During the octave of Christmas we have several feast days for St. Stephen(12/26), Saint John(12/27), and the Holy Innocents(12/28).  Since we celebrate these, what exactly is a feast and what does it mean?  Historically in the church any special liturgical day was referred to as a feast.  These Holy Days (holidays) were important breaks from the normal life in Christendom. 

Christmas is a magical time and there are probably many ways your family marks this time. I am thankful the church is part of that for you. Especially as we often say- Jesus is the reason for this season. See more... La Navidad es una época mágica y probablemente haya muchas maneras en que su familia celebra esta época. Estoy agradecido de que la iglesia sea parte de eso para ustedes. Especialmente como solemos decir: Jesús es la razón de esta temporada.

The highest ranking type celebrations in the church are Solemnities. We just had one last week for the Immaculate Conception. Generally they celebrate something about Jesus' life, an aspect of Mary, or the life of another very important Saint. Read more...

In the coming few days we celebrate several different types of special liturgical days: The optional Memorial of St. Nicholas(12/6), The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception(12/8), The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe(12/12), and the Memorial of St. Lucy(12/13). What do these titles for the different days mean? Well in the Catholic Church we have a ranking of the liturgical importance of certain days from the Triduum(the highest) to the Tuesday of the First Week of Ordinary Time(the lowest). Over the next few weeks we will dig into these different titles and why they are ranked in certain ways.