THE PROCLAMATION OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

• Today, the twenty-fifth day of December, unknown ages from the time when God created the Heavens and the earth and then formed man and woman in his own image.
• Sevaral thousand years after the flood, when God made the rainbow shine forth as a sign of the covenant.
• Twenty-one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah; thirteen centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.
• Eleven hundred years from the time of Ruth and the judges; one thousand years from the anointing of David as king; in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel.
• In the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome.
• The forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months having passed since his conception, was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary.
• Today, December 25, is the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

      ABOUT THE PROCLAMATION OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST:
       The Roman Martyrology for Christmas day contains a formal announcement of the birth of Christ in the style of a proclamation.  It begins with creation and relates the birth of the Lord to the major events and personages of sacred and secular history.  The particular events contained in the proclamation help to situate the birth of Jesus in the context of salvation history.