Two celebrations for January 1 – Swiss Catholic Portal

On January 1, the Catholic Church jointly celebrates two holidays: the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God and the World Day of Peace. The opportunity to place the new year under the best of patronages. A look back at the origins of these two festivals established in the 20th century*.

“We address all men of good will to urge them to celebrate the ‘Day of Peace’, throughout the world, on the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1968.”, indicated Pope Paul VI in his first message. “Our desire would be that then, every year, this celebration would be repeated, as a wish and a promise, at the opening of the calendar which measures and describes the path of human life in time. We would like to see peace, with its just and beneficial balance, dominate the unfolding of history to come.”

In the Catholic world, the Pope’s desire is an order and since then, each year, he and his successors have written a specific message addressed to the Church and the world on a theme linked to peace and justice in the world. .

Raoul Follereau’s idea: “A day of war for peace”

In fact, the idea of ​​creating a world day of peace does not come from Pope Paul VI, but from the journalist and writer Raoul Follereau. The French humanist, already known for his fight against leprosy, sent a letter on September 1, 1964 to U Thant, Secretary General of the UN, asking him “that all nations present at the UN decide that every year , on the occasion of a World Day of Peace, they will take from their respective budgets what a day of armament costs them, and will pool it to fight against famines, slums and major endemics which decimates humanity. A day of war for peace… Pope Paul VI relayed this appeal during his visit to India, to Bombay on December 4 of the same year.

Three million signatures at the UN

To give scope to this request, Raoul Follereau launched his first appeal to young people. He had a postcard printed for young people aged 14 to 20 asking them to send this petition to the United Nations. In total between 1964 and 1968, some three million signatures, from 120 countries, arrived at the organization’s headquarters.

Taking up Raoul Follereau’s idea, Pope Paul VI established the World Day of Peace on January 1, 1968. “The proposal to dedicate the first day of the new year to peace therefore does not arise, in Our idea, as exclusively religious and Catholic; she would like to find the support of all true friends of peace (…) The Catholic Church, in a spirit of service and example, simply wants to “launch the idea”. She hopes that this (…) will meet with the broadest acquiescence of the civilized world,” wrote the pontiff.

On the UN side, the affair fizzled out. As early as December 1968, fifteen countries tabled a resolution inviting all member states to dedicate a day to peace. But in the vote, only one, Luxembourg, will adopt this resolution. It was only in 1981 that a new resolution established the International Day of Peace set for September 21.

The foundations of peace

In a context still marked by the consequences of the Second World War, the wars of independence and the Cold War, Paul VI gives his definition of peace: “We cannot legitimately speak of peace when we do not recognize and respect its solid foundations: sincerity, justice and love in relations between States and, within each nation, between citizens among themselves and with their Governors; freedom of individuals and peoples, in all its expressions, civic, cultural, moral, religious; otherwise it is not peace that we will have – even if, by chance, oppression is capable of creating an external aspect of order and legality – but the continual and uncontrollable germination of revolts and wars.”

Mary mother of God

In his message of January 1, 1968, the Pope provided an important clarification. The celebration of the World Day of Peace “must not modify the liturgical calendar which reserves ‘New Year’s Day’ for the worship of the divine motherhood of Mary and the most holy name of Jesus.”

The solemnity of Mary Mother of God was established in 1931 by her predecessor Pius XI. It refers to the first of the Marian dogmas defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431 which conferred on the Virgin the title of theotokos (who gave birth to God).

This definition fixes and completes the symbol of faith stated by the Council of Constantinople, sixty years earlier in 381: “Jesus Christ, only Son of God, true God born of the true God, by the Holy Spirit took flesh of the Virgin Mary and became man.

The habit of conferring on Mary the title ‘Mother of God’ gave rise to a controversy with the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, who emphasized the distinction between divinity and humanity in Jesus. He went to war against what appeared to him to be a new heresy. For him, Mary is the mother of the man Jesus, not of the eternal Word.

Jesus true God and true man

The dispute thus touches on the dogma of the divinity of Jesus. Two camps oppose each other, that of the supporters of the title of theotokos and that of the supporters of anthropotokos (Mother of Man).

Nestorius’ attacks came up against Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, great defender of the unity of Christ God and man. What is at stake is not so much the status of Mary, but the reality of the Incarnation: is Jesus, son of Mary, really God? If so, his mother can truly be called Mother of God. To deny him this title would be to separate the divinity of Jesus from his humanity, which would be heresy.

After several decades of debate, an ecumenical council was held in 431 in Ephesus, a Marian city par excellence: this is where, according to tradition, Mary resided with John after Pentecost. One hundred and fifty bishops from the East and West dedicate the recognition by the Church of the divine motherhood of Mary.

A celebration set in 1931

On the occasion of the XV^e centenary of the Council of Ephesus, Pius XI promotes a universal solemnity in honor of the divine Maternity of Mary. It is set for October 11. As part of the reform resulting from the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI moved this solemnity Holy Mary, Mother of God au 1^is January, rediscovering the ancient custom of the liturgy of Rome. It thus closes the octave of Christmas, while coinciding with the World Day of Peace, promoted by the same pope. (cath.ch/mp)

*Article previously published on December 31, 2023.