Very differently from now. It then commenced with the Feast of St. Martin, and was observed by the faithful like the Forty Days’ Fast, with strict penance and devotional exercises, as even now most of the religious communities do to the present day. The Church has forbidden all turbulent amusements, weddings, dancing and concerts, during Advent. Pope Sylverius ordered that those who seldom receive Holy Communion should, at least, do so on every Sunday in Advent. The Church called us to follow the strict norms not so long ago. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, fasting remains normative for 40 days[…]

In order to stem the tide of secularism and materialism which certain opportunists inject into every Christmas season it is not necessary to go to the other extreme and assume Puritanical austerity. Christmas ought to be merry. We ought to be happy and light hearted. It is a feast day of great importance. Man has every reason for celebrating this day of days with all the gladness his heart can hold. Only the worldly and the cynical say, ‘‘I’ll be glad when it is over,” or believe that Christmas is no longer anything more than a time of costly and[…]

One of the most inspiring days preceding Christmas is the feast of “Our Lady of Expectation” unknown to many today but still kept alive in many countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland as well as in a few religious orders. In older editions of missals, this feast is still listed as a votive Mass. The feast is celebrated on the 18 December, a week before Christmas Day. Canadian blogger Vox Cantoris makes the following observation: “The machinations of Annibale Bugnini were well on their way in the middle 1950’s with the planned reforms given to us by Pope John[…]

The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia explains: “The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September[…]

This Christmas Novena is translated from the Italian of Alphonsus Maria de Liguori and was first published in 1758. Although this novena is intended primarily as a preparation for the feast of our Lord’s Nativity, it can be used with spiritual profit at any time of the year as a devotion in honor of the Infant Jesus. Day One God’s Love Revealed In His Becoming Man Meditation:Because our first parent Adam had rebelled against God, he was driven out of paradise and brought on himself and all his descendants the punishment of eternal death. But the son of God, seeing[…]