Several feasts among this year’s 17 days
of Christmas

By John F. Fink

Christians are familiar with the “12 days of Christmas,” which traditionally began on Dec. 25 and carried us liturgically through the feast of Epiphany, celebrated on Jan. 6. The liturgical calendar has changed, though, and the Christmas season continues until the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, celebrated on Jan. 9. The feast of the Epiphany is now always celebrated in the United States on a Sunday and will be observed on Jan. 8.

Those who celebrate the Church’s Christmas season should be aware that the feasts are a bit different this year because Christmas falls on a Sunday.

The Christmas season begins late in the afternoon of Dec. 24. There are four Christmas Masses, beginning with the Vigil Mass for the feast of the Nativity of the Lord. This is followed by Midnight Mass, Mass at dawn and Mass during the day of Christmas itself. Back in the days when there were many priests and each priest usually said only one Mass a day, priests made it a practice to say three Masses on Christmas. Today, of course, many priests say three or more Masses every weekend.

As usual, the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is celebrated on Dec. 26, and the feast of St. John the Evangelist is celebrated on Dec. 27. These have long been popular feasts during the Octave of Christmas.

Another Christmas feast is celebrated on Wednesday, Dec. 28—the Holy Innocents. They are the children who were killed by King Herod the Great’s soldiers after the Magi told Herod that they were searching for “the newborn king of the Jews.” The visit of the Magi to Bethlehem isn’t celebrated until the feast of Epiphany, but the Holy Innocents are remembered on Dec. 28.

Friday, Dec. 30, is observed this year as the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Last year, when Christmas was on a Saturday, this feast was celebrated the following day, on Sunday, Dec. 26. It was moved this year to the only day within the Octave of Christmas that did not already have a feast.

The great feast of Mary, Mother of God, is always celebrated on Jan. 1, the Octave Day of Christmas, so it falls on Sunday. Older Catholics will remember when this was the feast of the Circum-cision of Jesus, and the Gospel reading for the feast includes his circumcision. This day is also a day of prayer for world peace.

North American Catholics should be aware of some of the feasts that fall during the first week of January. Jan. 4 is the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was a wife and mother of five children as well as the foundress of the parochial school system and the first religious order in the United States, the Daughters of Charity.

Her feast is followed on Jan. 5 by that of St. John Neumann, another American saint. He was the bishop of Philadelphia from 1852 until his sudden death in 1860.

Jan. 6 is the feast of Blessed André Bessette, known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal,” who was responsible for the magnificent St. Joseph’s Oratory at the top of Mount Royal, overlooking Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Sunday, Jan. 8, will be the feast of Epiphany. As already noted, this observes the visit of the Magi to the Blessed Family, the first gentiles to honor Jesus after his birth. Since they gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, it has been assumed that there were three Magi, and they have the traditional (but non-biblical) names of Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. In some places in the world, this feast is observed with more pomp than Christmas.

The Christmas season ends on Monday, Jan. 9, with the celebration of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, when God the Father revealed the divinity of Jesus during his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.

This year let us celebrate the 17 days of Christmas, from Dec. 24 to Jan. 9.

(John F. Fink is editor emeritus of The Criterion.) †