Christmas in Liturgy and Popular Devotion

Part I —The Christian Feast

Chapter II

Christmas Poetry (I)

Ancient Latin Hymns, their Dogmatic, Theological Character —Humanizing Influence of Franciscanism —Jacopone da Todi's Vernacular Verse —German Catholic Poetry —Mediaeval English Carols.

Chapter III

Christmas Poetry (II)

The French Noël —Latin Hymnody in Eighteenth-century France —Spanish Christmas Verse —Traditional Carols of Many Countries —Christmas Poetry in Protestant Germany —Post-Reformation Verse in England —Modern English Carols.

Chapter IV

Advent and Christmas Offices of the Roman Church —The Three Masses of Christmas, their Origin and their Celebration in Rome —The Midnight Mass in Many Lands —Protestant Survivals of the Night Services —Christmas in the Greek Church —The Eastern Epiphany and the Blessing of the Waters —The Presepio or Crib, its Supposed Institution by St. Francis —Early Traces of the Crib —The Crib in Germany, Tyrol, &c. —Cradle-rocking in Mediaeval Germany —Christmas Minstrels in Italy and Sicily —The Presepio in Italy —Ceremonies with the Culla and the Bambino in Rome —Christmas in Italian London —The Spanish Christmas —Possible Survivals of the Crib in England.