The name of the party.
The feast of the Epiphany is the continuation of the Christmas mystery; but it shows up, south Christian cycle, with its own greatness. The name that means Demonstration, indicates quite clearly that it is intended to honor the appearance of God among men.
This day, Indeed, was consecrated for several centuries to celebrate the, Birth of the Savior; and when the decrees of the Holy See
they forced all the Churches to celebrate, together with Rome, the mystery of the Nativity the 25 December, il 6 January was not completely deprived of its former glory. The name remained with him Epiphany with the glorious memory of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, of which tradition has set this day as the anniversary.
The Greek Church gives to this Feast the venerable and mysterious name of Theophany, famous in ancient times to signify a divine apparition. They talk about it Eusebio, Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Saint Isidoro di Pelusio, e, in the Greek Church, is the proper title of this liturgical celebration.
Orientals still call this solemnity the holy Enlightenments, because of the Baptism which was once conferred on this day in memory of the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan. It is known how Baptism is called by the Fathers lighting, and those who received it illuminati.
In the end, we commonly call, in France, such a party there Kings Day, in memory of the Magi whose coming to Bethlehem is celebrated today in a particular way.
The Epiphany shares with the Christmas holidays, of Easter, of the Ascension and Pentecost, the honor of being qualified with the title of most holy day, in the Canon of the Mass; and is listed among the holidays cardinals, that is, among the solemnities on which the economy of the liturgical year is based. A series of six Sundays is named after it, as other series of Sundays are presented under the title of Sundays after Easter, Sundays after Pentecost
The day of the Epiphany of the Lord is therefore truly a great day; and the joy in which the Nativity of the divine Child has immersed us must be poured out again in this solemnity. Indeed, this second irradiation of the Christmas Festival shows us the glory of the incarnate Word in a new splendor; and without making us lose sight of the ineffable beauties of the divine Child, manifests in all the light of his divinity the Savior who is there appeared in his love. They are no longer just shepherds who are called by the Angels to recognize the WORD MADE FLESH, but it is the human race, it is all nature that the voice of God himself calls to adore him and ad listen to him.
The mysteries of the party.
In the mysteries of the divine Epiphany, three rays of the sun of justice descend upon us. This sixth day of January, in the cycle of pagan Rome, it was assigned to the celebration of the triple triumph of Augustus, author and peacemaker of the Empire; but when the peaceful King, whose empire is eternal and without borders, he had with the blood of his martyrs, the victory of his own Church, this Church judged, in the wisdom of heaven that assists him, that a triple triumph of the immortal Emperor should replace, in the renewed Cycle, the three triumphs of Caesar's adopted son.
Il 6 January therefore returned the memory of the Birth of the Son of God to the twenty-fifth of December; but in exchange three manifestations of the glory of Christ came to gather in the same Epiphany: the mystery of the Magi who came from the East under the guidance of the Star to honor the divine Kingship of the Child of Bethlehem; the mystery of the Baptism of Christ proclaimed Son of God in the waters of the Jordan by the very voice of the heavenly Father; and finally the mystery of the divine power of that same Christ who transforms water into wine at the symbolic banquet of the Wedding at Cana.
The day consecrated to the memory of these three wonders is also the anniversary of their fulfillment? It's a debated issue. But it is enough for the children of the Church that their Mother has established the memory of these three demonstrations in today's celebration, because their hearts applaud the triumphs of the divine Son of Mary.
If we now consider in detail the multifaceted object of the solemnity, let us note first of all that the adoration of the Magi is the mystery that the Holy Roman Church honors today with greatest complacency. Most of the songs of the Office and of the Mass are used to celebrate it, and the two great Doctors of the Apostolic See, Saint Leo and Saint Gregory, it seems that they wanted to insist on it almost exclusively, in their homilies on the feast, although they confess with Saint Augustine, Saint Paulinus of Noia, Saint Maximus of Turin, Saint Pierre Chrysologus, Saint Hilary of Arles and Saint Isidore of Seville, the triplicity of the mystery of the Epiphany. The reason for the preference of the Roman Church for the mystery of the Vocation of the Gentiles derives from the fact that this great mystery is supremely glorious in Rome which, from the capital of the Gentiles as it had been until then, it has become the capital of the Christian Church and of humanity, for the heavenly vocation that calls all peoples today to the wonderful light of faith, in the person of the Magi.
The Greek Church today makes no special mention of the adoration of the Magi. It combined this mystery with that of the Birth of the Savior in the Offices for Christmas Day. All his praise, on today's solemnity, have as their sole object the Baptism of Jesus Christ.
This second mystery of the Epiphany is celebrated together with the other two by the Latin Church, il 6 January. It is mentioned several times in today's Office; but since the coming of the Magi to the cradle of the newborn King attracts above all the attention of Christian Rome on this day, it was necessary, so that the mystery of the sanctification of the waters was worthily honoured, tie his memory to another day. The Octave of the Epiphany was chosen by the Western Church to honor the Baptism of the Savior in a particular way.
Furthermore, being the third mystery of the Epiphany a bit’ overshadowed by the splendor of the first, although he is mentioned several times in the songs of the Festival, its special celebration was also postponed to another day, that is, on the second Sunday after the Epiphany.
Some Churches have associated the mystery of the change of water into wine with that of the multiplication of the loaves, which in fact has several similarities with the first, and in which the Savior manifest equally his divine power; but the Roman Church tolerated this custom in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites, he never accepted it, so as not to fail to reach the number of three which must mark the triumphs of Christ in the Cycle 6 January, and also because Saint John tells us in his Gospel that the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves took place near the Feast of Easter, which could not be attributed in any way to the period of the year in which the Epiphany is celebrated.
Let us therefore give ourselves completely to the joy of this beautiful day and in the Feast of Theophany, of the holy lights, of the Re Magi, we consider with love the dazzling light of our divine Sun which rises by leaps and bounds, as the Psalmist says (Sal. 18) and which pours on us the beams of a light as sweet as it is shining. By now the shepherds who flocked to the voice of the Angel have seen their faithful ranks increase; the Protomartyr, the beloved Disciple, the white cohort of the Innocents, the glorious Saint Thomas, Sylvester, the Patriarch of Peace, they are no longer alone to watch over the cradle of Emmanuel; their ranks open to let the Kings of the East pass, bearers of the votes and adorations of all humanity. The humble stable has become too narrow for such an influx of people; Bethlehem appears as vast as the world. Maria, the Throne of divine wisdom, she welcomes all the members of that court with her gracious smile as a Mother and Queen; presents the Son to the adorations of the earth and to the pleasures of heaven. God yes manifests to men, because it's big, but yes manifests through Mary, because he is merciful.
Historical memories.
In the first centuries of the Church we find two notable events that illustrated the great day that gathers us at the feet of the peaceful King. Il 6 January of 361, Emperor Julian already apostate at heart, on the eve of ascending the imperial throne, which the death of Constantius would soon leave vacant, he was in Vienna in Gaul. He still needed the support of that Christian Church in which it was even said that he had received the rank of Lector, and which nevertheless was preparing to attack with all the cunning and all the ferocity of the tiger. New Herod, as artificial as the first, he also wanted, on this day of the Epiphany, go and worship the Newborn King. In the report of his panegyrist Ammianus Marcellinus, the crowned philosopher is seen leaving the impious sanctuary where he secretly consulted the soothsayers, then advance under the porticoes of the Church and in the midst of the assembly of the faithful offer to the God of Christians a tribute as solemn as it is sacrilegious.
Eleven years later, In the 372, another Emperor also entered the church, always on the day of the Epiphany. It was Valens, Christian by Baptism like Julian, but persecutor, in the name of Arianism, of that same Church that Julian persecuted in the name of his impotent gods and his sterile philosophy. The evangelical freedom of a holy Bishop fells Valens at the feet of Christ the King on the same day in which politics had forced Julian to bow before the divinity of Galileo.
Saint Basil was just emerging from his famous conversation with the prefect Modestus, in which he had overcome all the strength of the century with the freedom of his episcopal soul. Valens arrived in Caesarea with Arian impiety in his heart, and goes to the basilica where the Pontiff celebrated the glorious Theophany with the people. “Ma – as Saint Gregory Nazianzen eloquently says – the Emperor has just crossed the threshold of the sacred temple, that the singing of the psalms rings in his ear like thunder. He contemplates in amazement the multitude of the faithful people similar to a sea.
The order, and the beauty of the sanctuary shine before his eyes with a majesty more angelic than human. But what strikes him most of all, he is the Archbishop standing before his people, with the body, eyes and mind collected as if nothing new had happened, and all intent on God and the altar. Valens also observes the sacred ministers, motionless in meditation, full of the sacred terror of the Mysteries. Never had the Emperor witnessed such a sublime spectacle. His vision goes dark, his head is spinning, and his soul is gripped by dismay and horror”.
The King of the ages, Son of God and Son of Mary, he had won. Valens felt his plans for violence against the holy Bishop vanish, and if at that moment he did not adore the Word consubstantial with the Father, he confused at least his outward homages with those of Basil's flock. At the time of the offertory, he advanced towards the balustrade, and presented his gifts to Christ in the person of his Pontiff. The fear that Basil would not want to receive him agitated the prince so violently that the hand of the ministers of the sanctuary had to support him so that he did not fall., in his confusion, at the very foot of the altar.
As, on this great solemnity, the Kingship of the newborn Savior has been honored by the powerful of this world who have been seen, according to the prophecy of the Psalm, dejected and prostrate on their faces on the ground at his feet (Sal. 71).
But new generations of emperors and kings were to arise who would bend their knees and present to Christ the Lord the homage of a devout and orthodox heart.. Theodosius, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Stephen of Hungary, Edward the Confessor, Henry II Emperor, Ferdinand of Castile, Louis IX of France held this day in great devotion, and they were proud to present themselves together with the Magi at the feet of the divine Child and to offer him their hearts as they had offered him their treasures. It was also preserved at the court of France, until 1378 and beyond (as the continuation of Guillaume de Nangis testifies) the custom that the most Christian King, arrived at the offertory, presented gold, of incense and myrrh as a tribute to Emmanuel.
Customs.
But this representation of the three mystical gifts of the Magi was not only in use in the court of kings. In the Middle Ages, also the piety of the faithful presented to the Priest, for him to bless him, on the feast of the Epiphany, of gold, of incense and myrrh; and those moving signs of their devotion towards the Son of Mary were preserved in honor of the three Kings, as a pledge of blessing for homes and families. This custom still remains in some dioceses of Germany.
Another custom lasted longer, also inspired by the age of faith. To honor the royalty of the Magi who came from the East to the Child of Bethlehem, it was chosen by lot, in every family, a King for the feast of the Epiphany. In a banquet animated by holy joy, and which was reminiscent of the wedding in Galilee, a focaccia was broken, part of which was used to designate the guest to whom that temporary royalty was attributed. Two portions of the focaccia were taken to be offered to the Baby Jesus and Mary, in the person of the poor who also enjoyed the triumph of the humble and poor King on that day. The joys of family were confused with those of religion; the bonds of nature, of friendship, of proximity were reinforced around the table of the Kings; and if weakness could sometimes appear in the abandonment of a banquet, the Christian idea was not far away and shone in the depths of hearts.
Blessed even today are the families in which the feast is celebrated with Christian piety of the Kings! For too long a false zeal has found fault with these simple customs in which the gravity of the thoughts of faith was combined with the effusions of domestic life. War was waged against these family traditions under the pretext of the danger of intemperance, as if a banquet devoid of any religious lines were less subject to excess. With a spirit of research that is quite difficult to justify, it has gone so far as to claim that the Epiphany focaccia and the innocent royalty that accompanied it were nothing more than an imitation of the pagan Saturnalia, as if it were the first time that the ancient pagan festivals had had to undergo a Christian transformation. The result of such imprudent conclusions had to be and was, Indeed, on this point as on many others, to isolate family customs from the Church, to expel a religious manifestation from our traditions, to favor what is called the secularization of society.
But let us return to contemplate the triumph of the royal Child whose glory shines with such light on this day. The Holy Church itself will initiate us into the mysteries that we must celebrate. Let us clothe ourselves with the faith and obedience of the Magi; we love it, with the Forerunner, the divine Lamb above whom the heavens open; we take our seats at the mystical banquet at Cana, presided over by our King three times manifested, and thrice glorious. Ma, in the last two prodigies, let us not lose sight of the Child of Bethlehem, and in the Child of Bethlehem we also do not cease to see the great God of the Jordan, and the master of the elements.

MASS

In Rome, the station is in San Pietro in the Vatican, at the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles to whom all the people have been entrusted as an inheritance by Christ.
LETTER (Is. 60, 1-6). – arise, receive the light, or Jerusalem; your light shines, and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you. Ecco: darkness will cover the earth, and the darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise above you, and his glory will be seen above you. The nations will walk in your light, and kings to the splendor that emanates from you. Look around and aim: all gather to come to you. Your children will come from far away, and your daughters will arise beside you. Then you will see and be filled with joy; your heart will be amazed and will expand when the peoples of the sea turn towards you, the powers of the nations will come to you. You will be inundated by an endless number of camels, from the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those of Sheba will bring gold and incense and celebrate the praises of the Lord.
O infinite glory of this great day, in which the movement of the people towards the Church begins, the real one Jerusalem! O mercy of the heavenly Father who remembered all the peoples buried in the shadows of death and sin! Behold, the glory of the Lord has risen over the Holy City; and the Kings set out to go and contemplate it. The narrow Jerusalem can no longer contain the crowd of people; another holy city is inaugurated, the multitude of Gentiles from Midian and Ephah will head towards it. Open your breasts in your maternal joy, or Rome! Your weapons had enslaved slaves to you; today there are children who come in crowds to your doors; lift your eyes and look: it's all yours; all humanity comes to take a new birth in your womb. Open your maternal arms, welcome us all who come from the South and from Kite, bringing incense and gold to Him who is your King and ours.
GOSPEL (Mt. 2, 1-12). – Born Jesus in Bethlehem of Judah in the time of King Herod, here come the Magi from the east to Jerusalem and say: Where is the born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. Heard this, Herod was troubled, and with him all Jerusalem. And gather together all the princes of the priests and the Scribes of the people, he asked them where Christ was to be born. And they answered him: In Bethlehem of Judah; for so it was written by the prophet: E tu Betlem, land of Judah, you are not the least among the capitals of Judah, that from you will come the leader who will govern Israel, my people. At that time, secretly called the Magi, Herod wanted to know from them in detail the time of the star that had appeared to them, and directing them to Bethlehem, these: Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found it let me know so that I too can come and worship it. They, heard the king, they left; and here is the star, which they had seen in the East, precede them, until, arrived over the place where the child was, he stopped. Seeing the star, they felt great joy; and entered the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down, they worshiped him; Then, open their treasures, they offered him gold as a gift, frankincense and myrrh. And be warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
I Magi, firstfruits of Kindness, they were introduced to the great King they sought, and we all followed them. The Child smiled at us as at them. All the hardships of that long journey that leads to God are forgotten; Emmanuel remains with us, and we with him. Bethlehem, who received us, guards us forever, because in Bethlehem we possess the Bambino, e Mary his Mother. Where in the world would we find such precious treasures? We beg this incomparable Mother to present to us the Son who is our light, our love, our Bread of life the moment we approach the altar towards which the Star of faith leads us. From this moment we open our treasures; we hold our gold in our hands, our incense and our myrrh, for the Newborn. He will accept these gifts with kindness, and he will not be late with us. When we retreat like the Magi, like them we will leave our hearts under the dominion of the divine King, and we too on another path, in a completely new way, we will return to that mortal homeland that has yet to detain us, until the day when life and eternal light come to make everything of shadow and time disappear in us.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF EASTER

In cathedrals and other notable churches, after the singing of the Gospel, the day of the next Easter celebration is announced to the people. The custom, which dates back to the first centuries of the Church, recalls the mysterious bond that unites the great solemnities of the liturgical year, as well as the importance that the faithful must attribute to the celebration of Easter which is the most important of all, and the center of all religion. After honoring the King of the people on the Epiphany, we will therefore remain to celebrate, in his time, the Triumphant of Death. This is the form in which the solemn announcement is made:
Know this, oh dearest brothers, That, as we tasted, for divine mercy, the joy of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so we announce to you today the upcoming joys of the Resurrection of the same God and Savior. The day … it will be Septuagesima Sunday. Il … it will be the day of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the fast of holy Lent. Il … we will celebrate with joy the holy Easter of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Diocesan Synod will be held on the second Sunday after Easter. Il … the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ will be celebrated. Il … the feast of Pentecost. Il … the feast of Corpus Christi. Il … it will be the first Sunday of the Advent of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom goes the honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
We're coming too, in our turn, to adore you, the Christ, in this royal Epiphany which gathers all the people at your feet today. We follow in the footsteps of the Magi, because we too saw the star, and we ran. Glory to you, oh our King, what you say in the Song of David: “I was made King over Zion, on the holy mountain, to announce the law of] Gentleman. The Lord told me that he would give me the nations as an inheritance, and the empire to the ends of the earth. Or so, listen, or re; educate yourself, or arbiters of the world!” (Sal. 2).
Presto, Emmanuel, you will say with your own mouth: “All power in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Mt. 28), and a few years later the whole world will be under your laws. Jerusalem is already shaken; Herod trembles on his throne; but the hour is near in which the heralds of your coming will go to announce to the whole earth that He who was the one awaited by the people has arrived. The word will go forth that the world must submit to you, and it will spread far away like an immense fire. In vain will the mighty people of the earth try to stop its progress. An Emperor to end it, he will propose to the Senate to solemnly enroll you in the ranks of those same gods that you come to overthrow; others will believe that it is possible to undermine your dominion with the slaughter of your soldiers. Vain efforts! The day will come when the sign of your power will adorn the praetorian insignia, the day in which the defeated Emperors will lay their diadem at your feet and in which Rome, so proud, will cease to be the capital of the empire of strength to become forever the center of your peaceful and universal empire.
We see the dawn of that wonderful day break. Your conquests begin today, O King of the ages! From the distances of the unfaithful East, you call the firstfruits of that kindness you had abandoned, and which will constitute your own legacy from now on. No more distinctions of Jew and Greek, of Scythian and Barbarian. Se, for many centuries, your predilection was aimed at the lineage of Abraham, from now on your preference will go to us Gentiles. Israel was but a people, and we are as numerous as the sand of the sea, like the stars of the firmament. Israel was placed under the law of fear; you have reserved the law of love for us. From today you start, oh divine King, to keep away from you the Synagogue that despises your love; today accept Kindness as your Bride, in the person of the Magi. Soon your union with it will be proclaimed on the cross, from the top of which, turning his back on the ungrateful Jerusalem, you will stretch out your arms towards the multitude of peoples. O ineffable joy of your Birth! But still the ineffable joy of your Epiphany, in which it is granted to us, abandoned so far, to come closer to you, to offer you our gifts and see them accepted by your mercy, Emmanuel!
Thanks be to you, o Omnipotent Child, “for the unspeakable gift of faith” (II Cor. 9, 15), that takes us from death to life, from darkness to light! But it does’ that we always understand the full meaning of such a magnificent gift, and the sanctity of this day in which you form an alliance with all the human race, to reach with it that sublime marriage of which your eloquent Vicar Innocent III speaks: “Marriage – he says – which was promised to the patriarch Abraham, sworn to King David, accomplished in Mary who became Mother, and consumed today, confirmed and proclaimed: consumed in the adoration of the Magi, confirmed in the Baptism of the Jordan and proclaimed in the miracle of the water changed into wine”. In this wedding feast in which the Church is your Bride, just born, already receives the honors of Queen, quarry, the Christ, with all the enthusiasm of our hearts, the sublime Antiphon of Laudi in which the three mysteries blend wonderfully into one, that of your Alliance with us.
ANT. – Today the Church unites with the celestial Spouse: his sins are washed away by Christ in the Jordan; the Magi rush to the royal wedding bringing gifts; the water has changed into wine and the guests at the banquet are in joy. Alleluia.

LET'S PRAY

O God, who on this day revealed your Only Begotten to the Gentiles by means of a star, grant to us, that we already know you through the faith of coming to contemplate the splendor of your glory.
and: P. GUÉRANGER, The liturgical year. – I. Advent – Natale – Lent – Passion, trad. it. P. GRAZIANI, Alba, Pauline Editions, 1959, pp. 202-212.