With Christmas all Christians celebrate the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who became man. The Incarnation of the Word of God marks the beginning of the “end times”, that is, the redemption of humanity by God.
Guido Reni, Adoration of the Shepherds
Why does the Catholic Church celebrate it on December 25th?
An ancient document, the Chronograph of the year 354, attests to the existence in Rome of this festival on December 25th, which corresponds to the pagan celebration of the winter solstice, Natalis Solis Invicti, that is, the birth of the new sun which, after the longest night of the year, regained new strength. By celebrating on this day the birth of the one who is the true Sun, the light of the world, which rises from the night of paganism, we wanted to give a completely new meaning to a pagan tradition deeply felt by the people, since it coincided with the holidays of Saturn, during which slaves received gifts from their masters and were invited to sit at the same table as free citizens. However, Christmas gifts more directly recall the gifts of the shepherds and the wise men to Baby Jesus.
The Christmas celebration roughly overlaps with the winter solstice celebrations and the Roman Saturnalia celebrations (December 17 to 23) – Furthermore, already in the Roman calendar the term Natalis was used for many holidays, such as Natalis Romae (21 April), which commemorated the birth of the City, and Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the festival dedicated to the birth of the Sun (Mithras), introduced in Rome by Heliogabalus (emperor from 218 to 222) and made official for the first time by Aurelian in 274 AD with the date of 25 December
Where does the word come from?
The Italian term “Christmas” derives from Christian Latin Christmas(m)for ellipses of Diem Natālem Christi (“Christ’s birth day”) in turn from Latin natalis derived from nātus (“born”), perfect participle of the verb nāsci (“to be born”).
Why is the Christmas liturgy made up of four masses?
The celebrations are there Evening mass on the evethat ad noctem (i.e. the night mass), the dawn mass and the mass in the day (in the day).
The liturgical season of Christmas begins with the first vespers of December 24th, ending with the Sunday of the Baptism of Jesus, while the previous period includes the Sundays of Advent.
The Church celebrates with the solemnity of Christmas manifestation of the Word of God to men. This is in fact the most recurrent spiritual meaning, suggested by the liturgy itself, which in the three Masses celebrated today offers for our meditation “the eternal birth of the Word in the bosom of the splendors of the Father (first Mass); the temporal appearance in the humility of the flesh (second Mass); final return to the last judgment (third Mass)”
When does the Eastern Church celebrate Christmas?
In the East the birth of Christ was celebrated on January 6with the name of Epifania, which means “manifestation”; then the Eastern Church also accepted the date of 25 December, as found in Antioch around 376 at the time of Chrysostom and in 380 in Constantinople, while in the West the feast of the Epiphany was introduced, the last feast of the Christmas cycle, to commemorate the revelation of the divinity of Christ to the pagan world.
The texts of the Christmas liturgy, formulated in an era of reaction to the Trinitarian heresy of Arlo, underline with accents of warm poetry and with theological rigor the divinity of the Child born in the Bethlehem cave, his royalty and omnipotence to invite us to adore the unfathomable mystery of God clothed in human flesh, son of the pure Virgin Mary (“Christ has flourished in pure flesh”, says Dante).
What are the other dates on which Christmas is celebrated?
December 25th for Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox who follow the Gregorian calendar; The January 6 for the Eastern Orthodox churches; The January 7 for Orthodox who follow the Julian calendar and the January 19th for the Armenian Apostolic Church of Jerusalem which follows the Julian calendar
Fra Angelico, Adoration of the Magi
When exactly was Jesus Christ born?
The only textual sources that report the birth of Jesus are the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which however do not provide precise chronological indications. However, assuming the validity of the historical information they provide, it is possible to deduce a probable time interval in which to place the event. The Gospel of Matthew (2,1) reports that Jesus was born “in the days of King Herod”, who presumably reigned between 37 BC and 4 BC. However, it cannot be ruled out that in 4 BC he simply associated his sons with the kingdom . Matthew 2.16 reports Herod’s intention to kill the children of Bethlehem under the age of two (massacre of the innocents). Assuming the historicity of the tale, this suggests that Jesus was born a year or two before Herod’s encounter with the wise men.
From the first centuries, Christians developed different traditions, also based on theological reasoning. These set the day of birth on different dates, so much so that the philosopher Clement of Alexandria (150 – 215 AD) noted in one of his writings: “They are not satisfied with knowing in what year the Lord was born, but with excessive curiosity they go looking for even the day” (Stromata, I,21,146)
What is the meaning of the word “crib”?
The term derives from Latin praesaepeMeaning what manger, manger, but also closed enclosure where sheep and goats were kept; the term is composed of prae (in front) and saepes (fence), or a place that has a fence in front. Another hypothesis gives rise to the term da pray that is, fence off.
In the late Latin of the first evangelical Vulgates it is called cripiawhich later became greppia in Italian, krippe in German, crib in English, krubba in Swedish and crèche in French. The term nativity scene is used not only in Italy but also in Hungary, because it arrived there via Naples in the 14th century when an Anjou descendant became king of those regions, Portugal and Catalonia.
The first nativity scene in history set up by Francis of Assisi in 1223 in Greccio (Ansa)
When did the tradition of setting up the nativity scene begin?
This custom, initially predominantly Italian, originated at the time of Saint Francis of Assisi who in 1223 created the first representation of the Nativity in Greccio, after having obtained authorization from Pope Honorius III. Francis had recently returned (in 1220) from Palestine and, struck by the visit to Bethlehem, he intended to recall the scene of the Nativity in a place, Greccio, which he found so similar to the Palestinian city. Tommaso da Celano, chronicler of the life of Saint Francis, thus describes the scene in the Legenda secunda: «The manger is arranged, the hay is brought, the ox and the donkey are led. There simplicity is honoured, poverty is exalted, humility is praised and Greccio is almost transformed into a new Bethlehem.” The Greccio nativity scene has as its antecedent the “sacred representations” of the various liturgies celebrated in the medieval period.
In the representation prepared by Saint Francis, unlike the subsequent ones, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Baby Jesus were not present; in the cave where the representation was staged there was a manger on which straw had been placed and the two animals remembered by tradition.
In the Legend first, Thomas of Celano gives us a more detailed description of the night in which the first nativity scene was set up in Greccio; Tommaso’s story is then taken up by Bonaventura da Bagnoregio in Greater legend: «The friars gather, the population comes running; the forest resounds with voices, and that venerable night becomes resplendent with lights, solemn and sonorous with harmonious lauds. The man of God (Francis) stood before the manger, full of pity, bathed in tears, overflowing with joy. The solemn rite of mass is celebrated above the manger and Francis sings the Holy Gospel. Then he preaches to the people around him and talks about the birth of the poor king who he (…) calls “the child of Bethlehem”.
A virtuous and sincere knight, who had left the militia and had become very familiar with the man of God, Messer Giovanni di Greccio, claimed to have seen, inside the manger, a beautiful sleeping child that Blessed Francis, holding him with both arms, seemed to awaken from sleep” (Bonaventura, Legenda major, XX) Bonaventura’s description is the source he used Giotto to compose the fresco Greccio nativity scenein the Upper Basilica of Assisi.
What does the Roman Martyrology say?
Many centuries have passed since the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and formed man in his image; and many centuries since, after the flood, the Most High made the rainbow shine among the clouds, a sign of alliance and peace; twenty-one centuries after Abraham, our Father in faith, migrated from the land of Ur of the Chaldees; thirteen centuries after the exit of the people of Israel from Egypt under the leadership of Moses; about a thousand years after David’s royal anointing; in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel; at the time of the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; in the year seven hundred and fifty-two from the foundation of Rome; in the forty-second year of the empire of Caesar Octavian Augustus, while peace reigned throughout the earth, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, wanting to sanctify the world with his most pious coming, conceived by the work of the Holy Spiritafter nine months, was born in Bethlehem of Judah from the Virgin Mary, made man: Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
