This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. Because we celebrate both the Traditional Mass and the Novus Ordo Mass with their different calendars, we will have a Solemn Mass on Saturday 6 January, the traditional date of the Epiphany, and all Masses on January 7 will be celebrations of this great feast. The English word “epiphany” comes from the Greek word “epiphania”, meaning manifestation or appearance. This feast is older than Christmas and has a very complex history, some of which is pure speculation on the part of those who investigate such things.
One thing we can be sure of is that by the fourth century this feast was celebrated both in the West and East. In the East it was mainly a celebration of the Baptism of Christ, although some Eastern churches combined this with the Nativity of the Lord. St. John Chrysostom writes that in his time December 25 had been chosen for the feast of the Nativity and January 6 for the triple commemoration of the Visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Christ, and the first miracle of water into wine.
Epiphany has so many and varied customs associated with it. Many countries bake a special cake or bread in which there is a figure, sometimes of the baby Jesus, sometimes one of the Magi, and the person who gets the piece with the figure in it is crowned king for that day and must provide the cake or bread for the next year. The blessing of chalk is another custom associated with Epiphany. Chalk is blessed at Mass, and each family takes a piece of the blessed chalk home and uses it to write over the main entrance to the house the initials of the three Magi, traditionally named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These initials are also associated with the Latin blessing Christus mansionem benedicat, which translates as “May Christ bless this house”.
In the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Epiphany is always associated with the blessing of water, but not merely a container of holy water, but with a lake, a river, or even the ocean. In Russia a cross is cut out of the ice on the local river and the priest lowers a cross three times into the water. The Greek custom is for the people go to the local harbor where the priest throws a cross into the sea, and volunteers dive into the water to retrieve the cross. The swimmer who first retrieves the cross swims back and returns it to the priest, who then gives a special blessing to the swimmer and his family. This ceremony is celebrated every year with great solemnity in Tarpon Springs, Florida, which has a sizable Greek population.
To list all of the customs associated with the Epiphany in so many of the countries of the world would take up much of the space in this bulletin. But what is so wonderful is how a feast of the Church inspires these various customs. This is true enculturation, where the Faith inspires the culture itself. This is the opposite of the false inculturation so often advocated by contemporary liturgist that encourages the culture to permeate how Mass is celebrated. The latter is totally wrong-headed and does damage to the integrity of the Liturgy.
We will bless chalk after the Solemn Mass on Saturday 6 January and again after the Solemn Mass on Sunday 7 January. I urge all parents to involve the whole family in the custom of writing CMB and the sign of the cross over the main entrance to your home. Our children are the future of the Church. Let us give them the gift of these customs and enrich their memories in a way that will strengthen their faith in the years to come.
Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla
