Feast Days for December 6 – December 10
Pope Leo’s Monthly Prayer Intention for DECEMBER is for Christians in areas of conflict. Let us pray that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation, and hope.
The second Sunday of Advent we light the next purple candle called the “Bethlehem Candle” which stands for PEACE. We are reminded of the journey of the pregnant Blessed Mary and St. Joseph made from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It also expands on the meaning of last week’s lighting of the Prophecy candle by recalling that after the division and dispersion of the Jewish population, peace is finally coming to Earth in the birth of Jesus.
Who is St. Nicolas and how is he connected to Christmas?
On 12/6, we celebrate the feast day of St. Nicolas of Bari, the patron saint of sailors, merchants, and children and who eventually became the namesake of Santa Claus. In the fourth century, St. Nicholas was born into a wealthy family. After his parents death at a young age, he was left with a very large inheritance. He became a bishop of Myra and used his inheritance for works of charity. It is believed that one of the things he had done was secretly throw three bags of gold into a poor man’s window so the father would have a dowry for his three daughters. This secret act of charity is the origin of leaving stockings out for St. Nicholas to fill with gifts!
“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.” St. Nicholas of Bari.
On December 8 we celebrate the Immaculate Conception which refers to Blessed Mary being conceived with no stain of original sin. God granted her this state of grace so she could give birth to Jesus. This doctrine was declared by Pope Pius IX in 1854 but this belief was documented in Church writings from the fourth century. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is located in Washington, DC and is the largest Catholic church in North America housing 82 Marian side chapels in addition to other religious devotional chapels.
“And the angel came in unto her, and said, hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” -Luke 1:28
On December 9 we celebrate the feast day of St. Juan Diego, patron saint of Indigenous people. St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous peasant, was born in Cuauhtitlan, Mexico in 1474 and is the first Catholic saint from the Americas. He is known for the four apparitions of our Blessed Virgin Mary in December of 1531 and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe impressed on his cloak that was revealed after he let fall the fresh roses he was holding underneath his cloak while he was beseeching the skeptical bishop to allow a church to be built on the site of the apparitions. Veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe spread throughout Mexico and Latin America which helped spread Catholicism throughout this region. The cloak with the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is housed at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City which is one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. We also celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of archeologists and the Americas, on December 12.
On December 10 we celebrate Our Lady of Loreto whose feast day was added by Pope Francis in 2019. This title of the Blessed Virgin Mary is associated with the Holy House of Loreto in Italy which was believed to have been miraculously transported from Nazareth to Europe by angels. This is the house the Holy Family resided in from Nazareth. St. Helena of Constantinople built a basilica over the house but in 1090 the basilica was destroyed with no damage to the Holy House. Later, the second basilica also was destroyed but the Holy House remained intact. Today, a great basilica contains the Holy House in Italy. And inside the Holy House above the altar contains an ancient statue of Our Lady holding the Infant Jesus.