The Catholic Church celebrates Easter Monday under the title ‘Monday of the Angel’

On Easter Monday, the Catholic Church celebrates what’s called “Monday of the Angel.” In many countries in Europe and South America, this day, also known as “Little Easter,” is a national holiday.

In a Vatican Radio recording in 1994, Pope John Paul II gave an explanation for Monday of the Angel:

“Why is it called that?” the pope asked, highlighting the need for an angel to call out from the depths of the grave: “He is risen.”

These words “were very difficult to proclaim, to express, for a person,” John Paul II said. “Also, the women that were at the tomb encountered it empty but couldn’t tell ‘he had risen’; they only affirmed that the tomb was empty. The angel said more: “He is not here, he has risen.”

From Easter Monday until the end of Easter at Pentecost, the Church prays the Regina Caeli instead of the Angelus at the noon hour.