EPIPHANY. — The Greeks called epiphany the manifestation of a god in person or in a dream or in a miracle, or his return after an ascension.
An epiphany of the divinity in the form of a bird or a human figure has been supposed for the Minoan religion, based on figurative monuments, but the assertion is purely hypothetical. In historical times, inscriptions and literary tradition recall epiphanies of individual deities: Apollo, Zeus, Dionysus, who periodically revealed themselves to their faithful. It is characteristic of the Dioscuri to appear to save from danger, as, for example, in the battle at Lake Regillus, where a duplicated epiphany appeared at the Sagra river. An epiphany of Apollo was credited in 279 B.C. with the retreat of the Celts from Delphi without having sacked the temple.
EPIPHANY. - Feast commemorating the manifestations of Jesus Christ.
I. LITURGY
The oriental origin of the feast is indicated by the Greek word: *Ἐπισχάνεω*. The first notice of its celebration is given by Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215) and concerns the practice of Gnostic heretics who thought that the divinity had united itself with humanity, in Jesus Christ, only at the moment of His Baptism in the Jordan. Perhaps this feast of the manifestation of the divinity was also practiced in Catholic Churches, but as a solemnity it is not known. Origen does not mention it, although he had explicit occasion to list Christian feasts to Celsus, while in 304 at Heraclea it was considered a *dies sanctus*. Thus in the East the same mystery commemorated in the West on Christmas Day was solemnized on this day, and indeed both feasts were soon celebrated everywhere as a kind of exchange: the East also celebrated Christmas and the West Epiphany. But necessarily in both Churches Epiphany became the preeminent theophany day, linked therefore to the mystery of Jesus’ Baptism, during which the heavenly Father gave public testimony to the presence on earth of His Son. For this reason this day was also added to Easter for the administration of Baptism to catechumens.The first Western testimony of the feast is from the Pope administering Venice in the Dauphiné. Uncertain is a testimony from the Council of Saragossa in 380. St. Augustine and St. Leo the Great left various sermons for this day. It seems, however, that Africa, Rome, Ravenna, and Milan, while recalling Jesus’ Baptism, perhaps because the custom of administering this sacrament on this day was not practiced there, soon gave prominence, and in a notable way, to the mystery of another theophany, that of the Magi, where Christ manifested Himself as King and Lord of all nations. The monuments also support this thesis. Indeed, the first to speak of the other theophanies, that of the Baptism and that of the Wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle and revealed Himself as God, was St. Ambrose, in the hymn he composed and used in the Milanese liturgy for this day; but these additions reached Rome only after St. Gregory the Great and always remained on the margins of the feast. Rather, it should be noted how the episode of Christ’s Baptism, which in the East prevailed in liturgical formulas, wished to express a great religious idea, namely the mystical marriage of Christ with the Church, through which it acquires the spiritual fruitfulness of generating, ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, the children of God. The idea of the sacred marriage led to the inclusion of the Wedding at Cana in the object of the feast, and, finally, since the changing of water into wine was considered a type of the Eucharist, in Gaul the memory of another great miracle that was its symbol, the multiplication of the loaves, was added (Righetti, op. cit. in bibl., II, p. 76).
At this feast particular ceremonies were connected, and the duty of announcing each year on what day Easter would be celebrated was entrusted to the Patriarch of Alexandria, where astronomical studies were cultivated; he fulfilled this duty by sending a festal letter to every Church. In Spain the reading of its contents took place at Christmas, but in Gaul and in Italy—at Aquileia, Milan, Rome, according to the oldest testimonies (already St Ambrose)—it took place, and still takes place, immediately after the Gospel reading at Mass, performed by the deacon himself with a melody recalling the opening of the Easter Exultet.
Another ceremony is the blessing of water in memory of the Baptism of Jesus, solemnly celebrated even today by the Greeks and in the past also in Italy within the territories of Magna Graecia. An ancient ritual states that this water was carried into homes as a most noble treasure. This practice was also observed in the Milanese territory, and perhaps it was transferred to this solemnity merely through attraction from Christmas, which was a more solemn feast (as a popular festival) than Epiphany.
An octave of Epiphany was celebrated in the 4th century at Jerusalem, not before the Advent of the West. Since 1836 in Rome the octave of Epiphany has also been celebrated in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle (see below).
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**II. OCTAVE OF EPIPHANY** — It is a liturgical cycle of sacred functions instituted by Blessed Vincent Pallotti in Rome in 1836, in which, through the splendor of the Latin and Eastern liturgies, with preaching in the principal languages of the world, and with the participation of the orphanages and foreign and national colleges, the unity and universality of the Catholic Church are admirably reflected. The octave is celebrated in various parts of the world.
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**III. ARCHAEOLOGY** — In early Christian art the Epiphany is the most frequently represented scene of the Lord’s infancy. St Augustine explains the preference for this scene: the Magi were the first among the Gentiles to know Christ the Lord, and these “firstfruits of the Gentiles deserved to signify the salvation of all nations” (*Serm.* 203, 3).
Al numero ternario dei Magi fanno eccezione alcuni affreschi nel cimitero ad horas lunae, uno dei musicali dell’arco trionfale di S. Maria Maggiore e la cappella dei SS. Celso e Nazario in Milano, monumenti nei quali i Magi sono soltanto due; in Domitilla poi si ha una E. con quattro Magi per ragioni di simmetria. I Magi offrono oro, incenso e mira (Mt. 2, 11). Fin dal tempo di S. Renato in questa triplice offerta, si riconosce l’attestazione di Colui che veniva adorato: «la mira perché Egli veniva per morire per essere sepolto per il mortale genere umano; l’oro perché Egli è il Re del regno senza fine (Lc. 1, 33); l’incenso perché Dio si è manifestato in Giudea (Ps. 73, 2) e si è mostrato a coloro che non lo cercavano» (Contra haeres., 3, 9; PG 7, 87o sg.). Gli stessi concetti sono espressi da Prudenzio (Apost., 64, 3 sg.): L’oro è presentato per primo in forma di una corona con gemma frontale (Wilpert., Sarcofagi, 11, p. 284, tav. 204, 2 c. 3; 222, 6 e 7; 224, 3); l’incenso è per lo più in globuli o in una pisside (id., op. cit., tav. 96); la mira è in ampolle (id., op. cit., tav. 223, 10) o in vasi, con talvolta le cifre delle libbre (id., op. cit., tav. 219, 1; 225, 1 e 2).
La più antica rappresentazione dell’E. nota finora è l’affresco nella cosiddetta cappella greca in Priscilla che risale alla metà del sec. II (G. Wilpert, Fratrici panis, Parigi 1
896, pp. 24-25, tav. 7); la Madonna è assisa col Bambino sulle ginocchia; i tre Magi si appressano rivestiti offrendo i loro doni. Questa scena si ripete poi in altre pitture nei cimiteri ad duas lauras, Callisto, Dominica, Maia, Marco e Marcelliano, Trasone (Wilpert, Pitture, pp. 176-83; E. Iosi, Geometriami maius. in Riv. di arch. crist., 10 [1933], pp. 12-16; A. Bosio, Roma sotto vernice, Roma 1632, p. 279), affresco poi perduto i ritornato in luce nel 1948. A Teano l’E. fu riprodotta in musica sul sepolcro di una «Gemina Felicitas» dell’a. 370 (v. Spinazzola, Di una musica cristiana e di altre antichità nel territorio di Teano, in Notizie degli scavi, 1907, pp. 697-703). Fu anche graffita sulla lastra sepolcrale d’una Severa, oggi nel Museo Lateranense (O. Marucchi, I monumenti del Museo cristiano più luteranense, Milano 1910, tav. 57, 1). I sarcofagi cristiani offrono oltre sessanta esempi dell’E. (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, II, p. 285). In essi appaiono talvolta dietro i Magi anche i cammelli.
In non-sepulchral art the scene is carved on a marble vase of the 4th century acquired by Fr Marchi for the Kircherian Museum, now in the National Museum at the Baths (R. Garrucci, *Storia dell’arte cristiana*, VI, Prato 1880, p. 33, pl. 427, 5-6). It also appears sometimes on gold-glass vessels (id., *Vetri ornati di figure in oro*, Rome 1864, pl. 4, nos. 7, 8, 9, 10). Characteristic is the scene of the Epiphany in the mosaics of the triumphal arch in S. Maria Maggiore (432-40). On a jeweled throne sits the Lord in tunic and pallium, with a nimbus and a cross on His head; behind the throne four winged angels and above it the star. Two Magi with head-coverings approach with their gifts. The Epiphany is also carved on one of the panels of the wooden door of S. Sabina in Rome of the 5th century; to the same century belongs the ambo of Salonica, now in the Museum of Constantinople. The marble slabs found at Carthage (v.) in the basilica of Damous-el-Karita, dated between the 5th and 6th centuries, likewise offer the scene of the Epiphany (Wilpert, *Sarcofagi*, III, pp. 53-55, fig. 279). It appears also in ivory, as in the chapels of S. Nazaro in Milan and of Brivio, now in the Louvre, and in some metal ampullae ornamented in the treasure of Monza, in a bronze medallion now in the Sacred Museum of the Vatican Library (G. B. De Rossi, in *Bull. arch. crist.*, 1st ser., 7 [1869], p. 53, pl. 1, nos. 9-10).
IV. ART
In the mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo at Ravenna, which date from the time of the Emperor Justinian (527-65), beside the throne of the Virgin, who holds the Child in her arms and to whom the three kings are approaching, there are two angels on either side. An angel is also present beside the Virgin in the scene depicting the Adoration of the Magi in the cathedra of Maximian, also at Ravenna. Epiphany — The Magi in the act of offering their gifts. Sarcophagus (6th century) — Ravenna, Basilica of St Vitalis.Sometimes even in the earliest representations—such as in an ivory pyx in the Bargello in Florence, to be assigned to the 6th century—the scene is complicated and expanded with that of the Adoration of the Shepherds. In one of the historiated columns of the ciborium of St Mark’s in Venice, also from the 6th century, the narrative is instead clear: after the arrival of the shepherds, the Magi appear; one observes a sphere, another foolishly holds a scroll, and the third points to a star. In some Eastern representations, the scene of the Adoration is sometimes followed by that of the Magi’s return. These wise men are guided by an angel. This iconographic detail soon passes from the East to the art of the West, and we see it in the frescoes of the 8th century in Santa Maria Antiqua in the fragment of the Protestant music chapel of John VII (705–707) in ancient St Peter’s, now in Santa Maria in Cosmedin, where, beside the Virgin’s throne, in addition to the angel is Joseph. Around the year 1000, the crown replaces, on the heads of the Magi, the Eastern mitre, and the Virgin also increasingly assumes that attribute of royalty. With the revival of plastic arts in the Romanesque age, the scene of the Adoration of the Magi assumes ever greater diffusion in sculpture. Thus in the portal of the baptistery of Parma, a work by Benedetto Antelami; in a 12th-century relief of the Archiepiscopal Palace of Fano; and in another from the Pieve of Arezzo, where alongside the Magi is an angel with a censer, while in the architrave of San Andrea in Pistoia, which dates to 1256, the Magi who are first depicted traveling on horseback are then seen standing and approaching the Virgin’s throne. In the pulpit of the church of Barga, the infant Jesus blesses the king closest to him, while the other two approach on horseback. Numerous are also the representations of the scene in the sculpture of Northern Europe; one recalls the compositions in the cathedrals of Laon, Chartres, Amiens, Paris, Reims, etc. In the 13th century, then, the scene sometimes acquires a new naturalistic sense, determined by the now free narrative faculties of painters and sculptors. Thus at Forlì, in the lunette above the door of San Mercuriale, the encounter takes place inside the Virgin’s house; one of the kings, having removed his mantle and crown, has hung them on a clothes rack, the second has already removed his crown in an act of respect, and the third is in the act of removing II. A recollection of the Magi’s journey is also found in the Adoration scene in the pulpit of Nicola Pisano in the baptistery of Pisa (1260), where in the crowded classical composition are placed, besides the angel, the three horses, while in the pulpit of the cathedral of Siena (1266–68) the same Nicola, this time in collaboration with his assistants, accentuates the naturalistic elements of the scene, one of the kings being depicted in the act of kissing the foot of the infant Jesus. His son Giovanni imitates him in the pulpit of San Andrea in Pistoia. But perhaps the finest of these 13th-century plastic representations was that which Arnolfo di Cambio had created with full-round figures for the Nativity scene of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, of which the figures of the kings and those of Jesus still exist. In the last decade of the 13th century, however, Pietro Cavallini in the mosaic of the façade beneath the abyssal sentiment of Santa Maria in Trastevere still imagines the throne in the open countryside and the three approaching with gestures of deference as in the most ancient compositions of Christian art.
But soon, in Padua in 1305, Giotto bestowed a new monumental custom upon the scene by placing the Virgin upon a mystical throne between Joseph and the Angel, while one of the kings, kneeling, brings the feet of the infant Jesus to his lips, and his two companions stand by; nearby are two camels and a groom. In the reliefs of the façade of Oviedo Cathedral, the work of Lorenzo di Mantova, angels spread a cloth behind the Virgin’s throne, which in the tabernacle of San Michele in Florence, by Andrea Orcagna, becomes an ornate seat adorned with twisted columns. The act performed by one of the kings—generally the eldest, often bearded—kneeling before the Virgin’s throne to kiss the feet of the infant Jesus, becomes increasingly frequent in the 15th century, when the composition, after Masaccio had evoked it once more with the most austere majesty in the Berlin panel, grows extraordinarily crowded and nearly fractures into numerous episodes, such as
(from Wulpert, *Sarcofagi*, pl. 52, 3) **EPIPHANY** – The Magi discussing the appearance of the star, which is positioned above the manger. Detail of a sarcophagus preserved in the Museum of Arles (4th century).
the long, lavish procession accompanying the Kings and witnessing their homage. Among these compositions, we recall that of Gentile da Fabriano in the Uffizi in Florence, another by Benozzo Gozzoli in the chapel of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, and that of Sandro Botticelli, also in the Uffizi, where the king approaching the Virgin and Child can be recognized as the likeness of Cosimo de’ Medici, and among the onlookers, Sandro Botticelli himself, along with others by Antonio Vivarini, Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, and others. The composition assumes similar characteristics in sculpture as well, as in the relief by Mino del Reame in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, and in Northern art, such as in the
*Adoration of the Kings*
painted by Roger van der Weyden, now in the Pinacoteca of Munich.
Sixteenth-century painting and sculpture, and subsequently those of the Baroque era, continued to represent the Epiphany frequently under the aspect of the Adoration of the Magi, without fundamentally altering the nature of the scene, if anything intensifying its festive tone, which, in a certain sense, finds its culmination in the 18th-century Neapolitan *presepi* (v. PRESEPIO), which at times attain the value and importance of true works of art.
Moreover, it should be noted that, alongside the major manifestations of the figurative arts mentioned above, popular art has also left testimony of the highest interest in this field since the Middle Ages.
V. Folklore
In popular tradition Epiphany is one of the most important feasts: an indication of this is the fact that the people call it Pasquetta or the first Easter of the year. It gives rise to numerous and manifold customs and beliefs, so much so that, in order to understand its meaning and character, it is necessary to relate them to the various religious conceptions and manifestations from which they derive and to which they are connected.With regard to one of the most important evocative aspects of Epiphany, namely that of the Baptism in the Jordan, there are customs such as the solemn blessing of rivers, which until recent times was performed in Egypt as well as in Eastern Europe. Thus, in some parts of Sicily it was customary (and in some places still is) to immerse a crucifix countless times in holy water, or to carry it in procession along the shore and then throw it into the sea, whose water (according to popular belief) became miraculously sweet at that moment. In Bulgaria sacred images kept in the home, as well as the cross and the ploughshare, were taken to the spring or river and washed; frail and sickly people would plunge into the river to be healed. Yet the complex of manifestations that evoke the journey of the Magi includes the offering of gifts to the Infant Jesus. In the Tre Venezie, groups of young people go from house to house carrying a large revolving paper star, mounted on a wooden pole inside which a little light is placed, and they sing lauds to Jesus, Mary and Joseph or even a “zingaresca” that evokes the episode of the Magi. In Tuscany these representations are called befanate, and they are of two distinctly different types: the sacred befanate reconstruct the journey of the Three Kings of the East, and in them the Befana appears as a prophetess and soothsayer; the profane befanate, on the other hand, develop themes similar to those of the bruscelli or mogliazzi, that is, the songs of one or more pairs of suitors, which end with their exhaustion. But a true sacred representation with numerous characters takes place in the province of Taranto in the farmstead called “La battaglia.” These, and others that might be recalled, are to be considered as living relics of the ancient sacred drama that since the Middle Ages has also evoked the scene of the visit of the Magi to the Divine Infant.
Yet many popular traditions of Epiphany can only be understood if it is borne in mind that Epiphany is considered as the beginning of the year. Thus are explained the gifts and presents, especially to children, in their well-known propitiatory meaning. The people have created a symbolic figure in the Befana (from Epiphany), imagining her as a kindly old woman who passes through the houses at night leaving her gifts in the shoes or stockings of good children, and lumps of coal.
In many of his displeased moods, for those wicked ones. In many Italian cities, for example, in Florence in times past, they used to make round the streets large puppets representing the Befana; this gave rise to various processions from different quarters, with frequent clashes and brawls. The custom of giving gifts led to the establishment of special fairs, such as the one held in Rome in Piazza Navona (previously it took place in the small squares of S. Eustachio and dei Cappellari) and which culminates in a joyous uproar.
Also connected with the distribution of gifts and presents is the custom (widespread in Abruzzo, the Marches, Tuscany and many other regions) of groups of young people who, on the evening of the vigil, go from house to house singing a song of questura (known as the pasquella or befanata) and receiving offerings of eggs, sweets, nuts, hazelnuts, etc. A New Year’s custom transferred to Epiphany is also that of drawing lots and making predictions for the future. One of the most typical forms is the use of a focaccia cake in which a broad bean is hidden and which is divided among the guests: the person who finds the bean is named king of the bean and, in turn, he chooses the queen by throwing the bean into the glass of the chosen woman. This custom has a very wide area of diffusion with natural variations. In France, formerly the custom was followed by the king in person, who went around accompanied by the grand baker and the grand cupbearer who brought sweets and wines for the august couple; the queen, however, was a lady chosen by him for this feast. In the division of the focaccia containing the bean, a portion is also set aside “for God” or “for the poor.”
There are many forms of drawing omens on the day of Epiphany. In Romagna the common people are accustomed to position themselves in a quadrivium to listen to the words of passersby and, from these, to form a discourse whose meaning foretells what will happen in the year. In Sicily (Lanello) it is believed that the wind blowing on the evening of 6 January, at the time of the sacred functions, will prevail throughout the year. In Campania an olive leaf is thrown onto the fire: if it jumps away, life will be dried up; if it burns crackling, death will come within the year. In Friuli bonfires are lit and omens for the harvest are drawn from the flames and smoke. Burning discs, called “di culis,” which are rolled down a slope, are an integral part of these fires.
Always in relation to the Epiphany, understood as the feast of the New Year, are the customs of betrothals which in some regions, such as the Val di Fiemme (Trentino), give rise to dramatic rites ("maridazzi" for the feast of the "bandieral"). In Tuscany, it was customary on this day to choose the "befani," that is, a young man and a girl who began a kind of courtship, which often led to actual marriage. In Campania, merry groups on the evening of the vigil are wont to go under the windows of widows and name a possible new husband for them; this is called "maritare le vedove" (to marry off the widows). There are also relics of ancient agrarian propitiatory rites, beginning with the custom of bonfires. In Switzerland and other Central European countries, noisy processions are held against two imaginary witches called Strudeli and Stratteli, believed to harm fruit crops. In the songs that children’s groups repeat during their questing processions, there are frequent allusions and invocations for the good outcome of the harvests.
The Epiphany is considered by the common people a day of wonders. It is said that at midnight the walls become of ricotta, and that beasts speak among themselves, but they listen to human speech and forbid it; whoever breaks this rule would meet certain death. The traditional character of the Epiphany feast has been fairly well preserved even to the present day, adapting to the tastes and needs of modern life. Vedi tavv. XXXI-XXXII.