Illustration: ZEPHYRINUS
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The Tradition of a Midnight Vigil on the Eve of Christmas began in The East, and was observed in the Late-4th-Century A.D. in Jerusalem. The Tradition reached The West in 430 A.D. under Pope Sixtus III in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.[1]
By the 12th-Century, the practice of Midnight Mass had become more widespread, as all Priests had been granted the faculty of Celebrating three Masses on Christmas Day (previously reserved to the Pope), provided the three different Propers were Celebrated at their appropriate times of Midnight, Dawn and Day.[1]
Of course, Zephyrinus, being a well-trained English scribe knows this, but even Shakespeare pens an ode to the peace and beauty of Christmas night (Hamlet, Act I, Scene I):
ReplyDelete“Some say, that ever ‘gainst that season comes,
Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated,
The bird of night singeth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, no planet strikes,
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.”
Thus praiseth the Bard of O Holy Night.
Beautiful, indeed.
DeleteAnd so true.
Greetings, Dante Peregrinus, on this hallowed Morn.