THE NEW ZEALAND TABLET THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1908. CHRISTMAS

New Zealand Tablet, 24 December 1908, Page 29

THE NEW ZEALAND TABLET THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1908. CHRISTMAS

-J^fjSX N his Meditations of a Parish Priest, Joseph V^IJJ^ Roux quotes the much-worn sayino-; 'Time •^ IK restore s all things.' *« Wrong!' is his com*JgU ment; 'time restores many things, but eter\XkM m- y re * tores . all -' For many a year has WITZPL Time— the friend of the good and the true— x n , y Ul the work of restoring, to Reffii s° r^ le n - Ea S lisll -speaking peoples, the old and «?-^ ■ Catholic significance of the Christmas festi- .. . vaL Milton sang, indeed, of the month of the happy mom, 'Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King Of wedded maid and virgin mother horn, ' Our great redemption from above did bring.' But in the middle of his life's course there swept -on to' triumph the bitter movement -which penalised even the mildest effort to celebrate with social custom or relitriot s " rite that " ■ 7 - ■■ •-.... fa . ' Most illustiious of the days of time, Day full of joy and beriison to earth, When Thou was born, sweet Babe of Bethlehem !' In 1644, when Milton was in his thirty-sneth year, tho celebration of Christmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament; the legislature met; on that sacred day; shops were, by. express statutory provision, opened, markets held'

Christmas decorations abolished, tho chiming of hells became an offence, and preaching and the holding of re gious services were punishable by imprisonment- and fine g And such innocent, things as plum (formerly spelled "' plumb ') puddings and the harmless, necessary mince-pie were™onlZ Th! wf S f *"*?*% fcy the prea P eherl the ?W a. 7 a S° f * he old otder maintained, as long as they dared, a passive— sometimes an active^resistance and on the first 'illegal- Christmas day blood^ryel thl Vnow h^ f TB ? tS °u C^ nterbur y. M Scotland; rest and feasting and church-going on Christmas Day were penalised women were compelled to work- in piiblc view and t g W? U^ n0 e ? brt was /Pared,to blotUt the Sory of this sacred anniversary from the minds of the people. The IZ tl0 o 6 fc lth ■*% Rest^ation. The Puritans, how! S^ ™ U^*?-' sullen P^est, which manifested itself (among^various other ways) hy the nickname of ' Fooltide ' winch they flung at Yuletide or Christmas. The spiritual significance of the festival was, however, in great part gone Charles Dickens stands forth as more than any Sthlr Protestant Englishman the new apostle of the kindly oldtime Christmas social and domestic ceremonies. Thereviyal,of the festival m Great Britain was also promoted, n no; small degree by -the action of the Prince Cohsort S^Tm 8 - Christmas tree into England in 184o! fI? Move ™t nt and * he Catholic Revival worked independently upon the growing sentiment, and threw about tie celebration of the festival the tender religious feehng Which gave so- genial a warmth to tho old - ' nterrie dhrvstemasse ' of the pre-Reformation days. Christmas celStions have long secured the force of custom in most Anglican churches; some of the Nonconformist denominations fn tW? ng f in v? tent^7 e ™*l and we: may hone tha? n time a steadily growing number of our separated brethren will go and do likewise. separated