Understanding the Day
Season
Christmastide
Week
Week 1 of Christmastide
Rank
First-class feast
Introit (Daily Prayer)
The Lord said to Me, You are My Son; this day I have begotten You.
Ps 2:1
Why do the nations rage and the people utter folly?
Glory Be to the Father…
Who livest and reignest with God the Father…
Weekly Prayer
Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.
Weekly Formation
Oppression of the Poor
Sins Crying to Heaven
Oppression of the poor
Oppression of the poor uses power, wealth, or social advantage to burden people who are already vulnerable or unable to defend their rights. Their cry reaches God because He is their protector and judges the powerful for injustice toward the weak, the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.
The Corporal Works of Mercy
Feed the hungry
Feeding the hungry supplies necessary nourishment to those who lack it. It is a corporal work because it serves a bodily need, and an act of mercy because charity responds to another’s misery rather than ignoring preventable want.
Give drink to the thirsty
Giving drink to the thirsty provides the water or other wholesome refreshment needed for life and health. The work includes direct aid and reasonable support for efforts that make safe water available to people in need.
Shelter the homeless
Sheltering the homeless provides safe lodging or helps secure it for those without a stable place to live. Traditional language calls this harboring the harborless, extending hospitality and protection to the stranger and displaced person.
Saint & Feast
Nativity of the Lord
A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.
Customs & Fasting
No traditional fast
No fast or abstinence today: Christmas is a holy day of obligation
Today in Church History
Baptism of King Æthelberht of Kent
597ConversionKing Æthelberht of Kent was baptized by St. Augustine of Canterbury, but the exact date of December 25, 597, is not traditionally associated with this event. The baptism is generally believed to have occurred in 597, but the specific date is uncertain.
The conversion of leaders can pave the way for the faith to flourish in new lands.
First Recorded Celebration of Christmas
336EventThe earliest recorded celebration of Christmas on December 25 occurred in 336 AD in Rome, marking the birth of Jesus Christ and establishing a significant liturgical tradition in the Christian calendar.
Celebrating the birth of Christ reminds us of God's incarnation and love for humanity.
Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor
800PapalOn December 25, 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica, marking the revival of the Western Roman Empire and strengthening the alliance between the papacy and the Frankish state.