The Nativity (13th-century stained glass, Abbey collection)

The Christmas Season
The Portsmouth Ordo (December 25, 2022 - January 9, 2023)

Saturday, December 24: Christmas Eve (Vespers I)
Sunday, December 25: The Nativity of the Lord
Monday, December 26: Stephen, first martyr
Tuesday, December 27: John, apostle & evangelist
Wednesday, December 28: Holy Innocents, martyrs
Thursday, December 29: St. Thomas Becket, bishop & martyr
Friday, December 30: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Saturday, December 31: Seventh Day of Octave of Christmas

Sunday, January 1: Octave Day of Christmas;
The Solemnity of Mary, The Most Holy Mother of God
Monday, January 2: Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, doctors
Tuesday, January 3: Christmas Weekday
Wednesday, January 4: Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious
Thursday, January 5: Christmas Weekday
(Mass: John Neumann, bishop)
Friday, January 6: Andre Bessette, religious
(Traditional date of Epiphany)
Saturday, January 7: Christmas Weekday

Sunday, January 8: Epiphany of the Lord
(First Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Monday, January 9: Baptism of the Lord

Illuminating the Season
 

December 25: The Nativity
The Nativity of the Lord is represented artistically in a number of locations here. Our seasonal nativity scene in the St. Joseph chapel of the church; the lobby of the Cortazzo Administration Building, and more recently in the lobby of the new Science Building are three of the most prominent venues for this display. The scene is also depicted in stained glass in the monastery’s medieval collection (see photo at the beginning of this article). The Linenfold Room also includes two notable versions of the infancy of Christ, including the Della Robbia on the cover of this issue and a Flemish triptych of the Adoration (see below, for the Epiphany). While the Christmas octave is generally a quiet one with the School not in session, for many it remains one of the most beautiful and prayerful times of the year here.

Monday, December 26: Stephen, first martyr
Tuesday, December 27: John the Evangelist
Wednesday, December 28: Holy Innocents, martyrs
Thursday, December 29: Thomas Becket, bishop & martyr

Flight Into Egypt, John Hegnauer

Martyrs of the Church. The Holy Innocents, Stephen and Thomas Becket have the honor of having their commemorations placed during this holy octave: the early martyrs of Christ’s infancy, the first martyr of the new church, and the medieval martyr important to our English heritage all share in the ultimate witness to faith, for Christ says there is no greater gift to give than one’s life, which He Himself enters our world to offer.

Friday, December 30: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Saturday, December 31: Seventh Day of Octave of Christmas
Sunday, January 1: Octave Day of Christmas:
(The Solemnity of Mary, The Most Holy Mother of God)

Monday, January 2: Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, doctors

Three Holy Hierarchs (Chapel of St. Basil)

A Monastic Doctor. The memorial chapel in the Church of St. Gregory the Great is dedicated to St. Basil. An icon subtly marks this patronage, depicting the Three Holy Hierarchs. These three Eastern doctors - Basil of Caesarea, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom – are often depicted together in iconography. The cross hanging in the chapel elicits this Eastern heritage and was produced by Dom Wilfrid Bayne, O.S.B., also the designer of the monastery’s coat of arms. Basil the Great is of particular significance to monastics, and with Pachomius is considered one of the fathers of cenobitic (communal) monasticism.

Tuesday, January 3: Christmas Weekday
Wednesday, January 4: Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious
Thursday, January 5: Christmas Weekday  (Mass: John Neumann, bishop)
Friday, January 6: Andre Bessette, religious
Saturday, January 7: Christmas Weekday

Altar in chapel of N. American martyrs

Three Saints of North America. The monastery commemorates during this portion of the season several North American saints. Pope Saint Paul VI said: “Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American. All of us say this with special joy, and with the intention of honoring the land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American! Rejoice for your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful heritage.” Born in 1774 into a prominent episcopal family, Seton converted to Catholicism in Italy after the death of her husband and entered the church in 1905 in New York City. She found a religious order and was active in education. John Neumann is the first American male to be canonized. Although he was born in Bohemia, he later was ordained to the priesthood and did missionary work in the United States, joining the Redemptorists here and eventually becoming head of the order, as well as, in 1852, the bishop of Philadelphia. Known as Brother André, the French-Canadian André Bessette (1845-1937) was a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross, known for his devotion to St. Joseph and credited with thousands of reported miraculous healings. The chapel to the North American martyrs highlights the importance to the monastic community of the saints of the Americas.

Sunday, January 8: Epiphany of the Lord (First Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Monday, January 9: Baptism of the Lord

Adoration of the Magi, Linenfold Room (16th- Century Flemish)

Feasts of the Lord. The season ends this year with a kind of liturgical “Grande Finale,” as two special feasts of our Lord follow one upon the other, due to the placement of Christmas on a Sunday. We celebrate the Epiphany on Sunday, January 8, followed directly on Monday by the Baptism of the Lord. These great manifestations of the divinity of Jesus mark the beginnings of Ordinary Time, “tempus per annum,” which returns to its “Week One” is we move into January and the Year of our Lord 2023.