Fresco of the Holy Family in Dobling Carmelite Monastery in Vienna, Austria. The Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family this year on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. / Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock
Denver, Colo., Dec 25, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).
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Fresco of the Holy Family in Dobling Carmelite Monastery in Vienna, Austria. The Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family this year on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. / Renata Sedmakova / ShutterstockDenver, Colo., Dec 25, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).The Catholic calendar has several ways to divide the Christmas season. The Church s Western liturgical tradition sees Christmas as an octave, an eight-day celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.The octave of Christmas begins on Christmas itself, the feast of the Nativity of the Lord. It ends on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on Jan. 1, which this season falls on a Sunday in the new year of 2023.The drama of this time of the Catholic liturgical calendar even includes changes to the liturgical vestments of the clergy.During these eight days of Christmas, clergy wear white during the Mass.But there are exceptions when clergy wear red, the symbol of martyrdom: the feast of St. Stephen, Dec. 26, and the feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec..