call to conversion, prayer, and peace. His Gospel opens with Jesus’s summons: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel”, the very appeal the Angel of Peace and Our Lady repeated at Fatima. Mark’s emphasis on watchfulness (especially in chapter 13) mirrors Fatima’s warning to remain spiritually awake.

His bold portrayal of Christ’s Passion echoes Fatima’s vision of redemptive suffering offered for the salvation of souls. And in scenes such as the calming of the storm, Mark reveals that true peace flows only from the presence of Christ, just as Our Lady of Fatima promises the triumph of God’s peace through conversion and adoration.  St Mark guides us to adore Christ with renewed awe, to seek peace rooted in God’s mercy, and to proclaim the Good News with the same courage that marked the early Church.

His Gospel invites us to stand before Christ as the Angel of Peace taught the children of Fatima: in humility, in trust, and in adoration that transforms the world.

Read St Mark's gospel here...

Other reading about St Mark is here...