In dulci jubilo is not merely a Christmas carol. It is a song born on the threshold between heaven and earth, where language falters and joy overflows. From its first notes, it sounds less like a composed hymn and more like praise breaking free from the heart of the Church.

Fr. Scott Haynes The carol known throughout the world as Carol of the Bells  was not born amid Christmas trees or cathedral choirs. Its true name is Shchedryk, and it arose from the deep memory of the Ukrainian countryside. It began not as a Christmas hymn, but as a song of blessing sung at the turning of the year, when winter seemed strongest and hope most fragile. In the original text, a small swallow flies into a household and sings of abundance to come. The fields will fl

Fr. Scott A. Haynes A Carol Meditation Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella bursts into the night with motion. This is no hushed lullaby sung at a distance. It is a summons. Bring a torch.  Run. Hurry. The Child is here, and the darkness must give way. The carol comes to us from Provence, rooted in the old French Noëls  that were sung not in concert halls but in homes, marketplaces, and village streets. Its original refrain, “Guillô, pran ton flambeau,”  called real people by na

In the calendar year, who is the last saint mentioned? It is St. Sylvester I, who was a 4th century Pope, and contemporary of Constantine.

On New Year's Day we celebrate the Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord and Jesus' Circumcision, tied to the Jewish history of the Old Covenant.

Fr. Scott Haynes A Film on the Life of St. Thomas Becket Feast Day, December 29 Becket is one of the great historical dramas of mid-twentieth-century cinema, released in 1964 and closely associated with the cultural and spiritual climate of the early 1960s. Directed by Peter Glenville and based on the play by Jean Anouilh, the film dramatizes the tragic conflict between King Henry II of England and his former friend, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. At the heart of th

The amazing conversion of St. Thomas Beckett gives us hope as we see how sinners convert and become faithful sons of God.

Learn the story of "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

Fr. Scott Haynes A Meditation on Light, Lament, and Christmas Blood The Coventry Candle burns in silence, but it stands beside one of the most sorrowful texts ever sung at Christmastime: Coventry Carol. To understand the candle fully, we must listen to the carol’s words, for they are not sung to  the Child, but for  the children who never lived to see Him grow. The carol speaks in the voice of mothers. “Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child…” It sounds at first like a lullaby

Fr. Scott Haynes   There is a moment in prayer when words fall away and only breath remains. Not silence exactly, but something simpler and more intimate: the steady rhythm of being alive before God. Fum, Fum, Fum  belongs to that moment. The refrain does not describe the Nativity. It does not interpret it. It breathes it. Each syllable is shaped by the mouth and released into the air, as breath is. This is fitting, for Christmas is the feast of divine breath made visible. T

Fr. Scott Haynes Padre Pio was once being examined by a doctor who noticed that the friar was quietly praying. Curious, the doctor asked him for whom he was offering his prayers. Padre Pio replied that he was praying for the holy death of his grandfather. The doctor was surprised and said, “I knew your grandfather. He died at least twenty years ago.” Padre Pio answered calmly, “Yes. But God knew twenty years ago that I would be here at this moment praying for my grandfather.

Fr. Scott Haynes Meditation for the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas “When a profound stillness compassed everything, and the night in its swift course was half spent, Your all-powerful Word, O Lord, bounded from heaven’s royal throne.” (Introit, Sunday within the Octave of Christmas) Holy Church places these words upon our lips during the sacred hush of the Christmas octave, inviting us to contemplate not noise, but silence; not haste, but divine initiative; not human e

Learn about the types of martyrs kept in the Church's calendar during the Christmas octave.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” The words burst forth like a trumpet blast. They do not whisper. They do not hesitate. They announce. This is not a private joy, tucked quietly into the corner of a single heart.

Fr. Scott Haynes A Carol with an Unlikely Beginning The hymn we know as O Holy Night was originally written in French as Cantique de Noël  in 1847. Its lyricist, Placide Cappeau, was a wine merchant and poet, not a cleric. Though baptized Catholic, Cappeau was politically radical and religiously unconventional. When his parish priest in Roquemaure asked him to write a poem for the newly renovated church organ, Cappeau accepted the task more as an artistic commission than an a

We remember the slaughter of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem annually on December 28th.

Fr. Scott Haynes January 6-14 To prepare for the Feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor (January 15), we pray the Our Lady of Prompt Succor Novena from January 6-14. You're invited to submit your prayer requests to be remembered in the nine Masses of the novena and to offer the novena prayers. Participate Submit Your Prayer Requests Make a Donation Novena Prayer Our Lady of Prompt Succor, thou art after Jesus our only hope. O Most Holy Virgin, whose merits have raised thee high a

One of Healey Willan's most treasured carol arrangements.

Fr. Scott Haynes When the first clear notes of harp and treble voices rise in Ceremony of Carols , something ancient awakens. This is not Christmas music meant merely to charm or decorate a season. It is music that processes , prays , ponders , and finally kneels . Britten’s work feels less like a concert piece and more like a liturgical act offered in sound. Its Remarkable Birth Ceremony of Carols  was composed in 1942, during one of the darkest moments of the twentieth cent

Wine is blessed in honor of St. John to recall how he survived attempted wine poisoning.