The History of Advent
Adventus, the Latin word, means "Coming"— the season immediately before Christmas, beginning on the Sunday nearest to the Feast of St. Andrew and lasting for 4 weeks. In the 9th century, the first Sunday of Advent became the beginning of the Church's Year.
Because Advent is so closely related to Christmas, it can scarcely be understood apart from that Feast. It was not until the birthday of Christ was celebrated throughout the Church, that Advent came into existence at all. Its very name is derived from the ancient name for the Feast, for Adventus (Coming), Epiphania (Showing), and Natale (Birthing) are all synonymous for the Incarnation itself, then for the Feast that commemorates and celebrates the Incarnation (Infleshing). Christmas, and Epiphany as well, is not only the commemoration of the birth of Christ as a historical event, it is also and much more the celebration of the coming of God in the flesh as a saving event. The very celebration itself is a saving event that brings about the coming of Christ in people.
The term Advent, originally applied to the Feast itself, gradually came to designate the time before Christmas. The oration for the Second Sunday of Advent is a survival of this usage: "Stir us up, O Lord, to make ready for Your only-begotten Son. May we be able to serve You with purity of soul through the coming of Christ who live and reigns." Here the word "coming" refers to the Feast of Christmas. Furthermore, the ancient opening prayer for the Epiphany Mass begins with the words "Behold the Lord, the Ruler, is come." Advent, then is a comprehensive name for the Incarnation and all that the Incarnation accomplishes.
The beginning of Advent is to be found in the Gallican custom of having the time of preparation for the Feast of the Epiphany. This was a Baptismal Feast in the Western world and consequently had its season of preparation for Baptism similar to Lent. This took the form of a period of fasting and prayer that at first lasted 3 weeks, but in time was lengthened to 40 days in obvious imitation of Lent. In fact, it came to be known as "St. Martin's Lent" because it began on that Saint's Feast (Nov. 11).
In 380 the Council of Saragossa ordered that there be a three week fast before the Epiphany. About 100 years later the Diocese of Tours kept a fast three times a week beginning with St. Martin's Day, a custom that the Council of Macon (581) extended to all the Dioceses in France. During the next two centuries the practice of fasting also found its way to England.
At Rome the situation was different. Since the Epiphany was never celebrated as a Baptismal Feast there, the same reason for having a "Lent" before it did not exist. When Advent first appeared at Rome, it was a preparation for Christmas and not the Epiphany. In any case there was no trace of anything resembling Advent at Rome until the 6th century. The Gellasian Sacramentary in the 6th century, was the first liturgical book to provide an Advent liturgy as it exists today. The real author of the developed Roman Advent liturgy was Pope Gregory I. He shortened the season from 6 weeks to 4 weeks, composed prayers, antiphons and responses for the Season, and also arranged the Lectionary for the Mass and the Office.
When the Roman Rite was introduced into Gaul in the 9th century, Gregory's Advent went along with it, to be enriched there with Gallican prayers and rites. It was the Gallicans who did most to bring about the emphasis upon the second coming, which is so striking an element of the present Advent liturgy.
The fusion of the Roman and Gallican Advents found its way back to Rome in the 10th century, giving the Church the rich Advent liturgy it has today. Whatever the object of the original Roman Advent may have been, its scope has been widened to include not only a preparation for the anniversary of the first coming of Christ, but also the expectation of His Second Coming in power and majesty.
Advent Today
It is a present reality that contains and mediates salvation. It deepens and strengthens the awareness of Christ's presence in the Church and its members. Advent is not so much a preparation for Christmas or an expectation of the Second Coming (although it is both), as it is a kind of anticipation of the Feast of Christmas, a celebration viewing the mystery of the Incarnation in the light of its full and final achievement. Christ has come and will come again; indeed Christ has never left, but is continuously present in the Church. For this reason Advent is at once a celebration of the first coming and Christ's presence in the midst of the Church, and a looking forward to the full and final coming when Christ will complete the work of the Redemption. The word Advent must therefore be taken in the fullest sense: past, present and future.
