Christmas Eve: the Afternoon, First Vespers, and the Hour before Midnight

Afternoon of the Eve

Christmas-Eve, with its own happy spirit, is drawing to its close. Already has the Church terminated all her Advent Offices, by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. In her maternal considerateness, she has permitted her children to break their Fast of preparation for the great Feast, by taking their meal at mid-day. Whilst refreshing their bodies with this repast, to which Abstinence gives merit, the Faithful feel an instinct of gladness, which comes as a harbinger, to tell them of that immense joy, which this beautiful Night will bring them, by giving them their Emmanuel.

But, so great a Solemnity as that of tomorrow, could not possibly be an exception to that usage of the Church, whereby she anticipates all her Feasts on their Eves. In a few moments, the Office of First Vespers, in which is offered to God the evening incense, will call us to the Church, and the splendor of the function, and the magnificence of the chants, will open our hearts to those feelings of love and gratitude, which will prepare them to receive the graces of Tonight.

Let us spend the interval in endeavoring to gain a clear knowledge of the Mystery of our Feast; and let us get well into ourselves the sentiments and spirit of the Church. We shall be assisted to do both, by considering some of the principal traditions, which attach to this joyful Solemnity.

Let us begin by listening to the Holy Fathers, speaking of Christmas Day, with an eloquence worthy of the Feast. And first, we have St. Gregory the Theologian, Bishop of Nazianzum, who thus opens his thirty-eighth discourse, which is on the Theophania, or Nativity of our Lord.

“Christ is born—glorify him! Christ comes down from heaven—go ye forth to meet him! Christ is on the earth—be ye lifted up above it! O sing to the Lord all the earth!¹ and to say all in one word: Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,² because He that is now born is both of heaven and of earth! Christ has assumed our Flesh—exult in fear and in joy; in fear, because of sin; in joy, because of hope! Christ is born of a Virgin:—women! honor holy virginity, that you may become Mothers of Christ!

“Who would not adore Him, that is from the beginning? Who would not praise and extol Him, that is born in time? Darkness is at an end; Light is created; Egypt remains in darkness, and Israel is enlightened by the pillar of fire. The people that sat in the darkness of ignorance, now possesses the bright light of knowledge and wisdom. The old things are passed away, and lo! all things are made new. The letter has given way, the spirit has triumphed; shadows have faded, the reality is come. * * The laws of nature are set aside; the world of Heaven is to be peopled; Christ commands it—let us obey.

“O clap your hands, all ye nations!³ for a Child is born unto us, and a Son is given unto us. The emblem of his Government is upon his shoulder, for his exaltation shall come by the cross; and his name shall be called the Angel of the Great Counsel, that is, of the Counsel of his Father.⁴

“Let the Baptist now cry out: Prepare ye the way of the Lord! I, too, will proclaim the virtues and power of this day. He that is without flesh, takes flesh; the Word takes a Body; the Unseen is seen; the Untangible may be touched; the Eternal has a beginning; the Son of God is made the Son of Man—Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today, and the same for ever.⁵ Let the Jew take scandal, and the Greek mock, and the Heretic prate. They will believe when they shall see him ascending into heaven; and if not even then, at least when they shall see him coming down from heaven, and seated on his judgment-seat.”

It is hard to hear such thrilling eloquence as this, and remain cold. But let us now give ear to a Father of the Latin Church—the devout St. Bernard—who, in his Sixth Sermon for Christmas Eve, pours forth his heart’s joy in these fervent words:

“We have just heard the saying, which is full of grace, and worthy of all acceptation: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Juda. At these words, my soul melts with love, yea, and my spirit, that is within me, burns with impatience to tell you, as in other years, of this joy, this thrilling joy. Jesus means Savior. And, what so necessary to them that are lost? what so welcome to them that are in misery? what so precious to them that are in despair? Besides, what salvation, what chance of salvation, was there in the law of sin, in that body of death, in so evil a day, and in such a place of affliction—had not a new and unlooked-for Salvation been born? Say not, that thou dost indeed desire salvation, but that, knowing thy delicacy and the grievousness of thy sickness, thou fearest lest the cure be violent. No, fear not: this Jesus is Christ, that is, he is all sweetness; he is meek and plenteous in mercy; he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, that is, above them, who though they receive not the fullness, yet receive of his fullness. Yet, lest thou shouldst think, that, because this Jesus is the Anointed with sweetness, he is therefore weak in power, it is added, he is the Son of God. * * * Let us, then, be exceeding glad, as we think over within ourselves, or say to each other, this sweet sentence: Jesus Christ—the Son of God—is born in Bethlehem of Juda!”

Glorious Day, indeed, is this of the Birth of the Savior! It had been looked forward to by the human race, for four thousand years. The Church had prepared for it by the four weeks of her Advent, a Season which has ever such a charm about it. Nature, too, longs for this Day, on which the Sun begins his yearly victory over the dreary reign of wintry darkness. A Holy Doctor of the Syrian Church, St. Ephrem, has written the most admirable words on the beauty and fruitful virtue of this mysterious Day. Let us borrow some of these from him and say them with his enthusiasm.

“Grant, O Lord! that we may now celebrate this the Day of thy Birth, which today’s Solemnity brings round to us. This Day is like thyself—it is the friend of mankind. It comes to us in its regular course, visiting us each year. It grows old with the old; it is young and fresh with little children. We remember when we were young, how it came and passed away; and here it is again, faithful as ever in its welcome visit. It knows that nature could not do without it; here again like to thee, it comes in search of our fallen race. The whole earth thirsts after thy Birth-Day, O Jesus! It stands, as it were, between the past and the future, commanding all ages, as Thou dost. It is one, and yet it multiplies itself, as Thou dost. And since we behold thy past Birth-Day in this present Feast, make the two resemble each other in this also—that as thy Birth-Day brought Peace between heaven and earth, when the infinitely High God descended to this low earth; so may this solemnity signify and give us Peace. * * And truly, if every day of the year be rich in thy gifts, how much more ought not this to overflow with them?

“The other days of the year borrow their beauty from this, and the other Feasts owe to this all their solemnity and loveliness. * * Thy Birth-Day, O Jesus! is a treasure, out of which we all get wherewith to pay our debts. * * Blessed be the Day which has brought us back the Sun, after we had been wandering in the dark night; which has brought us the Divine Sheaf, that enriches us with plentifulness; which has given us the Vine-Branch, that is to yield us, in due time, the cup of our salvation. * * In the bosom of that Winter, which robs our trees of their fruit, the virgin Vine has given forth its divine growth. In the Season of frost, which strips our plants of their beauty, the Root of Jesse has given us its Bud. It is in December, which hides the seed sown in the earth, that the Wheat of our salvation appears from the Virgin’s womb, into which he had entered in that fresh Spring-time, when the lambkins were skipping in our meadows.”⁶

It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, if this Day, which, we may say, is an important one even to God himself, has been made a privileged one above those of the rest of the year. We have already seen that the old pagan world paid homage to it, and thus, in their own way, were carrying out the design of God. The Holy Doctors, and the Church herself in her Liturgy, allude continually to the material Sun being the symbol of Him, who is called the Sun of Justice. Then, again, there is the venerable tradition, which tells us, that the Incarnation of the Son of God having been accomplished on a Friday, (March 25,) the Birth of Jesus, the Light of the world, must have taken place on the 25th of December, a Sunday. This gives a peculiar sacredness to Christmas Day when it falls on a Sunday, as it was on that day of the week that God began the Creation, and said: Be light made! and on the same, also, did our Lord rise from the tomb. St. Sophronius of Jerusalem has beautifully treated this mystery in his 1st Homily for Christmas Day.

In order to impress the nations of Europe, that is, of the favored portion of the Church, with the importance of this ever blessed Day, God, who is the Sovereign Ruler of all things, has willed that on it should happen certain events of intense interest. We will select three of these. To begin with the first in order of time:—it was on a Christmas Day, that was founded the Kingdom of the Franks; for, it was on this glorious Solemnity, that King Clovis was baptized at Rheims by St. Remigius. The haughty Sicambrian, thus admitted into the Fold of Christ, became a meek and humble Christian, and the founder of the first Catholic monarchy, which is now the Kingdom of France.

A century later, that is in the year 596, our own dearest country was converted to the true faith by the labors of St. Augustine, of whom St. Gregory the Great, who sent him, says: “he was a Monk of my Monastery.”⁷ This holy Missionary had baptized King Ethelbert, and traveled through the land, preaching everywhere the name and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having reached York, he preached the word of Eternal Life to the people, and when he had ended, they seek baptism from his hands. Christmas Day is fixed upon for the regeneration of the Catechumens, and the River which flows through the City, is chosen as the Baptismal Font. Ten thousand men, not counting women and children, go down into this stream, whose waters were to cleanse their souls. The severity of the season is unheeded by these fervent disciples of the Babe of Bethlehem, who, but a few days before, knew not so much as his Name. From the frozen waters, there comes, full of joy and innocence, the long line of Neophytes; and the Birth-Day of Jesus counts, that year, one nation more as belonging to his Kingdom.

Three hundred years after this, God gives us another glorious event in honor of the Birth-Day of his Son. It was on this divine Anniversary, in the year 800, and at Rome, in the Basilica of St. Peter, that was created the Holy Roman Empire, to which God assigned the grand mission of propagating the Kingdom of Christ among the barbarian nations of the North, and of upholding, under the direction of the Sovereign Pontiffs, the confederation and unity of Europe. St. Leo III. crowned Charlemagne Emperor. Here, then, was a new Cæsar, a new Augustus, on the earth; not, indeed, a successor of those ancient Lords of Pagan Rome, but one who was invested with the title and power by the Vicar of Him, who is called, in the Sacred Scriptures, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Thus has God glorified, in the eyes of men, the Divine Babe who is this day born: thus has he prepared, at various times, worthy anniversaries of that Birth which gave glory to God and Peace to men. Time will reveal, in what other ways the Most High still wishes to magnify, upon this Twenty-Fifth of December, Himself and his Christ.

Impressed with the extreme importance of this Feast, and justly looking upon it as the beginning of the Era of the world’s regeneration, the Nations of the West, for a long time, began their year with Christmas Day, as we find in the ancient Calendars, in the Martyrologies of Usuard and Ado, and in numberless Bulls, Charts, and Diplomas. It is evident, from a Council held at Cologne, in 1310, that this manner of computing the year was still observed at that time. In several countries of Europe, our own among the rest, the custom has been kept up of wishing a Happy Christmas, which was the ancient salutation when this Feast was the beginning of a new year. Hence, too, in these countries, the custom of making presents, of writing letters of good wishes, and of other friendly acts. How many of our practices of every-day life have originated from Faith, and yet are looked upon as mere consequences of natural good-feeling, or even compliments which society requires us to pay to each other!

To encourage her children in their Christmas joy, the Church has dispensed with the law of abstinence, if this Feast fall on a Friday. This dispensation was granted by Pope Honorius III., who ascended the Papal Throne in 1216. It is true, that we find it mentioned by Pope St. Nicholas I., in the 9th century; but the dispensation was not universal; for the Pontiff is replying to the consultations of the Bulgarians, to whom he concedes this indulgence, in order to encourage them to celebrate these Feasts with solemnity and joy: Christmas Day, St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Epiphany, the Assumption of our Lady, St. John the Baptist, and Saints Peter and Paul. When the dispensation for Christmas Day was extended to the whole Church, these other Feasts were not mentioned.

In the Middle Ages, the Civil Law, also, contributed to the people’s love of Christmas, by enacting, that no Creditor could demand any payment from his Debtors during the entire week of Christmas, which was called, on that account, the week of remission —a name which it had in common with the weeks of Easter and Pentecost.

But, let us interrupt these interesting details regarding the grand Solemnity, whose near approach makes our hearts throb with joy. Let us repair to the House of our Heavenly Father, for the Hour of Vespers is near; and on our way, let our thoughts be at Bethlehem, where Joseph and Mary are already arrived. The sun is rapidly setting; and our Divine Sun of Justice is still hid beneath the Cloud, the Womb of the purest of Virgins. Night is coming on; Joseph and Mary are going through the narrow streets of the City of David, seeking a shelter. Let our hearts be attentive, and united, in love, with the two holy Pilgrims. Every heart and voice should now be giving forth to our God the tribute of praise and grateful love. Oh! happy we, that have a tribute of Song and Psalmody ready for our use, worthy of the Day and of its ineffable Mystery—it is our Mother that offers us her Liturgy. Let us prepare to join her.

First Vespers

After the usual invocation of the divine assistance, the Church intones, in a most solemn chant, the five following Antiphons, which precede as many Psalms.

Psalm: Dixit Dominus, Chapter VII. On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts during Christmas.

Psalm: Confitebor tibi, Chapter VII. On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts during Christmas.

Psalm: Beatus vir, Chapter VII. On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts during Christmas.

Psalm: Laudate pueri, Chapter VII. On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts during Christmas.

Psalm 116

After having extolled, in these divine canticles, the eternal generation, the fidelity, the mercy, the greatness, and the truth, of her divine Spouse, who is coming, and in a few short hours will show himself to her—the Church suspends her praise for a moment, and listens, in the Capitulum, to the consoling words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, concerning the coming of God our Savior.

Capitulum

(Tit. 3:4.)

Encouraged afresh by these beautiful words, the Church resumes her praises, not borrowing, this time, the psalmody of the Royal Prophet, but singing a Hymn to Jesus, her Spouse, on the glory and beauty of his Birth-Day, which makes all Nature glad, and brings the sweetest joy of heart to such as know how to love the Divine Babe. It was St. Ambrose—the Bee of Milan, as he has been called—who composed this Hymn, which is sung, today, in almost every part of the world.

Hymn⁸

And now, Mary’s own words are to resound in the holy place! The sweet Canticle, which she sang at her Visitation to Elizabeth, when, holding within herself the divine and secret Treasure, she celebrated the great things of God’s power in her—this Canticle, without which the Church never lets the sun go down, is now going to be sung. O Mary! the hour is fast approaching, which will manifest to both heaven and earth, that divine Maternity of thine, which will make all generations call thee Blessed. Suffer us to unite our souls with thine in magnifying the Lord, and to rejoice in our spirit, as thou didst in thine, in God our Savior, who is thy Son!

Antiphon of the Magnificat

The Canticle, Magnificat, Chapter VII. On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts during Christmas.

Finally, the Church expresses all her desires in the following Prayer, which is to ascend to the Throne of God, not only at every Hour of Christmas Day, but several times each day during the Octave.

Collect

During our Vespers, the last rays of day have disappeared, and darkness has covered the earth. The Sacred Ministers, vested in their richest copes, have left the Sanctuary. In a few moments they will reenter the Church, and repair to the Tribunal of Penance, there to administer to penitent sinners the reconciliation they ask of God through the merciful Birth of his Only Begotten Son. All is solemn silence in the Church, which, but a few moments before, echoed with the glad chants of our praise. Let us adore the Majesty of our God, and once more present our prayer to the King of Ages, that he send down the Dew, for which our earth is thirsting; and with this prayer of our hope, let us, for a last time, mingle a thought of that salutary fear of the Last Judgment, which the Church has nurtured within our souls during the holy Season of Advent.

Let us embody these sentiments in a Prayer, taken from the Gothic, or Mozarabic, Liturgy: it is a beautiful one, and most appropriate:

Prayer from the Mozarabic Breviary

(For the Nativity of our Lord, in the Evening Office, Capitula.)

And now, we will leave the House of God, and attend to the duties of our state of life at home, until the hour of Matins summons us to return and celebrate the Midnight Birth of our Savior. In order to prepare ourselves for that most imposing Service, we shall do well to resume the reflections upon the Liturgy of our Feast, which we interrupted in order to assist at Vespers. How few would keep from the Service of Christmas Night, and how still fewer would complain that they never seem to derive that benefit from it, which they are told is so great—if they would but take the pains to ask themselves, why it is, that the Church attaches such importance to her children’s joining her in the celebration of this joyous Winter Mid-Night!—To assist the devotion of the Faithful, we offer them these simple instructions, for

The Hour before the Midnight Service

We will begin by telling them, that in the early ages of the Church, every great Feast was prepared for by long Vigils; during which the people deprived themselves of their usual rest, and spent the hours in the Church, fervently joining in the Psalms and Lessons, which made up the Office, which we now call Matins. The Night was divided into three parts, called Nocturns. At dawn of Day, they resumed their chants, in an Office, which was even more solemn than the Matins: it was one of Praise, and, from this its characteristic, was called by the name of Lauds. This Service, which occupied a very considerable portion of the night, is still kept up, though at a time less trying to nature; Matins and Lauds are, every day, publicly recited in Cathedral and Monastic Churches, and privately by every one in Holy Orders. They are by far the longest portion of the Divine Office. The want of the old spirit of devoted appreciation of the Liturgy, has made the Laity indifferent to being present at the celebration of Matins, and this even in Countries where Protestantism has not rendered their presence almost an impossibility. Thus, there are very few places where the people assist at Matins, excepting four times in the year; namely, on the three last days of Holy Week, and on Christmas Night. It is only on the last named, that the Office is said at the same hour as anciently; for, with regard to Tenebræ, they are recited on the afternoons respectively preceding each of the three Days.

The Office of Christmas Night has always been said or sung with extraordinary solemnity. Firstly, it was so just, that the moments immediately preceding the Hour, when the Holy Mother gave birth to her Jesus, should be spent in the most fervent prayers and watchings! But, secondly, the Church is not satisfied tonight with saying her Matins: she does so every night, and the faithful may come and assist at them as often as they wish:—she follows them by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that so she may the better solemnize the Divine Birth; and she begins her Mass at Mid-night, for it was at that silent hour that the Virgin-Mother gave us the Blessed Fruit of her Womb. We cannot be surprised that the Faithful, in many parts of Christendom, used to spend the whole Night in the Church.

In Rome, for many centuries—at least, from the 7th to the 11th,—two Matins were sung. The first in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. They commenced immediately after sun-set. There was no Invitatory. As soon as they were ended, the Pope celebrated the first or midnight Mass. No sooner was it finished, than the people accompanied him to the Church of St. Anastasia, and there he sang the second Mass, or, as it was called, of the Aurora. Again the Pontiff and people formed a procession—this time it was to St. Peter’s—and having entered the Basilica, the second Matins were begun. They had an Invitatory, and were followed by Lauds. The other Hours having been sung, the Pope said the third and last Mass, at the hour of Tierce, which is our 9 o’clock. We are indebted for these details to Amalarius, and to the ancient Liturgist of the 13th century, published under the name of Alcuin. We also find them clearly indicated by the text of the old Antiphonaries of the Roman Church, which were published by the Blessed Joseph-Maria Tommasi, and by Gallicioli.

How lively was the faith of those olden times! To people, who lived unceasingly amidst the Mysteries of Religion, Prayer was a tie which knit them closely together, and made them pass hours in the Church without weariness. They understood the value of the Prayers of the Church; and the Ceremonies of the Liturgy, (which complete the tribute of man’s inward worship of his Creator,) were not, as now, unfortunately, they so often are, a dumb show, or, at best, an unmeaning poetry introduced for effect. What, in our days, are found only in individuals, were then in the mass of the people—faith, and a keen sense of the supernatural.

Thanks be to God! this strong practical faith is not dead among us, and is each year spreading in the land. How often have not we ourselves been charmed at seeing the traditions of the old Catholic customs still kept up in some families, especially in those favored parts of the country, where heresy has not been able to corrupt the simplicity of the people. We have seen, and it is one of the most pleasing recollections of our childhood, one of these families seated together, after the frugal evening collation, round a blazing fire-side, waiting for the hour to come, when the whole house was to go to the Midnight Mass. A plain, but savory, supper, which was to be eaten on their return home, and so add to the joy of holy Christmas-Night, was prepared before-hand. A huge piece of wood, called the Yule-Log, was burning cheerfully on the hearth; it would last till the Mass was over, and warm the old men and the little children, as they came in chilled by the sharp frost.

Meanwhile, till it was time for Mass, their conversation was upon the Mystery of this much-loved Night. They compassionated the Blessed Mother and the sweet Babe, exposed to the inclemency of wintry weather, and with no other shelter than that of a wretched stable. Then, too, there were the Christmas Carols, in the practice of which they had spent many a pleasant evening of Advent. The whole soul was evidently in these dear old melodies, and many a tear would fall as the Song went on to tell how the Angel Gabriel visited Mary, and declared to her that she was to be Mother of the Most High God—how Mary and Joseph were worn with fatigue, going from street to street in Bethlehem, trying to find a lodging, and no one would take them in—how they were obliged to shelter in a stable, and how the Divine Child was born in it—how the loveliness of the Babe in his little crib was above all the beauty of the Angels—how the Shepherds went to see him, and took their humble gifts, and played their rude music, and adored him in the faith of their simple hearts.—And thus they spent the happy Eve, passing from conversation to song, and from one song to another, and all was on Mary or Jesus, Joseph or Bethlehem. Cares of life were forgotten, troubles were gone, melancholy was a sin—but, it was time to leave; the Village clock had just gone eleven; and of the happy group, there was a little one, who had been too young the other years, and this was his first Midnight-Mass! There was no brighter face in the procession than his. Would he ever forget—that beautiful Night!

In many of our readers, these reminiscences will excite a feeling of regret, that the miseries of the world around us make such catholic customs as these, unrealities: at all events, they will show, how the holiest feelings of religion may blend with the best joys of family and home. The lesson is worth learning, though the examples that teach it are too catholic for these rough times. Let us, therefore, leave them, and turn again to objects, which are realities, made holy by Tonight’s Mystery—they will assist us to enter still further into the spirit of the Church.

There are three places on this earth of ours, which we should visit tonight. For two of them, it can only be in spirit. The first is Bethlehem, and the Cave of the Nativity, which is Bethlehem’s glory. Let us approach it with respectful awe, and contemplate the humble dwelling, which the Son of the Eternal God chose for his first home. It is a Stable in the hollow of a rock, just outside the city walls. It is about forty feet long, by twelve in width. The ox, and the ass, as spoken of by the Prophet, are there, standing near the Manger, mute witnesses of the Divine Mystery, to which man refused to lend his own dwelling.

Joseph and Mary enter into the Stable-Cave. It is night, and all nature is buried in silence; but these two Hearts are sending up their praise and adoration to God, who thus deigns to atone for man’s pride. The Virgin-Mother prepares the Clothes, which are to swathe the limbs of the Divine Infant, and longs, though with a most tranquil patience, for the blissful moment, when she shall have the first sight of the Blessed Fruit of her womb, kiss him, caress him, and feed him—the Eternal God—at her Breast.

Our Jesus, on His part, now that he is about to leave the sanctuary of his Mother’s womb, and make his visible entrance into this world of sin, adores his Heavenly Father, and, (according to the revelation of the Psalmist, which is commented by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews,) thus speaks: Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not; but a Body thou hast fitted to me. Holocausts for sin did not please thee. Then, said I, behold I come. In the head of the Book, it is written of me, that I should do thy will, O God!⁹

All this was happening in the Stable at Bethlehem, about this very hour of the Night. The Angels of God were singing their anthems of praise to this his incomprehensible mercy towards his rebel creatures. They looked down with admiration upon the Mother of their God, the Mystical Rose, whose hidden Beauty was soon to bloom and fill the world with its fragrance.

O happy cave of Bethlehem! scene of these stupendous Mysteries! who is there that can forget it tonight? Who is there that does not love it above the richest palaces of Kings?—From the very commencement of Christianity, it was the object of men’s deepest veneration. When, later on, God sent the great St. Helen to resuscitate in his Church the knowledge and love of the Holy Places of Palestine, one of the works of the holy Empress was to build a magnificent Basilica over the spot, where stands this trophy of God’s love for his creatures.

Let us go in spirit to this venerable Basilica; we shall find there groups of infidels and schismatics, but we shall also find the Religious, who have the care of it, preparing to sing the same Matins, and in the same Latin tongue, which we are to have. These Religious are the Children of St. Francis, heroic followers of the poverty of their Divine Master, the Infant of Bethlehem. Because they are poor and humble, therefore have they had, for upwards of four hundred years, the honor of being the sole guardians of these Holy Places, which the Crusaders grew tired of defending. Let us pray in union with them, tonight; and go with them, and kiss that sacred spot of the Cave, where is written in letters of gold: Here was Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary. (Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est.)

In vain, however, should we seek at Bethlehem for the holy Crib, in which the Infant Jesus lay. The curse of God has struck that unhappy country, and deprived it of this precious relic, which now, for upwards of twelve hundred years, has been venerated in the center of Catholicity, Rome, the favored Spouse of Christ.

Rome, then, is the second place we must visit on this blessed Night. And in the Holy City itself, there is one special Sanctuary, which claims all our veneration and love. It is the Basilica of the Crib, the splendid Church of Saint-Mary-Major. Of all the Churches, which the people of Rome have erected in honor of the Mother of God, this is the grandest. It stands on the Esquiline, rich in its marble and gold, but richer still in its possessing, together with the Portrait of our Lady painted by St. Luke, the humble yet glorious Crib of Jesus, of which the inscrutable designs of God have deprived Bethlehem. An immense concourse of people is tonight assembled in the Basilica, awaiting the happy moment, when this monument of the love and the humiliation of a God will be brought in, carried on the shoulders of the Priests, as an Ark of the New Covenant, whose welcome sight gives the sinner confidence, and makes the just man thrill with joy. Thus has God willed, that Rome, which was to be the new Jerusalem, should be also the new Bethlehem; and that the children of the Church should find, in this the unchangeable center of their Faith, the varied and exhaustless nourishment of their Love.

But the Basilica of the Crib is not the only sanctuary in Rome which has an attraction for us tonight. An imposing ceremony, which embodies a profound mystery, is taking place, at this very hour, in the palace of the Vatican, near the Tomb of the Prince of the Apostles.

The Divine Infant, who is to be born amongst us, is the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, whose government is upon his shoulder,¹⁰ as we shall sing tomorrow, with the Church. We have already seen, how the God of Hosts has honored this power of the Emmanuel, by leading powerful Nations to acknowledge Him, who lay in the Crib of Bethlehem, as the Lord to whom they owed their adoring fealty. The same recognition of that Babe as the Mighty God is made by the ceremony we allude to. The Sovereign Pontiff, the Vicar of our Emmanuel, blesses, in his name, a Sword and Helmet, which are to be sent to some Catholic warrior, who has deserved well of the Christian world. In a letter addressed to Queen Mary of England and to Philip, her husband, Cardinal Pole gives an explanation of this solemn rite. The sword is sent to some Prince, whom the Vicar of Christ wishes to honor in the name of Jesus, who is King: for, the Angel said to Mary: The Lord will give unto him the Throne of David, his father.¹¹ It is from Him alone that comes the power of the sword;¹² for, God said to Cyrus: I have girded thee (with the sword;¹³) and the Psalmist thus speaks to the Christ of God: Gird thy Sword upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty!¹⁴ And because the Sword should not be drawn, save in the cause of justice, it is for that reason that a Sword is blessed on this Night, in the midst of which rises, born unto us, the divine Sun of Justice. On the Helmet, which is both the ornament and protection of the head, there is worked, in pearls, the Dove, which is the emblem of the Holy Ghost; and this, to teach him who wears it, that it is not from passion or ambition that he must use his sword, but solely under the guidance of the divine Spirit, and from a motive of spreading the Kingdom of Christ.

How beautiful is this union of energy and meekness under the one symbol and ceremony! This power of blending and harmonizing the varied beauty of distinct classes of truth, is not to be found save in that Christian Rome, which is our Mother, and where God has established the center of Light and Love. The ceremony, we have been describing, is still observed. What a grand list it would be, had we the names of all those glorious Christian Warriors, who were thus created Knights of the Church, at this solemn hour, when we celebrate the Birth of Him, who came to vanquish our enemy!—We are going to adore this Babe in his Crib; let us think of our Mother’s teaching, and pay homage to him as our Prince and King, and beseech him to humble the enemies of his Church, and vanquish those who are leagued against both our perfection and our salvation.

And now, to the third of the sanctuaries, wherein is to be effected, this Night, the mystery of the Birth of Jesus. This third Sanctuary is near us; it is in us;—it is our own heart. Our heart is the Bethlehem that Jesus desires to visit, and in which he would be born, there to live and grow unto a perfect man, as St. Paul expresses it.¹⁵ Why, after all, was he born in the stable of the city of David, but that he might make sure of our heart, which he loved with an everlasting love, and so ardently, that he came down from heaven to dwell in it? Mary’s virginal womb held him but for nine months; he wishes us to keep him for ever in our dwelling!

O heart of man, thou living Bethlehem, hold thyself in readiness, and keep a glad feast! Already, thou hast prepared thyself for this union with thy Jesus by the confession of thy misdeeds, by the contrition of thy sins, and by the satisfaction thou hast made for them. Now, therefore, be all attention—he is coming in the Mid-Night. Let him find everything ready, ready as were the Stable, the Crib, and the Swaddling-clothes. True, thou hast nothing to offer him like what Mary and Joseph had—she, a Mother’s caresses; and he, the most solicitous and tender care;—but thou hast an adoration and a love like those of the poor Shepherds, and these thou must offer. Like the Bethlehem yonder in the far east, thou art living in the midst of heresy, of infidelity, and of men who know not the divine mystery of divine love:—secret then, but hearty, must be thy prayers, like those which are ascending this night to heaven from the few faithful ones, who are assembled in the Holy Cave with the Sons of St. Francis; for, in that unfortunate Palestine, which has been a slave to the most degrading errors for this last thousand years, there are still a few who know and love God. On this glad Mid-Night, let thy soul become like that splendid Basilica of Rome, which possesses the two treasures, the Holy Crib and the venerable Portrait of the Virgin-Mother. Let thy affections and thoughts be pure as the white marble of its pillars; thy charity, bright as the gold which glitters on its ceiling; thy deeds, shining as the countless tapers which light up its beauty, and turn this night into the glare of a summer noon. Thou must learn, too, O soldier of Christ! to use a Christian’s weapons; thou must fight thy way to the Crib of thy Jesus; thou must fight for thy position there, and maintain it by the unbroken loyalty of thy love; thou must fight for the happy consummation of thy victory,—union eternal with him. Treasure up these holy sentiments, and let them console and sanctify thee, during these moments which precede the coming of our Emmanuel into thee. O living Bethlehem! there is a word which heaven gave thee for these moments; take it up, and let it be thy ceaseless prayer;—Come, Lord Jesus! come.¹⁶

It is time for us to depart, and go into the House of God. The Bells are not being rung for us, it is true—still, their melody wakens up Bethlehem in our hearts. How strange this joyous pealing at this midnight hour! But, is not everything strange in this mysterious night of the Birth of God? He is going to show himself to us—but it is to be in a Crib, and as a little Child. When he came on Sinaï, it was surrounded with thick clouds of smoke, and amidst thunder and lightning: now, there is nothing but humility, stillness, and loveliness beyond measure. The Moon, emblem of the brightness reflected from Jesus upon Mary, is shedding its soft light on our path. The stars are twinkling in the firmament, and make us think of the Star, which is so soon to rise and guide the Magi to our Savior’s Crib.

And, whilst thus thinking over all these strange mysteries, we have reached the porch of the Church. The Sanctuary sends its light down even to the threshold of the holy place. Beautiful sight, indeed!—What wonder, that King Clovis, as he entered the Church of Rheims, on his first Christmas Night, stood dazzled with the blaze of light, and, trembling with emotion, said to St. Remigius, who had just baptized him: “Father!—is this the Kingdom thou didst promise me?”—“No, my Son,” replied the Bishop—“it is but the way that will lead thee to it.”