"{45} To the paganism that preceded Christianity
we must look for the origin of that Christmas feasting which has not
seldom been a matter of scandal for the severer type of churchman.
[Transcriber's Note: The marker for note {44} was not present in
the page scan]
A letter addressed in 601 by Pope Gregory the Great to Abbot Mellitus,
giving him instructions to be handed on to Augustine of Canterbury,
throws a vivid light on the process by which heathen sacrificial feasts
were turned into Christian festivals. "Because," the Pope says of the
Anglo-Saxons, "they are wont to slay many oxen in sacrifices to demons,
some solemnity should be put in the place of this, so that on the day of
the dedication of the churches, or the nativities of the holy martyrs
whose relics are placed there, they may make for themselves tabernacles
of branches of trees around those churches which have been changed from
heathen temples, and may celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting.
Nor let them now sacrifice animals to the Devil, but to the praise of God
kill animals for their own eating, and render thanks to the Giver of all
for their abundance; so that while some outward joys are retained for
them, they may more readily respond to inward joys.
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