The Circumcision of the Lord
In Circumcisione Domini
On the octave day of Christmas the Church keeps the Circumcision of the Lord, when the Infant Jesus, obedient to the Law, shed His Blood for the first time and received the saving Name of Jesus.
On the first day of January, the eighth day after the Nativity, the Church celebrates the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ. According to the Law given to Abraham, every Hebrew boy was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth and given his name. The Gospel of Saint Luke records simply: “And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21).
The first shedding of His Blood
Though He was the eternal Son of God and the Author of the Law, the Lord willed to be made subject to the Law, that He might redeem those who were under it. In submitting to circumcision He took upon Himself the sign of the covenant given to Israel, and for the first time shed a few drops of His most precious Blood. The Fathers of the Church saw in this a foreshadowing of the Cross: the Saviour begins on the eighth day of His life to pour out the Blood by which the world would be redeemed. He who was without sin accepted a rite ordained for the remission of sin, taking His place among His people in humility and obedience.
The Holy Name of Jesus
On this same day the Child received the Name announced by the Archangel Gabriel before His conception: Jesus, which means “God saves.” In that Name, as Saint Peter would later preach, there is salvation, “for there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The octave of Christmas thus joins the mystery of the Lord’s obedience to the proclamation of His saving Name, and the faithful are invited to adore both the humility of the Infant and the power of the Name above every name.
A feast within Christmastide
Falling on the octave day of the Nativity, the Circumcision is also the day on which the Church honours in a special way the divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who presented her Son to be circumcised. The feast bears a twofold character: it closes the octave of Christmas and opens the civil year, and the Church begins the new year by recalling that our redemption was bought at the price of the Saviour’s Blood, given for us from His infancy.
The Collect
O God, who by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary hast bestowed upon mankind the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech thee; that we may experience her intercession for us, through whom we have been made worthy to receive the Author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son.
Deus, qui salútis ætérnæ, beátæ Maríæ virginitáte fecúnda, humáno géneri præmia præstitísti: tríbue, quæsumus; ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiámus, per quam merúimus auctórem vitæ suscípere, Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum Fílium tuum.
Patronage
The feast is kept throughout the universal Church as the octave day of Christmas; it is closely joined to devotion to the Most Precious Blood and to the Holy Name of Jesus.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar, 1 January is observed as the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God; the Circumcision is no longer kept as a distinct feast, though it is recalled in the Gospel of the day.
Common Questions
When is the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord?
It is kept on 1 January, the octave day of Christmas, as a First Class feast in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal. It is a holy day of obligation.
Why does the Church celebrate the Circumcision of Jesus?
Because the Lord, though sinless, willed to be made subject to the Law of Moses, and on the eighth day after His birth He was circumcised and shed His Blood for the first time. The day also commemorates His receiving the saving Name of Jesus, foretold by the Archangel Gabriel.
Is this the same as the feast of Mary, Mother of God?
In the 1962 calendar, 1 January is the Circumcision of the Lord, which also honours the divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin. In the reformed calendar that followed, 1 January became the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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