Looking through various posts on the web about the season of Advent, I stumbled across  the story of the well-known Twelve Days of Christmas, which, as it turns out, is not the simple song I took it to be. Composed as a “catechism song”, the Twelve Days of Christmas taught young Catholics their faith at a time when merely to be Catholic was a crime punishable by being drawn and quartered. Being Catholic was against the law in England “from 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics” there. The practice of Catholicism was illegal there, whether public or private.

I thank God daily that I live in a country where I can openly practice my beautiful Catholic faith.

At least, for now.