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A Key to the Calendar: Advent
December, although the twelfth month, retains its old Roman name of the Advent Sunday. The Christian year now commences. There are four Sundays in
Advent. These are intended as preparations for the commemoration of the advent of Christ. On the first Sunday we pray to be enabled to cast away the works of darkness; on the second, return thanks for the first means of grace, the Holy Scripture; on the third, for the ministry; and on the fourth, pray for the more direct interposition of God's great might. There are always four Sundays in
Advent, the first being that nearest St. Andrew's day, either before or after, as the case may be. 6. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia; also of New York. The saint was a native of Asia Minor. Even as a babe he evidenced his piety by refusing his natural maternal nourishment on Fridays and other appointed fasts. He is the patron of the young, who, in some parts of the world, expect him to visit them on his day and bring them presents. St. Nicholas is commonly represented with a tub containing three naked children, in memory of one of his miracles performed in a time of great scarcity, when a certain man, being short of provisions, seized some little children, cut them up, salted their limbs, and served them to his guests. He set a dish before St Nicholas, who, at once perceiving what it contained, went to the tub where the limbs were in salt, offered up some prayers, and restored the children alive and whole. He performed many other good and pious works, and died Bishop of Myra, A.D. 326. 8. Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "This day," Dr. Forster says, " is a solemn festival, held by the Church in commemoration of the miraculous conception of the Immaculate, Holy, and Blessed Virgin, Mother of God; and is, as
Butler assures us, the joyful dawning of the bright day of mercy, refulgent in the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ." The festival was instituted by St. Anselm in 1070. 13. St. Lucy, martyred 305. She was born at Syracuse, and having determined to devote herself to a religious life, she declined the addresses of a young nobleman who declared that her brilliant eyes haunted him night and day. She thereupon cut out her eyes and sent them to him. She also gave the whole of her fortune to the poor. In order to reward her for the sacrifice, God gave her a fresh pair of eyes more beautiful than before. Her suitor, enraged at his repulse and at the loss of his expected fortune, denounced her to the heathen judge, who ordered her to be put to death. 21. St. Thomas, apostle and martyr. The Gospel narrative of Thomas, surnamed
Didymus, relates that he was hard of belief; he would see and judge for himself, and he believed. After the Ascension he appears to have gone to India, and to have preached the Gospel to the Parthians, Medes, and Persians, and was martyred at Melapore, on the Coromandel coast, being first stoned and then run through with a spear. 25. Christmas Day. This is the greatest holyday in the year, in every sense. On this day we celebrate the birth of the Saviour, and even those who care little about religion make the day and season a time of rejoicing. Even before breakfast English people are saluted with- "
God bless you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay;
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day." 26. St. Stephen, the first martyr. Of St. Stephen nothing is known except that he was chosen one of the first deacons, that he was devout and eloquent, and that he was the first martyr, having been stoned to death by the fanatical Jews, some of whom, as St. Paul says, thought that by so acting they did God service. Being a day of rest, our forefathers turned it to account by making it a practice to bleed their horses as recommended by good old Thomas Tusser. Bishop Hall says, "On St.
Stephen's day blessings are implored upon pastures." 27. St. John, apostle, evangelist, and martyr. St. John, the beloved diciple, was one of Zebedee's children, and brother to St. James the Great. He was the youngest of the twelve, and to his charge was committed the mother of Jesus at the foot of the Cross. It is supposed that he remained in Judea as long as she lived, and then preached in various parts of the world. In his old age he was sent to Rome by Domitian, and there, before the gate Porta Latina, was put into a caldron of boiling oil, from which he not only suffered no injury, but acquired a more juvenile appearance. He had previously had a cup of poison offered him, but before putting his lips to it, the poison, in the form of a snake, escaped from the cup. He was banished to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation. After Domitian's death he returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his Gospel. At this time a report got abroad that he would not die, but would await the second coming of Christ. But on reaching the age of one hundred he fell asleep. 28. Holy Innocents. Childermas Day, in commemoration of the children slain by order of the impious Herod. It has been well observed that the Church commemorates three kinds of martyrs, each heing exemplified in the three days past:-1.
Those who, like St. Stephen, are martyrs both in the will and the deed; this is the highest kind of martyrdom. 2. Those who, like St. John, are martyrs in will, but not in deed. 3. Those who are martyrs in deed, but not in will, as were those innocent babes commemorated this day.