Author: Leigh Hatts

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Holy Innocents: 4th Day of Christmas

Today we look ahead to the Three Kings arriving on Twelfth Night at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. We remember the innocent male babies put to death on orders of King Herod who was trying to kill the Christ Child. The Three Kings, or Wise Men, had visited Herod on their way […]

Leigh Hatts 
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St John’s Day: 3rd Day of Christmas

Today we remember St John who was with Jesus at crucial moments in his adult life and ministry such as the Transfiguration and the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. John was the first to find that Jesus had risen from the dead. He is believed to have written one of the Gospels and so […]

Leigh Hatts 
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Boxing Day: Still Christmas

Today is Boxing Day and St Stephen’s Day. This morning there will be major church services in St Stephen’s Church Gloucester Road in London, St Stephen’s Bournemouth, St Stephen’s-on-the-Cliffs Blackpool, Cathedral Church of St Stephen Vienna and many other places. For churches dedicated to Stephen today is their patronal festival. Boxing Day, the second day […]

Leigh Hatts 
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Christmas Day: St Mary of the Crib

Today is Christmas Day when famous churches suddenly receive media coverage. St Peter’s Rome and Church of the Nativity Bethlehem will probably bee seen in news bulletins. In Rome there is another is another focus today. The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, once called St Mary of the Crib,  holds what is claimed to be […]

Leigh Hatts 
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O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God. Today’s O Antiphon, the last of the series,  is heard before the Gospel at Mass and bookending the Magnificat during Evening Prayer.

Leigh Hatts 
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O Rex Gentium

O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay. Today’s O Antiphon is heard before the Gospel at Mass and bookending the Magnificat during Evening Prayer.

Leigh Hatts 
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Old St Thomas Day: O Oriens

Today Thursday 21 December is Old St Thomas Day. This is Thomas the Apostle or Doubting Thomas who at first could not believe that the crucified Christ was alive. So, although we now keep St Thomas Day is July, today is a reminder of the later years of the Christ Child. Some Anglican churches still […]

Leigh Hatts 
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Our Lady of the O

O Adonai is today’s O Antiphon heard before the Gospel reading at Mass and the Magnificat at Evening Prayer. From now until 22 December there will be an O Antiphon as the Messiah is daily called by an Old Testament title. Today 18 December is known as the Expectation of Mary, or Our Lady of […]

Leigh Hatts 
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‘Rejoice’ Sunday of Advent

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent sometimes called Gaudete Sunday after the introit at Mass which starts Gaudete meaning Rejoice. The candle lit on the wreath this morning represents John the Baptist and can be pink. Indeed the vestments might also be pink. This is an old custom  reminding us that we are about […]

Leigh Hatts 
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