Friends in Christ,
We are just mere hours away from the day when the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). In this abbreviated update we share the Latin Mass schedule for tomorrow, Feast of the Nativity (December 25), and for the rest of Christmastide, as announced. Also below are liturgical notes and commentary about the Feast of the Nativity.
Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Thursday December 25)
Diocese of Charlotte
Diocese of Charleston
Note: Stella Maris Church on Sullivan’s Island will offer a 9:30 p.m. Solemn High Latin Mass this evening, Christmas Eve, Wednesday December 24.
Cancellation Note: Per the parish bulletin, no Latin Masses will be offered at Prince of Peace Church on Friday December 26, Saturday December 27, Monday December 29 thru Wednesday December 31 and Friday January 2- Saturday January 3.
Diocese of Raleigh
Propers for Midnight Mass & Mass During the Day
Wine Blessing for the Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist (Saturday December 27)
St. Thomas Aquinas parish will be hosting a blessing of wine after the 10:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass on Saturday December 27. Bring your bottles of wine to be blessed.
Feast of the Circumcision (Thursday January 1, 2026)
Diocese of Charlotte
Diocese of Charleston
Diocese of Raleigh
As a reminder, travelers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the schedule of Mass times.
Liturgical Commentary and Historical Note for Christmas
Liturgical Notes and History About Christmas
Three Christmas Masses
The 1962 Roman Missal has three distinct Latin Masses for Christmas, which are Midnight, Dawn, and Day. Each Mass symbolizes a different aspect of the Nativity of Christ; together they form a triduum of Masses for this solemnity. Church law permits priests to offer three Masses on Christmas to commemorate the birth of Our Savior. Midnight Mass (Mass of the Angels) represents Christ’s Incarnation into the dark world at midnight on December 25, 1 B.C. The dawn Mass (Mass of the Shepherds) focuses on the birth of Christ being spiritually born in our souls, while the Mass of the Day (Mass of the Kings) emphasizes the unending love that Christ had for us, when he came through His Incarnation.
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) provides a brief explanation of these three Masses in a prior Christmastide article. For a deeper look into the three Christmas Masses, we share a 1920 article from Dominica, The Three Masses of Christmas.
The Three Universal “Peaces”
Our Blessed Lord, at His Incarnation, entered the world at the time of the great Pax Romana (Roman Peace) when the world was at peace throughout the entire Roman Empire. As custom, we share a wonderful article by Fr. William Rock, FSSP, describing the Roman Peace, the special “peace doors” in Rome which indicated peace, and this peace’s impact for those living under the Roman Empire’s jurisdiction: Christmas Eve Prime: The Whole World at Peace.
While the Pax Romana was the most important peace to date, there are actually a total of three periods of history when there was (or will be) universal peace. The first universal peace was after the Great Deluge (Noe’s flood) when all mankind was destroyed and only eight members of the human race survived after the waters subsided. The second peace was the Pax Romana. The third peace, still to come, will be at the end of time when the Antichrist will be defeated. We let the great liturgist, Dom Prosper Guéranger (quoting Saint Bonaventure), masterfully describe these three instances of peace (or three silences) in Feast of St. Ambrose – December 7:
Let us consider that last visible preparation for the coming of the Messias: a universal peace. The din of war is silenced, and the entire world is intent in expectation. ‘There are three silences to be considered,’ says St. Bonaventure, in one of his sermons for Advent; ‘the first in the days of Noah, after the deluge had destroyed all sinners; the second, in the days of Cæsar Augustus, when all nations were subjected to the empire; the third will be at the death of Antichrist, when the Jews shall be converted.’
O Jesus! Prince of peace, Thou wiliest that the world shall be in peace, when Thou art coming down to dwell in it. Thou didst foretell this by the psalmist, Thy ancestor in the flesh, who, speaking of Thee, said: ‘He shall make wars to cease even to the end of the earth, He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons; and the shield He shall bum in the fire.’[3] And why is this, O Jesus? It is, that hearts which Thou art to visit must be silent and attentive. It is that before Thou enterest a soul, Thou troublest it in Thy great mercy, as the world was troubled and agitated before the universal peace; then Thou bringest peace into that soul, and Thou takest possession of her.
Oh! come quickly, dear Lord, subdue our rebellious senses, bring low the haughtiness of our spirit, crucify our flesh, rouse our hearts from their sleep: and then may Thy entrance into our souls be a feast-day of triumph, as when a conqueror enters a city which he has taken after a long siege. Sweet Jesus, Prince of peace! give us peace; fix Thy kingdom so firmly in our hearts, that Thou mayst reign in us forever.
Gentile Prophecies of the Birth of Christ
It was not just the Old Testament prophets such as Isaiah who gave testimony that God would send mankind a redeemer. On at least two occasions, Dom Prosper Guéranger noted that a few of the Gentile writers and philosophers predicted that a redeemer of the world would come, and through a virgin birth:
The expression of the same universal expectation and desire is found also among the Gentiles. The Sibyls kept up the hope in the heart of the people; and in Rome itself we find the Poet Virgil repeating in one of his poems the oracles they had pronounced. ‘The last age,' says he, ‘foretold by the Cumean Sibyl, is at hand; a new and glorious era is coming: a new race is being sent down to earth from heaven. At the birth of this Child, the iron age will cease, and one of gold will rise upon the whole world.... No remnants of our crimes will be left, and their removal will free the earth from its never ending fear.' (Virgil, Eclog. IV)
If we are unwilling to accept, as did St Augustine and so many other holy Fathers, these Sibylline oracles as the expression of the ancient traditions—we have pagan philosophers and historians, such as Cicero, Tacitus, and Suetonius, testifying that in their times the world was in expectation of a Deliverer; that this Deliverer would come, not only from the East, but from Judea; and that a Kingdom was on the point of being established which would include the entire world. The Third Day within the Octave of the Epiphany
Additionally, Guéranger writes during the Octave of the Immaculate Conception:
It was by this mystery that was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son; (Isaiah 7:14) and that of Jeremias: The Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth; a Woman shall compass a Man. (Jeremiah 31:22) The Gentiles themselves had received the tradition of these prophecies. Thus, in the old Pagan Carnutum (Chartres), there was an altar dedicated “To the Virgin that was to bring forth a Son” (Virgini Parituræ); and while modern rationalism, with its ignorant skepticism, was affecting to throw a doubt on this fact of history, the researches of science were discovering that Carnutum was far from being the only city of the West, which had such an altar. Fifth Day Within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception
Saints and Special Observances
St. Stephen, the First Martyr is celebrated each year on the day immediately following the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. Among the earliest deacons in the Church, Stephen is known as the Protomartyr because he was the first individual slain for belief in Jesus as the Christ. The story, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, is told in the first lesson for the feast celebrated on December 26th:
In those days Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people. Now there arose some of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke. . . .
St. Luke says in Acts that, hearing the things Stephen proclaimed regarding the life and death of Jesus, “they were cut to the heart.” The anger of those who confronted him was such that “they gnashed with their teeth at him.”
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.
The next line in the Acts of the Apostles is not included in the lesson: “And Saul was consenting to his death.” The “young man, whose name was Saul” was, of course, the future St. Paul.
To Our Readers and All Friends of the Latin Mass: May you be abundantly blessed by God in this upcoming joyous season of Christmas.
~ Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society
www.carolinaliturgy.org