December 2018
December is the Month the Church Dedicates to the Immaculate Conception
“And the Lord God said to the serpent:… I will put enmities between
thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”
(Gen, iii. 14, 15)
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.”
(Isaias, xi. 1)
Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the stain original is not in thee. Alleluia.
“All generations shall call me blessed, because he that is mighty hath done great things in me.”
(St. Luke, i. 48, 49)
“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.” Hence, if anyone shall dare -- which God forbid! -- to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing or by any other outward means the errors he think in his heart.
(Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the 8th of December, 1854, Pius IX)
Click here, to read the Apostolic Constitution by Pope Pius IX - defining the dogma of Immaculate Conception.
Days of Fasting & Abstinence in December 2018:
1. December 7, 2018: Fasting & Complete Abstinence (Eve of Immaculate Conception).
2. December 19, 2018: Fasting & Partial Abstinence (Ember Wednesday).
3. December 21, 2018: Fasting & Complete Abstinence (Ember Friday).
4. December 22, 2018: Fasting & Partial Abstinence (Ember Saturday).
5. December 24, 2018: Fasting & Complete Abstinence (Christmas Eve/Vigil).
Click here, for the Church Laws of Fast and Abstinence.
Below listed are the feasts falling in December 2018:
December 1: FIRST SATURDAY/Mass of the Season
THE HOLY SEASON OF ADVENT BEGINS
December 2: I Sunday of Advent, Double of the I Class; Commemoration of St. Bibiana Virgin and Martyr.
December 3: St. Francis Xavier Confessor, Greater Double.
December 4: St. Peter Chrysologus Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, Double; Commemoration of St. Barbara Virgin and Martyr.
December 5: Commemoration of St. Sabbas Abbot.
December 6: St. Nicholas Bishop and Confessor, Double.
December 7: FIRST FRIDAY/St. Ambrose Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, Double.
December 8: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Double of the I Class.
[PART I – Feast of the Immaculate Conception through the centuries]
[PART II – The necessity for the Ark of the Covenant to be free
from any stain]
[PART III – The Apostolic Constitution by Pope Pius IX]
December 9: II Sunday of Advent, Double of the I Class.
December 10: Commemoration of St. Melchiades Pope and Martyr; Commemoration of Translation of the Holy House of Loretto [Regional Calendars of Spain, Belgium etc.].
December 11: Commemoration of St. Damasus I Pope and Confessor.
December 12: Mass of the Season
December 13: St. Lucy Virgin and Martyr, Double.
December 14: Mass of the Season
December 15: Mass of the Season
December 16: III Sunday of Advent, Double of the I Class; Commemoration of St. Eusebius Bishop and Martyr.
The Commencement of the Great ‘O’ Antiphons.
(Cesar Augustus has
decreed that all should be enrolled into their own cities [St. Luke, ii. 1-5]. Let us accompany our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph, from Galilee to Bethlehem.)
December 17: Mass of the Season/O Sapienta.
December 18: Mass of the Season/O Adonai; Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as “Our Lady of ‘O’”, Greater Double [Regional Calendars of Spain, Ireland etc.].
December 19: EMBER WEDNESDAY/Mass of the Season/O Radix Jesse.
December 20: Mass of the Season/O Clavis David.
December 21: EMBER FRIDAY/St. Thomas Apostle, Double of the II Class/O Oriens.
December 22: EMBER SATURDAY/Mass of the Season/O Rex Gentium.
December 23: IV Sunday of Advent, Double of the I Class/O Emmanuel.
December 24: Vigil of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas Eve).
December 25: Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Double of
the I Class with an Octave; Commemoration of St. Anastasia, Martyr (Second Mass).
[PART I – The prophecies in Old Testament leading to the Nativity]
[PART II – Sermons and Homilies of our Fathers]
[PART III – History of Christmas]
[PART IV – Mystery of Christmas]
December 26: St. Stephen Protomartyr, Double of the II class; Commemoration of the Octave of the Nativity.
December 27: St. John Apostle and Evangelist, Double of the II class; Commemoration of the Octave of the Nativity.
December 28: The Holy Innocents, Double of the II class; Commemoration of the Octave of the Nativity.
December 29: St. Thomas Becket (of Canterbury), Bishop and Martyr, Double; Commemoration of the Octave of the Nativity.
December 30: Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity, Double; Commemoration of the VI day within the Octave of the Nativity.
December 31: St. Sylvester I Pope and Confessor, Double; Commemoration of the Octave of the Nativity.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!