Happy New Year–today’s the perfect day to talk about calendars, of course! If you’ve got a young family, you won’t want to miss the wonderful work done by Michaela Harrison, a Catholic wife and mother living near–and very inspired by!–Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma. Even if you don’t have children at home, your own faith…
If you’re ready to prepare for the beautiful liturgical season of Christmastide by learning traditional chants for this time, you’re in the right place. It’s never to early to begin practicing these chants, keeping a good Advent season the meanwhile! (Speaking of which–for Advent chants, please go here.) The chants for Christmas clearly inspired the…
Ha ha ha! As if we Catholics didn’t have a tradition wealthy with Saints’ days and feasts, we also have a “made-up” saint’s day as well for the transition back to the normal routine after Christmas: January 7 is “St. Distaff’s” Day, or Roc/Rock Day, both names called after the tool women used when spinning. Long…
Blessed Feast of the Epiphany! In the United States, Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday closest to January 6, which used to be the traditional date of the feast. So for us today is Epiphany, the day we will use our blessed chalk and holy water as we pray with our families that God will bless our homes in…
The three Wise Men brought precious things to the Child in the manger; this is why some countries have reserved Epiphany for the day of Christmastide on which to share gifts with family and friends. In my family we give each other gifts on Epiphany, too–horrible ones! For this Feast, my husband and I go to…
One of my favorite websites for finding projects related to the Church Year, Catholic Icing has many ideas for getting children excited about celebrating Epiphany. Go to Catholic Icing if you have young children and you’d like to do crafts this weekend to celebrate Epiphany: Lacy Rabideau is a whiz at craft ideas and creations: 3 Kings Epiphany Crafts. (On…
Just around the corner, Twelfth Night is coming! Twelfth Night is an important part of the Christmas Season for Catholics throughout history and around the world–don’t let this day pass you by without commemorating it SOMEHOW! So what is Twelfth Night? The vigil of the Feast of the Epiphany. Why is it important? The day before a…
Epiphany is coming! This nowadays-rather-neglected feast is truly an essential part of the Christmas Season and it begins the New Year in a joyful, sacred manner. Be sure to celebrate Epiphany this year, and if you haven’t before you will especially enjoy the riches of the Church’s traditions for this time. To Do Today, Dec. 31:…
Thank goodness I still live near my parents, because I do not like to cook and today is the day that we always have vanilla pudding with raspberries on top! This is the feast of the Holy Innocents, all those little boys under the age of two slaughtered under King Herod’s orders because he was afraid of…
Today is the Third Day of Christmas–it’s also the feast day of St. John the Evangelist, the only Apostle to stand with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, and the only Apostle to die of old age. (He miraculously survived more than one attempt to kill him however, so I believe this means he is…
St. Catherine Catholic Culture Center 