Mithraism spread to Rome during the second century and prevailed until the fourth century when its rivals, Deus Sol Invictus and Christianity, became dominant. Mithra was the Persian sun god, born December 25, who reigned in the middle zone between heaven and hell. God of light and defender of truth, Mithra helped the faithful fight the powers of darkness, was assumed into heaven and was to watch over all the earth until his second coming. Mithra celebrations were private and solemn. Many of the rites of Mithraism are similar to Christian rites. Adherents, primarily from the military ranks, were initiated by a baptism, honored the seventh day as sun day, celebrated Mithra’s birth on December 25, and believed in the existence of heaven and hell, immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead. However, during the feast of Mithra’s birth, only the king feasted; the people sacrificed horses to assuage their invincible god: Deo Soli Invicto Mithrae, “to the god the sun, the invincible Mithras.”3
Deus Sol Invictus was the sun god adopted by Emperor Lucius Domitius Aurelianus in 274 as the official deity of the Roman Empire. Aurelian organized the numerous gods of Rome, indigenous and imported, into one symbol and then proclaimed Deus Sol Invictus, the sun god, the sum of all the attributes and functions of the gods. The religion of Deus Sol Invictus was intended to have a universal appeal to the Romans since it was a synthesis of religions. It answered the general religious trend toward monotheism and created unity and stability for the state. Aurelian took on the title Deus to politically unify Rome under him with one god, Deus Sol Invictus, to protect the state. In the process of adapting from other religions the comprehensive system of Deus Sol Invictus, the holiday of dies Natalis Invicti, “the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun,” was established on December 25. The reserved festival of Mithraism was easily overshadowed by the the joyful abandonment of the Saturnalia and the events honoring Deus Sol Invictus—a grand celebration of the victory of light over darkness because the Rising Sun reigned supreme, protecting the empire and ennobling the emperor.
The Roman emperors enjoyed their deification and attendant power until the reign of Emperor Constantine from 306 to 337. Constantine’s reign was dubbed “the Sun Emperorship” because he took the cult of Deus Sol Invictus to its extreme, claiming to be the personification of Deus Sol Invictus on earth until his conversion around 323. At that time Constantine dissolved his relationship with the sun god in favor of the Christian God, who created the sun. Constantine had already shown favor to the Christians with the Edict of Milan in 313, when he legalized Christianity. Slowly, the Christians won him over, to the point that he renounced his own deification and consequently his absolute power. When the sun cult fell from imperial favor, the status of both Christianity and secular life changed in Rome.
One change was the transfer of the date of the feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ from January 6 to December 25. Since the actual birthday of Jesus was unknown, the previous amalgamation of the many pagan gods into Deus Sol Invictus provided a short step for supplanting the birthday of the sun god, the Natalis Invicti, with the birthday of the Son of God, Sol Iustitiae. Between 354 and 360, the feast of the Nativity, Christmas Day, was established in the Christian calendar as December 25.
Tracing the origins of Christmas and Epiphany is difficult enough, but gaining knowledge about the origins of Advent is harder yet. Its beginnings are sketchy. The terms Adventus, Epiphania, and Natale are all expressions for “Incarnation,” and they were used interchangeably by the early church to name the feast that commemorated the birth of Christ. Since the term Adventus (“coming, arrival”) was originally applied to the feast of the Nativity, it is difficult to sort out when and how it began to be used to designate a period before Christmas.
Observances of Christmas and Epiphany, feasts of Incarnation and manifestation, created an anticipatory climate during their preceding weeks, especially since baptisms were performed during Epiphany (outside of Rome). The joyful anticipation in Rome of festivities at Christmas and the penitential preparation for Epiphany baptisms were joined to create the season of Advent.
Baptism, a rite of initiation, requires a period of preparation. Early records suggest a period of preparation for Epiphany was observed in a synod of Saragossa, Spain, as early as 380. December 17 to January 6 was a time for adults to prepare for holy baptism and subsequent membership in the church. Required of the adults was daily church attendance—with shoes on—and fasting; the period had a penitential tone. Since the birth and baptism of Christ were celebrated on Epiphany, a prepared adult would be spiritually reborn through baptism on this day.
The writings of Bishop Perpetuus of Tours (461-490) mention a forty-day fast before the Nativity that began on November 11, St. Martin’s Day. Martin, a gentle man who became Bishop of Tours in 372, was the founder of monasticism in France. After his death, legends sprang up around his life, attributing many miracles to him. The anniversary of his death, November 11, 397, quickly developed into a day of festivity. When Perpetuus became Bishop of Tours in 461, he set about prescribing procedures for celebrations and fasting during the church year. For the time from the feast of St. Martin, November 11, to the feast of Epiphany, January 6, Perpetuus prescribed fasting and prayer and the period became known as “Martin’s Lent.”
On November 17, 567, the Council of Tours met in the basilica of St. Martin (built by Perpetuus). The Council bid members of the church to fast or eat lightly three days a week during November and daily in December until December 25. Just as Lent was a period of spiritual preparation for the joy of Easter, St. Martin’s Fast was an analogous time to prepare for the joy of Christmas. Both Lents were seasons of preparation marked by repentance for one’s sins and by fasting. In 581, the Council of Mâcon extended St. Martin’s Fast to include all of Gaul, and during the following two centuries the practice spread to Germany and England. By the end of the eighth century, a penitential period of prayer and fasting before Christmas was observed throughout most of Europe.
Meanwhile, the evolution of Advent was quite different in Italy. Christmas was a time of high festivity with feasting, celebrating, and abundant drinking, owing to the pagan joy of the Saturnalia and Deus Sol Invictus being transformed to joy over Jesus’ birth. The New Year’s festival was transferred from its pagan festivities to a focus on the Parousia, the end of the world with the glorious return of Christ and the Last Judgment. Fasting was not observed in the south, where joyful celebrations included the preparations for Christmas, which began on Christmas Eve.
During the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) inaugurated a season of preparation for Christmas called Advent, composed prayers and responses, and preached from a series of readings appropriate to the season. One late November a great storm ravaged the Roman countryside and Gregory used the Gospel of Luke 21:25-33 to comfort the people. Since this sermon took place on the first Sunday of December and the gospel reading focused on Christ’s second coming, it has been kept by the church to this day as the reading for the First Sunday of Advent.4 In addition, Gregory preached a number of homilies urging the church to blend the boisterous celebrations of Christmas with the already popular affection for the expectant Virgin. These sermons and the French acceptance of the Roman liturgy began the centuries-long integration of the clash between the festive Roman observances and the penitential period practiced in the north.
The ninth century opened with the solemn practices of fasting and penitence from Spain and Gaul and the feasting and merrymaking of Italy struggling toward synthesis. Rome adopted the penitential character and fasting. In the north, the season was shortened to five weeks and the liturgical texts of Rome were used. As a result, the solemnity and seriousness of the north began to mellow and the indulgence of the south became more reserved.
Finally, to alleviate the confusion produced by clashing practices, eleventh-century Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) decreed the observance of a season of Advent that was to last through the four Sundays before December 25, beginning on the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew (Symbol 34), November 30, and ending on December 24—making the Advent season as long as four complete weeks or as short as three weeks and one day, just as is observed today. He declared that Advent would consist of two themes: 1) waiting with joy for the birth