The Tenth Day of Christmas (January 3) honored the Holy Name of Jesus. Notably, the name was not chosen by the Virgin Mary or St. Joseph but revealed by the Archangel Gabriel, who told the Virgin Mary, “Fear not… thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.”

The name means “God saves” or “God is salvation,” perfectly expressing both Christ’s purpose. St. Paul captured the exalted place of  the Holy Name in Christian faith when he wrote that it is “above every name,” and that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” and “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

For centuries, Christians showed respect by slightly bowing their heads whenever the name of Jesus was spoken or heard. In an era when the Holy Name is too often reduced to a casual exclamation—even among those who otherwise value tradition—the Feast of the Hoyl Name can offer a gentle reminder to treat it with some reverence.

Today, the Eleventh Day of Christmas, marks Epiphany in the United States—although many other countries will still observe this on its traditional date of January 6. Epiphany commemorates the arrival of the Magi, also known as the Three Kings of Wise Men, to adore the newborn King in Bethlehem.

The Three Kings represent the Gentile nations, showing that Jesus is not only the promised Messiah of Israel but the Savior of all men As the Lord would later teach, “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”

Children in many cultures receive a second round of gifts on Epiphany, popularly known as Three Kings Day, symbolizing the presents the Magi brought to the Christ Child. For this reason, it is sometimes called “Little Christmas”—the perfect occasion to surprise a child with something they had hoped for but did not find under the tree on December 25.

In Ireland, Epiphany was once known as Women’s Christmas. Men traditionally took over household duties and prepared a special dinner—often roast goose—so their could enjoy a well-earned rest after all their cooking and hosting over the festive period. Families inclined toward traditional roles might find the gesture a charming way to mark the day.

One culinary tradition is the baking of a king cake, which varies by region but frequently contains a hidden figure of the baby Jesus. Whoever finds it in their slice is declared king or queen for the day and often enjoys a small prize or special privilege.

In Catholic countries, many families will invite a priest to bless their house. Alternatively, the father of the household can perform a similar rite, sprinkling each room with holy water while praying for peace in the home and all who live in it. One traditional prayer recalls the journey of the Magi: “From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.”

Another custom is chalking the door. Above the main entrance of the home, the head of the household inscribes the year with the initials C ☩ M ☩ B and the numbers of the current year. The letters stand for the traditional names of the three kings—Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar—and also for the Latin blessing Christus Mansionem Benedicat: “May Christ bless this house.”

Such small acts root the Christmas season in the home, carrying its grace into the new year—and reminding all who enter of the central place of Christ, the King revealed to the nations on Epiphany.

Image credit: Ввласенко.

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The New Year festivities may be over, but Christmastide is still underway. January 2 marks the Ninth Day of Christmas, commemorating two of the great Doctors of the Church.

Saint Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea, and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Patriarch of Constantinople, were towering figures of the Patristic era. Both hailed from Cappadocia in Asia Minor, a region that remained ethnically and culturally Greek at the time, long before the arrival of the Turks. They are especially revered in Eastern Orthodoxy, where, together with Saint John Chrysostom, they are celebrated as the Three Holy Hierarchs. However, Orthodox Christians do not celebrate them today, as they do not observe the same calendar as Western Christians.

The two share January 2 as a feast day in the Western calendar—notably, they lived before the Great Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy—partly because of their deep friendship: St. Basil ordained St. Gregory as a bishop, and after St. Basil’s death, St. Gregory delivered a funeral oration in his honor.

Their theological writings, though often challenging for laymen, continue to be an essential study for serious scholars of theology more than seventeen hundred years later. Both were unwavering champions of Nicene Christianity in the face of Arianism—the heresy whose founder, Arius, famously received a slap from Saint Nicholas. Arius and his supporters rejected the Trinity as understood today, viewing the Son as a created being. St. Basil and St. Gregory vigorously upheld both the full divinity and full humanity of Christ, while also defending the Holy Spirit’s equal place within the Godhead against those who diminished Him.

The bishops’ legacy extends far beyond doctrine. St. Basil, in particular, was a pioneering philanthropist who founded almshouses, hospitals, hospices, orphanages, and soup kitchens. He is said to have donated his entire personal fortune to these efforts, creating a vast complex of charitable facilities outside his city, known as the Basiliad.

Thus, the Ninth Day of Christmas offers not only an opportunity to explore theology and deepen your faith, but also serves as a reminder of the command to treat others as we wish to be treated.

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January 1 marks the Eighth Day of Christmas, known to the Catholic Church as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. A solemnity is the highest-ranking type of Christian feast, and many are Holy Days of Obligation, meaning Catholics are expected to attend Mass unless they have a serious reason or dispensation not to. While Christmas and Easter stand as the greatest solemnities—celebrating Christ’s birth and resurrection—the Solemnity of Mary is not far behind.

Catholics and Orthodox Christians have long given the Virgin Mary a place of profound honor. For many Protestants, however, devotion to her can feel uncomfortable. Is it appropriate to dedicate services to the mother of Jesus or to ask for her intercession instead of addressing God directly? Might such practices risk sliding into idolatry or a form of goddess worship?

Catholics and Orthodox argue that the Virgin Mary, like all who are saved, is alive in Christ, not dead, as Scripture promises those who believe in Him “everlasting life.” Asking her—or any of the faithful departed who form the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in the New Testament—to pray for us is therefore seen as no different from asking living friends, relatives, and fellow believers to pray for us.

The longstanding disagreements over venerating the Virgin Mary cannot be settled here. Still, it’s worth noting that many Protestants across history have held her in profound esteem—not only Anglicans and Episcopalians, whose faith retains some Catholic elements, but even the arch-Protestant Martin Luther.

Despite his sharp criticisms of the Catholic Church and certain of its doctrines, Luther never rejected personal devotion to the Virgin Mary. In 1522, he stated, “The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.” Nearly ten years later, in 1531, he preached that she was the “highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ… nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified,” adding that “We can never honor her enough”—while cautioning that such honor “must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures.”

Whether your tradition leads you to join a Catholic Mass honoring the Mother of God on the Eighth Day of Christmas or not, it may still be fitting to pause and reflect on her indispensable role in the story of the Incarnation today. And if she’s still with you, consider reaching out to your own mother today.

Image by Nheyob.

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While you may mark December 31 on your calendar as New Year’s Eve or Hogmanay, in Old World nations such as Germany and Poland, the day is still known as Silvester, after the Feast of Saint Sylvester, which falls on the Seventh Day of Christmas.

(You may have noticed we did not mark the Sixth Day of Christmas—that’s because it’s kept clear for the Feast of the Holy Family, which falls on December 30 if there is no Sunday between Christmas Day and New Year to host it.)

St. Sylvester served as Pope from 314 to 335 A.D., during an era when the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox—if you’ve heard of the Coptic Pope in Egypt, that’s them—were united in a single Church, with the Protestant movement still over a thousand years into the future.

Significantly, St. Sylvester’s papacy began just one year after Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which permanently ended the state persecution of Christians and permitted them to practice their faith openly. Perhaps still more significantly, St. Sylvester was the pope who approved the original version of the Nicene Creed, a text that remains the core profession of faith for Catholics, Orthodox, and the majority of Protestants to this day:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through Whom all things came into being, things in heaven and things on earth, Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down, and became incarnate and became man, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the heavens, and will come to judge the living and dead, And in the Holy Spirit.

But as for those who say, There was when He was not, and, Before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change – these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

Another famous Christmastime figure also played a role at the Council of Nicaea, where the Creed originated, was Saint Nicholas—better known today as Santa Claus—who, according to tradition, gifted the heretic Arius a lump of coal in the form of a physical slap when he denied the full divinity of Christ.

Many customs linked to Silvester have evolved significantly over time, but they often resemble modern New Year’s Eve celebrations, including fireworks to welcome the new year. Similar to Childermas, the day also lends itself to playful tricks; in Germany, for example, people share jelly donuts, though one or two may be sneakily filled with mustard instead of jam.

A Polish tradition especially appealing to housewives suggests there should be no household cleaning on Silvester, lest you “sweep away” your good fortune for the year ahead—a welcome break in the middle of Twelve Days that can demand quite a lot of work around the house.

Happy New Year! 

Image by Slices of Light.

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The first four days of Christmas are rooted in events directly from the New Testament: the birth of Jesus Christ, the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the life of St. John the Evangelist, and the tragic slaughter of the Holy Innocents by Herod—although, this year, the fourth day marked the Feast of the Holy Family instead.

The Fifth Day of Christmas takes us many centuries forward to the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, a 12th-century English saint whose story perfectly embodies St. Peter’s famous command in the Book of Acts: “We must obey God rather than men.”

St. Thomas was once a close friend and trusted advisor to King Henry II, living in considerable comfort and rising to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury, largely through the monarch’s favor. Yet while power often corrupts, in St. Thomas’s it seems to have awakened a deeper calling. Once consecrated, he embraced a life of prayer, study, and ascetic discipline—and he steadfastly resisted Henry’s efforts to make the Church into a tool for secular power.

Their conflict intensified when Henry arranged for his son to be crowned by another bishop, bypassing the traditional rights of the Archbishop of Canterbury—which served as a powerful reminder that even the King was subject to God. In response, St. Thomas excommunicated those involved. Enraged, Henry is said to have cried out in the hearing of his courtiers, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

Four knights took these words as a command. They rode to Canterbury and barged into the cathedral during evening prayer, demanding that the archbishop show himself. Hidden behind a pillar at first, St. Thomas could have remained silent, and lived. Yet he chose to step forward into the open, declaring that he was “not a traitor to the king, but a priest,” and that his loyalty to Christ and the Church outweighed any earthly allegiance.

The knights struck him down at the altar. As the blows fell, St. Thomas is said to have accepted his death with quiet courage, saying, “For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death.”

Almost at once, the people of Canterbury recognized St. Thomas as a martyr for Christ, and obscure though his quarrel with King Henry may seem today, he became one of the most venerated saints in Christendom, behind only the likes of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. Even Henry, faced with the enormity of what had been done, journeyed barefoot to St. Thomas’s tomb to do public penance, accepting responsibility for his murder.

The sacrifice of St. Thomas Becket remains a powerful witness to the power of standing firm in faith, whatever the cost may be, to this day.

Image by John Sheldon.

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On December 28 this year, Christians celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, drawing us back towards the Nativity at the onset of Christmastide. We remember with gratitude how St. Joseph, the foster-father of the Lord’s earthly family, spirited Him away from Bethlehem, after receiving the shepherds and the Magi, because an angel had warned him: “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

The Magi had told Herod the Great, the Romans’ client king in Judea, that the King of the Jews was to be born in Bethlehem, and, to eliminate what he saw as a threat to his throne, he ordered the murder of every boy there aged two and under. December 28 usually commemorates this Massacre of the Holy Innocents, but, because the Feast of the Holy Family always falls on the first Sunday after Christmas Day, it is being omitted this year.

Of the Holy Family’s time in Egypt, and then Nazareth after Herod had passed, Scripture tells us little, though this period accounts for the greater part of Jesus’s earthly life—what the Church calls the “Hidden Life of Christ.” Only a few moments pierce the quiet veil between His infancy and the beginning of His public ministry, some 30 years later.

Yet what the Gospel does reveal is profound: Jesus, as true God and true man, “was subject unto” St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary, living under their care and authority. Their ordinary home, filled with daily work, prayer, and love, serves as a model for Christian families—and so the Feast of the Holy Family is also a feast for all families, a time when we should draw together again, and do particular honor to our parents, if they are still with us.

It is also a fitting moment to ask for the Lord’s blessing for our families, as His own family was blessed. One way to do so is by offering the Prayer for Families, composed by churchmen for the Book of Blessings in the 1980s:

We bless your name, O Lord,
for sending Your own incarnate Son,
to become part of a family,
so that, as He lived its life,
He would experience its worries and its joys.

We ask you, Lord,
to protect and watch over this family,
so that in the strength of Your grace
its members may enjoy prosperity,
possess the priceless gift of Your peace,
and, as the Church alive in the home,
bear witness in this world to Your glory.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Image by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.

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