Christmas Eve as a Day of Fasting and Abstinence
Christmas Eve has been a Vigil of fasting and abstinence for centuries. In fact, even when various groups or nations were exempted from various fast days, the Vigil of our Lord's Nativity virtually always remained. For instance, the papal bull Altitudo Divini Concilii of Pope Paul III in 1537 reduced the days of penance and those of hearing Mass for the Native Americans, out of pastoral concern due to the physically demanding lifestyle that they lived and also largely due to the fact that they fasted so much already. As a result, the only fasting days required under the pain of sin for the Native Americans were the Fridays in Lent, Holy Saturday, and Christmas Eve. And when certain colonies in the New World kept differing fast days, all kept Christmas Eve as a fasting day.
By 1893, the only fasting days kept in Rome were the forty days of Lent, the Ember Days, and the vigils of the Purification, Pentecost, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the Assumption, Feast of All Saints, and of Christmas.
The Catholic Encyclopedia from 1909 in describing the days of fast immediately before the changes to occur under St. Pius X enumerates them as follows: "In the United States of America all the days of Lent; the Fridays of Advent (generally); the Ember Days; the vigils of Christmas and Pentecost, as well as those (14 Aug.) of the Assumption; (31 Oct.) of All Saints, are now fasting days. In Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and Canada, the days just indicated, together with the Wednesdays of Advent and (28 June) the vigil of Saints Peter and Paul, are fasting days."
The fast along with complete abstinence for Christmas Eve was retained in the 1917 Code of Canon Law in Canon 1252 § 2: "The law of abstinence and fast together is to be observed on Ash Wednesday, the Fridays and Saturdays of Lent, the Ember days [all day], and on the Vigils of Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints, and the Nativity."
In the late 1950s, changes to fasting accelerated and included even the immemorial fast on Christmas Eve. In 1959, John XXIII permitted the Christmas Eve fast and abstinence to be transferred to 23rd. While the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland kept the penance on December 24, other nations including Canada and the Philippines transferred it to December 23.
By 1962, the laws of fasting and abstinence were as follows as described in "Moral Theology" by Rev. Heribert Jone and adapted by Rev. Urban Adelman for the "laws and customs of the United States of America" copyright 1961: "Complete abstinence is to be observed on all Fridays of the year, Ash Wednesday, the Vigils of Immaculate Conception and Christmas. Partial abstinence is to be observed on Ember Wednesdays and Saturdays and on the Vigil of Pentecost. Days of fast are all the weekdays of Lent, Ember Days, and the Vigil of Pentecost."
Sadly, this Vigil ceased being a day of fasting in the modern Catholic Church following the changes in 1966. Yet, Traditional Catholics continue to keep this day as a day of fasting and abstinence, as our forefathers in the Faith did for centuries.
The Double Collation on Christmas Eve
Father Jone adds additional guidance for the Vigil of the Nativity fast: "General custom allows one who is fasting to take a double portion of food at the collation on Christmas Eve (jejunium gaudiosum)." The size of the collation (i.e. the snack eaten on a fasting day that may not amount to more than the size of the meal) is normally to be only 8 ounces. This guidance had previously been provided in the Baltimore Manual published by the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 regarding fast days: "Only one full meal is allowed, to be taken about noon or later. Besides this full meal, a collation of eight ounces is allowed. If the full meal is taken about the middle of the day, the collation will naturally be taken in the evening; if the full meal is taken late in the day, the collation may be taken at noon. Besides the full meal and collation, the general custom has made it lawful to take up to two ounces of bread (without butter) [called a frustulum] and a cup of some warm liquid - as coffee or tea - in the morning. This is important to observe, for by means of this many persons are enabled - and therefore obliged - the keep the fast who could not otherwise do so."
However, Christmas Eve uniquely has permitted a double collation as noted by Father Jone. As such, sixteen to eighteen ounces may be taken at the collation rather than eight. This is in keeping with the spirituality of Christmas Eve. While few people attend the morning Mass of Christmas Eve - which uses the proper for the Vigil and is not to be confused with the Masses for Christmas - the prayers of the Mass and those of the Breviary already begin to express the joy for the Lord's birth. For instance, the 2nd and 3rd antiphons in Lauds sing out: "This day you shall know that the Lord is coming, and tomorrow you shall see His glory" and "Tomorrow the sinfulness of the earth will be wiped out, and the Savior of the world will reign over us."
The American Ecclesiastical Review affirms this custom as long preceding the 20th century: "St. Alphonsus allowed double the usual quantity at the collation on Christmas Eve. This means that about eighteen ounces in weight are permissible at the 'jejunium gaudiosum' as the Christmas Eve collation is called. Thus eighteen ounces for the collation and two ounces for the frustulum on Christmas Eve are permitted even by St. Alphonsus" (The American Ecclesiastical Review: A Monthly Publication for the Clergy, Volume 98 published in 1938, pages 108 - 109).
Feast of Seven Fishes
One particularly notable custom for observing Christmas Eve abstinence is the Italian custom of the Feast of Seven Fishes. Many Italian families will customarily have a dinner of seven fishes in honor of the seven Sacraments and seven days of Creation.
For families who are accustomed to spending the evening together in a family meal before attending midnight Mass, look up appropriate recipes in keeping with this tradition. For larger families, twelve kinds of fish may be eaten, in honor of the twelve apostles. And for smaller families, either three kinds of fish (in honor of the Trinity) or five kinds (in honor of the Five Wounds of Christ) may be used instead. In all of these variations, the meal remains meatless and ends the day's fast. FishEaters.com has more information on various regional customs for both the evening of Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day.
Byzantine Catholic Fast on Christmas Eve
The Byzantine Catholic Tradition, in addition to the Roman Rite, has kept the Vigil of Christmas as a fast day for centuries. Christmas Eve is the final day of the Nativity Fast, a period of 40 days of fasting leading up to Christmas. The Roman Catholic equivalent, known as St. Martin's Lent, has long vanished from observance except by the most devout.
Regarding the Byzantine Fast on Christmas Eve, the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburg states: "Finally, we have come to the very eve of the Nativity - the Paramony or Vigil of Christmas (December 24). If it is a weekday, it is a day of strict fasting, with the Royal Hours celebrated during the day, and Vespers and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil in the evening. If December 24 is a Saturday or Sunday, the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated in the morning, and we sing the troparion of the Vigil...The fast is not quite over; if there is a meal or Holy Supper in the evening of December 24, after Vespers, it is a meatless one. But we have arrived at the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ."
What if Christmas Eve is on a Sunday?
As Sundays are not fasting days, a question arises in years when December 24th falls on a Sunday. Prior to the Code of Canon Law published in 1917, the fast of a Vigil that fell on a Sunday was observed instead on the preceding Saturday, which helped prepare the faithful not only for the feast that was transferred to Monday but also for Sunday. In years when December 23rd is Ember Saturday, prior to 1917, there would be no change in practice as Ember Saturday was already a day of mandatory fasting and complete abstinence at that time.
This changed with the 1917 Code of Canon Law as fasting was no longer observed should a vigil fall on a Sunday as stated in the code: "If a vigil that is a fast day falls on a Sunday, the fast is not to be anticipated on Saturday, but is dropped altogether that year." The same is true for abstinence. It is not transferred up to Saturday either. The 1917 Code made several liberalizing changes.
Thus, after 1917, the Vigil of the Nativity would not be observed obligatorily on years when December 24th is observed on a Sunday. Of course, the faithful may still transfer the fast and abstinence up to Saturday. And for those who do observe St. Martin's Lent by keeping Sundays as days of abstinence, it would be meritorious to still keep Sunday, December 24th, as a day of abstinence but not fasting.
9 comment(s):
It has long gone and not observed here in the US but maybe in Poland and Italy. On Christmas Eve
the word 'maybe' is a key, I never thought you can maybe observe a holiday including practice fasting or maybe not observe it.
the word "maybe" is they key, I don't the catholic church is about maybe observing the church holidays and maybe practicing fasting. You either do it all or you don't do it and then you are not catholic. The pope has final word in everything
Rubrics for fasting and abstinence did vary place to place and circumstance to circumstance.
See the full list of fasting article here:
https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-definitive-guide-to-traditional.html
Hello Matthew,
Does Christmas Eve dominating the 4th Sunday affect these fasting rules?
In years when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday, effective after the 1917 Code, the fasting is not observed that year. Previous to the 1917 Code, the fast would have been moved up to the day before on Saturday.
https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2021/04/how-st-pius-x-1917-code-of-canon-law.html
It should be noted that as of 1959, some countries became to always anticipate the fast of Dec 24 on Dec 23rd. The Philippines is one of them.
This year Christmas eve falls on a Sunday so would it be better to eat meat rather than the usual fish meal?
Abstinence from meat is still appropriate in years when December 24th falls on a Sunday
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