Christmas: January 2nd
Memorials of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors
Other Commemorations: St. Telesphorus, Pope and Martyr (RM)
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Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors. This is the ninth day of the Christmas season.
St. Basil was a brilliant student born of a Christian family in Caesarea, Cappadocia (Turkey). For some years, he followed the monastic way of life. He vigorously fought the Arian heresy. He became Bishop of Caesarea in 370. The monks of the Eastern Church today still follow the monastic rules which he set down. St. Gregory was also from Cappadocia. A friend of Basil, he too followed the monastic way of life for some years. He was ordained priest and in 381 became Bishop of Constantinople. It was during this period when the Arian heresy was at its height. He was called "The Theologian" because of his great learning and talent for oratory.St. Basil is celebrated on June 14 and St. Gregory on May 9 in the 1962 Missal.The Roman Martyrology today commemorates of St. Telesphorus, pope and martyr. According to St. Irenaeus, St. Telesphorus, who governed the Church from 126 to 136 during a period of violent persecution, suffered martyrdom for the faith.
According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite today is the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. In a Motu Proprio dated October 23, 1913, Pope St. Pius X moved this Feast to the Sunday between January 2-5, or January 2 if none of these days is a Sunday.

St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen - Day NineAlthough New Year's Day is not celebrated by the Church, this day has been observed as a holy day of obligation since early times due to the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Each family and country has different traditional foods to eat on New Year's Day, with lentils being the main superstition: ill luck befalling those who do not eat lentils at the beginning of the year.
New Year's is a day of traditional hospitality, visiting and good cheer, mostly with a secular view, but there is no reason that this day, too, could not be sanctified in Christ.
- Day Nine activity (Blessing of the Bread of St. Basil)
- Day Nine recipe (St. Basil's Day Bread)

St. Basil was born about 330, the oldest of four sons; three of his brothers became bishops, one of whom was St. Gregory of Nyssa. His pious grandmother Macrina exercised a great influence upon his religious education: "Never shall I forget the deep impression that the words and example of this venerable woman made upon my soul." Between St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzen an intimate friendship existed from youth to old age. Of Western monasticism St. Benedict was the father and founder, of Eastern monasticism, St. Basil.

- Read more about St. Basil:
- See St. Basil's Sermons about Fasting.
- See the collection of St. Basil's writings or Catholic Culture's collection of Church Fathers' writings, including Basil and Gregory.
- Catholic Cuisine has some clever recipes for St. Basil.
- St. Basil is claimed both by the Eastern and Western churches, including the Orthodox. His relics are distributed far and wide, but mainly in Orthodox settings.


man writing with the hand of God over him; iconographically, he is depicted as balding with a bushy white beard.Highlights and Things to Do:
- We too must harmoniously combine the two phases of spiritual life, the contemplative which tends to solitude and the active or pastoral which responds to the need of the times and the good of souls.
- See the collection of St. Gregory's writings here or Catholic Culture's collection of Church Fathers' writings, including Basil and Gregory or CCEL.
- Read more about St. Gregory:
- Read Basil, Gregory and the Holy Spirit.
- See the statue of St. Gregory in St. Peter's Basilica Colonnade.
- St. Gregory Nazianzen's relics are mainly in Istanbul in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in the Fanar, with some small relics in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. See this site for further details. In 2004, Pope St. John Paul II transferred the main relics back to Istanbul.


- Read more about St. Telesphorus:
- Pope Telesphorus' relics are in St. Peter's Basilica, but his tomb is unknown. Originally around Saint Peter's tomb the following popes were traditionally believed to have been buried: Pope Linus (2), Pope Anacletus (3), Pope Evaristus (5), Pope Telesphorus (8), Pope Hyginus (9), Pope Pius I (10), Pope Anicetus (11) (later transferred to the Catacomb of Callixtus), and Pope Victor I (14).
- See Pope Telesphorus' decree in Latin A Decree on The Fast of Seven Weeks before The Passover.