The Truth About “December 25”
Many believe that the celebration
of December 25 as the birth of the Lord Jesus is as old as Christianity
itself. However, even Catholic authorities attest that it is not. Here is the
truth about “December 25”:
How old is the Christmas Day
celebration? There is no mention of the celebration of the birth of Jesus in
any of the oldest list of the Church (Catholic Church) festivals:
“…How old is Christmas day?...One would
naturally think that the anniversary of so great event as the birth of the Son
of God would have been a day of religious joy from the earliest years of the
church, but it is clear that this was not the case. There is no mention of it
in any of the oldest list of Church festivals.” [Rev. Msgr. John F. Sullivan,
D.D. The Externals of the Catholic
Church. Nihil Obstat: John M.A. Fearns, S.T.D., Censor Librorum. Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archbishop of New York.
P.J. Kennefy and Sons, New York:
1951, p/ 204.]
The celebration of Christ’s birth
was not observed from the earliest years of the Church. It was not mentioned in any
of the oldest list of festivals of the Catholic Church. The truth is, in the ancient times there
were diversities of opinions as of the date of Jesus’ birth:
“There
was a great diversity of opinions among ancient authorities as to the birthday
of our Blessed Saviour. Many writers, especially of the Eastern Church,
assigned an extremely different season of the year from that observed at
present. St. Clement of Alexandria
quotes some that placed it on the twentieth of April or the twentieth of May,
and a very common belief in the Orient was that our Lord was born on the sixth
of January.” [Ibid.]
There were different opinions
regarding the date of the birth of the Lord: 20th of April, 20th
of May, and the most common especially in the East was 6th of
Jauary. Why does the Roman Catholic Church today celebrates the birth of Jesus
in 25th of December? This is what Catholic authorities testify:
“Formerly
Christmas was celebrated on January 6, but Pope Julius I, at the beginning of
the fourth century, changed the day to December 25, since the actual date was
unknown…” [Sister M. Catherine Frederick, O.S.F. Handbook of Catholic Practices. Nihil Obstat: James F. Rigney,
S.T.D. Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal
Spellman, Archbishop of New York.Hawthorn Books, Inc., New York: 1964, p. 204.]
It was only the Roman Catholic
pope, Julius I, who changed the date of the celebration to December 25. Why
changed it to December 25? Another Catholic book has this to say:
“…the
choice of December 25 was influenced by the fact that the Romans from the time
of Emperor Aurelian (275), had celebrated the feast of the sun god (Sol
Invictus: the Unconquered Sun) on that day. December 25 was called the
‘Birthday of the Sun,’ and great pagan religious celebrations of the Mithras
cultwere held all through the empire. What was more natural than that the
Christians celebrate the birth of ‘Him Who was the Light of the world’ and the
true ‘Son of Justice’ on this very day?”…” [Francis X. Weiser. Handbook of Christian Feast and Customs.
Abridged Edition. Imprimi Potest: James
E. Coleran, S.J.nihil Opbstat: Michael
P. Noonan, S.M., S.T.D., Diocesan Censor. Imprimatur:
Richard J. Cushing, D.D., Archbishop of Boston. The Missionary Society of St. Paul
the Apostle, New York:
1963, p. 60.]
Thus, the celebration of December
25 as the date of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ in only a man-made
doctrine. This is what the Bible says regarding man-made doctrines:
“And
in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” (Matthew
15:9 NKJV)
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