Venite Prandete

  CHRISTMAS DAY THE BIRTH OF CHRIST Gerard von Hondhorst, "Adoration of the Christ child." A light shall shine upon us this day: for the Lord is born to us: and He shall be called Wonderful, God, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the world to come: of whose reign there will be no end. (Isaiah 9.2,6) The Lord hath reigned, He is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded Himself.

  THE CHRISTMAS FEAST Champagne was invented by a French monk of the order of St Benedict, Dom Pierre Perignon, born in 1640, who was the cellarmaster at the Abbey of Hautvilliers. The authors of The Bad Catholics Guide to Wine, Whisky and Song describe the sensation of Champagne as “always something quixotic, fine and fair. The delicate balance of sweet and dry, the tap-dance of bubbles against the palate, …it’s no surprise that champagne is called the beverage of love. It’s fitting then, that the Church had a hand in its creation.” In true Catholic tradition, the Christmas meal can be followed by a sip of Chartreuse, the liquor crafted in a monastery by the Carthusians, the strictest order in the Church. Named for its mother house, the Trappist monastery, “La Grande Chartreuse”, the liquor is made from 130 local herbs and flowers collected by the monks and distilled in the cloister. The formula has never been written down and is passed down orally to three trusted monks. The mona...

  CHRISTMAS DAY Giotto, " The Nativity." The first Mass of Christmas Day, the Midnight Mass, represents the historical birth of Christ. The dawn Mass, ("the shepherds' Mass"), symbolises the birth of Christ in our souls. The rising of the sun is symbolic of Christ, the Light of the world: in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men; and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. [the last Gospel, the Gospel of John]. The Missal describes the Feast Day of the birth of Christ: During Christmastide, the liturgy shows us the Messias as the Son of God, clothed with humanity, glorified by the humble surprised shepherds, and adored by the Magi from the East. Let us fall down before the Child and bless God, for the birth of Jesus is the beginning of our Redemption through grace to the supernatural life. Christmas is the only day of the year other than Easter which keeps the old custom of celebrating its Feast at midnight. At thi...

  The Twelve Days of Christmas. The duration of the Christmas festival was officially set at twelve days by the Council of Tours in 567 AD, where it was laid down that the whole period should be spent in celebration and thanks and that no-one could be forced to work during that time. This period of enforced rest applied even to horses, which are still blessed on the Feast of St Stephen in some parts of Europe. The period of Christmas finished at Epiphany, or “Twelfth Night.” As this decree has never been abrogated, it would appear that it is still obligatory for good Catholics to engage in the full, joyful celebration for the whole twelve days. Under the Puritan government headed by Oliver Cromwell, all activities associated with Christmas were banned by an Act of Parliament in 1644- the very act of celebration of Christmas (“Christ’s Mass”) was seen as Catholic and therefore decadent. Once Charles II was restored to the throne, the legislation banning Christmas was repealed and Ch...

  THE ‘O’ ANTIPHONS O RADIX JESSE 19th DECEMBER Icon of the Tree of Jesse (1) The Epistle for today provides: Thus saith the Lord God: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears; but He shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of His loins: and faith the girdle of His reins. FAMILY CEREMONY: The family, together, say the Great Antiphon, followed by The Magnificat, and repeat the Antiphon at the close of ...

HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS When we have the media telling us that Christmas is actually a pagan ceremony – it is really just the Puritan view of Christmas presented in the ‘new Puritan’ way. Below is a summary of Father Weiser’s brief history of the festival of Christmas, as set out in his book, “A Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs” (1) – a discursive study of Christmas from the perspective of 1952. Father Weiser noted that, in the Roman Empire it was a general custom to celebrate the birthdays of rulers, with no necessary correlation between the date of the celebration and the date of the actual birth- the birthdate of Plato, for example, was celebrated on the feast day of the god Apollo. The early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ, in most cases, on the feast of Epiphany (January 6), which is one of the oldest feasts. Father Weiser says: “Soon after the end of the last great persecution, about the year 330 AD, the Church in Rome definitively assigned December 25 for the cele...