Feast Days from Monday 14th December to Sunday 20th

The main feast days are this week:

14th December ~ St John of God

15th December ~ St Nino

17th December ~ St Lazarus of Bethany (Brother of Martha and Mary)

17th December ~ The beginning of the O Antiphons (from the 17th to the 23rd)

18th December ~ The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

14th of December ~ ST JOHN OF GOD

A biography of St John of God for children. HT: Intercessories Family Ministry

15th of December ~ ST NINO

A biography of St Nino for children. HT: Intercessories Family Ministry

17th of December ~ ST LAZARUS OF BETHANY

(Brother to Martha and Mary)

St Lazarus is the famous biblical saint whom Our Lord rose from the dead. He was the brother of Mary and Martha and after Our Lord's death, they were expelled from Jerusalem by the Jews, with other well known bible personalities ~ left to the sea in a boat with no oars. They drifted to France where Lazarus became the Bishop of Marseilles. He exiled himself to a crypt during the persecution of Nero but was eventually beheaded during the persecution under Domitian.

Here is my posting about Lazarus being expelled from Jerusalem, the reason I had blogged about it was due to the even lesser known fact that he took with him the revered body of St Anne ~ the mother of Our Lady. ~ St Anne's body arrives in France.

Colouring page of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. HT: Sermons 4 Kids

Another colouring page of Jesus raising Lazarus. HT: Bible Printables

Here is a lovely orthodox image of Jesus raising Lazarus for children to colour. HT: Orthodox Children's Books.

This image is a 1545 etching of Augustin Hirschvogel, if you click on the image and print, it should make a great coloring page with lovely detail for older children.

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17th to 23rd of December ~ THE O ANTIPHONS

To see all the craft and ideas for the O Antiphons click over to my Advent Preparation posting for all the details.

18th of December ~ THE EXPECTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

This is a beautiful but lesser known feast day of Our Lady that had orginiated in older times when a more strict observance of Lent took place and feasts during that period were not celebrated, so the feast of the Annunciation (March 25th) that always fell in Lent was transferred to the 18th of December.

Here is two postings I recommend to you:

Fr Mark from Vultus Christi ~ Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Fr Marian Zalecki from The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa ~ Our Lady of Expectation, December 18.

I hope to come back with a colouring page for children for this feast.