Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Thousands of our churches are currently involved in various mission initiatives across the UK.  If it is tough going at times, we should spare a thought for poor Birinus, a priest from Lombard, who was sent here on his own 14 centuries ago.  Pope Honorius 1 gave him the daunting task of being the apostle...

Osmond is the saint for you if you regret Brexit, and believe that immigrants can bring good to Britain. Osmond came to England from France back in the days before EU regulations.  It was shortly after 1066, and he was a Norman, following William the Conqueror. Osmond himself was no soldier, but a gifted and...

One account of how Father Christmas began tells of a man named Nicholas who was born in the third centre in the Greek village of Patara, on what is today the southern coast of Turkey.  His family were both devout and wealthy, and when his parents died in an epidemic, Nicholas decided to use his...

One person you are bound to run into this Christmas season is Father Christmas.  These days he seems to frequent shopping malls and garden centres.  If he looks tired, just remember that he has been around a long time and gone through a lot of transformations. Father Christmas wasn’t always the red-suited, white-bearded star of...

Do you know any odd Christians?   People with hearts of gold, who would never harm anyone… but who are nonetheless just plain ODD…. Well, Daniel the Stylite should be their patron saint.  Perhaps he is the proof that God can bless and use any one of us – no matter how batty some of our...

Lucy was a Christian girl who got caught up in the fierce and widespread Diocletian persecutions of 303-4. She refused to give up her Christian faith, and so was put to death. Her tomb can still be found in a Catacomb in Syracuse (Sicily), and there are early fourth-century inscriptions bearing her name (Euskia). Lucy’s...

Some people have near-death experiences…. Lazarus should be their patron saint.  Except that he went all the way, and died for four days.  He was quiet in his tomb and the mourners of Bethany were in full swing – before Jesus called him back to life.  (See John 11: 1 – 44.) What happened next...

A Midwinter festival has been a part of life since pre-Christian times. When the hours of daylight are fewest, the warmth of the sun weakest, and life itself seemingly at a standstill, our ancestors, the pagan peoples of Europe and Western Asia, kept festival by lighting bonfires and decorating their buildings with evergreens. Perhaps they...

For nearly four weeks leading up to Christmas Christians recognise a period called Advent.  It means ‘coming’.  It is a time of spiritual preparation.  ‘Coming’ refers to Jesus’ first coming as a baby, but it also looks forward to a day when Jesus is expected to return in triumph at his ‘second coming’ to establish...

How do you celebrate Christmas Eve?  It has its own customs, the most popular of which is going to Midnight Mass, or the Christ-Mas.  This is the only Mass of the year that is allowed to start after sunset.  In Catholic countries such as Spain, Italy and Poland, Midnight Mass is in fact the most...

The Bible does not give a date for the birth of Jesus. In the third century it was suggested that Jesus was conceived at the Spring equinox, 25th March, popularising the belief that He was born nine months later on 25th December.  John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, encouraged Christians worldwide to make Christmas a holy...

Christmas cards have a history which may surprise you: their origins are not of the Church, but of the Post Office and railways. Of course, very early ‘Christmas cards’ had been around for hundreds of years, in the form of a simple exchange of Christmas greetings in private letters. The earliest such letter on record...