50 Fun Facts About Catholic Christmas

When does the season of Advent begin?

Advent Sunday also opens the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name comes from the Latin adventus, 'coming'.

What is the usual liturgical colour for Advent in the Western Church?

Pope Innocent III once declared black the proper colour, but violet has held sway since about the 13th century.

On which Sunday of Advent may rose vestments be worn and the rose candle lit?

It is called Gaudete Sunday, and it echoes Laetare Sunday, the rose-coloured fourth Sunday of Lent.

What does 'Gaudete', the name of the third Sunday of Advent, mean?

It is the first word of that day's introit, from Philippians: 'Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.'

Advent originally began as a fast of forty days starting the day after whose feast on 11 November?

It was known as St Martin's Lent as early as the fifth century; the season shrank to four weeks in the ninth century.

The Advent wreath, common in Catholic homes, began as a tradition in which denomination?

German pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern is credited with the modern version, built in 1839 for children at his Hamburg mission school who kept asking if Christmas had come.

The O Antiphons, sung at Vespers from 17 to 23 December, are best known in English as which hymn?

Each antiphon is a title of Christ: O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Jesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens, O Rex Gentium and O Emmanuel.

The O Antiphons are sung during which canticle at Vespers?

They probably date to sixth-century Italy; Boethius appears to quote them in The Consolation of Philosophy.

What is the earliest document to place Jesus's birthday on 25 December?

Also called the Calendar of Filocalus, it lists the date as the birthday of the sun god Sol Invictus too. Historians think that part was written in Rome in AD 336.

Which pilgrim first chronicled the tradition of a Christmas midnight vigil, in Bethlehem around 381?

After the vigil, the faithful processed by torchlight to Jerusalem, arriving at dawn. Pope Sixtus III brought the custom to Rome in 430.

In which Roman basilica did Pope Sixtus III institute midnight Mass in 430?

He held it in a grotto-like oratory of the basilica, which was built to honour Mary after the Council of Ephesus.

What is the official Latin name of what most Catholics call Midnight Mass?

'Mass during the Night' need not start at midnight; at the Vatican it has begun at 10 pm or earlier since 2009.

How many Masses may a priest traditionally celebrate on Christmas Day, each with its own proper?

Midnight, dawn and day. The privilege was reserved to the pope until the twelfth century.

Which saint staged the first nativity scene with live actors, at Greccio in 1223?

He had been inspired by seeing the Grotto of the Nativity in the Holy Land. Sculpted cribs later spread from Italy across Europe.

Which two animals are traditionally shown at the manger, though neither appears in the Gospel accounts?

The Magi's camels come from Matthew and the shepherds' sheep from Luke, but the ox and ass are later tradition.

When does Christmastide begin in the Catholic liturgical calendar?

Most of Christmas Eve is still Advent. Since 1969 Christmas Time runs to the Sunday after Epiphany.

Whose feast, honouring the first Christian martyr, falls on 26 December?

It is the second day of Christmastide and a public holiday in Ireland, Italy, Germany and much of Europe.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents on 28 December commemorates children killed on whose orders?

Also called Childermas, it recalls Matthew's account of the massacre in Bethlehem after the Magi failed to report back.

What solemnity does the Catholic Church celebrate on 1 January, the Octave Day of Christmas?

It is a holy day of obligation where not abrogated. Traditional calendars keep the Feast of the Circumcision on the same day.

Which territory's first bishop formally began the feast of the Holy Family in the 17th century?

Saint François de Laval founded a confraternity of the Holy Family in Quebec. The feast presents Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a model for families.

What does the papal blessing 'Urbi et Orbi', given at Christmas, literally mean?

The pope gives it as bishop of Rome (urbs) and head of the Church throughout the world (orbis).

Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on which date in January?

Since 1970 some countries celebrate it on the Sunday after 1 January. In the West it chiefly recalls the visit of the Magi.

What do priests bless at Epiphany in parts of central Europe so families can mark their doors?

The chalked initials C+M+B stand for the Magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, or for 'Christus mansionem benedicat'.

In Italian folklore, who delivers gifts to children on the night of 5 January?

Her name is a corruption of Epifania. Italy's Christmas season traditionally opens on 8 December, when the tree goes up.

What is the ring-shaped cake eaten in Mexico on 6 January called?

Children leave shoes by the door with grass and water for the camels. The French equivalent is the galette des Rois.

Las Posadas, the nine-night procession re-enacting the search for lodging, runs on which dates?

The nine nights represent Mary's nine-month pregnancy. Star-shaped clay piñatas are broken at the end of each night.

Las Posadas has been a Mexican tradition since which year?

It grew out of medieval Bible plays that the Church had once banned; two Spanish saints reintroduced the idea in the 16th century as a Christmas pageant.

The Filipino dawn Masses of Simbang Gabi began in 1669 as a compromise for whom?

Anticipated Masses are also held the evening before, from the 15th to the 23rd.

What is the Christmas Eve Mass called at the end of Simbang Gabi?

It means 'Rooster's Mass'. Puerto Rico's parallel tradition of nine dawn Masses is called the Misa de Aguinaldo.

On which December date is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception?

It falls nine months before the Nativity of Mary on 8 September and is a patronal feast of the United States, Spain, Italy and the Philippines.

Which pope defined the Immaculate Conception as dogma in 1854?

The apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus declared Mary preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.

Since 1953, where does the pope pray on 8 December before a column to the Immaculate Conception?

Pope Clement XI had made the feast a holy day of obligation back in 1708.

To whom did Our Lady of Guadalupe appear in December 1531?

Her image on his cloak, or tilma, is enshrined in the basilica in Mexico City, the most visited Catholic shrine in the world.

What flowers did the visionary find blooming on the barren hill of Tepeyac in December?

They were not native to Mexico. When he opened his cloak before the archbishop, the flowers fell out and the image of the Virgin was revealed.

Saint Nicholas, whose 6 December feast opens the Christmas season, was bishop of which city?

His legend of dropping bags of gold through a window to pay three sisters' dowries fed the folklore of Sinterklaas and Santa Claus.

By legend, why did Saint Nicholas secretly drop sacks of gold through a poor man's window?

Other early stories have him calming a storm, saving three innocent soldiers and felling a demon-possessed tree.

'Silent Night', by priest Joseph Mohr, was first sung at Christmas Eve Mass in 1818 in which country?

Franz Xaver Gruber composed the melody for guitar, possibly because flooding had damaged the church organ at Oberndorf. UNESCO listed the carol as intangible heritage in 2011.

Which English Catholic priest translated 'Adeste Fideles' as 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' in 1841?

The Latin original has been credited to John Francis Wade, King John IV of Portugal and even anonymous Cistercian monks.

Which pope introduced the Christmas tree to St Peter's Square in 1982?

The Polish-born pope brought a Northern European custom to Rome. A different European country or region now donates the tree each year.

Nine of the life-size figures in the Vatican's nativity scene were donated in 1842 by which saint?

They were made for the Roman church of Sant'Andrea della Valle. The scene is unveiled in St Peter's Square on Christmas Eve.

What do red, green and gold traditionally symbolise in Christmas decoration?

Gold is said to be the first colour associated with Christmas, one of the three gifts of the Magi.

England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647, condemning it as what?

Cromwell's troops confiscated Christmas dinners; pro-Christmas rioters held Canterbury for weeks, decorating doorways with holly.

Which Eastern Churches celebrate Christmas on what is 7 January by civil reckoning?

25 December in the Julian calendar currently falls thirteen days after the Gregorian date.

'Rorate caeli', sung throughout Advent, opens with which prophet's words 'Drop down, ye heavens'?

The text is Isaiah 45:8 in the Vulgate and is the introit for the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the traditional Roman rite.

Which 6th-century church gathering ordered monks to fast daily in December until Christmas?

A period of preparation for Christmas had already existed since about 480.

Which feast usually ends the Catholic Christmas season, on the Sunday after Epiphany?

When it is displaced to a Monday, the feast falls in Ordinary Time instead.

In which year did the Roman Rite expand Christmastide to run through the Sunday after Epiphany?

Before 1955 the 12 days of Christmas were followed by the eight-day Octave of Epiphany.

Which sculptor made a set of stone nativity figures for Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore around 1290?

The surviving figures include the Holy Family, the Three Kings and the ox and ass.

Neapolitan nativity scenes depict Naples itself in which century, rather than Bethlehem?

The city's Via San Gregorio Armeno is famous for its nativity-scene workshops.

Which US city displays the world's only authorised replica of the Vatican's Christmas crèche?

It stands downtown from Light Up Night in November through Epiphany.