lp you save on qulipta®. (upbeat music) francisco, welcome to mosaic. we want thank kpix channel 5 for another year of this public service. this show is all about christmas. but it doesn't air until december 23. you may say isn't that a little late? christmas is almost over then. you have christmas eve and christmas day and that is about it. you recycle the gift wrap, take down the tree and plan a new year's party. but no,

christmas day is just the beginning of christmas. you know the song about the 12 days? there are 12 days. and more than 12. and they are pop lated not so much by french hen and his maids milking and lords leaping. but from december 25 the feast of jesus' birth to january 13, the feast of his baptism, we enter into a wondrous cavalcade of stories of human and divine stories. we meet unique events and characters. it is a time full of love, awe, danger, excitement. revelation, poetry and holiness. our guest today is lauraber tony of the archdiocese of san francisco. after this brief break we'll learn from laura all about the

riches of christmas. good morning and welcome to mosaic. i want to introduce our guest today. this is laura bertoni. welcome. >> good morning. >> you work for the archdiocese of san francisco? >> i do, i'm the director of worship. >> and there is an office of worship. >> there is. >> and i think you would be a historian and the archdiocese

depends on you to make sure our liturgy and everything is right. >> yes. >> you have created a slideshow for us. our point here today is that christmas is full of riches. >> right. >> and if you are willing to slow down and see the season for what it is, you enter into a wonderful set storiesat really have no end. there is depth to them. how shall we start this? >> i think you talked about but it is not that it starts 12 days before christmas. christmas the first day. actually the 26th. and then we go for 12 days. >> nothing makes me sadder when i'm driving on the 26th of december and i see dead christmas trees already on the curb. and i think they are

done, finished, toys are unwrapped and probably already broken by now. i'm thinking christmas keeps going. in the catholic church, other than easter, christmas is the one season where we have an octave. we celebrate it for eight days. that is the first thing is we have this great feast and we say we are going to make a party out of it for 8 full days. >> that's right. >> and within that time we have some feasts. we celebrate the holy family, and mary mother of god, we then have further feasts until we have the baptize i want of the heard. that is christmas. that entire season. >> can we put up our slides and show? >> sure. >> take us through the detail. we have slides, which take us from i think december 25 and through the 13th.

>> right. so that first octave is the birth of christ and then the feast of john the baptist, the feast of the holy innocents, an important one for us. we then have a day without any special moniker, we call it the fifth day after christmas. then that sunday we celebrate the holy family of jesus. jesus, mary and o's zev being the family unit put together. and monday becomes down of a down day. a day within the octave of christmas. we have january 1 while everyone is celebrating new year's, we have mary, the holy mother of god. it is a lovely feast. >> i like that. >> and following that is a few memorials. we have basil and gregory the great. we have the memorial of two american saints, two very important american saints on the 4th and

5th and then we have epiphany, january 6th. it falls on a sunday this year. >> epiphany means a showing forth? >> the arrival of the spirit is what we would say. and that, in many places in the east is their christmas. that is a much more important feast for them. >> feast of the three kings. >> feast of the arrival, all of that, yeah. >> do we have one further slide that takes us further in january? >> we do. the next week we only kind of insert when christmas is early. we have a week of christmas masses. it culminates january 13th this week when we end our season with the baptism of the lord. >> the baptism of the lord. interesting the first chapter of any good catholic's life you are born and a couple of weeks later you are baptize. you take order. i'm curious now, who did baptize jesus, do we know? >> john the baptist. >> there is only two nativity

stories in the gospels of matthew and luke. but the baptism story is in all four of the gospels. which is one reason the east find it a more important feast and authentic, because that is where he begins his ministry and we see the revelation of god, this is my son whom i love. so that is a very important feast for us. to say christmas is over, lick you said, baptism is a very important occasion when you mark your life as a christian. interesting. let's take them one by one. you have a slide to show that is you tell me. you call them out. >> january 25 we have the nativity of christ and then immediately following the next day is the feast of saint steven and he was a deacon and our first martyr. he was, he died in about 35. so he lived in the time of christ. >> and died in jerusalem. >> because he preached the gospel of christ. and they were saying you have to become off

and he said i'm not going to. you can kill me but i'm not going to let go. >> and the story is told in the acts of the apostles. >> it is interesting the first day after jesus's birth is the first death on his behalf. >> right. >> a grim start to a religion. >> and it doesn't get any nicer. buzz the following day is the feast of the holy innocence. >> let's look at that slide. >> feast of st. john. >> so john the evangelist. shown as an eagle in many depictions of him, mainly because he is the most spiritual of the gospels. he is very 50,000-foot level of gospel. very poetic. >> and he was one of jesus' disciples. we credit the gospel. >> we credit him. there is a lot of debate about that in scripture scholars. some say he is the gospel whom jesus loved.

he is often referred to as that. he would have been contemporary. >> and writing soon after that. so the next one when we come back the holy innocence. >> we'll tick a brief break. we'll be back and talk more about the riches of christmas with laura bertoni.

. hello and welcome back to mosaic. we are here with laura bertoni. laura is the director of the office of worship for the archdiocese of san francisco. how many years have you been doing this job? >> this will be my 7th year. >> and what is the training? >> i have a degree in liturgy from the university of notre dame and most people in my role

have a masters or doctorate in liturgy. we have several priests who have this role. it is someone who has a passion for liturgy and how the church prays. you have to know how to put things together. >> if some of the viewers have been to the cathedral of san francisco and seen the beautiful liturgy that takes place there, you are the merge of those things? >>ia. it is kind of like being a wedding coordinator. you are doing everything from the flowers to the catering choosing the readings and the music and making sure all the people are in the right place at the right time. >> it is a beautiful and ornate and complex and suggestive liturgy. >> if i have done it right, yes. so now we are talking about th stmas and moving slowly come after it. and we are onto the feast of the holy

innocents. tell us about that. >> it is not the most upbeat feast the world. it is the story from luke where the her odd had heard a new king had been born. he decided the best way to get rid of the king is to kill any male child under the anyone of 2. so he sent his armies out to slay the innocent children, any boy child under the anyone of 2. if this reminds people of the story of moses, it is similar, because luke was echoing that story of moses. these, of course, were our very first martyrs. the first people to die unwillingly. unlike steven they weren't saying this is my faith, they were completely innocent in the whole scheme of thing. yet suffered because of one man's jealousy and anger. and it is a downer a few days after christmas, but in our world we have a lot of innocents who are slain. a lot

of children who don't have what they need. so it is a time for the church to reflect on that and pray on that. there is something about it and i palestinian context, the canaanites had their god's and child sacrifice was a part of the pagan religions that preceded the jews. the children do seem to get it in the neck and it is unfortunate. he was of course a tyrant seeking to eliminate a rival. >> and the three kings, we give their feast later. >> you keep saying three kings. and i have to correct you. no, i have to do these things. we always say three kings. >> yes we do. >> there is no evidence of how many kings there were. they had three gifts. so people have always said there were three. but i like to say the wise men. >> okay. wise men from the east. >> that is all we know about

them. >> right. astrologers, probably. >> right. >> men of get learning, gentiles. >> they were the first again tiles in matthew's gospel, we have the shepherds and those people coming to see them as the first to acknowledge the christ. but these are the gentiles who come forward and seek the son of god. >> and we'll get to their feast in the first week of january, right? >> yes. >> after the 28th the feast of the holy innocents. >> we go into a little bit of a lull. and on january 1, like i said, while everyone else is celebrating new year's day, we celebrate the feast of mary the mother of god. it used to be the feast of the circumcision, now we focus more on mary and the fact that she said yes to having jesus and the fact that she was his main nurturer for his growing up years. we don't know much about jesus' early life. >> right. >> we also, in the catholic church, use it as the day of prayer for peace and world peace. >> reporter: and this feast of mary, this is a global feast in

the catholic church. >> holy day of obligation. >> that is another., too, which peof obligation means what? precisely? >> that catholics are required to attend mass on that day. it is a day that we say separate from sundays, where also catholics are required to get a ms. that we say this is an important day. you should spend at least an hour in roughrider, remembering the feasts. so our readings are all about on this day, mary. all about the people on that day. they just kind of highlight extra special days we want to point out. >> and they are clustered here. christmas the 25th is a holy day of obligation. >> yes. >> and the nearby sunday also? >> yes. >> and january 1. >> exactly a week later. >> this is what enriches your life as a worship jersey shore hopefully. >> and it learn these stories skew so mary, the moof god,no ur

take it yeah. wonderful. >> and what happens next after january 1? >> january 2 is the feast of saint basil the great. >> can we see the slide in. >> the doctors of the church. nice. >> they were from the fourth century. doctors of the church have a special knowledge and have contributed to the formation of the church. there is not many of them. so the two of them, they have to share their feast together. but the two of them together had such wonderful influence, especially in the east. this is a big feast for our orthodox brothers and sisters. >> how far east are we talking? >> northern africa and antioch, yeah. >> and they were both men. >> yes. >> but there are doctors of the church who are females? >> of course. >> holy scholars, people who have contribute to the literature and theology and understanding of the ecl rankin

them. >> gregory and basil the great. no, just bishops. >> bishops in their own right. let's take a pause there br and come back and learn more about the riches of christmas.

also gone to, what we would call in italy, i was raised in italy. each of my brothers and sisters and i have a full set. it is a nativity scene, made popular by st. francis of assisi. he had seen it back in jerusalem and brought it over to europe. it became very popular. initially they were very popular to be live. now we have the little figurines. i have an entire set with sheep and goats and the wise men, and you know everyone else. this little one is made out of cornhusks, given to me by a friend. it is kind of a traveling set. and you see the

three kings, there are three in that set, with mary, jesus ask joseph. and this is just a commemoration of what we are really celebrating. i occasionally put up a christmas tree. sometimes i do, sometimes i don't. i always put this up. >> that makes sense. and this is of italian manufacture. >> from northern italy, yes. it was a gift from my grandmother. >> and the christmas tree, i think is a germanic tradition, right? >> there is a lot of is it more pagan or not? it is a lovely idea and having the star on top reminds us of the star of bethlehem, but it is more commercial. >> while this will be religious and almost every scene will have a creche scene somewhere. so this year we are celebrating between sunday, which is the fest of the holy family, and the following, excuse me, epiphany and the feast of the holy family. we have two saints who are

american. >> that is interesting. >> the reason of saints day is it is the day they died. so there is no coincidence here or whatever. they just happen to have died. the first is saint elizabeth ann seton. >> i think we have a slide. >> we do. she was a fascinating woman. a woman of the early 1800s. had five children, raised ep episcopalian, quite wealthy. her husband was ill and eventually went bankrupt. she lost several of her children. during the time, in fact when they were in italy, she found catholicism, came back to the united states, and founded an order, the sisters of the charity of st. joseph. and they are mainly a teaching and hospital order. so people in the bay area would know seton hospital is, of course, named after her. >> so that was her married name, elizabeth ann seton?

>> yes. >> and she died on and was canonized? >> 1975. >> this process is lengthy. >> it can be. it can be very shore. john paul and mother theresa were quite short. especially inour modern age, things get rushed a bit. >> sparkling holiness. and then what happens on the next day? >> then the 5th we have another american. he wasn't american born, but he was a bohemian, john newman, bishop of philadelphia. he is not, some people think of cardinal newman in santa rosa, that is not him. spelled differently. he was very good at catechisms, he wrote two catechisms in german, he died in the late 1800s, and he was just a very holy man. >> was he a missionary who came here as a missionary? >> no he was called to the priesthood and went to his own bishop in europe and said i

want to be a priest. and he said we have too many priests. he kept writing people saying can i be a priest? and everyone to come all the way to ded up america before someone would accept him going to seminary and becoming a priest. >> ordained here in mission territory? >> what would have been back then mid 1800s, still mission territory. >> where i presume our problem was not too many priests? >> no. >> we had to have circuit riding priests who went over whole areas. >> and native-speaking priests. he would have served a great deal of the germanic community, philadelphia being on the east coast, that would make sense. >> and very holy man. >> can we read his writings? >> yes. and this is january 5. we know january 6 is the feast of the epiphany? >> i learned somewhere that a tradition, i don't know where i learned it is you take down your christmas tree this day, and you have a party and you

have a fire. you burn your christmas tree. >> oh, that is a nice one. there is a lot of traditions. >> we had ally of that. we cut up the tree, burned it outside and had a little marshmallow roast. >> sounds great. >> i don't know if the three kings would appreciate that or not. >> the idea of gift giving at christmas is from the three kings, you gave gold, franken sense and myrrh. and some people put the emphasis on the three kings. others put it more on the idea of christ with us, christ present. there is so many traditions. especially in europe and the east. they have a lot more traditions. i told you i was italian. we have the tradition of the good witch who on january 6 leaves hopefully candy in your shoes. kind of like stockings, i think there is an overlap there with santa

claus and stockings. but this is also in the east many people will give gifts. 12th night. you would have a 12th night party. because this is the end of the christmas season. we have about a minute left. i would like you to sum up for us what you would like people to take away about christmas from this discussion. >> i would say enjoy december 25. if you want to sing happy birthday that is fine. it is the nativity of the lord. but first of all, this season goes for a lot longer because it is so important and we love celebrating it. but the most important thing is that as the scriptures say, god so loved the world this he sent his only son. we celebrate the nativity but we celebrate the incarnation of christ. that is a celebration we want to have for several days. it is a celebration we have through his family, through his mother, through these innocent people who were slain. i say, say merry christmas to someone every day of those 12 days. even if you want to keep going until the 19th, when we have the 19th day, when we have the baptism of the lord. because that is truly the christmas

season. laura thank you. thank you for being here with us. thank you for watching mosaic and enjoy your

good morning. it is sunday, december 4th . thank you for joining us, i am devin fehely . this is a look at the bay bridge where