A document already referred to, dating from the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century, affords an interesting proof of the manner in which these matters which we have placed before the reader were regarded at a later date. John, Bishop of Nicæa, who flourished about the year 900, endeavoured to induce the Armenians to adopt the 25th December as the day of Christ’s birth, and set down in an elaborate treatise the reasons he thought calculated to influence them. This composition is especially interesting because in it the introduction of Christmas is ascribed to a particular individual, none other than Pope Julius I. (337-352). Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) is said to have corresponded with him on this question. Even if, from point of view of dates, this were not impossible, the letter of Cyril would in itself give rise to suspicion.[344] For Cyril would have been more likely to introduce or establish the feast on another day, while it is historically certain it was not yet observed in Jerusalem in 385.

In this pretended letter, Cyril alleges as a reason for transferring the feast to a different day from the Epiphany, that it is impossible for the inhabitants of Jerusalem to keep both feasts on the same day with befitting solemnity. Bethlehem lies three miles west, and the Jordan fifteen miles east of Jerusalem. It is stated in this letter that a procession went to both places on the same day, and so it was impossible for the clergy to accompany both. The often quoted diary of the Gallic Pilgrim[345] shows us that the procession to Bethlehem actually took place, but she is silent about a procession to the Jordan. This is first mentioned by Gregory of Tours in the sixth century.[346] It only was possible when the Nativity had been transferred to another day. The writer of the letter has antedated a later practice and certainly was not Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem.

The manner in which this letter brings forth evidence in favour of choosing the 25th December for the Nativity of Christ is also interesting. Titus, says the supposed Cyril in this letter to Pope Julius, had carried off all the books of the Jews to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem. There they still remain, and Julius might make a search to see if the true birth-day of Christ cannot be discovered.[347] Julius then discovered from the writings of Josephus that Zachary had seen the vision of the angel in the Temple in the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement, which on that occasion had fallen on the 23rd September. On that day his son, St John the Baptist, was conceived, who was born on the 24th June following, but Christ, according to St Luke i. 36, was born six months later, on the 25th December.

As regards the liturgical celebration of the feast, the oldest sermons on the Nativitas Domini which have come down to us, are those of Zeno of Verona († 380).[348] They are purely moral exhortations, and throw no light upon the date of the feast. He has no sermon for the Epiphany, and it may be inferred he did not observe it or that it was identified with the Nativity.

The representation of the crib on a side-altar or some other conspicuous place in the church is a special feature of the Christmas festival at the present day. This remains in the church until Epiphany, or even to the 2nd February. The Christmas crib dates back to St Francis of Assisi, who, with the permission of the Pope, set up in 1223 for the first time a representation of the child Jesus in the manger.

It is also the custom to celebrate three Masses, of which the first, according to the ancient use, commenced at midnight. As the words of the Mass show, this first Mass commemorates the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, the second commemorates His Incarnation and birth into this world, the third His birth through grace, in the hearts of sinners. The Gelasian sacramentary mentions the trina celebratio. The custom is one which reaches back to early Christian times. Gregory the Great mentions it in Hom. viii. in Evang. The Leonine sacramentary contains nine different formularies for Christmas, but the other western rites, including the Mozarabic, have only one Mass for the feast. The Menology of Basil Porphyrogenitus gives the flight of Mary into Egypt on the 26th December, and St Stephen only on the following day.

Since the 25th December was only chosen for reasons of a more or less accidental and external character, so too the days which immediately follow—St Stephen, St John the Evangelist, and the Holy Innocents—have no real connection with Christmas, although they are of very ancient institution. The 26th December was already a special festival in the fourth century, as appears from the sermons of St Augustine (Sermo 314, c. 1), though he knows nothing of the two following days. The 220th sermon, which celebrates the Holy Innocents, is spurious.[349] They appear, however, in the African Calendar of the sixth century. On the Innocents’ Day in the Middle Ages the schoolboys used to elect a bishop who was nothing more than their leader, and the ceremony was quite harmless. For this ceremony, as well as for the crib and other popular customs still practised, the reader is referred to Heuser’s elaborate articles in the Kirchenlexikon, iv²., 1395-1436.

The introduction of Christmas and its appointment on the 25th December brought about the establishment of three other festivals: 1. the feast of the Circumcisio Domini, eight days after the Nativity, according to St Luke ii. 21, (postquam consummati sunt dies octo, ut circumcideretur puer, vocatum est nomen ejus Jesus). 2. The Annunciation on the 25th March, which is also the day of Christ’s conception, and so is placed nine months before the 25th December. The historical evidence for this day is on a par with that for Christmas. 3. The Nativity of St John the Baptist, on the 24th June. Another consequence was that the festival of the Occursus Domini (ὑπαπάτη), i.e. the meeting of our Lord with Simeon in the Temple, on Candlemas Day, which was observed in Jerusalem before the introduction of Christmas, had to be transferred to another day. According to the regulations of the Jewish Law in Lev. xii. 6, the period of uncleanness after birth lasted forty days. And according to St Luke ii. 22, Mary submitted to the Law in this respect. So long as our Lord’s birth was commemorated at Epiphany on the 6th January, the 15th February was the fortieth day after the Nativity, and so, as a matter of fact, the festival of the Occursus Domini was celebrated in Jerusalem on this day in 385.[350] But when the Nativity came to be celebrated on the 25th December, the other festival had to be placed thirteen days earlier, on the 2nd February, as it is at the present time.[351]

2. Advent and the Sundays until Septuagesima

Christmas, like Easter, besides its Vigil and Octave, has also a considerable period of preparation. This, naturally, could only come into existence after the institution of the festival, and indeed a certain time had to elapse before it was organised. Since Christmas itself was first observed in the middle of the fourth century, it is not remarkable that the earliest clear reference to Advent, from an official source, dates from the end of the sixth century.

Some sort of preparatory season to Christmas, however, existed before this. As in the case of Easter, this preparatory season was marked by a fast commencing on St Martin’s Day (11th November), and lasting until Christmas. All Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were fasted as in Lent. Such was the preparation observed in Gaul since the appointment of the festival by Bishop Perpetuus of Tours († 491). The same observance existed in other parts of Gaul, for the first Council of Maçon (581) prescribes exactly the same order, and also that from St Martin’s Day to Christmas the Mass shall be the same as during Lent—the first sign of the liturgy for Advent. In the province of Tours there was a similar enactment, although affecting the monks alone, ordering them to fast through the whole of December.[352] The Roman Church did not observe the fast, although she treated Advent as a liturgical portion of the Church’s year and incorporated it therein.

Although the Greek Church has not marked the preparation for Christmas in her liturgy, still she has observed the fast since the eighth century. This begins on St Philip’s day (the 14th November), and continues for six weeks until Christmas. According to the Mozarabic and Milanese rites, this is the length of Advent. The Copts observe an Advent fast beginning on the 19th Athyr (15th November).[353]

Once the observance of Advent had been established in Rome, it spread throughout the entire West. In Spain we find it extended over five Sundays according to the Lectionary of Silos, dating from about 650. It took longer to make its way in France, although the way had already been prepared for it by Perpetuus of Tours. The service-books of the seventh century, the Lectionary of Luxeuil, and the so-called Missale Gothico-Gallicanum, edited by Mabillon, commence with the Vigilia Natalis Domini, without Advent. In Rome, the institution of Advent cannot be traced further back than to the sixth century, for the sermons of St Augustine and Leo I. make no mention of it. Unmistakable evidence for its observance is found for the first time in the homilies of Gregory the Great.[354]

The want of uniformity in the duration of Advent in different parts of the Church is due to the fact that local Churches, conformably to the ancient discipline, acted independently of each other. Thus, in Rome Advent lasted only four weeks, as we gather from the Gregorian sacramentary, which provides three Sundays in December with collects de adventu Domini, and a dominica vacans; in the Appendix, however, five Sundays are reckoned before Christmas.[355] The first traces of Advent are to be sought for in the lectionaries, as, for instance, in that drawn up by Bishop Victor of Capua (546-547), and used by St Boniface.[356] This contains four Epistles for the Sundays before Christmas (de Adventu). The Gelasian sacramentary has five Sundays in Advent, but it has obviously been revised for the use of the Frankish Churches. All service-books containing only four Sundays in Advent belong to the Roman rite.

In course of time the divergence between the Roman and Frankish uses became noticeable and gave rise to confusion. Amalarius remarks: In all missals and lectionaries there are five Sundays in Advent, but in the Antiphoner there are only three offices and a Dominica vacans, and the Gregorian missal has only four Sundays in Advent. In support of five Sundays, it was urged that from the beginning of the world until the Christian era five of the seven ages of the world had passed. Even in the tenth century, opinions were expressed in favour of five weeks. It was urged that, according to the other practice, if Christmas fell on a Monday, Advent strictly speaking lasted only three weeks. Abbo of Fleury († 1004) is witness to the existence of a twofold practice in a later period.[357] In the eighth century, an Advent of four weeks was observed in France wherever Roman influence extended. Berno of Reichenau in his writings on Advent is only occupied with the question how to deal with the vigil of Christmas when the 25th December falls on a Monday. The Micrologus does not mention an Advent season of five weeks, nor does Beleth.[358] A deviation from this custom appears in the Milanese and Mozarabic rites which prescribe a duration of six weeks for Advent, thus bringing it into conformity in this respect with Lent.

At first Advent was regarded merely as a time for penance and mortification in the same way as Lent. On this account, it was widely observed as a time of fasting, although the Church had nowhere so ordered it. Later on, again, Advent was regarded as a type or memorial of the Old Testament or the time before Christ. However, the view that the four weeks of Advent typify the four thousand years from Adam to Christ, impressive as it is, finds no support from the Liturgy. On the contrary, the lections from Genesis in the Breviary begin in Septuagesima, while during Advent the lections are taken from the Prophet Isaias.

As far as the lections from Scripture are concerned, the Gospel for the second Sunday in Advent recounts our Lord’s Messianic labours, while His birth is only commemorated some two or three weeks later. The Gospel for the first Sunday speaks of the end of the world, not, as one would expect, of its creation. The mediæval lectionaries, moreover, replace St Luke xxi. 25 et seqq. on this Sunday with the Gospel Cum appropinquasset Jerusalem, etc. (St Matthew xxi. 1 et seqq.),[359] and the preceding Sunday is sometimes called Dominica in præparatione Adventus, or Dominica Quinta ante Natalem Domini, in which we see a remnant of the more ancient reckoning. The collects of the Mass express the hope of the Messias and the longing for His appearance.

We must also consider Christmas in connection with the festivals which follow in the course of the year, such as the Circumcision of our Lord, which, of course, falls on the eighth day after Christmas, the Octava Domini, the Epiphany, and Candlemas Day. Thus quite naturally, as it were, a cycle of festivals has grown up round Christmas Day.

We may also mention the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas with its Gospel giving the account of the meeting of Jesus and His parents with Simeon and Anna. The Gospel for the Sunday after New Year’s Day records the flight into Egypt. The Sundays after Epiphany form connecting links between Christmas and Easter, varying from two to six, according as Easter falls earlier or later. Only the two first Sundays have any distinctive character, the first commemorating the visit of our Lord to the Temple at the age of twelve years, and the second His first miracle at Cana of Galilee.[360] The remaining Sundays, along with Septuagesima and Sexagesima, do not commemorate any historical event in their lections from Scripture; Quinquagesima and the Sundays in Lent direct our attention to the approaching Passion. In the case of the Sundays three to six after Epiphany, this is intentional, since they are liable to be transferred from their proper place to the end of the year when necessary.

The Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, or, as it was formerly called, the Sunday after Christmas, has as its Gospel St Luke ii. 33-40, which gives the account of Simeon’s prophecy. Chronologically speaking, this passage comes before its time, for, in St Luke’s Gospel, it comes after the passage chosen as the Gospel for Candlemas (St Luke ii. 22-32), of which it forms the continuation. In the last verse (ii. 39), mention is made of the return from Jerusalem or Bethlehem to Nazareth. The events, however, which follow in the course of the Church’s year—the circumcision and the arrival of the Wise Men—must have happened before the return to Galilee.

3. The Octave of Christmas. The Circumcision. The New Year

Since Easter, after the example given by the Synagogue, was from the first observed with an octave, and, since Epiphany had its octave already in the eighth century, it was inevitable that Christmas should be provided with one also. Accordingly, the eighth day after Christmas bears the name Octava Domini (In Octavas Domini) in the Gelasian[361] and Gregorian sacramentaries, whence it may be inferred that it was not yet regarded as an independent festival and passed unnoticed if it fell on a week-day.

On the other hand, it was partially observed as a popular holiday, at least it gave occasion in many places for popular rejoicings,[362] being the day on which the Roman Calendar began a new year. In Ravenna it was marked by dancing and masquerades, against which Peter Chrysologus inveighed in his 155th Sermon. Since he forbids Christians to put in even an appearance at these entertainments, they must have been of an objectionable nature. It was the same in Gaul even in the sixth century and later. The second Council of Tours, and the Councils of Auxerre and Rouen (650) were compelled to forbid these rejoicings. With a view to counteracting their influence, the bishops exhorted the faithful to attend divine service on this day, and appointed somewhat earlier penitential processions (litaniæ) to be privately performed in atonement for the sins committed at this season.[363] In Spain, the eleventh canon of the fourth Council of Toledo commanded a strict fast and abstinence for the same object, and the Allelujah was omitted from the psalmody. In 650, a law of the Kings Recceswinth and Erwig made the Kalends of January a festival of obligation.[364] In Rome, in the eighth century, the people spent the nights dancing in the streets to the scandal of pilgrims from the north, as Boniface informed Pope Zacharias. These abuses lingered longest in France though divested of their heathen character. Late on in the Middle Ages, we find a remnant of them in the so-called Feast of Fools, at which ecclesiastical customs were travestied by the election of a Bishop of Fools and by all sorts of misconduct in the churches. Things became so bad that the papal legate, Cardinal Peter, felt compelled to order Odo, Bishop of Paris, to pronounce excommunication on all who took part in such proceedings. The bishop prohibited the abuse in the strongest manner in 1199, but in spite of repeated ecclesiastical censures, it continued on into the fifteenth century, as appears from a report of the theological faculty of Paris in 1444.[365]

The 1st January appears as an ecclesiastical festival at Rome for the first time at the beginning of the ninth century, where it is called from the first Circumcisio Domini, the name which it bears among the Greeks, Syrians, and Copts.

We have already observed that in the Gregorian sacramentary the 1st January is simply called Octava Domini. The same is also the case in the Calendar of St Geneviève, edited by Fronteau, which was written between 714 and 731.[366] In the Homiliarium of Charlemagne compiled by Paul the Deacon between 786 and 797, the day is still called in octavas Domini, i.e. Calendas Januarias.[367] The change of name must have been effected shortly after this. Although among the sermons of Zeno of Verona,[368] there is one on the circumcision of our Lord, this only proves that he treated of this subject in his discourse, and affords no evidence for the existence of the festival. In the Calendar of Charlemagne, edited by Piper, dating from between 731 and 781, the name Circumcisio occurs, so too in the list of Festivals of Sonnatius. On the other hand, the Gregorian sacramentary written, under Archbishop Otgar, about 840 for the monastery of St Alban near Mainz, has only Octava Domini.

The idea and date of this festival are derived from St Luke ii. 21, since eight days after birth our Lord was circumcised and received His human name, which, according to Jewish usage, was given at the same time. Later on, a special feast in honour of the Holy Name was instituted and appointed for the second Sunday after Epiphany. Its celebration was permitted to the Franciscans by Clement VII. in 1530, but the cultus of the Holy Name is due in a great measure to the influence of St Bernardine of Siena. On 20th December 1721, Innocent XIII. appointed this feast to be observed by the whole Church.

The Liturgy makes no reference to the commencement of the civil year, although in the lectionary of Silos this day is called Caput Anni.

4. The Epiphany

As the name Epiphany implies, the origin and early celebration of this festival is to be sought in the East. Among the Syrians, it is called denho, or “Going forth,” in the sense of “oriens ex alto” (St Luke i. 78). Among the Greeks, it goes by the name of τά ἐπιφάνια or ἡ ἐπιφάνιος sc. ἡμέρα, and θεοφάνεια. For the most part, the Latins employed the Greek name, or an equivalent, such as Festivitas Declarationis, used by Leo the Great, manifestatio, by Fulgentius, or apparitio by others.[369] The root, from which the Greek ἐπιφαίνω is derived, was employed to describe the dawn, and the adjective ἐπιφανής was applied to the appearances of the gods bringing help to men.

These names sufficiently disclose the idea commemorated by the feast—the commemoration of the appearance of the Son of God on earth in general, with special reference to those occasions in His life on which His divine sonship was revealed in some distinctive manner. Prominent among those occasions were His Nativity, the worship of the three wise men from the East, the baptism in Jordan with its accompanying theophany, and the miracles through which He manifested His divine power, especially the first miracle at the marriage in Cana. Accordingly people spoke of divine manifestations, in the plural, for the name dies epiphaniarum sive manifestationum was known to the heathen.[370]

The feast was kept on the 6th January. The first indication that this day was marked in some special way in the Christian Calendar is given by Clement of Alexandria, who says that some of the orthodox in his day regarded it as the birth-day of Christ, while the Basilidians observed the 10th January.[371] This of course does not prove that the 6th January was observed at that time in Alexandria as a festival. Origen omits it from the list of festivals he gives in C. Cels., 8, 22. It appears, however, among the writings of Hippolytus, in an earnest exhortation which he addressed to a candidate for baptism shortly before the day of the “Divine Manifestations” (εἰς τὰ ἅγια ἐπιφάνεια), when baptism was to be received. He starts with the baptism of Jesus, and then treats of the effects of baptism, and of worthy preparation for its reception.[372] A much later writer, who is however not to be quite disregarded, Bishop John of Nicæa in the ninth century, traces back the institution of the festival to disciples of St John.

Epiphany commemorates several events in the life of Jesus by which He manifested His divinity. One of these is His baptism by St John in Jordan,[373] for, according to the scriptural narrative, at the time of His baptism a voice from heaven was heard proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost visibly appeared in bodily shape as a dove. The baptism in Jordan is the special event commemorated by Epiphany among the Easterns, e.g., in the oldest Coptic Calendar Epiphany is called Dies Baptismi Sanctificati, and in a later one Immersio Domini.[374] The earliest existing sermon on the day—the homily of Hippolytus—treats exclusively of the baptism of Jesus. Chrysostom, in addition to the baptism, speaks of our Lord’s second coming in Judgment as an event commemorated by the festival. On account of its connection with the baptism, this festival has among the Greeks the secondary title of “Feast of Lights,” (ἑορτὴ τῶν φώτων);[375] and in Ireland, contrary to the ancient custom of the Church, solemn baptism was administered on this day.[376]

The second event commemorated on the 6th January is the visit of the three Wise Men who, by their gifts, recognised Christ as God and Man and Redeemer, and worshipped Him as the long expected King of the Jews. The Wise Men found the divine Child still in Bethlehem, though no longer in the stable, as artists usually represent the scene, but in a roofed house[377] where His parents were temporarily lodged. The evangelists give no indication how long after the Nativity this took place.

The visit of the Magi appears as the sole event commemorated by Epiphany in the six sermons of Augustine delivered on the feast (Sermons 199-204). Fulgentius in his four sermons on Epiphany treats only of this event and of the slaughter of the innocents.

The Mass in the Gelasian sacramentary refers in the collects and preface only to these mysteries, and not to the two others, and the Gospel[378] relates the visit of the Magi.

The third event commemorated is the first miracle performed at the marriage in Cana, by which our Lord manifested His divine power. This threefold commemoration is still recognised in the present Roman liturgy, and finds expression in the antiphon to the Benedictus, which runs: “On this day the Church is joined to her celestial Bridegroom, because Christ washed away her sins in Jordan, the Magi hasten with gifts to the royal espousals and the guests are gladdened with water changed into wine.”

Polemius Silvius notices the three events in his Calendar on this day. Paulinus of Nola[379] expressly mentions them. They are especially dwelt upon and distinguished in a sermon of Sedatus, Bishop of Béziers, in the sixth century.[380] Maximus of Turin was acquainted with the threefold commemoration, but doubts if they all actually happened on the same day, the 6th January.

Later on, in mediæval times, there was a tendency to include under the Epiphany other manifestations of Christ’s divine power, such as the miracle of the loaves, and the resurrection of Lazarus.[381]

There is hardly any trace in the West of Epiphany as the festival of our Lord’s birth,[382] and even in the East this significance of the feast was forgotten after the institution of Christmas. Lingering traces of the earlier conception which had not quite died out in the East, may perhaps have been the occasion of a polemic from St Jerome,[383] when he declared that the Epiphany had never been regarded as a festival of Christ’s nativity.

By the introduction of Christmas, Epiphany naturally lost its character as the day of Christ’s birth, even in those parts of the Church where it had originally been regarded as such. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that Chrysostom, as introducer of Christmas, felt compelled to explain to his hearers more particularly the difference between the feasts. Christ, he says, did not appear at His birth openly and to all, but only to a few persons, and so little was His divinity manifested thereby that St John the Baptist was able to say: “There hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.” From the moment of His baptism, His divinity was evident to all, and consequently the festival instituted in honour of the baptism of Jesus bears the name of Epiphany. Moreover, there is yet another and a fuller appearance of the Lord which will take place at the end of the world. Hence the necessity, according to St Chrysostom, of celebrating in addition to the Epiphany a special festival in honour of Christ’s birth.[384]

Epiphany first appears with an octave in the Calendars of the eighth century. In the Gregorian sacramentary it is without an octave, but has a vigil. In the Calendar of Fronteau the festival is kept up for three days.

One of the special observances connected with the feast was the publication on the 6th January of the annual pastoral letter of the Patriarchs of Alexandria—the epistola festalis—announcing the date of Easter for the current year. In 541, the fourth Council of Orleans (can. 1) ordered the same thing for the West, also the Councils of Auxerre in 578 and 585 (can. 2). In the Middle Ages the dates of the other movable feasts were added to the date of Easter (Pontif. Rom.), as is still done in some places, as for example, Turin, at the present day.

The festival was kept with special solemnity at Jerusalem, as we learn from the description of it given by the Gallic Pilgrim. Unfortunately, the beginning with the special account of the feast is missing, but there is no doubt that the foregoing paragraph described the Epiphany, for the succeeding festival is spoken of as quadragesima de Epiphania (c. 26).

According to this document a procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem took place on the eve, returning in the early morning. After a time for rest, the service commenced about the second hour of the day in the great church on Golgotha, which was richly decorated. At the conclusion of the function the faithful proceeded to the church of the Anastasis, and, about the sixth hour, or twelve o’clock, the festival was at an end. In the evening vespers (lucernare) were sung. On the second and third days service was held in the same church, on the fourth day in the church called Eleona on the Mount of Olives, on the fifth day in the Lazarium, the grave of Lazarus in Bethania, on the sixth day in Sion, on the seventh day in the church of the Anastasis, on the eighth day in the church of the Holy Cross. Thus both in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem the feast lasted eight days—a kind of octave.

In the Eastern Churches the day is further distinguished by the solemn blessing of the water, mentioned by Chrysostom and intended to recall the miracle at Cana. This is a very popular festival, but in many places has been stripped of its religious character; it is performed by the clergy going in procession to the sea or to a river, reciting a prayer, and then throwing a crucifix into the water which is fetched out again by swimmers and takes place on the 18th January (old style).

With regard to the antiquity and spread of the feast, it was unknown in North Africa during the third century, for Tertullian makes no reference to it, and even in the time of St Augustine it was rejected by the Donatists as an Oriental novelty.[385] In Origen’s time, at least, it was not generally observed as a festival in Alexandria, since he does not reckon it as such. For Rome, evidence is wanting for the earliest times, but since the daughter Church of North Africa knew nothing of the festival at first, it may be inferred that originally it was not kept at Rome but was introduced there in the course of time. In Spain, it was a feast-day in 380, in Gaul, in 361, and there is evidence of its existence in Thrace as early as 304.[386] In the East it generally held the place of Christmas as our Lord’s birth-day,[387] and as such it had already, as early as the first half of the third century, become domiciled in the Church, as is shown by the recently published Testamentum Jesu Christi, where it is twice named as a high festival along with Easter and Pentecost.[388] In the Roman Empire, as early as A.D. 400, Epiphany was one of the days on which games in the circus were forbidden by law. Not until Justinian’s[389] time were the law courts closed[390] on this day also.

5. The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(CANDLEMAS)

By the mosaic law, every mother, after giving birth to a son, remained unclean for seven days, in the first instance, and then, for thirty-three days longer, was excluded from participation in public worship. After the birth of a daughter the period of ceremonial uncleanness was twice as long. Thus the whole period lasted for forty or eighty days, and at its conclusion the woman had to bring a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon for a sin-offering. In case of poverty, two young pigeons or turtle-doves sufficed as an offering (Lev. xii. 2-8). According to the narrative in the Gospels, Mary, after the birth of Jesus, fulfilled the commands of this law and brought the prescribed offering to the Temple on the fortieth day, on which occasion the meeting with Simeon and Anna took place (St Luke ii. 22 et seqq.).

Our Blessed Lady and her divine Son, in the first place, and, secondarily, Simeon and Anna are the actors in this scene, and it would have been strange had this event not been commemorated very early among the Church’s festivals.

The first reference to such a commemoration belongs to the last decades of the fourth century and comes from Jerusalem. It is contained in the diary of the so-called Silvia. The day was ushered in by a solemn procession, followed by a sermon on St Luke ii. 22 seqq., and a Mass. It had as yet no special name, but was known merely as the fortieth day after the Epiphany. This goes to prove that at that time the Epiphany was regarded in Jerusalem as the day of the Lord’s birth, and it follows indirectly from the expressions used (hic) that the festival was not yet known in the Pilgrim’s home.[391]

It seems probable that the festival was first of all observed in Jerusalem from whence it spread through out the whole Church. The person by whom, and the time when it was first introduced into Constantinople and the Byzantine empire, are known to us. A plague having caused frightful mortality, the Emperor Justinian, as soon as it had passed away, ordered the Purification to be observed for the first time in 542.[392] The contradictory evidence in Georgius Hamartolus and Nicephorus[393] that it was the Emperor Justin, Justinian’s predecessor, who introduced the festival and ordered it to be observed throughout the world, seems due simply to a confusion between the two emperors. In any case the spread of the feast throughout a wider area dates from this time.

The name by which the festival was known, now that it was widely adopted in different districts, was “The Meeting,” in Greek Hypapante, in Latin Occursus Domini, in reference to the meeting between the Child Jesus and Simeon and Anna; it may be that this festival was introduced at Rome in consequence of Justinian’s commands, but no evidence to that effect is extant. As far as Rome is concerned, it appears in the Gelasian sacramentary with the new name of Purificatio, and as a feast of our Blessed Lady, without any mention of a procession.[394] Pope Sergius I. (687-701) ordained, however, a procession on this as on the other principal festivals of Our Lady. In the passage in question of the Liber Pontificalis, the festival has the remarkable name of St Simeon’s Day, “which the Greeks call Hypapante,” which seems to show that the festival had not yet been well established in Rome. Moreover, the 2nd February was observed among the Greeks as the actual day of Simeon’s death, because in his canticle he had said, “Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant ... in peace.”[395] That the festival was only introduced at a late date in many places in the West is proved by the fact that in the Lectionary of Silos, the oldest belonging to the Spanish Church, and dating about 650, it does not appear. The same is the case with regard to the Calendar of St Geneviève in Paris (731-741) published by Fronteau.

Formerly the general opinion was that it had been introduced in Rome by Pope Gelasius I. in order that he might replace the heathen Lupercalia, with their midnight torch processions and disorderly proceedings, by a popular Christian festivity. This opinion[396] cannot be maintained in the face of the facts referred to above. The Lupercalia indeed fell on the 15th February, which also happened to be the day on which this festival was originally kept in Jerusalem, but the Gallic pilgrim makes no mention of lights carried in the procession. Again, processions, with or without lights, were so common both among the Christians and heathen of the early Christian era, that any connection between the procession on Candlemas Day and the Lupercalia cannot be inferred.

The Invitatorium (Gaude et lætare, Jerusalem, occurrens Deo tuo), and the preface, which is that for Christmas, show that originally the feast was rather a festival of Our Lord than of Our Lady. The collect for the day speaks of the presentation of the Lord in the Temple alone, and the antiphons for the most part refer to the same event, while the psalms are those of Our Lady’s feasts. The Gospel for the day (St Luke ii. 22-23), the same now as in the fourth century, chronologically speaking, precedes the Gospel for the previous Sunday. For the Sunday after Christmas has St Luke ii. 33-40 for its Gospel, which relates the return of the Holy Family from Judæa to Galilee.

6. The Sundays of the Church’s Year as forming connecting-links between the principal Feasts

During the age of the persecutions it was scarcely possible for Christians to observe any other festival than Sunday, and so it is not surprising that the two writers, who have occasion to speak of the institution of the festivals of the Church, mention only Easter and Pentecost, both of which fall on Sundays. To these Christmas was added in the fourth century, and Epiphany somewhat earlier. These chief festivals, along with others soon added to their number, formed the elements for the organisation of a festal system in the Church, as centres round which the lesser festivals grouped themselves.

The last step of importance, however, in this development of the Church’s year was to connect these chief festivals with one another, so as to make them parts of a whole. The Sundays afforded a convenient means for effecting this. They were associated with the festal character of the nearest feast and were connected with it as links in a chain. The way for this development had been prepared by the season of preparation before Easter, and by the relation in which Easter stood to Pentecost. The Sundays of Lent had their own character as a preparation for Easter, and the Sundays in the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost—Quinquagesima—were marked by the festal character with which antiquity invested the whole period. All that was needed was, first of all, to connect Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, and, in the second place, the institution of a season of preparation before Christmas. This was accomplished between the sixth and the eighth centuries.

During the first six centuries, the ordinary Sundays of the year had neither liturgical position or character, since they were not even enumerated. There was a sort of commune dominicarum, i.e., a number of masses existed from which one could be chosen at will for each Sunday. To these Sundays, which were called simply dominicæ quotidianæ, those after Epiphany and Pentecost belonged.

They numbered altogether twenty-nine or thirty, according as the Calendar gave fifty-two or fifty-three Sundays in the year. For the sum of the days of the year, 365, divided by seven makes fifty-two and one over, and so the year which commences on a Sunday has fifty-three Sundays, the others only fifty-two. The smaller number of these, six at most, come between Epiphany and Septuagesima, but the larger, twenty-three to twenty-eight, between Whitsunday and Advent. The variation depends upon the date of Easter. There is no historical circumstance forthcoming to give these Sundays a specially festal character. With Pentecost the commemoration of Our Lord’s redemptive acts concludes, and it was not the custom in the West to include events from Church history in the cycle of feasts, although the East celebrated a few, as, for example, the General Councils.

With regard to the Roman rite in particular, there are no special masses for the Sundays after Easter and Pentecost in the Leonine sacramentary. A further development appears in the Gelasian sacramentary, where the Sundays in Lent and those between Easter and Pentecost alone have a clearly defined liturgical character, and keep their special place in the Calendar. For the remaining Sundays of the year, there was a choice of only sixteen masses, which are not in the first book of the Gelasian sacramentary containing the course for the year (anni circulus, i.e., Proprium de tempore), but at the commencement of the third book. Along with the masses for week-days and masses for special occasions, they form the contents of this volume. The masses for Advent, however, strange to say, are contained in the second book, thus out of chronological order.

In the Gregorian sacramentary, at the end of the eighth century, the Church’s year has the same form as at the present day, with the sole exception that the Sundays in Advent come at the end, instead of, as at the present time, at the beginning of the Missal. This is due to the fact that Christmas was then usually regarded as the commencement of the year.

In the construction of the ecclesiastical year, the Gallic and Spanish Churches followed the Roman. The Mozarabic breviary has five Sundays in Advent, but they stand at the beginning. They are in the same position in the Liber Responsalis sive Antiphonarius, contained in a Codex of Compiègne belonging to the ninth century, and falsely attributed to Gregory the Great.[397]

The Gregorian sacramentary simply numbers the Sundays consecutively after Pentecost, but in the Frankish lectionaries there are signs of an attempt to separate the Sundays after Pentecost into groups—Sundays after SS. Peter and Paul, Sundays after St Lawrence, etc.—but the custom was afterwards abandoned.

In France, this division of the Sundays after Pentecost seems to have been general in the eighth century. The Homilarium of Charlemagne divides them as follows:—

The Kalendarium Frontonis divides them thus:—

This gives only nineteen after Pentecost, and so the Kalendarium Frontonis has ten Sundays after Epiphany until Septuagesima, which must clearly have helped to fill up, when necessary, what was wanting at the end of the year.

The Comes Albini in Ranke (App. iv.) gives:—

The Gregorian sacramentary, written for Mainz under Archbishop Otgar about 840, has six Sundays after Epiphany, four post Pentecosten, then six post natale Apostolorum, six more post natale S. Laurentii and eight post S. Archangeli—in all, twenty-four.

The Lectionary of Luxeuil of the seventh century stands alone in giving merely two Sundays post Theophaniam, and three post Cathedram S. Petri. The Sundays in Lent as well as Septuagesima are not marked in any special way. The first of these peculiarities is less remarkable since, even in the Gelasian sacramentary, the Sundays after Epiphany are not given a distinctive name. All these attempts to split up the Sundays into small groups were subsequently abandoned, and the simple manner of enumeration found in the Roman rite was adopted. A careful observer will have noticed that the year is divided into two very unequal parts. The movable feasts all fall in the first half, leaving the second half devoid of festivals. Even the week-days in Lent, and in the octaves of Easter and Pentecost, are each provided with special lections and masses. Without doubt this is due to the fact that in the earliest times the entire season before Easter was occupied with the instruction of Catechumens. The necessity of providing them with as much instruction as possible led to this increased liturgical activity. It appears almost as if the abandonment of the Catechumenate resulted in a decrease of this activity, and brought matters to a standstill. A long period elapsed before any fresh efforts were made in the direction of completing the course of the ecclesiastical year.

The Greeks have stopped short with their ecclesiastical year only half made. They have a fairly complete cycle of Easter festivals, and they have adopted Christmas, but without its proper setting since they have no Advent. But their manner of enumerating the Sundays after Pentecost is very different from that adopted in the West. That is to say, they name the Sundays after the passages of Scripture read in the Gospel for the day.

From Easter to Whitsunday, the Gospels for Sundays and other days are taken from St John; from the Sunday after Pentecost to the exaltation of the Holy Cross (14th September), from St Matthew; and for the following fifteen weeks from St Luke. The former Sundays are called Sundays after St Matthew, the latter, Sundays after St Luke. The latter extend over the New Year and Epiphany—for no notice is taken of Advent in the lections. St Mark’s Gospel supplies lections for most of the Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, as well as for a number of week-days throughout the course of the year. But the Sundays in question are not called Sundays after St Mark, any more than the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost are called Sundays after St John; but they take their names partly from their position as Sundays in Lent and partly from the incidents related in the Gospel for the day. In the Eastern system the connection between the Sundays and the festivals is purely external and not organic.[398]

In speaking of the ecclesiastical year of the Greeks and Orientals, it must be borne in mind that they do not possess the same quantity of formularies for the Mass as we do, but, throughout the course of the year, they employ only two or three. The result is monotony, and it is practically only the Gospel for the day in which the festal character of the celebration finds expression. Among the Latins, on the other hand, the introit, collect, etc., all emphasise the character of the feast, and still more clearly the lections from Scripture. On this account, a few remarks as to their origin and that of the lections in the Breviary may not be out of place.

Evidence for the earliest period is lacking, but there is no doubt the choice of what was to be read rested with the bishop and that he also fixed the length of the lections. In certain cases, and for many days, the choice presented no difficulty, the lections being determined by the character of the feast itself. We can, for example, determine the lections for a number of days used in the fourth century in Jerusalem. Several of them agree with those now in use.[399] Very early, a series of lections for the canonical hours must have been drawn up for use in monasteries, and then this in its turn influenced the lections in the liturgy. In the Middle Ages, it was thought that St Jerome was the originator of such a series of lections, and accordingly the lectionary was called by his name. It is certain that a lectionary existed as early as the fifth century, for which the so-called Carta Cornutiana affords proof.[400]

When we examine more closely the order of lections, we notice they do not harmonise with the ideas presented by the different parts of the ecclesiastical year, as now existing, but they do agree with the form which it took in the earliest stages of its development. The consequence is that the lections are appropriately chosen for the pascal season and for Whitsuntide, but do not fit in with the festal character of Advent and the Christmas cycle. As we have said, the ecclesiastical year began originally with the preparation for Easter, i.e. Lent. The lections from the five books of Moses which start with Septuagesima were then in their proper place, treating as they do of the fall and the divine scheme for man’s restoration.

C. Other Incidents in the Church’s Year

1. The Embertides

The Embertides[401] are peculiar to the Western or Roman Church. In Rome they have been observed from the earliest times, and so Leo the Great was inclined to ascribe to them an apostolic origin. This Pope connects them with the four seasons of the year,[402] and gives them a special signification in as much as we then give God due honour and praise for the gifts He gives us to support our bodily life. Again, they move us to make a good use of the gifts thus bestowed, to abstain from superfluities, and to impart our gifts generously to those in need. We must neither murmur over the fewness of some gifts, nor be discontented with the excess of others, as may even sometimes happen. God’s will should be our will.[403] The Embertides in general, but especially that of December, he directly connects with agriculture and the harvest (ut omnium fructum collectione conclusa, etc., Sermo 16, c. 2); and the earliest liturgies[404] contain prayers for the same purpose; such indications as these give us the clue to the origin of these fasts. By them practices originally heathen have assumed a Christian form and character. The Romans, originally, were compelled to be an agricultural people, and their gods were for the most part deities who presided over agriculture, as Tertullian early remarked (Sterculus, Epona, Mutunus, etc.), and their worship was closely connected with the stages of cultivation. The chief incidents were accompanied by religious ceremonies and usages. A blessing was asked on the sowing of the seed at the feriæ sementivæ, observed between the end of November and the Winter solstice, i.e. in December. At the time of harvest, the feriæ messis were celebrated, and at the vintage, the feriæ vindemiales.[405]

With the fact that the heathen worship of Rome recognised three sorts of such feriæ observed thrice in the year (no evidence of a fourth being forthcoming), agrees a passage in the Liber Pontificalis, which has long been regarded as the earliest evidence for the observance of Embertides, though it fell short of absolute proof. The passage states that Calixtus (217-222) ordained a fast on three Saturdays in the year.[406] The number corresponds well with the three sets of heathen feriæ mentioned above. As St Leo speaks of four fasts of this kind yearly in the fifth century, the fourth fast, corresponding to the fourfold division of the year, must have been added in the course of the fourth century. It may be that the passage, Zacharias viii. 19, referring to a Jewish custom of sanctifying by a fast the four seasons of the year, helped to bring this about.

All four Embertides are mentioned in the sermon of Leo the Great, and both the Leonine and Gelasian sacramentaries agree in marking Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday as the days to be observed as fasts.[407] Pope Gelasius[408] appointed that ordinations of priests and deacons were to be held on all Embertides, and in the middle of Lent, whereas in St Leo’s time the ordination of priests took place at Easter only.[409]

The Ember fasts were called jejunium primi, quarti, septimi et decimi mensis, in the earliest service-books, and fell in March, June, September, and December. The week in each of the aforesaid months, in which the Ember fast was to be observed, appears not to have been definitely fixed in earlier days.

If the opinion of Morin is correct, this would agree with the fact that the harvest feast was not fixed for any day in particular, but was determined by the pontiffs in each case. However, it remained for a long period undetermined whether the first Embertide should be observed before or during the course of Lent, and also in which week of Advent the last Embertide should fall. The present arrangement, according to the Micrologus[410] was first made by Gregory VII., i.e., the first Embertide to fall in the first week of Lent, the second in Whitsun week, the third in the third week of September, the fourth in the third week in Advent.

According to what has been said the Ember fasts were distinctively Roman in origin, and indeed belonged to the city of Rome, and the Roman bishops by repeated injunctions ordered their colleagues in Italy to adopt them in the first instance. In Gaul and in the Christian districts of Germany, their adoption was due to the patronage given to Roman usages by the Carolingians: in Spain the Ember Days were unknown until the Roman ritual was introduced in the eleventh century, and in Milan they were introduced much later, in fact by St Charles Borromeo.[411] It does not appear from history that the original object of the Ember Days was to petition God to raise up worthy priests in His Church. They are first mentioned in this connection after the popes had appointed them as the fixed times for ordinations. They owe their origin to the agricultural festivals of ancient Rome, as appears plainly from the references of Leo the Great,[412] to the December fast.

In a later age, they lost entirely their early significance and came to be regarded solely as days of penitence and prayer. In the prayers of the actual Roman missal, no trace of their original character is to be found. The Ember masses of Advent refer to the coming of Christ, those of Lent to the suffering caused by sin, and its Atonement, those of Whitsun week to the descent of the Holy Ghost. Where the prayers do not relate to these subjects they contain no special references, or deal only with fasting in general and its necessity. The masses for the September Ember Days alone preserve some traces of their historical origin, in as much as they are principally of a festive character (Exultate, etc.), such as might refer to a harvest safely gathered in. But such a connection cannot be proved beyond doubt.

When we go through the prayers in the oldest sacramentaries we find the same thing. The name of Embertide is not indeed employed, and the days are not yet marked as fast-days, but the Saturdays are distinguished, twice in the Gelasian, and on all four Embertides in the Gregorian sacramentary, by having twelve lessons.[413] With regard to the later recensions of these two sacramentaries, the Gelasian contains two formulæ for announcing the Ember fasts to the faithful after the “Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum”[414] in the Mass. In the first part, there is a Mass for the three Ember Days of the fourth month, June, and, in the second part, for September and December as well,[415] while the March Ember Days are merely indicated in Nos. XIX. and XX. of the first part. In the Frankish Gregorian sacramentary it is the same; masses are given for March, June, and September but not for December.[416] Few of the prayers in these two sacramentaries are contained in the missal actually in use. It is to be remarked concerning the lections that they numbered twelve on the Saturdays. The present Roman missal prescribes three lections for the Wednesdays, but for the Fridays only two as usual. For the Saturdays, however, the number reaches six, and, in the Advent Embertide, seven, including the Gospel.

That there were only three Embertides (i.e. the jejunium quarti, septimi, et decimi mensis) given in the ancient service-books is not surprising, since the fast in March fell usually in Lent and so needed no special mention.

With regard to the spread of Ember Days in the West, they made their way slowly and seemed to have been earliest adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, who at their conversion accepted the Roman ritual as a whole. They are ordered to be observed by the Council of Cloveshoe (can. 18) in 747. Neither Chrodegang nor Theodulf speak of Ember Days in their writings, though they seem to have been introduced by St Boniface into Germany and France. Even if the so-called statutes of St Boniface are not in all points contemporary with the saint, Ember Days were certainly enjoined in the Frankish Empire by the Capitulary of Charlemagne in 769, where up till then they had not been observed.[417] The circumstance, too, that their observance had to be repeatedly enjoined by the Councils of the ninth century, e.g. the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 813, and later ones, proves that they had not yet won their way as a popular observance in northern countries.[418]

Moreover, it still remained uncertain in which week of the months in question the Ember Days should come. In Rome they came in the first week of the month. Elsewhere doubts arose as to what ought to be done when the Ember Days in June came in Whitsun Week, and as to whether one ought to fast when the 1st March fell on a Thursday or Friday, the Wednesday falling on the last day of February.[419] Gregory VII. put an end to these variations by establishing the present usage.[420]

2. Litanies or Rogations

Litaniæ is the name given to solemn processions of clergy and people accompanied by prayer at which sacred pictures and emblems are carried. It was impossible to perform such devotions in the days before Constantine. But when Christianity became a recognised religion they were quickly adopted, and all the more so as the heathens had similar practices which they performed frequently and at stated times.

Litanies were especially frequent in Rome. There, during Lent, the Pope was wont to set out with his assistants with great solemnity from his residence to celebrate Mass in the various churches of the city. Each day he went to a different church, where the halt or station was made. A survival of this remains in the word Statio, which appears so often in the missal. This custom was abandoned in course of time.

Still some of these litaniæ found their way into the regular worship of the Church, and have their place in the ecclesiastical year, i.e. the procession on the 25th April, St Mark’s day, called litania major, and those on the three days before the Ascension, called litania minor. The names are remarkable, for the minor lasts three days and the major only one, but it is explained by the history of their institution.

The Christian processions are a continuation of the heathen processions which they have replaced. This is especially clear with regard to the litania major which was performed on a stated day, the 25th April. It has nothing to do with St Mark, whose feast was only much later introduced in the Roman Church.

The ancient Romans had their processions which took place both within and without the city, the latter corresponding to our rogation processions; the former were called amburbalia from urbs, and the latter ambarvalia from arva.[421] They served as supplications either for blessings from the gods on the fruits of the earth, and were observed yearly on stated days, or to avert calamities and were appointed as need required.[422]

The better known of these processions of ancient Rome, the ambarvalia, took place on vii. a. Kal. Maias (25th April). The procession passed along the Via Flaminia, the present Corso, and went as far as the fifth milestone, i.e. as far as the Milvian Bridge, where, the entrails of a dog and of a sheep were offered to the god Robigus.[423] As the procession was primarily intended to ward off blight (robigo) from the crops the day was called “Robigalia” in the Calendar. When Rome became a great city, agriculture and its festivals fell unto the back ground, and both in the Calendar of the fourth century and in that of Polemius Silvius the Robigalia is no longer mentioned on this day. There was another great procession in heathen Rome, the Argea, which took place on the 16th and 17th March, and Bishop Vigilius of Trent, speaks of a rural festival of the same character.[424]

As to Christian Rome, Rupert of Deutz is of opinion that processions had been performed there since Constantine’s days, and Beleth names Liberius as their originator. Although it is not impossible these writers may have gained their information from ancient sources, still one cannot draw any certain conclusion from their remarks.

We have, however, sure proof of the introduction of Rogations by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne. That part of the country had been visited for a considerable period by various calamities and earthquakes. On Easter night, 469, the royal palace in Vienne was struck by lightning, which caused such a panic among the entire congregation assembled in church, that they fled from the building. Mamertus put himself into connection with the civil authorities and along with them organised the Litanies, which had been used before this time, but in an informal and irregular manner. It was ordained they should take place on the three days before the Ascension, that they should be accompanied by a fast, and that the slaves should do no servile work. This institution was soon imitated throughout the whole of Gaul. Under Bishop Sidonius Apollinaris they were adopted at Clermont, next the first Council of Orleans (511), in its twenty-seventh canon, prescribes them for the Frankish part of the country, and Avitus could say they had already spread throughout the whole world, and been accepted with eagerness.[425]