(Here’s a playlist to accompany your reading.) (But, seriously, if you haven’t seen Midnight Mass… are we even friends?)
We’re not sure of many facts as they relate to the birth (or life) of Jesus, but we are fairly darn certain that he was not born on December 25th, and even less likely at exactly midnight. So, gathering up the congregation to hold vigil for the clock striking midnight on this blessed day seems… kinda weird, right?
Well, the history of this practice makes it even weirder.
As we’ve discussed before, the date of Christmas has been in flux since the very idea of celebrating Jesus’s birth was proposed. And the lack of a standardized calendar made things even more confusing. The practice of holding a vigil on Christmas Eve was observed in the fourth century in Jerusalem by a woman named Egeria… on the night of January 5th. (Once Western and Eastern Orthodox churches agreed that Christmas Eve was on December 24th (on the Julian calendar), that was a little more clear – though some churches still place the date in January.)
The first pope to hold this vigil was Pope Telesphorus in 125CE. Pope Sixtus III really established it as a tradition among popes in 430. A small chapel (complete with a manger) was built at the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome; he held a midnight mass vigil there in honor of the indisputable fact that Jesus was born December 25th at 12:00am and carried the tradition forward.
But it wasn’t until the twelfth century that the practice was fairly widespread beyond the Vatican. Priests were given the right to hold three masses on Christmas Day, usually midnight, dawn and during the daytime. But there was no particular requirement that the mass be at/around midnight. (One tradition was that the mass would be held when the first rooster crowed.) Even the Vatican now does earlier services for those who can’t burn the midnight oil.
No matter when it’s held, Midnight Mass is a built-in Christmas tradition for folks with Catholicism-adjacent backgrounds (even Christian traditions that don’t employ the word “mass” have been known to be fans). Most churches take this opportunity to finally read the story of Jesus’s birth – as they’ve most likely been celebrating advent in the Sundays prior.
As for the rest of us, we’ll be washing cookies down with lukewarm milk and frantically wrapping gifts. Or just sleeping soundly on this beautiful evening.