6 JANUARY – THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Feast of the Epiphany is the continuation of the mystery of Christmas, but it appears on the Calendar of the Church with its own special character. Its very name, which signifies Manifestation, implies that it celebrates the apparition of God to His creatures.

For several centuries the Nativity of our Lord was kept on this day, and when in the year 376 the decree of the Holy See obliged all Churches to keep the Nativity on the 25th December, as Rome did — the Sixth of January was not robbed of all its ancient glory. It was still to be called the Epiphany, and the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ was also commemorated on this same Feast, which Tradition had marked as the day on which that Baptism took place.

The Greek Church gives this Feast the venerable and mysterious name of Theophania, which is of such frequent recurrence in the early Fathers as signifying a divine Apparition. We find this name applied to this Feast by Eusebius, Saint Gregory Nazianzum and Saint Isidore of Pelusium. In the liturgical books of the Melchite Church the Feast goes under no other name. The Orientals call this solemnity also the holy Lights, on account of its being the day on which Baptism was administered (for, as we have just mentioned, our Lord was baptised on this same day.) Baptism is called by the holy Fathers Illumination, and they who received it Illuminated. Lastly, this Feast is called in many countries King’s Feast: it is, of course, an allusion to the Magi whose journey to Bethlehem is so continually mentioned in today’s Office.

The Epiphany shares with the Feasts of Christmas, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost the honour of being called, in the Canon of the Mass, a Day most holy. It is also one of the cardinal Feasts, that is, one of those on which the arrangement of the Christian Year is based for, as we have Sundays after Easter, and Sundays after Pentecost, so also we count six Sundays after the Epiphany.

The Epiphany is indeed a great Feast, and the joy caused us by the birth of our Jesus must be renewed on it for, as though it were a second Christmas Day, it shows us our Incarnate God in a new light. It leaves us all the sweetness of the dear Babe of Bethlehem who has appeared to us already in love. But to this it adds its own grand manifestation of the divinity of our Jesus. At Christmas it was a few shepherds that were invited by the Angels to go and recognise THE WORD MADE FLESH. But now, at the Epiphany, the voice of God Himself calls the whole world to adore this Jesus and hear Him.

The mystery of the Epiphany brings on us three magnificent rays of the Sun of Justice, our Saviour. In the calendar of pagan Rome this sixth day of January was devoted to the celebration of a triple triumph of Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire: but when Jesus, our Prince of peace, whose empire knows no limits, had secured victory to His Church by the blood of the Martyrs — then did this His Church decree that a triple triumph of the Immortal King should be substituted in the Christian Calendar for those other three triumphs which had been won by the adopted son of Caesar.

The Sixth of January, therefore, restored the celebration of our Lord’s birth to the Twenty-Fifth of December. But in return there were united in the one same Epiphany three manifestations of Jesus’ glory: the mystery of the Magi coming from the East under the guidance of a star and adoring the Infant of Bethlehem as the divine King; the mystery of the Baptism of Christ who, while standing in the waters of the Jordan, was proclaimed by the Eternal Father as Son of God, and thirdly, the mystery of the divine power of this same Jesus, when He changed the water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana.

But did these three Mysteries really take place on this day? Is the Sixth of January the real anniversary of these great events? As the chief object of this work is to assist the devotion of the Faithful, we purposely avoid everything which would savour of critical discussion, and with regard to the present question we think it enough to state that Baronius, Suarez, Theophilus Raynaldus, Honorius De Sancta-Maria, Cardinal Gotti, Sandini, Benedict XIV and an almost endless list of other writers assert that the Adoration of the Magi happened on. this very day.

That the Baptism of our Lord, also, happened on the Sixth of January, is admitted by the severest historical critics, even by Tillemont himself, and has been denied by only two or three. The precise day of the miracle at the marriage feast of Cana is far from being as certain as the other two mysteries, though it is impossible to prove that the Sixth of January was not the day. For us the children of the Church it is sufficient that our Holy Mother has assigned the commemoration of these three manifestations for this Feast. We need nothing more to make us rejoice in the triple triumph of the Son of Mary.

If we now come to consider these three mysteries of our Feast separately, we will find that the Church of Rome in her Office and Mass of today is more intent on the Adoration of the Magi than on the other two. The two great Doctors of the Apostolic See, Saint Leo and Saint Gregory in their Homilies for this Feast take it as the almost exclusive object of their preaching. though together with Saint Augustine, Saint Paulinus of Nola, Saint Maximus of Turin, Saint Peter Chrysologus, Saint Hilary of Arles and Saint Isidore of Seville, they acknowledge the three mysteries of today’s Solemnity. That the mystery of the Vocation of the Gentiles should be made thus prominent by the Church of Rome is not to be wondered at for, by that heavenly vocation which in the three Magi called all nations to the admirable light of Faith, Rome, which till then had been the head of the Gentile world, was made the head of the Christian Church and of the whole human race.

The Greek Church makes no special mention in her Office of today of the Adoration of the Magi, for she unites it with the mystery of our Saviour’s birth in her celebration of Christmas Day. The Baptism of Christ absorbs all her thoughts and praises on the solemnity of the Epiphany.

In the Latin Church, this second mystery of our Feast is celebrated unitedly with the other two, on the Sixth of January, and mention is made of it several times in the Office. But as the coming of the Magi to the crib of our new-born King absorbs the attention of Christian Rome on this day, the mystery of the sanctification of the waters was to be commemorated on a day apart. The day chosen by the Western Church for paying special honour to the Baptism of our Saviour is the Octave of the Epiphany.

The third mystery of the Epiphany being also somewhat kept in the shade by the prominence given to the first (though allusion is several times made to it in the Office of the Feast) a special day has been appointed for its due celebration, and that day is the second Sunday after the Epiphany.

Several Churches have appended to the Mystery of changing the water into wine that of the multiplication of the loaves, which certainly bears some analogy with it, and was a manifestation of our Saviour’s divine power. But while tolerating the custom in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites, the Roman Church has never adopted it in order not to interfere with the sacredness of the triple triumph of our Lord which the Sixth of January was intended to commemorate as also, because Saint John tells us in his Gospel, that the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves happened when the Feast of the Pasch was at hand (John vi. 4) which, therefore, could not have any connection with the season of the year when the Epiphany is kept.

We propose to treat of the three mysteries, united in this great Solemnity, in the following order. Today, we will unite with the Church in honouring all three. During the Octave we will contemplate the Mystery of the Magi coming to Bethlehem. We will celebrate the Baptism of our Saviour on the Octave Day, and we will venerate the Mystery of the Marriage of Cana on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, which is the day appropriately chosen by the Church for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

Let us, then, open our hearts to the joy of this grand day, and on this Feast of the Theophany, of the Holy Lights, of the Three Kings, let us look with love at the dazzling beauty of our Divine Sun who, as the Psalmist expresses it (Psalm xviii. 6) runs His course as a Giant, and pours out upon us floods of a welcome and yet most vivid light. The shepherds who were called by the Angels to be the first worshippers have been joined by the Prince of Martyrs, the Beloved Disciple, the dear troop of Innocents, our glorious Thomas of Canterbury, and Sylvester the Patriarch of Peace. And now, today, these Saints open their ranks to let the Kings of the East come to the babe in his crib, bearing with them the prayers and adorations of the whole human race. The humble stable is too little for such a gathering as this, and Bethlehem seems to be worth all the world besides. Mary, the Throne of the divine Wisdom, welcomes all the members of this court with her gracious smile of Mother and Queen. She offers her Son to man for his adoration, and to God, that He may be well pleased. God manifests Himself to men because he is great, but He manifests Himself by Mary, because He is full of mercy.

The great Day which now brings us to the crib of our Prince of Peace has been marked by two great events of the first ages of the Church. It was on the Sixth of January in the year 361 and Julian (who, in heart, was already an apostate,) happened to be at Vienne in Gaul. He was soon to ascend the imperial throne which would be left vacant by the death of Constantius, and he felt the need he had of the support of that Christian Church in which it is said he had received the order of Lector and which, nevertheless, he was preparing to attack with all the cunning and cruelty of a tiger. Like Herod, he too would fain go, on this Feast of the Epiphany and adore the new-born King. His panegyrist Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that this crowned hilosopher who had been seen, just before, coming out of the pagan temple where he had been consulting the soothsayers, made his way through the porticoes of the Church and, standing in the midst of the faithful people, offered to the God of the Christians his sacrilegious homage.

Eleven years later, in the year 372, another Emperor found his way into the Church on the same Feast of the Epiphany. It was Valens, a Christian, like Julian, by baptism, but a persecutor in the name of Arianism of that same Church which Julian persecuted in the name of his vain philosophy and still vainer gods. As Julian felt himself necessitated by motives of worldly policy to bow down on this day before the divinity of the Galilean, so on this same day the holy courage of a saintly Bishop made Valens prostrate himself at the feet of Jesus the King of kings.

Saint Basil had just then had his famous interview with the Prefect Modestus in which his episcopal intrepidity had defeated all the might of earthly power. Valens had come to Caesarea and, with his soul defiled with the Arian heresy, he entered the Basilica when the Bishop was celebrating, with his people, the glorious Theophany. Let us listen to Saint Gregory Nazianzum, thus describing the scene with his usual eloquence:

“The Emperor entered the Church. The chanting of the psalms echoed through the holy place like the rumbling of thunder. The people, like a waving sea, filled the house of God. Such was the order and pomp in and about the sanctuary that it looked more like Heaven than Earth. Basil himself stood erect before the people as the Scripture describes Samuel —his body and eyes and soul motionless as though nothing strange had taken place and, if I may say so, his whole being was fastened to his God and the holy Altar. The sacred ministers who surrounded the Pontiff were in deep recollectedness and reverence. The Emperor heard and saw all this. He had never before witnessed a spectacle so imposing. He was overpowered. His head grew dizzy, and darkness veiled his eyes.”

Jesus, the King of Ages, the Son of God and the Son of Mary had conquered. Valens was disarmed. His resolution of using violence against the holy Bishop was gone, and if heresy kept him from at once adoring the Word consubstantial to tho Father, he, at least, united his exterior worship with that which Basil’s flock was paying to the Incarnate God. When the Offertory came, he advanced towards the sanctuary and presented his gifts to Christ in the person of his holy priest. The fear lest Basil might refuse to accept them took such possession of the Emperor that had not the sacred ministers supported him, he would have fallen at the foot of the Altar. Thus has the Kingship of our new-born Saviour been acknowledged by the great ones of this world.

The Royal Psalmist had sung this prophecy — the Kings of the Earth will serve Him, and His enemies will lick the ground under His feet (Psalm lxxi. 9, 11). The race of Emperors like Julian and Valens was to be followed by Monarchs who would bend their knee before this Babe of Bethlehem and offer Him the homage of orthodox faith and devoted hearts. Theodosius, Charlemagne, our own Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor, Stephen of Hungary, Emperor Henry II, Ferdinand of Castile, Louis IX of France, are examples of Kings who had a special devotion to the Feast of the Epiphany. Their ambition was to go, in company with the Magi, to the feet of the Divine Infant and offer Him their gifts. At the English Court the custom is still retained, and the reigning Sovereign offers an ingot of gold as a tribute of homage to Jesus the King of kings: the ingot is afterwards redeemed by a certain sum of money.

But this custom of imitating the Three Kings in their mystic gifts was not confined to Courts. In the Middle Ages the Faithful used to present on the Epiphany, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, to be blessed by the priest. These tokens of their devotedness to Jesus were kept as pledges of God’s blessing on their houses and families. The practice is still observed in some parts of Germany, and the prayer for the blessing was in the Roman Ritual until Pope Paul V suppressed it, together with several others, as being seldom required by the Faithful.

There was another custom which originated in the Ages of Faith and which is still observed in many countries. In honour of the Three Kings who came from the East to adore the Babe of Bethlehem, each family chose one of its members to be King. The choice was thus made. The family kept a feast which was an allusion to the third of the Epiphany Mysteries — the Feast of Cana in Galilee — a cake was served up, and he who took the piece which had a certain secret mark was proclaimed the King of the day. Two portions of the cake were reserved for the poor in whom honour was thus paid to the Infant Jesus and His Blessed Mother, for, on this Day of the triumph of Him who, though King was humble and poor, it was fitting that the poor should have a share in the general joy. The happiness of home was here, as in so many other instances, blended with the sacredness of Religion. This custom of King’s Feast brought relations and friends together and encouraged feelings of kindness and charity. Human weakness would sometimes, perhaps, show itself during these hours of holiday-making, but the idea and sentiment and spirit of the whole feast was profoundly Catholic, and that was sufficient guarantee to innocence.

The King’s Feast is still a Christmas joy in thousands of families, and happy those where it is kept in the Christian spirit which first originated it! For the last [four] hundred years, a puritanical zeal has decried these simple customs in which the seriousness of religion and the home enjoyments of certain festivals were blended together. The traditions of Christian family rejoicings have been blamed under pretexts of abuse as though a recreation in which religion had no share and no influence, were less open to intemperance and sin! Others have pretended (with little or no foundation) that the Twelfth Cake and the custom of choosing a King are mere imitations of the ancient pagan Saturnalia. Granting this to be correct (which it is not) we would answer that many of the old pagan customs have undergone a Christian transformation, and no one thinks of refusing to accept them thus purified. All is mistaken zeal has produced the sad effect of divorcing the Church from family life and customs, of excluding every religious manifestation from our traditions, and of bringing about what is so pompously called (though the word is expressive enough) the secularisation of society.

But let us return to the triumph of our sweet Saviour and King. His magnificence is manifested to us so brightly on this Feast! Our Mother the Church is going to initiate us into the mysteries we are to celebrate. Let us imitate the faith and obedience of the Magi: let us adore, with the holy Baptist, the divine Lamb over whom the heavens open. Let us take our place at the mystic feast of Cana where our dear King is present, thrice manifested, thrice glorified. In the last two mysteries, let us not lose sight of the Babe of Bethlehem, and in the Babe of Bethlehem let us cease not to recognise the Great God (in whom the Father was well pleased) and the supreme Ruler and Creator of all things.

Lesson – Isaias lx. 1‒6

Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold darkness will cover the earth, and a mist the people. But the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And the Gentiles will walk in your light, and Kings in the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to you: your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will rise up at your side. Then will you see and abound, and your heart will wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea will be converted to you, the strength of the Gentiles will come to you. The multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba will come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth praise to the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Oh the greatness of this glorious Day on which begins the movement of all nations towards the Church, the true Jerusalem! Oh the mercy of our heavenly Father who has been mindful of all these people that were buried in the shades of death and sin! Behold! The glory of the Lord has risen upon the Holy City, and kings set out to find and see the Light. Jerusalem is not large enough to hold all this sea of nations. Another city must be founded and towards her will be turned the countless Gentiles of Madian and Epha. You, O Rome, are this Holy City, and your heart will wonder and be enlarged. Heretofore your victories have won you slaves, but from this day forward you will draw within your walls countless children. Lift up your eyes, and see — all these, that is, the whole human race, give themselves to you as your sons and daughters. They come to receive from you a new birth. Open wide your arms and embrace them that come from North and South, bringing gold and frankincense to Him who is your King and ours.

Gospel – Matthew ii. 1‒12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah in the days of King Herod, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him.” And Herod hearing this was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he enquired of them where Christ should be born. But they said to him: “In Bethlehem of Judah: for it is written by the Prophet: And you, Bethlehem, the land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of you will come forth the captain that will rule my people Israel.” Then Herod privately calling the Wise Men, learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them: and sending them into Bethlehem, said: “Go, and diligently enquire after the child: and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.” Who, having heard the king, went their way. And behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary, his Mother (here all kneel) and falling down, they adored him. And, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their own country.

Praise be to you, O Christ.
 

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Magi, the first-fruits of the Gentile world, have been admitted into the court of the great King whom they have been seeking, and we have followed them. The child has smiled upon us, as He did upon them. All the fatigues of the long journey — which man must take to reach his God — all are over and forgotten. Our Emmanuel is with us, and we are with Him. Bethlehem has received us, and we will not leave her again — for, in Bethlehem, we have the Child and Mary His Mother. Where else could we find riches like these that Bethlehem gives us? Oh let us beseech this incomparable Mother to give us this child of hers (for He is our light, and our love, and our Bread of life) now that we are about to approach the altar, led by the star of our faith. Let us, at once, open our treasures. Let us prepare our gold, our frankincense, and our myrrh for the sweet babe, our King. He will be pleased with our gifts, and we know he never suffers Himself to be outdone in generosity. When we have to return to our duties we will, like the Magi, leave our hearts with our Jesus And it will be by another way, by a new manner of life, that we will finish our sojourn in this country of our exile, looking forward to that happy day when life and light eternal will come and absorb into themselves the shadows of vanity and time which now hang over us.

* * * * *

We also, Jesus, come to adore you on this glorious Epiphany which brings all nations to your feet. We walk in the footsteps of the Magi, for we too have seen the Star, and we are come to you. Glory be to you, dear King! to you who said in the Canticle of David your ancestor: “I am appointed King over Sion, the holy mountain, that I may preach the commandment of the Lord. The Lord has said to me that He will give me the Gentiles for my inheritance, and the utmost parts of the Earth for my possession. Now, therefore, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, ye that judge the Earth” (Psalm ii. 6, 8, 10).

You will say, O Emmanuel, with your own lips: “All power is given to me in Heaven and on Earth (Matthew xxviii. 18), and a few years after the whole Earth will have received your Even now Jerusalem is troubled. Herod is trembling on his throne. But the day is at hand when the heralds of your coming will go throughout the whole world proclaiming that He, who was the Desired of nations (Aggeus ii. 8), is come. The word that is to subject the Earth to you will go forth (Psalm xviii. 5) and, like an immense fire, will stretch to the uttermost parts of the universe. In vain will the strong ones of this world attempt to arrest its course. An Emperor will propose to the Senate, as the only means of staying the progress of your conquests, that thy Name be solemnly enrolled in the list of those gods whom you come to destroy. Other Emperors will endeavour to abolish your kingdom by the slaughter of your soldiers. But, all these efforts are vain. The day will come when the Cross, the sign of your power, will adorn the imperial banner. The Emperors will lay their crown at your feet, and proud Rome will cease to be the Capital of the empire of this world’s strength and power in order that she may become, forever, the centre of your peaceful and universal kingdom.

We already see the dawn of that glorious day. Your conquests, King of ages, begin with your Epiphany. You call, from the extreme parts of the unbelieving East, the first-fruits of that Gentile world which hitherto had not been your people and which is now to form your inheritance. Henceforth there is to be no distinction of Jew and Greek, of Barbarian and Scythian (Colossians iii. 11). You have loved Man above Angel, for you have redeemed the one, while you have left the other in his fall. If your predilection, for a long period of ages, was for the race of Abraham, henceforth your preference is to be given to the Gentiles. Israel was but a single people. We are numerous as the sands of the sea, and the stars of the firmament (Genesis xxii. 17). Israel was under the law of fear. You have reserved the law of love for us.

From this day of your Manifestation, divine King, begins your separation from the Synagogue which refuses your love. And on this same day you take, in the person of the Magi, the Gentiles as your Spouse. Your union with her will soon be proclaimed from the Cross, when, turning your face from the ungrateful Jerusalem, you will stretch forth your hands towards the nations of the Gentiles. Ineffable joy of your birth! But O still better joy of your Epiphany in which we, the once disinherited, are permitted to approach to you, offer you our gifts, and see you graciously accept them, O merciful Emmanuel! Thanks be to you, O Infant God, for that unspeakable gift (2 Corinthians ix. 15) of Faith which, as your Apostle teaches us, has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into your kingdom, making us partakers of the lot of the Saints in Light (Colossians i. 12, 13). Give us grace to grow in the knowledge of this your Gift, and to understand the importance of this great day on which you make alliance with the whole human race, which you would afterwards make your bride by espousing her. Oh the Mystery of this Marriage Feast, dear Jesus! “A Marriage,”' says one of your Vicars on Earth (Pope Innocent III), “that was promised to the Patriarch Abraham, confirmed by oath to King David, accomplished in Mary when she became Mother, and consummated, confirmed and declared on this day, consummated in the adoration of the Magi, confirmed in the Baptism in the Jordan, and declared in the miracle of the water changed into wine.”

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In the diocese of Rheims, the martyrdom of St. Macra, virgin, who, in the persecution of Diocletian, was cast into the fire by order of the governor Rictiovarus. As she remained uninjured, she had her breasts cut off, was imprisoned in a foul dungeon, rolled upon broken earthenware and burning coals, and finally she gave up her soul while engaged in prayer.

In Africa, the commemoration of many holy martyrs who were burned at the stake in the persecution of Severus.

At Rennes in France, St. Melanius, bishop and confessor, who, after a life remarkable for virtues innumerable with his thoughts constantly fixed on heaven, gloriously departed from this world.

At Florence, St. Andrew Corsini, a Florentine Carmelite and bishop of Fiesoli. Being celebrated for miracles, he was ranked among the saints by Pope Urban VIII. His festival is kept on the fourth of February.

At Geris in Egypt, St. Nilammon, anchoret, who, while he was carried to a bishopric against his will, gave up his soul to God in prayer.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

5 JANUARY – VIGIL OF THE EPIPHANY

The Mass of the Vigil of the Epiphany is that of the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, except the Commemoration of Saint Telesphorus and the Gospel.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Feast of Christmas is over... and we are on the Eve of the Solemnity of our Lord’s Epiphany. We must spend this fifth of January in preparing ourselves for the Manifestation which Jesus, the Angel of the Great Counsel, is about to make to us of His glory. A few more hours and the star will stand still in the heavens, and the Magi will be seeking for admission into the stable of Bethlehem.

This Vigil is not like that of Christmas, a day of penance. The child whose coming we were then awaiting in the fervour of our humble desires is now among us, preparing to bestow fresh favours on us. This eve of tomorrow’s Solemnity is a day of joy like those that have preceded it and therefore we do not fast, nor does the Church put on the vestments of mourning, even in those churches where the Octave Day of Saint Thomas of Canterbury is not observed. If the Office of the Vigil be the one of today, the colour used is white. This is the Twelfth day since the Birth of our Emmanuel. If the Vigil of the Epiphany fall on a Sunday, it shares, with Christmas Eve, the privilege of not being anticipated, as all other Vigils are, on the Saturday: it is kept on the Sunday, has all the privileges of a Sunday, and the Mass is that of the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas Day. Let us, therefore, celebrate this Vigil in great joy of heart and prepare our souls for tomorrow’s graces.

The Greek Church keeps this a fasting day in memory of the preparation for Baptism which used formerly to be administered, especially in the East, on the night preceding the feast of the Epiphany. She still solemnly blesses the water on this Feast. We will in our next volume speak of this ceremony of which some vestiges still remain in the Western Church.

Gospel – Matthew ii. 19‒23

When Herod was dead, behold an Angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, saying: “Arise and take the child and His Mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead that sought the life of the child.” Who arose, and took the child and His Mother, and came into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go there: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: “That He will be called a Nazarene.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger: 

The last words of our Advent were those of the Spouse recorded in the prophecy of the Beloved Disciple: “Come, Lord Jesus, come!” (Apocalypse xxii. 20). We will close this first part of our Christmas with those words of the Prophet Isaias which the Church has so often spoken to us: “unto us a child is born!” (Isaias ix. 6). The heavens have dropped down their Dew, the clouds have rained down the Just One, the Earth has yielded its Saviour, THE WORD IS MADE FLESH, the Virgin has brought forth her sweet Fruit — our Emmanuel, that is, God with us. The Sun of Justice now shines on us. Darkness has fled. In Heaven there is Glory to God. On Earth there is Peace to men. All these blessings have been brought to us by the humble yet glorious birth of this child. Let us adore Him in His crib. Let us love Him for all His love of us, and let us prepare the gifts we intended to present to Him with the Magi on tomorrow’s Feast. The joy of the Church is as great as ever. The Angels are adoring in their wondering admiration. All nature thrills with delight: Unto us is born a little child!

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, in the time of Antoninus Pius, St. Telesphorus, pope, who, after many sufferings for the confession of Christ underwent a glorious martyrdom.

In Egypt, during the persecution of Diocletian, the commemoration of many holy martyrs who were put to death in Thebais by various kinds of torments.

At Antioch, St. Simeon, monk, who lived many years, standing on a pillar, and was, for that reason, called Stylites. His whole life was an unbroken series of wonders.

In England, St. Edward, king, illustrious by the virtue of chastity and the gift of miracles. His feast, by order of Pope Innocent XI, is celebrated on the thirteenth of October when his sacred body was translated.

At Alexandria, St. Syncletica, whose noble deeds have been recorded by St. Athanasius.

At Rome, the holy virgin Emiliana, aunt of Pope St. Gregory. Being called to God by her sister Tharsilla who had preceded her, she departed for heaven on this day.

The same day, St. Apollinaris, virgin.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

4 DECEMBER – SAINT BARBARA (Virgin and Martyr)

 

Barbara, a virgin of Nicomedia, the daughter of Dioscorus, a nobleman but a superstitious pagan, came readily, by the assistance of divine grace, from the contemplation of the visible things of creation to the knowledge of the invisible. Wherefore, she devoted herself to God alone and to the things of God. Her father, desirous to preserve her from all danger of insult to which he feared her great beauty might expose her, shut her up in a tower. There the pious virgin passed her days in meditation and prayer, studying to please God alone, whom she had chosen as her Spouse. She courageously rejected several offers of marriage which were made to her through her father by rich nobles.

But her father hoped that by separating himself by a long absence from his child, her intentions would easily change. He first ordered that a bath should be built for her in the tower so that she might want for nothing, and then he set out on a journey into distant countries. During her father’s absence, Barbara ordered that to the two windows already in the tower a third should be added, in honour of the Blessed Trinity, and that on the edge of the bath the sign of the most holy Cross should be drawn. When Dioscorus returned home and saw these changes, and was told their meaning, he became so incensed against Barbara that he went in search of her with a naked sword in his hand and, but for the protection of God, he would cruelly have murdered her.

Barbara had taken to flight: an immense rock opened before her, and she found a path by which she reached the top of a mountain, and there she hid herself in a cave. Not long after, however, she was discovered by her unnatural father, who savagely kicked and struck her, and dragging her by the hair over the sharp rocks, and rugged ways, he handed her over to the governor Marcian, that he might punish her. He, therefore, having used every means to shake her constancy, and finding that all was in vain, gave orders that she should he stripped and scourged with thongs, the wounds to be then scraped with potsherd, and so dragged to prison. There Christ, surrounded by an immense light, appearing to her, strengthened her in a divine manner for the sufferings she was yet to endure.

A matron named Juliana who witnessed this was converted to the faith and became her companion in the palm of martyrdom. At length Barbara had her body torn with iron hooks, her sides burnt with torches, and her head bruised with mallets. During these tortures she consoled her companion and exhorted her to fight manfully to the last. Both of them had their breasts cut off, were dragged naked through the streets and beheaded. The head of Barbara was cut off by her own father, who in his excessive wickedness had hardened his heart thus far. But his ferocious cruelty was not long left unpunished, for instantly and on the very spot, he was struck dead by lightning.

The Emperor Justinus had the body of this most holy virgin translated from Nicomedia to Constantinople. It was afterwards obtained by the Venetians from the Emperors Constantine and Basil, and having been translated from Constantinople to Venice, was deposited with great solemnity in the Basilica of Saint Mark. Lastly, at the earnest request of the Bishop of Torcello and his sister who was abbess, it was translated in 1009 to the Conventual Church of Saint John the Evangelist in the diocese of Torcello, where it was placed in a worthy sepulchre, and from that time has never ceased to be the object of most fervent veneration.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Although in the Roman Liturgy Saint Barbara is merely commemorated in the Office of Saint Peter Chrysologus, yet the Church has approved an entire Office for the use of those Churches which honour the memory of this illustrious Virgin in a special manner. The Legend although of considerable weight, has not consequently the authority of those which are promulgated for the use of the whole Church in the Roman Breviary. Let us not, on this account, be the less fervent in honouring this glorious Martyr, so celebrated in the East and whose feast has been for so many ages admitted, with more or less solemnity, into the Roman Church. The Acts of her martyrdom, though not of the highest antiquity, contain nothing in them but what redounds to the glory of God and the honour of the Saint. We have already shown the liturgical importance which attaches to Saint Barbara in the season of Advent. Let us admire the constancy with which this Virgin waited for her Lord, who came at the appointed hour, and was for her, as the Scripture speaks, a Spouse of blood, because He put the strength of her love of Him to the severest of all tests.

*****

The courageous Virgin of Nicomedia is invoked in the Church against lightning on account of the punishment inflicted by divine justice on her execrable father. This same incident of the Saint’s history has suggested several Catholic customs: thus, her name is sometimes given to the hold of men-of-war where the ammunition is stowed. She is the Patroness of artillery-men, miners, etc and she is invoked by the faithful against the danger of a sudden death.

*****

To the voice of so many Churches we join ours, O faithful Virgin! And though we are unworthy, yet do we offer you our praise and our prayers. Behold our Lord comes, and the darkness of the night is upon us. Give to our lamp both the light which will guide us, and the oil which will keep in the light. You know that He who came for love of you and with whom you are now united for all eternity, is coming to visit us too. Pray for us that nothing may keep us from receiving Him. May we go towards Him courageously and swiftly as you did, and being once with Him, may we never be separated from Him again, for He is the centre where we creatures find our only rest. Pray also, glorious Martyr, that the faith in the Blessed Trinity may be ever increasing in this world. May our enemy, Satan, be confounded by every tongue’s confessing the Threefold light and the triumphant Cross which sanctifies the waters of Baptism. Remember, O blessed Barbara, Spouse of Jesus, that He has put in your gentle hands the power not of burling but of staying and averting the thunderbolt. Protect our ships against the fires of heaven and of war. Shield by your protection the arsenals where are placed the defence of our country. Hear the prayers of them that invoke you, whether in the fierceness of the storm, or in the dark depths of the earth, and save us all from the awful chastisement of a sudden death.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Constantinople, the saints Theophanes and his companions.

In Pontus, blessed Meletius, bishop and confessor, who joined to an eminent gift of knowledge the more distinguished glory of fortitude and integrity of life.

At Bologna, St. Felix, bishop, who previously had been deacon of the church of Milan under St. Ambrose.

In England, St. Osmund, bishop and confessor.

At Cologne, St. Annan, bishop.

In Mesopotamia, St. Maruthas, bishop, who restored the churches of God that had been ruined in Persia by the persecution of king Isdegerdes. Being renowned for many miracles, he merited to be honoured even by his enemies.

At Parma, St. Bernard, cardinal and bishop of that city. He belonged to the Congregation of Vallumbrosa, of the Order of St. Benedict.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

4 JANUARY – THE HOLY NAME (OF JESUS)

At the Name of Jesus, let every knee bend in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth; and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

In the Old Covenant the Name of God inspired fear and awe: nor was the honour of pronouncing it granted to all the children of Israel. We can understand this. God had not yet come down from Heaven to live on Earth and converse with men. He had not yet taken upon Himself our poor nature and become man like ourselves. The sweet Name, expressive of love and tenderness, the Name given by the Spouse to her Beloved, could not be applied to Him.

But when the fullness of time had come — when the mystery of love was about to be revealed — then did Heaven send down the Name of “Jesus” to our Earth as a pledge of the speedy coming of Him who was to bear it. The Archangel Gabriel said to Mary: “You will call his Name Jesus.” Jesus means Saviour. How sweet will this Name not be to poor lost man! It seems to link Earth to Heaven!

No name is so amiable, none is so powerful. Every knee in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell bows in adoration at hearing this Name! And yet, who can pronounce it and not feel love spring up within his heart? But we need such a Saint as Bernard to tell us of the power and sweetness of this blessed Name. He thus speaks of it in one of his Sermons:

“The Nature of Jesus is Light, and Food, and Medicine. It is Light when it is preached to us. It is Food when we think upon it. It is the Medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke it. Let us say a word on each of these. Tell me, whence came there into the whole world, so bright and sudden a light, if not from the preaching of the Name of Jesus? Was it not by the light of this Name that God called us to His admirable Light? Wherewith being enlightened, and in this light, seeing the Light, we take these words of Paul as truly addressed to ourselves: ‘Heretofore you were darkness, but now light in the Lord’ (Ephesians v. 8).

Nor is the Name of Jesus Light only. It is also Food. Are you not strengthened as often as you think of this Name? What is there that so feeds the mind of him that meditates upon this Name? What is there that so restores the wearied faculties, strengthens virtue, gives vigour to good and holy habits, and fosters chastity? Every food of the soul is dry that is not steeped in this unction. It is insipid, if it be not seasoned with this salt. If you write, I relish not your writing unless '' I read there the Name of Jesus. If you teach me, or converse with me, I relish not your words, unless I hear you say the Name of Jesus. Jesus is honey to the mouth, and music to the ear, and gladness to the heart.

It is also Medicine. Is any one among you sad? Let but Jesus come into his heart and the mouth echo him, saying Jesus! and lo! the light of that Name disperses every cloud and brings sunshine back again. Have any of you committed sin? and is despair driving you into the snare of death? Invoke the Name of life, and life will come back to the soul. Was there ever a man, that hearing this saving Name could keep up that common fault of hardness of heart, or drowsiness of sluggishness, or rancour of soul, or languor of sloth ? If anyone, perchance, felt that the fountain of his tears was dry, did it not gush forth more plentifully than ever, and flow more sweetly than ever, as soon as he invoked the Name of Jesus? If any of us were ever in danger and our heart beat with fear, did not this Name of power bring us confidence and courage the moment we pronounced it? When we were tossed to and fro by perplexing doubts, did not the evidence of what was right burst on us as we called upon the Name of light? When we were discouraged and well near crushed by adversity, did not our heart take courage when our tongue uttered the Name of help? All this is most true, for all these miseries are the sicknesses and faintings of our souls, and the Name of Jesus is our Medicine.

But let us see how all this comes to pass. ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble,’ says the Lord. ‘I will deliver you, and you will glorify me’ (Psalm xlix. 15). There is nothing which so restrains the impulse of anger, calms the swelling of pride, heals the wound of envy, represses the insatability of luxury, smothers the flame of lust, quenches the thirst of avarice and dispels the fever of uncleanliness, as the Name of Jesus. For when I pronounce this Name, I bring before my mind the Man who, by excellence, is meek and humble of heart, benign, sober, chaste, merciful and filled with everything that is good and holy, nay, who is the very God Almighty — whose example heals me, and whose assistance strengthens me. I say all this, when I say Jesus. Here have I my model, for He is Man; and my help, for He is God; the one provides me with precious drugs, the other gives them efficacy; and from the two I make a potion such as no physician knows how to make.

Here is the electuary my soul, hid in the casket of this Name Jesus. Believe me, it is wholesome and good for every ailment you can possibly have. Ever have it with you in your bosom and in your hand, so that all your affections and actions may be directed to Jesus.”

This is the sweet and powerful Name which was given to our Emmanuel on the day of His Circumcision. But, as that day was the Octave of Christmas and was already sacred to the Maternity of Mary, the present Sunday, the Second after the Epiphany, was chosen for celebrating the mystery of the Name of the Lamb. The first promoter of the Feast was Saint Bernardine of Siena who lived in the fifteenth century. This holy man established the practice of representing the Holy Name of Jesus surrounded with rays, and formed into a monogram of its three first letters, IHS. The custom spread rapidly through Italy and was zealously propagated by the great Saint John of Capistrano who, like Saint Bernardine of Siena, was of the Order of Friars Minors. The Holy See gave its formal approbation to this manner of honouring the Name of our Saviour and, in the early part of the sixteenth century. Pope Clement VI, after long entreaties, granted to the whole Franciscan Order the privilege of keeping a special Feast in honour of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

Rome extended the same favour to various Churches, and at length the Feast was inserted in the universal Calendar. It was in the year 1721, at the request of Charles VI, Emperor of Germany, that Pope Innocent XII decreed that the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus should be kept throughout the whole Church. He also chose the Second Sunday after the Epiphany as the day. We have already explained how appropriately their respective mysteries have been thus blended into the one solemnity.

Note: in the General Roman Calendar of 1962 the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated on the Sunday between the Octave of Christmas and the Epiphany or, if there is none, the 2nd of January.

Epistle – Acts iv. 8‒12

In those days Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said “you princes of the people and ancients, hear: if we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he has been made whole, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the, dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone-which was rejected by you the builders; which has become the head of the corner; neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Oh how true is this, dear Jesus! No other Name but yours could give us salvation, and your Name means Saviour. Be praised for having taken such a Name! Be praised for having saved us! The admirable alliance which you reveal to us in the mysterious Feast at Cana is all expressed in your most sweet and holy Name. You are of Heaven heavenly, and yet you take a Name of Earth, and one which our mortal lips can say. You have truly made an alliance between the two natures, the Divine and the Human, and your Name imports this mystery of thine Incarnation. Oh make us worthy of the sublime alliance to which you have hereby raised us, and never permit us to break it.

Gospel – Luke ii. 21

At that time, after eight days were accomplished that the child should be circumcised; his name was called Jesus, which was called by the Angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

It is during the first shedding of your Blood by the Circumcision that you received this Name of Jesus, dear Lord! And it was fitting that it should be so, for this Name signifies Saviour, and we could not be saved but by your Blood. The glorious alliance you have contracted with us is, one day, to cost you your Blood! The nuptial ring you put on our finger is to be steeped in your Blood! Our immortal life is to be purchased at the price of your Death! All these truths are expressed to us by your Name, Jesus! Saviour! You are the Vine, and you invite us to drink of your delicious Wine, but the heavenly Fruit must be first unsparingly pressed in the wine-press of your Eternal Father’s justice. We cannot drink of its juice until it will have been torn from the branch and bruised for our sakes. May your sacred Name ever remind us of this sublime Mystery, and may the remembrance keep us from sin and make us always faithful.

3 JANUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Appia, the birthday of Pope St. Anterus, who suffered under Julius Maximinus and was buried in the cemetery of Callistus.

The same day, St. Peter, who was crucified at Aulane.

In Hellespont, the holy martyrs Cyrinus, Primus and Theogenes.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Gordius, centurion, in whose praise is extant a celebrated discourse delivered by St. Basil the Great on the day of his festival.

In Cilicia, the holy martyrs Zozimus, and the notary Athanasius. Also, the Saints Theopemptus and Theonas, who suffered a glorious martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian.

At Padua, St. Daniel, martyr.

At Vienne in France, St. Florentius, bishop, who was sent into exile and consummated his martyrdom in the time of the emperor Gallienus.

At Paris, St. Genevieve, virgin, who was consecrated to God by St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and became famous for her admirable virtues and miracles.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

2 JANUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The Octave of St. Stephen, the first martyr.

At Rome, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who, despising the edict of the emperor Diocletian, which ordered that the sacred books should be delivered up, preferred to surrender themselves to the executioners rather than to give holy things to dogs.

At Antioch, the passion of blessed Isidore, bishop.

At Tomis, in Pontus, in the time of the emperor Licinius, three holy brothers, Argeus, Narcissus, and the young man Marcellinus. This last, being enrolled among the new soldiers, and refusing to serve, was beaten almost to death, and for a long time kept in prison. Being finally cast into the sea, he finished his martyrdom; but his brothers were beheaded.

At Milan, St. Martinian, bishop.

In Nitria, in Egypt, blessed Isidore, bishop and confessor.

The same day, St. Siridion, bishop.

In Thebais, St. Macarius of Alexandria, abbot.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

1 JANUARY – THE CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Our new-born King and Saviour is eight days old today. The star that guides the Magi is advancing towards Bethlehem and five days hence will be standing over the stable where our Jesus is being nursed by His Mother. Today the Son of Man is to be circumcised. This first sacrifice of His innocent flesh must honour the eighth day of His mortal life.

Today, also, a Name is to be given Him — the Name will be Jesus, and it means Saviour. So that Mysteries abound on this day: let us not pass one of them over, but honour them with all possible devotion and love.

But this day is not exclusively devoted to the Circumcision of Jesus. The mystery of this Circumcision forms part of that other great mystery, the Incarnation and Infancy of our Saviour — a mystery on which the Church fixes her heart, not only during this Octave, but during the whole forty days of Christmastide. Then, as regards our Lord’s receiving the Name of Jesus, a special Feast, which we will soon be keeping, is set apart in honour of it.

There is another object that shares the love and devotion of the Faithful on this great Solemnity. This object is Mary, the Mother of God. The Church celebrates today the august prerogative of this divine Maternity which was conferred on a mere creature and which made her the co-operatrix with Jesus in the great work of man’s salvation.

The holy Church of Rome used formerly to say two Masses on the first of January. One was for the Octave of Christmas Day, the other was in honour of Mary. She now unites the two intentions in one Sacrifice in the same manner as in the rest of this Day’s Office: she unites together the acts of her adoration of the Son, and the expressions of her admiration for, and confidence in, the Mother.

The Greek Church does not wait for this Eighth Day in order to pay her tribute of homage to Her who has given us our Emmanuel. She consecrates to Mary the first Day after Christmas, that is, the 26th December, and calls it the Synaxis of the Mother of God, making the two days one continued Feast. She is thus obliged to defer the Feast of Saint Stephen to the 27th December.

But it is today that we, the children of the Roman Church, must pour forth all the love of our hearts for the Virgin-Mother, and rejoice with her in the exceeding happiness she feels at having given birth to her and our Lord. During Advent we contemplated her as pregnant with the world’s salvation. We proclaimed the glory of that Ark of the New Covenant whose chaste womb was the earthly paradise chosen by the King of Ages for His dwelling-place. Now she has brought him forth, the Infant-God. She adores him, Him who is her Son. She has the right to call Him her Child. And He, God as He is, calls her in strictest truth, His Mother.

Let us not be surprised, therefore, at the enthusiasm and profound respect with which the Church extols the Blessed Virgin and her prerogatives. Let us, on the contrary, be convinced that all the praise the Church can give her, and all the devotion she can ever bear towards her, are far below what is due to her as Mother of the Incarnate God. No mortal will ever be able to describe, or even comprehend, how great a glory accrues to her from this sublime dignity. For, as the glory of Mary comes from her being the Mother of God, one would have first to comprehend God Himself in order to measure the greatness of her dignity. It is to God that Mary gave our human nature. It is God whom she had as her child. It is God who gloried in rendering Himself, inasmuch as He is Man, subject to her: hence, the true value of such a dignity possessed by a mere creature can only be appreciated in proportion to our knowledge of the sovereign perfections of the great God who thus deigns to make Himself dependent on that favoured creature. Let us, therefore, bow down in deepest adoration before the Majesty of our God. Let us, therefore, acknowledge that we cannot respect, as it deserves, the extraordinary dignity of Her whom He chose for His Mother.

The same sublime Mystery overpowers the mind from another point of view — what were the feelings of such a Mother towards such a Son? The child she holds in her arms and presses to her heart is the Fruit of her virginal womb, and she loves Him as her own. She loves Him because she is His Mother, and a Mother loves her child as herself, nay, more than herself — but when she thinks upon the infinite majesty of Him who has thus given Himself to her to be the object of her love and her fond caresses — she trembles in her humility, and her soul has to turn, in order to bear up against the overwhelming truth, to the other thought of the nine months she held this babe in her womb, and of the filial smile He gave her when her eyes first met His. These two deep-rooted feelings — of a creature that adores, and of a Mother that loves — are in Mary’s heart. The being Mother of God implies all this, and may we not well say that no pure creature could be exalted more than she? And that in order to comprehend her dignity we should first have to comprehend God Himself? And that only God’s infinite wisdom could plan such a work, and only His infinite power accomplish it?

A Mother of God! It is the mystery whose fulfilment the world, without knowing it, was awaiting for four thousand years. It is the work which in God’s eyes was incomparably greater than that of the creation of a million new worlds, for such a creation would cost Him nothing. He has but to speak and all whatever He wills is made. But that a creature should become Mother of God He has had not only to suspend the laws of nature by making a Virgin Mother, but also to put Himself in a state of dependence upon the happy creature He chose for His Mother. He had to give her rights over Himself, and contract the obligation of certain duties towards her. He had to make Her His Mother, and Himself her Son.

It follows from all this that the blessings of the Incarnation for which we are indebted to the love with which the Divine Word loved us may and ought to be referred, though in an inferior degree, to Mary herself. If she be the Mother of God it is because she consented to it, for God vouchsafed not only to ask her consent but, moreover, to make the coming of His Son into this world depend upon her giving it. As this His Son, the Eternal Word, spoke His Fiat over chaos and the answer to his word was creation, so did Mary use the same word FIAT — let it be done to me,” she said (Luke i. 38). God heard her word and immediately, the Son of God descended into her virginal womb. After God, then, it is to Mary, His ever Blessed Mother, that we are indebted for our Emmanuel. The divine plan for the world’s salvation included there being a Mother of God: and as heresy sought to deny the mystery of the Incarnation, it equally sought to deny the glorious prerogative of Mary. Nestorius asserted that Jesus was only man. Mary, consequently was not Mother of God, but merely Mother of a Man called Jesus. This impious doctrine roused the indignation of the Catholic world. The East and West united in proclaiming that Jesus was God and Man in unity of Person, and that Mary, being his Mother, was, in strict truth, “Mother of God.” This victory over Nestorianism was won at the Council of Ephesus. It was hailed by the Christians of those times with an enthusiasm of Faith, which not only proved the tender love they had for the Mother of Jesus, but was sure to result in the setting up of some solemn trophy that would perpetuate the memory of the victory. It was then that began, in both the Greek and Latin Churches, the pious custom of uniting during Christmas the veneration due to the Mother with the supreme worship given to the Son.

The day assigned for the united commemoration varied in the several countries, but the sentiment of religion which suggested the Feast was one and the same throughout the entire Church. The holy Pope Sixtus III ordered an immense mosaic to be worked into the chancel-arch of the Church of Saint Mary Major in Rome as a monument to the holy Mother of God. The mosaic still exists, bearing testimony as to what was the faith held in the fifth century. It represents the various Scriptural types of our Lady, and the inscription of the holy Pontiff is still legible in its bold letters: XYSTUS EPISCOPUS PLEBI DEI (Xystus Bishop to the People of God), for the Saint had dedicated to the Faithful this his offering to Mary, the Mother of God.

Epistle – Titus ii. 11‒15

Dearly beloved, the grace of God our Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires we should live soberly, and justly and godly, in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ: who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak and exhort in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

These counsels of our great Apostle, who warns the Faithful of the obligation they are under of making a good use of the present life, are most appropriate to this first day of January which is now the beginning of the new Civil Year. Let us, therefore, renounce all worldly desires. Let us live soberly, justly and piously, and permit nothing to distract us from the expectation of that blessedness which is our hope. The great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who shows Himself to us in these days of His mercy in order to instruct us, will come to us in a second coming in order to give us our reward. The beginning of a New Year tells us plainly enough that this last day is fast approaching. Let us cleanse ourselves from all iniquity and become a people acceptable to our Redeemer, a people doing good works.

Gospel – Luke ii. 21

At that time, after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, His name was called Jesus, which was called by the Angel, before He was conceived in the womb.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The child is circumcised. He is now not only a member of the human race, he is made, today, a member of God’s chosen people. He subjects Himself to this painful ceremony, to this symbol of one devoted to the Divine service, in order that He may fulfil all justice. He receives, at the same time, His Name: the Name is Jesus, and it means a Saviour. A Saviour! Then, He is to save us? Yes, and He is to save us by His Blood. Such is the divine appointment, and He has bowed down His will to it. The Incarnate Word is upon the Earth in order to offer a Sacrifice, and the Sacrifice is begun today. This first shedding of the Blood of the Man-God was sufficient to the fullness and perfection of a Sacrifice, but He is come to win the heart of the sinner, and that heart is so hard that all the streams of that Precious Blood which flow from the Cross on Calvary will scarcely make it yield. The drops that were shed today would have been enough to satisfy the justice of the Eternal Father, but not to cure man’s miseries, and the babe’s Heart would not be satisfied to leave us un-cured. He came for man’s sake, and His love for man will go to what looks like excess— He will carry out the whole meaning of His dear name — He will be our “Jesus,” our Saviour.

*****

On this the Eighth Day since the birth of our Emmanuel let us consider the great mystery which the Gospel tells us was accomplished in His divine Flesh — the Circumcision. On this day the Earth sees the first-fruits of that blood-shedding which is to be its Redemption, and the first sufferings of that Divine Lamb who is to atone for our sins. Let us compassionate our sweet Jesus who meekly submits to the knife which is to put upon Him the sign of a Servant of God, Mary, who has watched over Him with the most affectionate solicitude, has felt her heart sink within her as each day brought her nearer to this hour of her child’s first suffering. She knows that the justice of God does not necessarily require this first sacrifice, or might accept it, on account of its infinite value, for the world’s salvation: and yet, the innocent Flesh of her Son must even so early as this be torn, and His blood flow down His infant limbs. What must be her affliction at seeing the preparations for this painful cermony! She cannot leave her Jesus — and yet, how will she bear to see Him writhe under this His first experience of suffering? She must stay, then, and hear His sobs and heart-rending cries. She must bear the sight of the tears of her Divine Babe, forced from Him by the violence of the pain.

We need Saint Bonaventure to describe this wonderful mystery. “And if He weeps, do you think His Mother could keep in her tears? No, she too wept, and when the babe who was standing on her lap perceived her tears, He raised His little hand to her mouth and face as though He would beckon to her not to weep, for it grieved Him to see Her weeping, whom He so tenderly loved. The Mother, on her side, was touched to the quick at the suffering and tears of the babe, and she consoled Him by caresses and fond words. And as she was quick to see His thoughts as though He had expressed them in words, she said to Him: ‘If you wish me to cease weeping, weep not my child! If you weep, I must weep too.’ Then the babe, from compassion for the Mother, repressed His sobs, and Mary wiped His eyes and her own, and put His face to her own, and gave Him her breast, and consoled Him in every way she could.”

And now, what will we give in return to this Saviour of our souls for the Circumcision which He has deigned to suffer in order to show us how much He loved us? We must, according to the teaching of the Apostle, circumcise our heart from all its evil affections, its sins, and its wicked inclinations. We must begin at once to live that new life of which the Infant Jesus is the sublime model. Let us thus show Him our compassion for this His earliest suffering for us, and be more attentive than we have hitherto been to the example He sets us.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Almachius, martyr, who, by the command of Alipius, governor of the city, was killed by the gladiators for saying, “Today is the Octave of Our Lord’s birth. Put an end to the worship of idols and abstain from unclean sacrifices.”

In the same city, on the Via Appia, the crowning with martyrdom of thirty holy soldiers under the emperor Diocletian.

Also at Rome, under the emperor Alexander, St. Martina, virgin, who endured various kinds of torments, and, being beheaded, received the palm of martyrdom. Her feast is kept on the thirtieth of this month.

At Spoleto, in the time of the emperor Antoninus, St. Concordius, priest and martyr, who was beaten with clubs and then put to torture. After a long confinement in prison where he was visited by an angel, he lost his life by the sword.

The same day, St. Magnus, martyr.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the demise of St. Basil, bishop, whose festival is kept on the fourteenth of June, the date of his consecration as bishop.

In Africa, St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspoe, who suffered much from the Arians during the persecution of the Vandals, for holding the Catholic faith and teaching its excellent doctrine. After being banished to Sardinia, he was permitted to return to his diocese where he ended his life by a holy death, leaving a reputation for sanctity and eloquence.

At Chieti in Abruzzo, the birthday of St. Justin, bishop of that city, illustrious for holiness of life and miracles.

In the diocese of Lyons, in the monastery of St. Claude, St. Eugendus, abbot, whose life was eminent for virtues and miracles.

At Souvigny, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, who was the first to prescribe that the commemoration of all the faithful departed should be made in his monasteries the day after the feast of All Saints. This practice was afterwards received and approved by the universal Church.

In Tuscany, on Mount Senario, blessed Bonfilius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, herself, suddenly called her devout servant to heaven.

At Alexandria, the departure from this world of St. Euphrosyna, virgin, who was renowned in her monastery for the virtue of abstinence and the gift of miracles.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

JANUARY – THE MONTH OF THE HOLY NAME

There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

(Acts iv. 12)

In the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

 

(Phillipians ii. 10-12)

Sweet Jesus, grant me a lively devotion to your sacred Name. Teach me to understand Its meaning and to realise Its efficacy, to relish Its sweetness and to trust in Its power. Teach me to call on It worthily in all my difficulties and afflictions. Amen.

31 DECEMBER – END OF THE SECULAR YEAR

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The civil year ends today. At midnight, a New Year will begin, as the world counts time, and the present one will sink into the abyss of eternity. It is one step further on in our lives and brings us nearer to that end of all things, which Saint Peter says is at hand (1 Peter iv. 7). The Liturgy which begins a new Ecclesiastical Year on the First Sunday of Advent has no special prayers in the Roman Church for the beginning of the Year on the First of January but her spirit — which takes an interest in everything affecting the well-being of individuals or of society at large — her spirit is that we should sometime in the course of this last day of the Year make a fervent act of thanksgiving to God for the blessings He has bestowed on us during the past twelve months.

Rome sets us the example. Today the Sovereign Pontiff goes in state to the Gesù (or, as we should call it, Jesus’ Church) and there assists at a solemn Te Deum. The Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament follows it, blessing, as it were, the public act of thanksgiving, and giving a pledge of blessings for the coming Year. The only Church that has given a Liturgical expression to the sentiments which the close of the Year inspires is that of the Mozara.bic Rite in which there occurs the following beautiful Preface, which we gladly offer to our readers. It is part of the Mass of the Sunday which immediately precedes the Feast of the Epiphany.

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It is meet and just that we should give thanks to you, O Holy Lord, Eternal Father, Almighty God, through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who being before all time born of you, God the Father, did, together with you and the Holy Ghost, create all seasons and deigned Himself to be born in time from the womb of the Virgin Mary. He, though the eternal One, established the fixed revolutions of years through which this world run its course, and divided the year by regular and suitable changes of seasons with which the sun should in orderly variety mark the round of the year as it ran the measured circuit of its course. For we this day dedicate by the gifts we offer the close of the past year and the commencement of that which follows to Him, the living God, by whose mercy we have lived through the years gone by and are about to commence the beginning of another. Since, therefore, a sacred devotion in which we all share has this year brought us together to invoke this your Divine Son, we pour out our humble prayers to you, O God the Father, that whereas you have consecrated the present portion of the year by the birth of this same your Son, you may vouchsafe to make this year a happy one to us, and to give us to spend it in your service. Fill, too, the earth with its fruits, and deliver our souls and bodies from sickness and sin. Take away scandal, defeat our enemy, keep down famine and drive far from our country all such events as would bring evil upon her. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

31 DECEMBER – SAINT SYLVESTER (Pope and Confessor)

 

Sylvester, a Roman by birth and son of Rufinus, was brought up from childhood by the priest Cyrinus. He imitated his master by his learning and a good life, and when in his thirtieth year was ordained a priest of the holy Roman Church by Pope Marcellinus, he surpassed the rest of the clergy in the admirable manner in which he performed his sacred duties, and was chosen as the successor of Pope Melchiades under the reign of the Emperor Constantine. This Emperor, having been advised by his physicians to seek the cure of his leprosy by bathing in infants’ blood, was visited in his sleep by the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. They bade him refuse the sinful remedy of the bath if he desired to be cleansed from his leprosy, and go Sylvester who was then hiding on mount Soracte, that having been regenerated in the saving waters of baptism, he should give orders that Churches, after the manner of the Christians, should be built in every part of the Roman empire and that he should destroy the idols of the false gods and worship the true God.

Constantine, therefore, obeying the heavenly admonition, caused the most diligent search to be made for Sylvester and, when found, to be brought to him. This being done, and the Pontiff having shown Constantine the portraits of the two Apostles he had seen in his sleep, the Emperor was baptised and healed, and became exceedingly zealous for the defence and propagation of the Christian religion. By the persuasion of the holy Pontiff, Constantine also built several Basilicas which he enriched with sacred images and most princely donations and gifts. He moreover granted permission to the Christians publicly to erect churches which previously they were forbidden to do. Two Councils were held during the reign of this Pontiff: that of Nicaea over which presided his Legates. Constantine was present, and 318 Bishops were assembled there. The holy and Catholic faith was explained and Arius and his followers were condemned. The Council was confirmed by Sylvester at the request of all the Fathers assembled. The second Council was that of Rome at which 284 Bishops were present and there Arius was condemned.

Sylvester passed several decrees most useful to the Church of God: the Chrism should be blessed by a Bishop only, the priest should anoint the crown of the head of the person he baptised, Deacons should wear the dalmatic in the church and a linen ornament on the left arm, and the Sacrifice of the Altar should not be celebrated except on a linen veil. He laid down the length of time during which they who received Holy Orders should exercise the functions belonging to each Order before passing to a higher grade. He made it illegal for a layman to be the public accuser of a cleric, and forbade clerics to plead before a civil tribunal. The names of Saturday and Sunday were to be still used, but all the other days of the week were to be called Ferias, as the Church had already begun to call them, thereby signifying that the clergy should put aside all other cares and spend every day in the undisturbed service of God. To this heavenly prudence with which he governed the Church, he ever joined the most admirable holiness of life, and charity towards the poor. For instance, he arranged that those among the clergy who had no means should live with wealthy members of the clergy, and that everything needed for their maintenance should be supplied to virgins consecrated to God.

Sylvester governed the Church 21 years, 10 months and one day. He was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. He seven times gave ordinations in December during which he ordained 42 Priests, 25 Deacons and 65 Bishops.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

So far the only ones we have seen standing round the crib of our Jesus have been Martyrs: Stephen, overwhelmed with the shower of stones; John, the Martyr in heart who survived his fiery torture; the Holy Innocents, massacred by the sword; Thomas, murdered in his Cathedral — these are the champions of Christ who kneel in the palace of Bethlehem. Yet, all Christians are not called to be Martyrs. Besides this countless battalion of the King’s favourite soldiers, there are other troops of sainted heroes which form the heavenly army, and among these there are the Confessors who conquered the world, without shedding their blood in the combat.

Though the place of honour in the service of the King belongs to the Martyrs, yet did the Confessors fight manfully for the glory of His name and the spreading of His Kingdom. The palm is not in their hands but they are crowned with the crown of justice, and Jesus, who gave it to them, has made it be part of His own glory that they should be near His throne. The Church would therefore grace this glorious Christmas Octave with the name of one of her children who should represent, at Bethlehem, the whole class of her unmartyred Saints. She chose a Confessor — Saint Sylvester — a Confessor who governed the Church of Rome and therefore the universal Church: a Pontiff, whose reign was long and peaceful. A servant of Jesus Christ adorned with every virtue, who was sent to edify and guide the world immediately after those fearful combats that had lasted for three hundred years and in which millions of Christians had gained victory by martyrdom under the leadership of Thirty Popes — predecessors of Saint Sylvester — and they too, all Martyrs. So that Sylvester is messenger of the Peace which Christ came to give to the world, and of which the Angels sang on Christmas Night. He is the friend of Constantine. He confirms the Council of Nicaea. He organises the discipline of the Church for the new era on which she is now entering — the era of Peace.

His predecessors, in the See of Peter, imaged Jesus in His sufferings. Sylvester represented Jesus in His triumph. His appearance during this Octave reminds us that the Divine Child who lies wrapped in swaddling clothes and is the object of Herod’s persecution, is, notwithstanding all these humiliations, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the world to come (Isaias ix. 6).

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Supreme Pastor of the Church of Christ, you lend to the beauty of the holy Octave of Christmas the lustre of your glorious merits. There you worthily represent the countless choir of Confessors, for you steered the barque of Peter after the three hundred years’ tempest, leading her with watchful love in her first hours of calm. The pontifical Diadem reflecting Heaven in its gems sits on your venerable brow. The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are in your hands. You opened it for the admission of the Gentiles who embraced the faith of Christ. You shut it against the Arians in that august Council of Nicaea where you presided by your Legates, and to which you gave authority, by confirming it with your apostolic approbation. The furious storms will again soon rage against the Church, and the angry billows of heresy will beat against her. You will then be in the bosom of God but together with Saint Peter you will keep guard over the purity of the Faith of Rome. You will support Julius. You will rescue Liberius and Athanasius, aided by your prayers, will find a shelter within the walls of Rome. Under your peaceful reign Christian Rome receives the reward of her long-endured persecution. She is acknowledged as Queen of Christendom, and her empire becomes the sole empire that is universal. The son of your pastoral zeal, Constantine, leaves the city of Romulus which has now become the City of Peter. The Imperial majesty would be eclipsed by that greater one of the Vicar of Christ. He makes Byzantium his capital, leaving Rome to be that of the Pontiff-King. The temples of the false gods become ruins,and make room for the Christian Basilicas in which are enshrined the Relics of the Apostles and Martyrs. In a word, the Church has triumphed over the Prince of this world, and the victory is typified by the destruction of that Dragon which infected the air by its poisonous breath.

Honoured with all these wonderful prerogatives, saintly Vicar of Christ, forget not the Christian people which was once your flock. It asks you, on this your Feast, to make it known and love the mystery of the birth of Jesus. By the sublime Symbol which embodies the Faith of Nicaea and which you confirmed and promulgated throughout the whole Church, you have taught us to acknowledge this sweet Infant as God of God, Light of Light, begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father. You bid us to come and adore this little child as He by whom all things were made. Holy Confessor of Christ,I vouchsafe to present us to Him, as the Martyrs have done, whose Feasts have filled up the days since His Nativity. Pray to Him for us that our desires for true virtue may be fulfilled, that we may persevere in his Holy love, that we may conquer the world and our passions, and at length, that we may obtain the crown of justice which is to be the reward of our Confessing Him before men, and is the only object of our ambition.

Pontiff of Peace, from the abode of rest where you now dwell, look down on the Church of God, surrounded as she is by implacable enemies, and beseech Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to hasten her triumph. Cast your eye on that Rome, which is so dear to you and which is so faithful in her love of you. Protect and direct her Pontiff. May she triumph over the wiles of political intrigue, the violence of tyranny, the craft of heretics, the perfidy of schismatics, the apathy of worldlings, and the cowardice of her own children. May she be honoured, loved and obeyed. May the sublime dignity of the Priesthood be recognised. May the spiritual power enjoy freedom of action. May the civil authority work hand and hand with the Church. May the Kingdom of God now come and be received throughout the whole world, and may there be but one Fold and one Shepherd.

Still watch, O holy Sylvester, over the sacred treasure of the Faith, which you defended when on Earth, against every danger. May its light put out the vapours of man’s proud dreams, those false and daring doctrines which mislead countless souls. May every mortal bow down his understanding to the obedience of faith in the divine Mysteries, without which all human wisdom is but folly. May Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, be King, by His Church, over the minds and hearts of all men. Pray for Byzantium that was once called the New Rome, but which so soon became the capital of heresies and the scene of everything that could degrade a Christian country. Pray that the days of her deep humiliation may be shortened; that she may again see herself united with Rome; that she may honour Christ and his Vicar; that she may obey, and by her obedience be saved. May the people, misled and debased by her influence and rule, recover their dignity as men, which can only subsist when men have faith, or be regained by a return to the faith.

And lastly, O Conqueror of Satan, keep this hellish monster in the prison to which you drove him. Confound his pride and his schemes. Let him no longer seduce the people of God’s Earth, but may all the children of the Church, according to the word of Peter, your predecessor, resist him by the strength of their faith.

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Let us, on this the Seventh Day within the Christmas Octave, consider the new-born babe wrapped in the swaddling clothes of infancy. They are the indications of weakness. The child that is swathed in them is helpless and dependent on others. Another’s hand must loosen His bands and until then He is not free to move. It was in this infantile helplessness and in the bondage of human weakness that He who gives life and motion to every creature first appeared on our Earth!

Let us contemplate our Blessed Lady wrapping the limbs of her child, her God, in these swathing-bands: but who can picture to himself the respectful love with which she does it! She adores His humiliations — humiliations which He has taken upon Himself in order that He may sanctify every period of man’s life, even that feeblest of all, infancy. So deep was the wound of our pride that it needed a remedy of such exceeding efficacy as this! Can we refuse to become little chlldren now that He, who gives us the precept, sets us so touching an example! Sweet Jesus, we adore you wrapped in your swaddling clothes, and our ambition is to imitate your divine humility.

“Let not,” says the holy Abbot Guerric, “let not the eye of your faith be offended or shocked, Brethren, at these outward humble coverings. As the Mother of Jesus wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, so does Grace and Wisdom, which is your spiritual mother, veil over with certain material things, the truth of our Incarnate God, and hide, under the representation of symbolical figures, the majesty of this same Jesus. When I, Brethren, deliver to you by my words the Truth (which is Jesus) I am swathing Jesus in bands of exceeding great poverty. Happy the soul that loves and adores not its Jesus the less because he receives Him thus poorly clad! Let us therefore most devoutly think upon our Lord clothed in the swathing-bands with which His Mother covered His infant limbs so that in the world of eternal happiness, we may see the glory and beauty with which His Father has clad Him, and this glory is that of the Only Begotten Son of the Father.”

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome on the Via Salaria, in the cemetery of Priscilla, the holy martyrs Donata, Paulina, Rustica, Nominanda, Serotina, Hilaria and their companions.

At Sens, the blessed Sabinian, bishop, and Potentian, who being sent there by the Roman Pontiff to preach, illustrated that metropolitan church by their confession and martyrdom.

In the same place, St. Columba, virgin and martyr, who after having triumphed over fire, was beheaded in the persecution of the emperor Aurelian.

At Retiers, St. Hermes, exorcist.

At Catania in Sicily, the martyrdom of the Saints Stephen, Pontian, Attains, Fabian, Cornelius, Sextus, Flos, Quinctian, Minervinus and Simplician.

The same day, St. Zoticus, Roman priest, who went to Constantinople, and took upon himself the care of orphans.

At Ravenna, St. Parbatian, priest and confessor.

The same day, St. Melania the Younger, who withdrew from Rome with her husband Pinian, and went to Jerusalem, where both embraced the religious life, she among the women consecrated to God, and he among the monks, and ended their career in peace.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.