|
It's been almost two weeks since I've added an entry.
We've just celebrated the full 8 day liturgical celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. It is an ancient custom of the Roman Rite to celebrate a great Feast day over a period of 8 days, rooted in the liturgy of ancient Israel. Some Feasts are just too rich and too great to be contained in just one 24-hour period. Throughout the history of the Western Roman Catholic Church many Feasts had such "octaves". Today in the revised calendar of Paul VI (1969) only two Feasts retain octaves: Christmas and Easter.
The Christmas Octave has always been unique in that ancient Feast Days fall within it.
It is a week of Apostles, bold heroes, innocent murdered children, and holy administrators.
On December 26th the Feast of Saint Stephen the Protomaryr ( "First Martyr".) Among the first "Ordination Class" of deacons, he immediately boldly and fearlessly proclaimed Christ even in the face of the very authorities who had the Lord crucified. He was killed by stoning and his martyrdom has been commemorated on this day for well over a thousand years. His very name in Greek, "Stephanos", means "crowned". To this day we speak of one "crowned" with martyrdom.
On December 27th, we keep the Feast of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist. The youngest of The Twelve, he is the only one who did NOT die a martyr's death. It is held that he died at an advanced age, near the end of the First Century AD on the Aegean island of Patmos. The author of the Fourth Gospel, the Book of Revelations, and three Epistles, he is known in old English as "The Divine" meaning "theologian".
On December 28th, comes the Feast of the Holy Innocents, those male infants two years old and under in Bethlehem who are described in the Gospel of Saint Matthew as murdered by the rage of King Herod in his unspeakable attempt to destroy the new-born Christ. This Feast has come to hold a new significance in this era of millions of abortions. It has been well-said the hatred of children is a sign of the presence of the Evil One.
On December 29th comes the commemoration of the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. His story is well known in both film and drama. A strong ( and yes, undiplomatic) defender of the freedom of the Catholic Church in England against the policies of King Henry II. his former friend and boon companion. An angry remark 'in his cups" lead to a scandal that horrified all Europe: the murder of an Archbishop in his own Cathedral not by infidels, but by (at least nominal) Catholic knights. Becket was canonized only three years later, and Henry himself submitted to a public penitential scourging at Becket's tomb. Less than four hundred years another Henry found a much more pliant "Thomas" as his Archbishop to take England out of the Roman Catholic fold and usher in a destructive "Reformation". One the first physical casualties was the great shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. A vast empty space now marks its space in the now-Protestant Anglican Cathedral of Canterbury.
December 31st marks the last day of the year; and the Feast of Pope Saint Sylvester who ruled the Church in the first half of the Fourth Century and died in peace. However, to him came the difficult task of governing the Roman Church when the Emperor Constantine ended the persecutions of his predecessors and made the Church a publicly favored body. It was in his time that we first see the great original Roman Basilicas dedicated to Divine Worship that in one form or another survive to this day. Unlike most of his predecessors he did not die a martyr; but served for 20 years as a faithful administrator and pastor of the Church.
|