Tag: christianity

  • 14. The Christmas Eve of 1647 in the Journal des Jésuites

    14. The Christmas Eve of 1647 in the  Journal des Jésuites

    By Weiao Xing (@WeiaoX) ‘On Christmas Eve, at night, we assembled as usual, that is to say, at half past eleven; we sang hymns and canticles […]’. In 1647 in Québec, a group of French Jesuits gathered, probably illuminated by candlelight, chanting a repertoire of sacred songs to celebrate Christmas. ‘At the end of Te Deum,…

  • 11. Boniface VIII: A Christmas Pope

    11. Boniface VIII: A Christmas Pope

    by Jamie Parker-Ward Christmas and the days around it hold a symbolic importance as a moment of transition. In Christian theology, it is the moment that God becomes man in the form of Christ, who would later bring salvation to all. It is no wonder then that Christmas was often picked as the date for…

  • He Stoops to Globalise, or How a Church came to House World History

    He Stoops to Globalise, or How a Church came to House World History

    David Martin (daim3@cam.ac.uk / Bluesky: @davidmartin8293.bsky.social) Nestled in the heart of the seventeenth-century Fort St. George, and barely visible through its verdure and petrous neighbours, St. Mary’s Church is an icon of the city of Chennai in Southern India. With a subtitle as glamorous as ‘the oldest Anglican establishment East of Suez’, one would expect…