Monday, November 11, 2019

The Penny Catechism on 25 December Being the Date of Jesus' Birth


In the A Catechism of Christian Doctrine (the original “Penny Catechism” [1971]), there is an affirmation that Jesus was born Christmas day:

51. On what day was our Savior born?
Our Saviour was born on Christmas day. (A Catechism of Christian Doctrine [London: Catholic Truth Society, 2005], 15)

Of course, this is not an universal catechism, so it not necessarily reflective of the universal ordinary magisterium so is not binding (unlike the Catechism of the Council of Trent [1566] or the Catechism of the Catholic Church [1994]); notwithstanding, it does show that there are some within the Catholic Church who believe 25th December is the birthday of Jesus. Indeed, Taylor Marshall, a convert to the Catholic Church, has written in defence of 25th December as Jesus’ birthday:


(As an aside, I wrote a post refuting Marshall’s apologetic for the Bodily Assumption of Mary at: Refuting Taylor Marshall on the Bodily Assumption of Mary)

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