The 8 days of Christmas? A look at the Christmas octave

Kevin J. Jones By Kevin J. Jones for CNA

December 25, 2022 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 1 Print

 

Fresco of the Holy Family in Dobling Carmelite Monastery in Vienna, Austria. The Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family this year on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. / Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock

Denver, Colo., Dec 25, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic calendar has several ways to divide the Christmas season. The Church’s Western liturgical tradition sees Christmas as an octave, an eight-day celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The octave of Christmas begins on Christmas itself, the feast of the Nativity of the Lord. It ends on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on Jan. 1, which this season falls on a Sunday in the new year of 2023.

The drama of this time of the Catholic liturgical calendar even includes changes to the liturgical vestments of the clergy.

During these eight days of Christmas, clergy wear white during the Mass.

But there are exceptions when clergy wear red, the symbol of martyrdom: the feast of St. Stephen, Dec. 26, and the feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 28.

As the Book of Acts recounts, St. Stephen was a deacon who was the first martyr after the Resurrection of Jesus. He was killed for preaching Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. One of the witnesses of his death was a man named Saul, the future St. Paul.

The Holy Innocents, too, are considered martyrs. They died in place of Jesus when Herod sought to kill all boys under 2 years old.

On Dec. 27 the Church marks the feast of St. John the Apostle, Jesus’ “beloved disciple.” John was a great evangelist and credited with authoring the Gospel of John and three letters of the New Testament. Many credit him with authoring the Book of Revelation.

The feast of the Holy Family continues the story of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph with the flight into Egypt. It usually falls on the Sunday after Christmas. This year, though, the celebration of the Holy family falls on Friday, Dec. 30. This is because the Sunday after Christmas this year is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

The solemnity of Mary, Mother of God looks to the role of Mary in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. She is the “Theotokos,” literally the God-bearer. She does not simply carry Jesus’ human nature, nor is she a vessel for his divinity alone. Because Jesus’ divine and human natures are united, she is truly the Mother of God.

The Christmas octave is when so many people have time to rest from a busy year and to spend time with family. One fitting way to observe the octave is to attend daily Mass and prayerfully reflect on the Mass readings.

If you have the talent, try your hand at writing an “Eight Days of Christmas” carol!

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

About Catholic News Agency 12628 Articles
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Olivia Newton-John attended Catholic Mass, said ‘favorite prayer’ daily

August 11, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Olivia Newton-John arrives for G’Day USA Los Angeles Black Tie Gala Jan. 27, 2018, in Los Angeles. The singer and actress died Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, at age 73 after a decades-long struggle with breast cancer. / Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 11, 2022 / 13:51 pm (CNA).

Singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, perhaps best known for her role as Sandy Olsson in the 1978 film “Grease,” shared her favorite prayer last year. She passed away Monday at age 73. 

The prayer was, she revealed in a 2021 interview, the Lord’s Prayer. 

She began reciting it daily after she became pregnant with her only child, Chloe, she said on the podcast “A Life of Greatness.”

“I was close to losing her at one point,” she recalled. “I asked God to please save Chloe and, if he did, I would say the Lord’s Prayer every night for the rest of my life.”

“So I have,” she said. “I think it’s a beautiful prayer. It’s a powerful prayer. I believe in prayer, I think prayer is very powerful.” Chloe was born in 1986.

Newton-John learned the Lord’s Prayer as a child, she said, adding that her family attended church while her father served as the head of a Presbyterian college — Ormond College at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

“I believe all the beliefs have validity and meaning to a lot of people,” she added, “but I find that prayer a very powerful one.”

In response to her death, which came after a decades-long struggle with breast cancer, Capuchin friar and deacon Brother Vince Mary remembered Newton-John on Twitter. He shared that Newton-John attended Catholic Mass.

Olivia Newton-John appears in the back pew at the Capuchin novitiate at San Lorenzo Seminary in Santa Ynez, California. Date unknown. Photo courtesy of Capuchin Brother Mick Joyce from Borromeo Seminary Cleveland
Olivia Newton-John appears in the back pew at the Capuchin novitiate at San Lorenzo Seminary in Santa Ynez, California. Date unknown. Photo courtesy of Capuchin Brother Mick Joyce from Borromeo Seminary Cleveland

“She was a frequent visitor to our Capuchin Novitiate in Santa Ynez for masses,” Brother Vince Mary tweeted. “God grant her eternal rest!”

He told CNA that Newton-John attended Mass frequently at the novitiate that has attracted other celebrity visitors — San Lorenzo Seminary in Santa Ynez, California. 

Newton-John lived near the friars. According to the Santa Barbara Independent, she passed away at her 12-acre residence in Santa Ynez Valley.

In March 2020, she publicly shared her appreciation for one Capuchin Franciscan. Newton-John posted a poem on Instagram written by a Capuchin Franciscan in Ireland, Brother Richard Hendrick, where he wrote about responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was sent this poem by a friend and it said many things I was thinking — because I also believe that good things are coming out of this difficult time — which too will pass,” she commented. “Father Richard Hendricks says it so beautifully here.”

It is unclear what faith or religion Newton-John practiced before her death. During the 2021 podcast interview, she spoke about praying and chanting with her friends who are Buddhist and about experiencing spirits. 

She also talked about life after death.

“Most humans, we want to believe that we go on,” she said. “I don’t know if that is so and I hope that I can let people know when it happens if it is.”

[…]

1 Trackback / Pingback

  1. The 8 days of Christmas? A look at the Christmas octave | Passionists Missionaries Kenya, Vice Province of St. Charles Lwanga, Fathers & Brothers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*