CHRISTIAN FEASTS AND CUSTOMS
by Francis Weiser (1952)
Main Feasts of Mary
THE ASSUMPTION
History and Liurgy •
The first annual feast day of Mary seems to have been celebrated in Palestine. In a eulogy on Saint Theodosius (529), Bishop Theodore of Petra wrote that the monks of Palestine held every year with great solemnity and devotion a memorial feast of the Blessed Virgin.(Theotokou Mneme: the Memory of the Mother of God). Neither the occasion nor the date of this "memory" is mentioned, but there is little doubt that it was a celebration on the anniversary of her "falling asleep." According to ancient tradition the date was August 15.1
This annual commemoration of Mary soon spread throughout the wbole Eastern Church,- Emperor Mauritius in 602 confirmed the date and established the feast as a public holiday for his entire realm. Its official title was the "Falling Asleep of the Mother of God" (Koimesis Theotdkou). Almost immediately Rome accepted this festival and celebrated it in the seventh century under the same title (Dormitio Beaiae Mariae Virgirds).2
With the memory of Mary's "falling asleep," however, there was everywhere connected the ancient traditional belief that ber body did not decay, but soon after the burial was united again with her soul by the miraculous action of Divine Omnipotence, and was taken up to Heaven. In the Latin Church this general belief brought about a change in the tide of the feast. Very soon, in the seventh and eighth centuries, it started to be called Assumptio (Taking Up).3
The universal belief of Mary's assumption has been framed in ancient legends and stories which, though not strictly historical in themselves, confirm the underlying tradition.4 The most famous of these legends is quoted in an interpolated passage (added by an unknown author) in the sermons of Saint John Damascene (749). It tells how the East Roman Emperor Marcian (457) and his wife, Pulcheria, asked the Bishop of Jerusalem at the Council of Chalcedon, in 451, to have the relics, of the Blessed Virgin brought to Constantinople. The bishop is said to have answered, "Mary died in the presence of the Apostles; but her tomb, when opened later on the request of Saint Thomas, was found empty, and thus the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to Heaven."5
Although the above legend was not actually told by Saint John Damascene, in one of his sermons he clearly expressed the same general belief of all Christianity:
Your sacred and happy soul, as nature will have it, was separated in death from your most blessed and immaculate body; and although the body was duly interred, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay. . . . Your most pure and sinless body was not left on earth but you were transferred to your heavenly throne, O Lady, Queen, and Mother of God in truth.6
It is this fact of Mary's assumption into Heaven that has been formally celebrated from the beginning of the Middle Ages in all Christian countries up to the Reformation, and in the Catholic Church up to this day. The other two events connected with it, her "falling asleep" and her coronation in Heaven, are included in the feast but not expressly commemorated.
When Pope Pius XII, on November 1, 1950, solemnly announced the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of the faith, he did not establish a new doctrine, but merely confirmed the universal belief of early Christianity, declaring it to be revealed by God through the medium of apostolic tradition.7 He also introduced a new Mass text which more clearly stresses the fact of the assumption in its prayers and readings.8
The feast was given a vigil and liturgical octave by Pope Leo IV in 874. The octave, however, was abolished in 1955, together with the octaves of all feasts except Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. The Council of Mainz in 818 prescribed the celebration for the whole empire of the West as a public holyday.9 Soon after, the popes extended this obligation to the entire Latin Church. It has remained ever since. In 1957, however, Pope Pius XII transferred the obligation of vigil fast from the Feast of the Assumption to that of the Immaculate Conception.
The Armenians list the Feast of the Assumption among the five supreme festivals (Daghavdr) of the year. As such it is preceded by a whole week of fasting and consists of a three-day celebration of which the second day is the actual feast of obligation. It is also followed by a solemn liturgical octave.10
(THE TRUTH IS MARY'S BODY WAS NOT FOUND, BECAUSE SHE DID NOT
DIE IN ROME. SEE THE STUDIES ON MY WEBSITE UNDER "HISTORY" -
SEE ALSO THE STUDIES UNDER "DEATH - LIFE - RESURRECTION" FOR THE TRUTH THAT WE DO NOT HAVE IMMORTAL SOULS; GOING OFF TO HEAVEN OR HELL AT DEATH.
Keith Hunt)
Names •
In the Byzantine Rite the official title of the feast is still the ancient one (Falling Asleep): Koimesis Theotokou in Greek, Uspenije Marii in Slavonic. Most European nations have adopted the Latin term of Assumptio, like Assumption in English, Assun-cion in Spanish, Assomption in French. The German Maria Him-melfahrt means "Mary's Going Up to Heaven," as does the South Slavic Usnesenje and the North Slavic Nanebovzatie. Among the Syrians and Chaldeans the feast is called 'id al-intiqal Marjam (The Being Transferred of Mary).11
Among the Hungarians the Assumption is kept with special solemnity as a great national holiday. According to legend their first king, Saint Stephen (1038), offered the sacred royal crown to Mary, thereby choosing her as the heavenly queen and patroness of the whole country.12 Consequently, they call it the "Feast of Our Great Lady" (Nagyboldogasszonynap), and Mary is referred to as the "Great Lady of the Hungarians" (Magna Domina Hungarorum). They observe August 15 with unusual solemnities, pageants, parades, and universal rejoicing.12
In France a traditional pageant used to be performed in many places on Assumption Day. Figures of angels descended within the church to a flowery "sepulchre" and reascended again with an image of the Blessed Virgin dazzlingly robed, while boys dressed as angels played, with wooden mallets on a musical keyboard, the tune of a popular Madonna hymn.
Processions •
From early centuries the Feast of the Assumption was a day of great religious processions. This popular custom seems to have started with the ancient Roman practice, which Pope Sergius I (701) inaugurated, of having liturgical prayer processions (litaniae) on the major feasts of Mary. In many places of central Europe, also in Spain, France, Italy, and South America, such processions are held. In Austria the faithful, led by the priest, walk through the fields and meadows imploring God's blessing upon the harvest with prayer and hymns.13
In France, where Mary under the title of her assumption is the primary patron of the country, her statue is carried in solemn procession through the cities and towns on August 15, with great splendor and pageantry, while church bells peal and the faithful sing hymns in Mary's honor.
The Italian people, too, are fond of solemn processions on August 15, a custom also practiced among the Italian-Americans in the United States. In the rural sections outside Rome the so-called "Bowing Procession" (L'Inchinata) is held, the statue of Mary being carried through the town (symbolizing her journey to Heaven). Under a gaily decorated arch of branches and flowers (representing the gate of Heaven) it is met by a statue of Christ. Both images are inclined toward each other three times as though, they were solemnly bowing. Then "Christ" conducts his "mother" back to the parish church (symbolizing her entrance into eternal glory), where the ceremony is concluded with a service of solemn benediction. 14
In Sardinia the procession is called Candelieri because they carry seven immense candlesticks, each supporting a torch of a hundred pounds of wax. The procession goes to the church of the Assumption, where the candles are placed beside Mary's shrine. The origin of the Candelieri dates back to the year 1580, when a deadly epidemic suddenly stopped on August 15 after the town had vowed to honor Mary by offering these candles every year.15
Blessing of Herbs and Fruits •
The fact that herbs picked in August were considered of great power in healing occasioned the medieval practice of the "Blessing of Herbs" on Assumption Day.16 The Church thus elevated a popular belief of pre-Christian times into an observance of religious import and gave it the character of a Christian rite of deep and appropriate meaning.17 In central Europe the feast itself was called "Our Lady's Herb Day" (Krautertag in German, Matka Boska Zielna in Polish). In the Alpine provinces the blessing of herbs is still bestowed before the solemn service of the Assumption.18 The city of Wurzburg in Bavaria used to be a favored center of these blessings, and from this fact it seems to have received its very name in the twelfth century (Wiirz: spice herb).19 The Roman ritual still provides an official blessing of herbs on Assumption Day which, among other prayers, contains the petition that God may bless the medicinal powers of these herbs and make them mercifully efficient against diseases and poisons in humans and domestic animals.20
The Eastern Bites have similar blessings. In fact, the Syrians celebrate a special feast of "Our Lady of Herbs" on May 15.21 Among the Armenians, the faithful bring the first grapes from their vineyards to church on Assumption Day to have them solemnly blessed by the priest. Before breakfast the father distributes them to his family. No one would dream of tasting the new harvest before consuming the first blessed grapes on Our Lady's Day.
In Sicily people keep a partial or total abstinence from fruit during the first two weeks of August (La Quindicina) in honor of the Blessed Virgin. On the feast day itself they have all kinds of fruit blessed in church and serve them at dinner. They also present each other with baskets of fruit on Assumption Day.22
Blessing of Nature •
Finally, there is the old and inspiring custom on August 15 of blessing the elements of nature which are the scene of man's labors and the source of human food. In all Christian countries before the Reformation the clergy used to bless the countryside, its farms, orchards, fields, and gardens. In the western sections of Austria the priests still perform the "Blessing of the Alps," including not only the mountains and meadows but also the farms.
In the Alpine sections of France the parish priests ride from pasture to pasture on Assumption Day or during the octave. Behind the priest on the horse sits an acolyte holding the holy-water vessel. At every meadow the blessing is given to the animals, which are gathered around a large cross decorated with branches and flowers.23
In the Latin countries, especially in Portugal, the ocean and the fishermen's boats are blessed on the afternoon of Assumption Day. This custom has also come to the United States, where fishing fleets and ocean are now solemnly blessed in various coastal towns on August 15.
Folklore •
In pre-Christian times the season from the middle of August to the middle of September was observed as a period of rejoicing and thanksgiving for the successful harvest of grains. Many symbolic rites were aimed toward assuring man of prosperous weather for the reaping of the fall fruits and for winter planting.24 Some elements of these ancient cults are now connected with the feast and season of the Assumption. All through the Middle Ages the days from August 15 to September 15 were called "Our Lady's Thirty Days" (Frauendreissiger) in the German-speaking sections of Europe. Many Assumption shrines even today show Mary clothed in a robe covered with ears of grain. These images (Maria im Gerteidekleid, Our Lady of Grains) are favored goals of pilgrimages during August.25
Popular legends ascribe a character of blessing and goodness to Our Lady's Thirty Days. Both animals and plants are said to lose their harmful traits. Poisonous snakes do not strike, poison plants are harmless, wild animals refrain from attacking humans. All food produced during this period is especially wholesome and good, and will remain fresh much longer than at other times of the year.26
An ancient custom in England, Ireland, and sections of the European continent is the traditional bathing in ocean, rivers, and lakes on August 15 ("Our Lady's Health Bathing") to obtain or preserve good health through her intercession on whose great feast all water in nature is considered especially blessed.
Liturgical Prayer • Almighty and eternal God, who hast taken up into the glory of Heaven, with body and soul, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son: grant us, we pray, that we may always strive after heavenly things and thus merit to share in her glory."27
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
History and Liturgy •
This is the only one of the Blessed Virgin's festivals that did not come to the Western Church by way of Rome, but spread from the Byzantine province of southern Italy first into Normandy, thence to England, France, and Germany, until it was finally accepted into the Roman liturgy and approved for the whole Latin Church.28
Like the other feasts of Mary, it had its origin in the Eastern Church. There it was introduced in various local churches during the eighth century. It bore the title the "Conception [Syllepsis] of the Mother of God." More frequently, however, it was called the "Conception of Saint Anne" (meaning that Saint Anne conceived Mary). The feast spread gradually over the eastern empire until Emperor Manuel Comnenus in 1166 recognized it as a public festival and prescribed it as a holiday for the entire Byzantine realm.
The conception of no other saint was ever commemorated by the Church. The reason why Mary was accorded this exceptional honor lies in the general belief of Christianity that she was free from original sin because of her dignity as mother of God. This belief is found in many testimonies from the earliest centuries. It is clearly stated in the famous "Letter of the Priests and Deacons of Achaja" on the martyrdom of Saint Andrew (first century).29 Many scholars do not consider this document genuine; however, it could not have been written later than the end of the fourth century, because its text is used in the earliest missals of the Gothic clergy. Thus the letter, whether genuine or not, by its very antiquity proves the belief of early Christians in the Immaculate Conception—in the fact that Mary was free from original sin.
(THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH CAME OUT-OF THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD. YOU WILL READ IN THE EPISTLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT THAT BEFORE THE FIRST CENTURY HAD ENDED, THE TWISTING OF SCRIPTURE HAD BEGUN; WRONG FALSE TEACHINGS HAD ALREADY COME INTO "CHRISTIANITY" - IT ALL MUSHROOMED IN THE SECOND CENTURY - Keith Hunt)
From Constantinople this festival came to Naples in the ninth century, for Naples was then a part of the East Roman Empire. It was celebrated in Sicily, Naples, and lower Italy under the name "Conception of Saint Anne." When the Normans conquered those Byzantine provinces in the eleventh century, they adopted the feast and took it back to Normandy, where it soon became established as a beloved annual celebration. Through Norman influence it came into England in the twelfth century and into various dioceses of France and Germany during the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. The fact that the Normans had brought it into western Europe is indicated by the popular name it bore in medieval times, "Feast of the Normans." 30
While the feast thus slowly spread in western Europe, Rome neither celebrated nor officially recommended it, but allowed it to be introduced wherever the local church authorities wished to establish it. Saint Thomas Aquinas mentioned this in his famous Summa Theologiae: "Although the Roman Church does not celebrate it, she allows other churches to do so."31 It was precisely for this reason that many bishops and theologians opposed it as an "innovation." Its fate was also intimately connected with the theological disputations that went on for centuries among the learned as to whether Mary was entirely free from original sin even "at the first moment" of her conception.
Meanwhile, the observance of the feast proceeded on its victorious course. The Franciscans made themselves fervent promoters of its celebration. They were soon joined by the Benedictines, Cistercians, and Carmelites. In the religious houses of these orders, both in Rome and elsewhere, the feast was annually kept with great solemnity. By the end of the fourteenth century it was well established in most European countries.
Finally, in 1477, Pope Sixtus IV officially acknowledged the feast and allowed its celebration in the whole Church without, however, commanding it. It was not until the eighteenth century that Pope Clement XI (1721) prescribed it as an annual feast to be celebrated on December 8 (but not yet as a holyday of obligation). In Spain, though, it bas been kept as a public holyday since 1644.32
The festival obtained its present high rank in 1854, when Pope Pius IX solemnly declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and at the same time raised its commemoration to the status of a holyday of obligation for the universal Church, A new Mass and Office were introduced, and the term "Immaculate Conception" was officially incorporated in the liturgical books. The churches of the Greek Rite have kept the festival as a prescribed holyday since 1166, though they still use the ancient title "Conception of Saint Anne." In 1957 Pope Pius XII transferred the obligation of vigil fast from August 14 to the vigil of the Immaculate Conception (December 7).
Folklore •
Because of its very recent establishment as a holyday of obligation, this feast has not developed any popular customs and traditions except in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, where it has been a great public feast day for the past three hundred years.
Since Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, is the primary patron of Spain, her feast is celebrated everywhere with great public solemnity. People prepare themselves by no-venas and nocturnal vigils for the feast, solemn processions with the statue of the Immaculate are made after High Mass, and additional services are held in the afternoon of the holyday. In many places December 8 is also the day for the solemn first Communion of children.
In the northern provinces of Spain it is the custom to decorate the balconies of the houses with flowers, carpets, and flags on the eve of the feast, and candles burn in the windows all through the night. In Seville, the famous "Dance of the Six" (Los Seises) is performed in the cathedral on the feast day and during the octave. Six boys, their heads covered according to special privilege, enact an ancient religious pageant before the Blessed Sacrament, dancing in the sanctuary and singing hymns in honor of the Immaculate Conception. This performance annually draws large crowds of devout natives and curious tourists.33
All through Spain December 8 is the traditional day of great school celebrations. Alumni revisit their alma mater and spend the day in joyful reunion with their classmates and former teachers. In many countries of South America it is the day of commencement celebrations, since the long summer vacations start around the middle of December.
Mary Immaculate is also the patroness of the Spanish infantry and civil guard (state police). On December 8 in all towns and cities, troops attend Mass in a body. It is a colorful pageant to watch. Detachments in splendid uniforms march with military precision, brass bands play ancient, stirring music, and the picture of the Immaculate Conception on each regimental flag is held aloft.
Finally, there is the interesting fact that our modern custom of an annual Mother's Day has been associated in Spain with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. All over Spain December 8 is Mother's Day, and thus the great feast of our Lady has also become an outstanding day of joyful family celebrations in honor of mothers everywhere in that country.
Liturgical Prayer • O God who, through, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst prepare a worthy habitation for Thy Son: grant us, we pray, as by the foreseen death of Thy Son thou didst preserve her from all stain of sin, so we may be cleansed by her intercession and may come to Thee.
................
WELL THERE YOU HAVE MORE FALSE IDEAS AND TEACHING AND CUSTOMS BROUGHT INTO THE ROMAN CHURCH. AND YOU SHOULD HAVE NOTICED HOW MANY NATIONS IN THE WORLD ARE DECEIVED BY HER SPIRITUAL FORNICATION.
YES THE BABYLON MOTHER OF HARLOTS, HAS AND IS DECEIVING THE WHOLE WORLD. THE PROPHECY IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION HAS COME TO PASS.
Keith Hunt
No comments:
Post a Comment