OW MANY TIMES have you heard people warn against using the abbreviation Xmas for Christmas? They say things like, “Don’t cross out Christ on Christmas.” But it’s total nonsense! For more than a millenium, Christians have used an X to denote Christ. It comes from the Greek letter “Chi,” and even as late as the 19th century, Abbot Pothier used that abbreviation in the Solesmes books.
I could cite thousands of examples, but consider this one from the 14th century:
Did you see how the scribe wrote the word Christe in the KYRIE ELEYSON?
THOUSANDS, IF NOT MILLIONS MORE examples could be cited. Here’s one from a famous CHRISTMAS HYMN called Christe Redemptor Omnium:
Here’s one from the Litany of the saints:
In this next example, notice the beautiful passages from Sacred Scripture written in wherever they could be squeezed in:
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