RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Youn Yuletide
haustive investigation of this matter, starting with the chronography of Philocalus (354 a.p.), which contains a list of memorial days of the
Date of Church (depositio martyrum), the first Earliest entry being: “ viii. of the Calends of Roman January; Christ born in Bethlehem of Celebra- Judea.’’ Usener then adduces an adtion in dress delivered by Pope Liberius (con- December. secrated May 22, 352) when Mar-
cellina, the sister of Ambrose, took the vow of virginity (Ambrose, De virginitate, iii. 1 [MPL, xvi. 219-220]). Liberius begins by alluding to the day as the birthday of the Lord, and then proceeds to treat of the miracle at the marriage of Cana and of that of the loaves and fishes. Usener insists that the words must have been spoken on Jan. 6 and not on Dec. 25, because the marriage at Cana and the miracle of the loaves and fishes were always connected with the festival of the Epiphany. Besides, according to an ancient usage of the Church, a vow of virginity could be pronounced only on either Epiphany or Easter, as the two baptismal days, so that the earliest date for this event must have been Jan. 6, 353; and since in the chronography of 354, Dec. 25 is already given as the day of Christ’s birth, that day must have been observed for the first time in Rome in 354. This theory of Usener has gained much approval, and P. Lagarde and A. Harnack look upon the proofs as _ irrefutable. Duchesne, however (Bulletin critique, xi. 41 sqq.), regards Usener’s argumentation as ‘‘ more ingenious than correct.’’? No proof is given that Marcellina took the vows before the exile of Liberius (355- 358); the report of the discourse was not written down by Ambrose until twenty-four years after its delivery; even if the report is absolutely correct, Ambrose himself declares that Liberius spoke on the “‘ birthday of the Savior,” and in 377, when he wrote, this could only be understood as Dec. 25. The most important point, however, is that, in the chronography preceding the depositio martyrum, there is a depositio episcoporum, i.e.,of the last twelve bishops of Rome. The names are not given in chronological order, but according to the days of the calendar year. The last two bishops, however, Marcus (d. Oct. 7, 336) and Julius (d. Apr. 12, 352), are entered after Eutychianus, who died in Dec., 283, and this shows that the chronography was already completed before Oct., 336, the last names being added in 354. Hence the date of Dec. 25, given in the depositio martyrum, proves that the Christmas festival must have been observed in Rome at the latest in 335.
Thus all that can be stated positively is that the festival was first celebrated in Rome in the fourth century, and not later than 354. For a long time it yielded to other festivals in importance, and even in 389 Valentinian did not include it among the church days on which legal proceedings were interdicted. How tenaciously many still clung to Jan. 6 as the birthday of Jesus, even after Dec. 25 had become usual in the West, is shown by Maximus of Turin (first half of the fifth century), who says in a sermon for the Epiphany: ‘On this day the Lord Jesus was either born or baptized; different opinions are held in the world” (Sermo, vi; MPL,
Yuletide Zachariah
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Ivii. 545). From Rome, Christmas, as a festival distinct from that of the Epiphany, spread to the East, according to the express testimony of Chrysos-
tom (Hom. in nativitatem Domini;
Stubborn MPG, xlix. 353), especially as con- Connection firming orthodoxy against Arianism. with Epiph- Gregory Nazianzen first celebrated it
any in in Constantinople in 378, and Chrysos-
the East. tom delivered an eloquent Christmas sermon in Antioch in 388 or 387, in which he says: “ Itis not yet ten years that this day has been clearly known to us.” There can be no doubt that this Christmas celebration by Chrysostom was of peculiar significance, and that the whole population now participated for the first time. In 352, Gregory of Nyssa celebrated Christmas and the Epiphany together in Cappadocia (MPG, xlvi. 580, 701), and in Egypt, at the close of the fifth century, according to Cassianus (Collationes, x. 2 [CSEL, xiii. 286)), the birth and baptism of Jesus were still combined with the Epiphany. Only after the Council of Ephesus, in 431, did Paul of Emesa preach a Christmas sermon in the chief church of Alexandria. The land of Christ’s birth, Palestine, long resisted the introduction of this festival, and is blamed for its stubbornness by Jerome (Commentartum in EHzek., i. 3 [MPL, xxv. 18]). In a sermon delivered on St. Stephen’s Day (Dec. 26), Basil of Seleucia praises Juvenal of Jerusalem for having celebrated Christmas (MPG, Ixxxyv. 469), although, on the other hand, Cosmas Indicopleustes (c. 550) expressly states that in his day both the nativity and the baptism of Christ were celebrated together on Epiphany at Jerusalem, while Dec. 25 was the feast of the family of Jesus (i.e., David, his ancestor, and James, his brother and first bishop of Jerusalem), the precise nature of this festival being somewhat uncertain. The birth and baptism of Christ are still celebrated together on Jan. 6 by the Armenians (F. C. Conybeare, Ritwale Armenorum, pp. 181, 517— 518, London, 1905). [Dr. Enrico Masini, a learned Italian scholar, in his elaborate ‘‘ Chronography of the Life of Christ,’”’? maintains that the true date of the nativity of Jesus was Sunday, Nov. 28, 748, year of Rome. He also gives Mar. 18, 782, year of Rome, as the date of his death.]
The Missale Romanum especially distinguishes this festival by assigning to it three masses, the first celebrated in nocte (after the Te Deum in matins), the second in aurora (after lauds and prime), and the third in die (after terce). Every priest is not required to say all these masses, although he may do so. The liturgical color of the altar cover-
ing and of the chasuble is white until
In the Ro- the octave of the Epiphany. At an man Rite. early date a manger was set up in the church with the appropriate figures.
In the church of 8. Maria ad presepe (later called Maria Maggiore), built by Liberius and entirely renovated by Sixtus III. (432-440), there was, in the right transept, a chapel for the sacred manger. This usage led to the manger-plays, with songs and dialogue, first given in the churches and later outside of them (cf. Reticious Drama). Of the popular observances, the Christmas-tree does not owe its origin, as Many suppose, to old German custom,
for the first notice of it is in Strasburg, in the seventeenth century. The octave of Christmas is observed on Jan. 1, the feast of the Circumcisicn, a substitute for the heathen new year’s festival (see New YeaAr’s CeLesration; for further details ef. CHRISTMAS). (Grora RIEBTSCHEL.) Brsiioacrapuy: Besides the literature under CHRISTMAS, consult: W. Sandys, Christmastide, its Hist., Festivities and Carols, London, 1852; J. W. Wolf, Beitrage zur deutschen Mythologie, 2 vols., Géttingen, 1852-57; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 4th ed., Berlin, 1875, Eng. transl., Teutonic Mythology, 3 vols., London, 1880-83; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstimme, Berlin, 1875; J. Sepp, Die Religion der alten Deutschen und ihr Fortstand in Volkssagen .. . bis zur Gegenwart, Munich, 1890; J. de Kersaint-Gilly, Fétes de Noél en Provence, Paris, 1900; G. Bilfinger, Untersuchungen tiber die Zeitrechnung der alten Germanen, part II., Das germanische Julfest, Stuttgart, 1901; W. F. Dawson, Christmas: its Origin and Associations, London, 1902; G. Hager, Die Weihnachtskrippe, Munich, 1902; T. A. Janvier, The Christmas Kalends of Provence, London, 1902; G. Rietschel, Weihnachten in Kirche, Kunst und Volksleben, pp. 13 sqq., Bielefeld, 1902; N. Hervé, Les Noéls francais, Niort, 1905; M. Hofler, Weihnachtsgebdcke, Vienna, 1905.
YVON, i/’ven’, PIERRE: Leader of the Labadists; b. at Montauban in the French province of that name (not at either of the cities of that name of the present time) in 1646; d.in 1707. Asa child he was with his mother an attendant at the church of Labadie (see LaBADIE, JEAN DE, LABADISTS), and after Labadie removed to Geneva, Yvon was sent there to live with him and study under him. After pursuing courses in philosophy and theology, he took part in Labadie’s work, followed him to Middelburg in 1668, and thence to Amsterdam, where Yvon became one of the most earnest propagandists of Labadie’s ideas. In this interest he also visited Wesel, Duisburg, Miilheim, Diisseldorf, and Cologne, and also worked at The Hague and in Dort and Utrecht with some success. In 1670 he went with the Labadists to Herford. After the death of Labadie in 1674, Yvon became the recognized head of the community, and led them back into the fatherland in 1675, where the measure of success which attended the community for a time was changed into decay and decline after 1688.
Yvon was a man of power and devotedness, more sober than Labadie, better educated in theology, a diligent author, and ever full of zeal for the cause which he had espoused. His writings appeared in Latin, German, Dutch, and French; of these perhaps the best known is his Kurtzer Bericht von Zustand . . . derjenigen Personen welche Gott . . . zu seinem Dienst vereiniget . . . hat, 1659, which appeared in French, Amsterdam, 1681, and in Eng. transl., A Faithful Relation of the State and Last Words .. . of Certain Persons whom God hath taken to Himself out of the Church, Amsterdam, 1685. (For list of minor writings cf. Hauck-Herzog, RE, xxi. 585-586). (S. D. vaN VEEN.)
BrsuiocRAPHy: Consult the literature under Lasaprim, JEAN, Lapapists; Actes publics tant politiques qu’ ecclésiastiques... des... J.de Labadie et P. Yvon, Amsterdam, 1669; J. Koelman, Der Labadisten, ib. 1684; J. Reitsma, ae oo en Balthasar Cohlerus, in De Vrije Fries, xiii
YVONETUS, i”’von-é’tiis: Dominican, the supposed author of a thirteenth-century Tractatus de