A Blessed Christmas!

***

At ubi venit plenitudo temporis,

misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub lege,

ut eos, qui sub lege erant, redimeret,

ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus.

***

"In the Fullness of Time" - the Birth of Our Lord ends the Pagan World
(Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Age of Augustus and the Birth of Jesus Christ, 1855)

A Catholic treasure which we can enjoy especially this night and into the morning is the musical work known as the “Christmas Concerto”, an evolution of the myriad of non-liturgical Christmas-based plays, "Pastorales", and musical settings that were so popular in all Catholic nations.

Several have been written over the years; the most famous and most recorded is probably the one by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), but others have been written by Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709), Francesco Manfredini (1684-1762), Fr. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764), and still others. It is worth mentioning that Christmas Concerti typically end precisely with a pastorale movement in honor of the shepherds.

A particularly enchanting full Pastorale is the following by one of our favorites, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704).

With this note, we wish all our readers and their families a very joyful and blessed Christmas, under the protection of the Ever-Virgin Mother, Saint Joseph our Protector, the Divine Child, and all the saints and angels!