Little Christmas

Today is the last day of twelve days of Christmas. It goes by various names - the Epiphany, Three Kings Day, Little Christmas. In many cultures, this is the traditional gift-giving day of the Christmas season, as this is the day commemorating the visit of the Three Kings to the Child Jesus. 

Fisheaters.com has a whole page dedicated to traditional observances of the Epiphany.

Generally, the Wisemen are credited with leaving gifts, but in Italy, La Befana is said to do so. She was a good witch who provided lodgings for the Wisemen on their way to Bethlehem, They asked her to accompany them on remainder of the journey, but she declined, being too busy. She had a change of heart later on, however, and attempted to find the Child of Whom they had spoken.

My family has always celebrated Little Christmas. On Christmas morning, we all choose a gift to set aside for the Epiphany, and the Wisemen always come a leave another small gift or two as well. We have a dinner very similar to our Christmas dinner, and it is, in every way, a Little Christmas for us. It is rather a lovely way of keeping the spirit of the season throughout the entire season. 

It is rather late in the day to be posting this, I know, but this medley seems like a good way to end out the Long Christmas:

From the Propers of today's Mass: Alleluia, alleluia.We have seen His star in the East, and are come with gifts to adore the Lord. Alleluia.

Our Lady of the Snows

Today is a rather unique feast day in honour of our Lady - Our Lady of the Snows. It is an odd title, and it is even odder to be celebrating such a feast day during the high summer days of August. There is a very good reason for it, though, for it commemorates a miraculous fall of snow, which marked the location upon which Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the principle churches in Rome, was to be built. The legend of our Lady of the Snows runs like this: In the 4th century, during the reign of Pope Liberius, a holy man named John and his wife, being childless, made a vow to leave their earthly possessions to our Lady, and prayed that she would inspire them how best to dispose of their wealth in her honour. In answer to their prayer, she appeared to the holy couple, in a dream, and to the Holy Father as well, requesting that they build a church in her name upon the Esquiline Hill, and that she would give them a sign to show where the exact location was to be. The following morning, they all went in procession to the Esquiline Hill, to discover that a heavy snow had fallen during the night, to mark the location of Our Lady's church.

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the oldest churches in the world to be dedicated to our Lady. It contains two very special relics, relating to her motherhood: a very ancient painting of the Madonna and Child, which is attributed to St. Luke; and the Crib of our Lord. It is the possession of that Crib that gives the Basilica its secondary title of Santa Maria del Presepe - St. Mary of the Crib.

On the feast of Our Lady of the Snows each year, a shower of white rose petals are dropped from the roof during Mass, to commemorate the miraculous snow that marked the church's foundation. Here is a clip of it:

June 5, 1944

Today is the anniversary of the Liberation of Rome by the Allied Troops. Here is a video of Pope Pius XII addressing the troops:

Incidentally, Rome during the War was an exciting place. All sorts of things were going on under the noses of the Germans. The tomb of St. Peter was discovered, for example. It had to be kept a secret, since the Nazis had a very odd fascination for religious artifacts (the Holy Grail, the spear of St. Longinus, etc) so the Vatican Gardens were completely remodeled, so that the volume of dirt being dug out from underneath St. Peter's Basilica could be disposed of without comment. Pope Pius XII and Monsignor O'Flaherty were hiding Jews everywhere: in the Vatican, in the Catacombs, with various families throughout the city. British soldier, Sam Derry, with the help of the good Monsignor, had created the Rome Escape Line which hid Allied soldiers who had been cut off from the Allied troops during the Italian Campaign, and helped them to return to their units. Someday, I would like to write a neat little history book that focused just on Rome during the war. It would make from some fascinating reading!