The Feasts of Christmas
Did you know…the several days after Christmas contain some of the oldest and most important saints days in the calendar? In fact, when sanctoral calendars were being compiled in various churches around the world, and later standardized to one extent or another, the days after Christmas were considered days of special honor where the chief feasts were likely to be set.
It’s no wonder, then, that the Feast Days of Saint Stephen Protomartyr (First Martyr), Saint John (the Beloved Disciple) and Childermas (the Feast of the Holy Innocents) fall immediately after Christmas, not only on account of the importance of these saints to the church, to the gospel, and in the life of Jesus, but also because they illustrated three different kinds of sacrificial witness or martyrdom: in deed and desire (Stephen), in desire though not in deed (John), in deed though not in desire (the Innocents).
Given that Christmas and each of these days were celebrated with an octave (or 8 days’ worth) of celebration, the three saints’ octaves, coupled with the vigil of Epiphany, prolonged the celebration of Christmas for a full twelve days, which is where we get the tradition of the Twelve Days of Christmas, ending on the Vigil of the Epiphany, Twelfth Night, January 5, on which there was a final day of celebration and mirth making.
There’s also a fourth martyr’s feast, important to Anglicans in particular, that falls after Childermas: the feast of Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, perhaps the most beloved medieval English saint, whose shrine was the most popular pilgrimage destination in England for centuries before the reformation.
This year, we’ll be celebrating these important feasts in livestreamed 12:15pm Masses from the Benedict Chapel at Saint Philip’s. Join us on Facebook as we keep the feasts of the Christmas season!
Saturday, December 26: Saint Stephen’s Day
Monday, December 28: Saint John’s Day (transferred due to Sunday falling on the 27th)
Tuesday, December 29: Childermas / Holy Innocents’ Day (transferred)
Wednesday, December 30: Saint Thomas Becket (transferred)