The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-01-01
ANTIQUITY Or CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL
CUSTOMS SHOW Ii. TO De VERY
GREAT.

"A very. strong proof Of the antiq-
nifty of the Christmas festival is
found in the fact that from time i'm.
memorial when it falls on Friday
there is neither fasting nor abstinence
on that day. Formerly the feast was
vested with many privileges. The in.
Etervening days as far as Epiphany
/ (January 81 inclusive were public
holidays, servants and slaves had a
day Of repoge on the feast. Games
and shows were prohibited. There
Was always a serfno on the signif'
canoe OF tie % yatefyy, an ID some ot the
best effnftR of St LEI ST Augustine,
ST. Peter and Chr bogus and other
early FatAeFs we're pronounced on
that day. 5, 9,.,. s. y 81
the ancient priv leges Of Christ,
mas only tive, have survived in the
Church law, one of eating meat when
Eit falls on Friday and the other,
peculiar to the priests, OF celebrating
three Masses III honor spf the three.
fold gsnsfation sof4 Christ; First,
from all eterHity in the bosom Of the
Father second la time In the womb
OF the Blessed yirsiRi and, stllird in
the souls, ofSsthe Just III no receive His
teachings. tsss
The practice or. celebrating three
Masses had Its origip In Rbme. The
very old Mass books, called the Celia
sian and Gregorian Sacramentaries,
contain each three Masses for the
day. Anciently, they we're said at the
time and I'M the order in which they
are prescribed in the missal, ait mid
night, before the aurora and after
sunrise. Curiously enough the pref
ace of the Nativity, several collects
and many parts OF the Masses remain
identically what they were fourteen
hundred years ago. sc jealous is the
Church OF her liturgy and so capable
of preserving it from substantial
alteration.
The midnight vigil Of Christmas is
the last relic OF q very common GUS
tom in the first Christian ages of
celebrating nocturnal vigiIs for the
feasts of the saints. The attendant
disorders discredited- them, SO that
only the venerable vigil of the Natiyi-
ty escaped.
1t was an early date the day on
which the mystery plays we're execut-
ed. We possess certain number of
them vet, just as they were carried
out in France and Southern Germany.
They are quaint and comicaI to our
modern taste, as the recent revival of
eEYeryman" showed, but they were
full Of meaning to our ancestors,
whose faith was much more direct
and intense. IN the Christmas
plays the Sibyl exchanges views with
Daniel and Jeremias, while Virgil is
enlightened alternately by Isaias and
John the Baptist. The stage was the
public square, and the unities were
poorly observed, yet our modern
theater is. indebted to these medieval
mystery plays, which were the work
OF c1lurchIden, both al writer's and
actors, though the Church herself
cannot be said to have encouraged
them.
Akin to the mysteries are the
Noels, or religious canticIes, sung by
the people ON Christmas eve, and of
which lovely carols France possesses
yet q rich collection. They were orig
inally meant to while away the long
vigil OF Christmas, when the great
logs burned slowly in the fireplace
and the storm RACED Justify without.
The simple habits OF other days have
in great measure passed away, but
the canticles Of our forefathers, in.
herited By them from still earlier
ages yet live to entrance the hearers
of the midnight Masses iii the peasant
chapels and bear witness to the ploua