feast of _Christmas_, in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ,
is celebrated on December 25th. This feast is a time of joy and peace to
all mankind, and is celebrated by the Church with much pomp and
ceremony.

The festival of the _Circumcision_ is kept on the first day of the new
year. It is commemorative of Our Lord's strict observance of the law by
submitting to the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. We solemnly celebrate
the day in honor of our merciful Lord, who is our model in all things.

Next in the order of time is the feast of the _Ascension_. It is kept
forty days after the grand feast of Easter, and is in honor of Our
Lord's glorious ascension into heaven.

The _Assumption_ of the Blessed Virgin, celebrated the 15th of August,
is commemorative of the glorious taking up to heaven of Mary, soul and
body. (This is a pious tradition.)

_All Saints'_ Day is November 1st. Every day is a saint's day. There is
not a day that the Catholic Church does not celebrate a feast in honor
of some special mystery or saint. But as there are more saints in heaven
than could be thus specially honored, she sets aside this one day every
year in honor of all the saints in heaven.

There are various other important feasts, some of which fall on Sunday;
but these we have mentioned being feasts of obligation to be observed as
Sunday, it was thought that it would not be uninteresting to give a
short explanation of them.

On them we honor God and His special friends. Let us always, by faith,
hope, and love, _bear Jesus in our minds and hearts_.

XIV. Infant Baptism

"Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the
Holy Ghost, he can not enter into the kingdom of God" (_John_ iii 5).

WHILE most Christians admit the necessity of Baptism for adults, the
Catholic Church is alone in insisting upon the practice of infant
Baptism. This practice is in accordance with the teaching of St. John,
quoted above. It is also in accordance with apostolic teaching and
practice.

We read in the 16th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that St. Paul
baptized Lydia "and her household," and that the keeper of the prison
was converted and "was baptized and presently all his family." Among
these families it is but reasonable to suppose that there were some
infants.

Infant Baptism was the practice of the apostles; it was the practice of
the Christians of the early Church, as Origen tells us. The Church
received the traditi