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!

 

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!