The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-12-22
CHRISTMAS.

| Christmas, the mass Of Christ -in
norman french, NOVEL;, the cry Of joy
-or Noel, the rallyiug cry of victory
of the French during the middle ages,
all is a commcmoration or the anni-
vcrsary of the birth of our Savior.
The day whose eve closes the era Of
paganism, Of spiritual darkness, and
whose dawn opens the eternal day of
christianity; whose light was ordained
to enlightcn the world and to open to
all, Jews and Gcntiles, the pages Of
the book of life.
Welcome day Of glory whose light
WAS to dazzle men and angels The
cries of JOY of the Chernbilns which
welcomed the first rays of the sun of
such glorious day, are still resonnd-
ing from the North to the South, from
the East to the West, and are answer
ed from on high by the accords of the
celestial bands.
The commemoration Of birthday
or of the beginning Of an important
era is coeval with man: "this Shall be
q witness between thee and me p
therefore it is perfectly re lsonable that
an event as important to the human
race as the birth Of Savior should
have kept its regular yearly record of
remembrance for the last nineteen cen
turtles; and as If to show to the coming
generations its immediate connection
to the new epoch opening on the world,
it closely precedes the first day of the
year of the christian calendar. If the
death of Christ was to be the dearest
and the most precious tradition left to
man, so was it necessary that his birth
should be revered. Hence ever since
the institution of the Church by the
Apostles, (tbe Catholic Church, as it
was then the only christian church
known the birth Of Christ has been
honored by the Catholic Church, the
services opening at twelve o'clock mid
night, Christmas eve, the first hour of
the day, with mass dedicated for that
special event, from which comes the
name of Christ mass
Christmas is therefore essentially a
christian feast belonging to the Catho-
lie Church and an integral part of her
doctrines and of her rules; and at
twelve midnight, the first hour of the
day when the celestial host with the
cry of joy: "Glory be to God p pro-
claimed the advent of a Savior, every
metropolitan Catholic Church in the
world intones and has intoned for nine
teen hundred years the "Kyrie Eleison'
Of the mass of Christ.
The Laten races have kept sacred
the holy tradition by observing the
day as one of religious observance
and of religious rejoicings; whilst on
New Years Day they celebrate, by
worldly rejoicings, by presents and by
feasting, the record Of the beginning
of the christian era.
But among the Celtic, Saxon and
Teutonic races, where nnpticism al
ways blends itself with the nnpterious,
the holy and sublime doctrine Of re-.
demption as taught to them by the
early Apostles, became the most fasci-
mating symbal of their faith. What
wonder, then, that the birth of that
Savior should have been surrounded
by them with the most wonderful and
hallowed legends Therefore from
the midst of their snow-bonnd hills
and valleys, from the depths of their
mountain gorges hidden beneath tow.
ering glaciers arose those legends Of
Christmas which the mysterious chords
of their leaAess pines have told and re-
told from generations to generations.
For them the New Year was the
birth of that Savior whom they had
learned to adore, and the glowing
hearth of the monastery, of the castle
and of the serfs hut was that.dag free
to all; tue pleuteo9s board, a--type
of charity, wasaapen to all. Froa.
house 10 boasgLe peasantry with
their holy cafdIs Gvited that good
will towards all menn Of their Lord !;
and Santa KLAUS, the dispenser of GER
tain bnt unexplained treasures from
the depths of those unknown and un-
explored northern SHOWS, came by the
way OF. on high, soaring above the
house tops, to lavish his longea-f for
gifts. Wherefore in all nations of
norther'l origin, Christmas besides be-
ing Religious day has also been a
day of good will towards all men"
Principalities have passed away,
Kingdoms hayo ceased to exist and
Empires have crilmblcd to the dust,
bnt Christmas has everbeen the cry Of
Joy of Christendom.
The manger in the stable has be-
come the corner stone OF tia. edifice
which raising its myriads of spires to-
wards heaven proclaims from its cross
es in the skies the eternal truth of the
cry of JOY of the celestial host: "Glory
be to God on the Highest" Christ
mas has no tears, its joys are the joys