12th Day of Christmas - Vigil of Epiphany

The feast of the Epiphany is more ancient than the feast of Christmas and it also is of a higher rank.  Epiphany has a Privileged Octave of the 2nd Class, while Christmas has a Privileged Octave of the 3rd Class.  Like all great feasts, it has a Vigil to prepare for the feast.  

"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 upon us.  This eve of to-morrow'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.  . . . the colour used is White.  This is the Twelfth day since the Birth of our Emmanuel." 

The Liturgical Year, Volume 2 by Dom Gueranger

Today is also the traditional Solemn Blessing of Epiphany Water.  Attend this Blessing at church and bring home some water to use throughout the year.

O Lord, show us Thy Face and we shall be saved!

 

11th Day of Christmas - Octave Day of the Holy Innocents

Today is the Octave of the Holy Innocents.  Since it falls on Sunday this year, the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus supersedes it.  However the Holy Innocents would still be commemorated. 

"The Holy Church, which on the Feast is vested in the colour of mourning, and this out of condolence with Rachel's grief, now on the Octave Day clothes herself in the red of her Martyrs, in order to honour these Babes who shed their Blood for Jesus.  Notwithstanding, she is full of tender compassion for those poor Mothers, who suffered such agonies of grief at the sight of the murder of their little ones; she continually allude to them in to-day's Liturgy,"  

The Liturgical Year, Volume 2 by Dom Gueranger

Holy Innocents, pray for us! 

 

10th Day of Christmas - Octave Day of St. John

 While St. John was a martyr by desire though not in deed, he was also a virgin and the Beloved Apostle of Our Lord.  He laid his head on Our Lord's breast at the Last Supper.  It was to this virginal Apostle to whom Our Lord entrusted His Blessed Mother while He was dying on the cross.  St. John wrote his Gospel, three Letters and the Book of the Apocalypse. 

"Nearest to Jesus' Crib, after Stephen, stand John, the Apostle and Evangelist. . . .But next to the sacrifice of Blood, the noblest, the bravest sacrifice, and that which most wins the heart of him who is the Spouse of souls, is the sacrifice of Virginity.  Now just as St. Stephen is looked upon as the type of Martyrs, St. John is honoured as the Prince of Virgins.  Martyrdom won for Stephen the Crown and palm; Virginity merited for john most singular prerogatives, which, while they show how dear to God is holy Chastity, put this Disciple among those who by their dignity and influence are above the rest of men." 

The Liturgical Year, Volume 2 by Dom Gueranger

St. John the Apostle, pray for us! 

9th Day of Christmas - Octave Day of St. Stephen

The feast of St. Stephen dates back to the greatest antiquity.  It is already mentioned at the end of the 3rd century, but was well established by then.  His Octave, though not as old, is already referenced in the 9th century!  

"But how comes it that the Feast of a mere Deacon has been thus honored, whilst almost all those of the Apostles have no Octave?  The rule followed by the Church in her Liturgy is to give more or less solemnity to the Feast of the Saints, according to the importance of the services they rendered to mankind. . . . St. Stephen led the way to Martyrdom; his example inaugurated that sublime witnessing by shedding one's own blood, which is the very strength of the Church, ratifies the truths she teaches to the world, and confirms the hopes of eternal reward promised by those truths.  Glory, then, and honour to the Prince of Martyrs!" 

The Liturgical Year, Volume 2 by Dom Gueranger

St. Stephen, pray for us!

 

8th Day of Christmas - Circumcision of Our Lord

Today is the Octave Day of Christmas where we remember the first blood-shedding 

of Our Lord in His Circumcision eight days after His Birth.  

Why would the 1962 Missal down play this shedding of His Precious Blood?  

The feast is renamed as the Octave of Christmas which is a very generic title.

Is there a Truth that they do not want us to focus on???

On the first day of the year, a plenary indulgence is granted to all who are present at a 

public recitation or chanting of the Veni Creator in church with the 

intention of imploring divine assistance for the new year. 

Most Precious Blood of Jesus, save us!

 

7th Day of Christmas -- Pope St. Sylvester I

Pope St. Sylvester I was the pope when the persecutions of the Christians ended with Constantine and the Christians could come out of hiding.   He is the Pontiff of Peace.

On the final day of the year, a plenary indulgence is granted to all who are present at a public recitation or chanting of the Te Deum in church with the intention of thanksgiving for all the

 blessings received this past year. 

Pope St. Sylvester I, pray for us! 

 

6th Day of Christmas - Feria of Christmas

 

This is an unusual day in the pre-1955 calendar.  

If either St. Stephen, St. John or the Holy Innocents fall on a Sunday, that feast is celebrated and the Sunday within the Octave is transferred to Dec 30.  This is what happened this year.

Everything is so well planned and each of these major feasts is celebrated every year.  None of them gets bumped by another.  You get the fullness of the Liturgical season.  Instead compare it to the 1962 Missal.  There Dec 29 - 31 are all feria days of Christmas which demotes St. Thomas a Becket and Pope St. Sylvester to a mere commemoration.  

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, save souls!

5th Day of Christmas - St. Thomas a Becket

 

In the 1962 Missal, this feast is reduced to a commemoration 

and Dec 29 is merely a feria of Christmas.  

In an age when we need the example of strong, holy bishops, St. Thomas a Becket is cast aside.

From his Mass in the pre-1955 Missal: 

INTROIT
Let us all rejoice in the Lord as we celebrate the feast in honor of the blessed martyr Thomas, at whose martyrdom the angels rejoiced and praised the Son of God.
Ps. 32:1. Rejoice in the Lord, you just; praise befits the upright.
V. Glory be . . .


COLLECT
O God, for the cause of the Church the glorious bishop Thomas was slain by the swords of evil men. May all who implore his aid obtain through him the petitions they ask. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the Octave of CHRISTMAS


EPISTLE Heb. 5:1-6
Brethren: Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err: because he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify himself, that he might be made a high priest: but he that said unto him: "Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee." As he saith also in another place: "Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech."

GRADUAL Eccli. 44:16, 20
Behold a great priest, who pleased God in his life.
V. There was none found like to him, who kept the law of the Most High.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. John 10:14
I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and mine know me. Alleluia!

GOSPEL John 10:11-16
At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and flieth: and the wolf casteth and scattereth the sheep, And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd: and I know mine, and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice: And there shall be one fold and one shepherd." 

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 20:4-5
You have placed on his head a crown of precious stones, O Lord. He asked life of You, and You have given it to him, alleluia!

SECRET
Bless the gifts we have set apart for You, O Lord. may the prayers of Your blessed martyr bishop, Thomas, help these offerings to win Your mercy for us. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the Octave of CHRISTMAS 

COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 10:14
I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and mine know me.

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, may this Communion cleanse us from sin, and bestow on us spiritual health from heaven through the intercession of Your blessed martyr bishop Thomas. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the Octave of CHRISTMAS

St. Thomas a Becket, pray for us! 

4th Day of Christmas - Holy Innocents

 

Even though today falls on a Sunday, it is the feast of the Holy Innocents in the pre-1955 calendar.  The Mass for the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas is transferred to Dec 30 which is a feria day. 

This feast also has a Simple Octave which is Jan 4.

The Holy Innocents are martyrs in deed, but not in intention.  They were slain in their innocence before they had the use of their reason and could not directly offer up their lives for Christ. 

This feast is one of the most tragic in the change of Missals.  Not only does it have a Simple Octave, but on the actual feast day of Dec 28 in order to honor the sorrow of the mothers of the Holy Innocents the Church mourns along with the mothers weeping for their children.  The Mass is offered in violet vestments and there is no Gloria or Alleluia.  Instead there is a Tract.  Only if the feast falls on a Sunday would there be red vestments, a Gloria and Alleluia as it would have on its Octave Day. 

Holy Innocents, pray for us!

3rd Day of Christmas - St John the Apostle

 

Today is the feast of St. John the Apostle.  This feast has a Simple Octave which is Jan 3.

While he was not a martyr in deed, he was in intention.  The feast of St. John before the Latin Gate on May 6 celebrates when he was boiled in oil, but did not die.

The feast of St. John before the Latin Gate was dropped from the 1962 Missal.  What a tragedy! 

There is a special blessing of wine today on St. John's feast. 

St. John, pray for us!

 

2nd Day of Christmas - St. Stephen

The crib of Bethlehem is surrounded by martyrs.  

St. Stephen, who was the Protomartyr, is the first to be honored at the crib of our newborn King.

The feast of St. Stephen has a Simple Octave.  

This means that only the Octave Day is celebrated which is Jan 2.

St. Stephen, pray for us!

 

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

 There are 3 Masses on Christmas. 

"Besides, this Jesus, who is born ton-night, is born thrice.  He is born of the Blessed Virgin, in the stable of Bethlehem; He is born by grace, in the hearts of the Shepherds, who are the first fruits of the Christian Church, and He is born eternally from the Bosom of the Father, in the brightness of the Saints: to this triple Birth, therefore, let there be the homage of a triple Sacrifice!" 

~ Dom Gueranger in The Liturgical Year, Volume 2

In the 3rd Mass of Christmas, the Last Gospel of St. John is the actual Gospel recounting the eternal generation of the Son of God in the Bosom of His Father.  In the pre-1955, there would be a Proper Last Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12 from Epiphany.  In the 1962, there is no Last Gospel.  

Merry Christmas! 

Vigil of Christmas

Today is a traditional day of fasting and abstinence 

as we prepare for the feast of Christmas!  

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!