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Although our salvation doesn’t depend on knowing the exact date of Christ’s birth, nor is the Church likely ever to make a dogmatic definition regarding this date, it is a matter of interest to anyone who knows and loves Jesus Christ. In this article, <a href="https://cybersky.software.informer.com/">modern</a> astronomy <a href="https://store.simulationcurriculum.com/products/starry-night-pro-8">software</a> and ancient historical documents (including but not limited to the Bible) will offer one perspective on the star of Bethlehem that heralded our Redeemer’s birth.
The three scholars who deserve the most credit for this research are <a href="https://bethlehemstar.com/">Frederick Larson</a>, <a href="https://a.co/d/6kaOiNC">Timothy Norris</a>, and <a href="https://www.catholic.com/audio/ddp/the-star-of-bethlehem-and-astrology">Jimmy Akin</a>. What follows is a partial timeline of the Christ Event, from his conception in Mary’s womb to the adoration of the Magi. Powerful new software and the regularity of Kepler’s planetary motion laws offer a plausible case for the precision of each date. After this timeline, verses from the Bible and other ancient documents will provide historical support for each claim.
<h2>September, 3 B.C.</h2>
Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb. After a close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on August 12, Jupiter (the King Planet) began a rare triple conjunction with Regulus (the King Star), essentially crowning it with a halo pattern. The conjunction dates were Sep. 14, Feb. 17, and May 8. The celestial coronation took place in the constellation Leo. Just after sunset on Sep. 11, the constellation that rose in the east behind Leo was Virgo, the Virgin, literally “clothed with the Sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1). It was a new moon at her feet, coinciding with the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah). The Magi, familiar with Jewish prophecies of the Messiah, definitely took notice.

<h2>June, 2 B.C.</h2>
Nine months after his conception, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. When Jupiter had finished crowning Regulus in May, it formed a close conjunction with Venus (the Mother Planet) on June 17, such that the separation between the two would have been imperceptible to the naked eye. Light from each planet added to the other, forming the most brilliant star that had ever been seen. (The Jupiter-Venus conjunction of June 17, 2 B.C. has been the brightest such conjunction in human history.) The Magi departed in haste from Babylon towards Bethlehem.
<h2>December, 2 B.C.</h2>
The first Epiphany: the Magi arrived in Bethlehem and adored the Christ child. Jupiter had proceeded ahead of the Magi, first leading them westward toward Jerusalem and then stopping (in full retrograde motion) on December 25 over the town of Bethlehem. Jesus would have been a six-month-old baby by this time, no longer in a temporary cave-stable but now in a small house built by Joseph.
At this point, let’s make the case for the claims above. The first fact to demonstrate is that King Herod died in 1 B.C., not 4 B.C. This is extremely important, because if Herod died in 4 B.C., as is widely believed, the star of Bethlehem would have appeared before then. In fact, the great mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), wrote two books on the subject, De stella nova (1606) and De anno natali Christi (1614). Unfortunately, he didn’t find much in the stars of 7, 6, and 5 B.C. His careful calculations could reproduce the celestial map with astonishing accuracy, but he sadly missed the star because he was searching in the wrong years.
Kepler’s mistaken idea that Herod had died in 4 B.C. was based on the historical scholarship of his time. Historian David Beyer has argued that a widely accepted reading of Josephus, which suggests that Herod died in 4 B.C., came from a transcription error introduced in a 1544 printed edition of Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews (Book 18, chapter 4, section 106; see also David W. Beyer, “Josephus Re-examined,” available <a href="https://www.book-info.com/isbn/0-86554-582-0.htm">here</a>.) According to Beyer, nearly all the pre-1544 editions and manuscripts he reviewed in the British Library and Library of Congress stated that Herod Philip (who succeeded Herod the Great) died in the twenty-second year of Tiberius&#8217;s reign. The 1544 edition, however, changed this to the twentieth year of Tiberius. The “twentieth year” reading would place Herod the Great’s death in 4 B.C. Presumably working from a post-1544 edition of Josephus, Kepler would have accepted the 4 B.C. death date.
Besides the transcription error, there are more important reasons to reject the 4 B.C. date of Herod’s death. Historian Gerard Gertoux has published a tour de force of research <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2518046/Herod_the_Great_and_Jesus_Chronological_Historical_and_Archaeological_Evidence">here</a>, and Jimmy Akin’s findings agree with Gertoux’s. Although historian Emil Schürer’s claim that Herod died in 4 B.C. has retained widespread acceptance over the last hundred years, it rests on weak foundations. Akin critiques these foundations based on the following key points from Josephus and related evidence. He also builds a case for Herod the Great dying in 1 B.C. (specifically between the lunar eclipse on January 10, 1 B.C., and Passover on April 11, 1 B.C., likely closer to the latter).
1. Herod&#8217;s appointment as king in 40 B.C. leading to a thirty-six- or thirty-seven-year reign:
Josephus states that Herod was appointed king in the 184th Olympiad (ending mid-40 B.C.) during the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio (which began late 40 B.C.). This creates an impossible contradiction, as the dates do not overlap. External Roman sources (Appian and Dio Cassius) place the appointment in 39 B.C. Josephus reckons reigns non-inclusively (not counting partial first years in this period). Starting the count from the first full year (38 B.C.) and then adding thirty-seven years leads to a death in 1 B.C.
2. Length of reign after conquering Jerusalem (thirty-four years):
Josephus states that Herod died thirty-four years after obtaining his kingdom by slaying Antigonus (i.e., conquering Jerusalem), but he provides contradictory dates for the conquest. Some details point to 37 B.C., whereas others (e.g., exactly twenty-seven years after Pompey&#8217;s conquest in 63 B.C., and the end of 126 years of Hasmonean rule starting in 162 B.C.) point to 36 B.C. This inconsistency undermines using 37 B.C. as a firm anchor for a 4 B.C. death. However, using non-inclusive reckoning of the thirty-four-year period, we can infer a possible death date in either 2 B.C. or 1 B.C.
3. The lunar eclipse shortly before Herod&#8217;s death and Passover:
Josephus places Herod&#8217;s death between a lunar eclipse and Passover, with numerous events (requiring significant time and travel of many different people) in between. Advocates of a 4 B.C. death cite a partial lunar eclipse on March 13, 4 B.C., twenty-nine days before Passover. The twenty-nine-day gap is too short to accommodate all the events and travel Josephus describes between the eclipse and Herod&#8217;s death (estimated minimum forty-one days, more realistically sixty to ninety days). However, a total lunar eclipse occurred on Jan. 10, 1 B.C., eighty-nine days before Passover, which better matches Josephus&#8217;s description due to the sufficient time gap. Additionally, since Josephus does not specify a partial lunar eclipse, a total eclipse aligns better.
4. Evidence that Herod&#8217;s sons assumed office in 4 B.C.:
This does not prove that Herod died then, as it was common for aging rulers to appoint successors as co-rulers during their lifetime to ease succession and reduce pressure. Historical evidence shows that Herod did grant his sons governing authority before his death.
5. Testimony of the Church Fathers:
Many Church Fathers asserted a birth date of Christ in 3/2 B.C., necessitating a death date of Herod later than 4 B.C. and around 1 B.C. These Fathers included St. Irenaeus, St. Clement of Alexandria, Julius Africanus, St. Hippolytus, Eusebius, and Epiphanius, with Tertullian and Origen joining them.
Now that we’ve proven a 1 B.C. date for Herod’s death, let’s demonstrate the dates of the infant Christ’s timeline. We will proceed in chronological order:
<h2>September, 3 B.C.</h2>
The Magi weren’t just random stargazers. Most likely they were descendants of Daniel, the prophet brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. The Bible provides plenty of clues for this. In Daniel 2:48, Nebuchadnezzar makes Daniel the chief wise man (magus) of his court. In Daniel 5:11, Belshazzar’s queen reminds the king that Daniel, the chief magus, can interpret dreams and visions. In Daniel 6:28, we see that Daniel prospered in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus, implying his tremendous influence on the kingdom (including the school of magi). Daniel’s famous prophecy of weeks of years (sixty-nine sets of seven years each) in Daniel 9:24-27, predicted both the coming of Christ and the destruction of the Temple.
The point is that Daniel, a devout Jew whose God was respected and protected by King Cyrus, would have trained magi to watch the stars for signs of the Messiah. This is why the Magi took notice of the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus in the constellation Leo, representing the Lion of Judah (a type of Christ mentioned in Gen. 49:8-10, 2 Sam. 7:12-14, and Rev. 5:5). It also explains how they knew the prophecy of Micah and why they wanted to worship the newborn King:
<blockquote>In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel” (Matt. 2:1-6).</blockquote>
<h2>June, 2 B.C.</h2>
The Gospel of Luke notes that John the Baptist began his ministry in the “fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (Luke 3:1). Tiberius assumed the throne after Augustus died in August A.D. 14, but Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius typically started counting an emperor’s regnal years from the following January 1, ignoring any partial year. Using this standard method, the fifteenth year of Tiberius would run through what we know as A.D. 29. (A regnal year is counted similarly to a person’s age: the “fifteenth year” spans from the end of the fourteenth year to the end of the fifteenth.)
Jesus began his own ministry shortly after John’s, so his public work probably started around A.D. 29 as well. Luke adds another key detail: at the start of his ministry, Jesus was “about thirty years old” (3:23). Counting back roughly thirty years from A.D. 29, and remembering there is no year zero in the transition from B.C. to A.D., we are brought to 2 B.C. as <a href="https://jimmyakin.com/2013/04/what-year-was-jesus-born-the-answer-may-surprise-you.html">the most likely birth year</a>.
<h2>December, 2 B.C.</h2>
In Matthew 2:9, we read, “When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.” This was the town of Bethlehem, five miles south of Jerusalem. Jupiter was in full retrograde motion that night, the first Epiphany, on December 25. This is not why December 25 was chosen to celebrate Our Lord’s Nativity each year, but it is an interesting coincidence demonstrated by modern astronomy software.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Although history and science can never dictate our faith, it is always helpful to see that neither history nor science can contradict it. This is because truth can’t contradict truth. If Christ entered human history through the Incarnation, it is not surprising that he would allow us to use history and science to discover his birth date.
In any case, the most important thing to contemplate as we celebrate Christmas is that “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

A Modern Take on Christ’s Birth Date

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As a Latin rite Catholic attending a Byzantine church. Should I follow the customs of the west or of the east when it comes to my children receiving the sacraments?

Could there be other creation aside from angelic beings that have knowledge and reason?

When the teaching on infallibility was declared during Vatican 1, they sighted hundreds of instances of infallibility being used. Now we hear that infallibility has only been used twice. Why is there a discrepancy?

What platform should you vote for if one supports the death penalty and the other supports abortion?

Is it a sin of omission if someone passed away and I never offered masses for them if I knew they did something wrong?

Ask Me Anything

Will our heavenly Father still hold us to account for the sins we’ve confessed?

If someone was raised Catholic but no longer practicing, does that mean that they’re doomed?

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What’s the best argument against atheism?

What does the Church teach about speaking in tongues?

In 2003, Pope St. John Paul II, quoting the 1971 General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours, wrote, “We need silence ‘if we are to accept in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely to the Word of God and the public voice of the Church.’” The value of silence in the liturgy has nevertheless remained a controversial and misunderstood topic.
In the Church’s liturgical tradition, the use of silence, or the recitation of texts very quietly, can have four distinct functions. First, for the celebrant to recite a text silently can be a sign that the text is addressed not to the people, but to God. This is why the “priestly prayers” such as the Lavabo (“Wash away my iniquity . . .”) are said silently in both the traditional and the reformed versions of the Mass.
Secondly, the celebrant may say certain texts silently to allow singing to take place. The Offertory prayers are said silently in the traditional Mass, and they may optionally be said silently in the reformed Mass. All or part of this time can be used for singing.
Thirdly, from at least the fifth century, the Eucharistic Prayer (the Canon) came to be said silently. (This practice is not followed in the reformed Mass.) In this case, the silence is a marker of its special holiness, like the disappearance from view of the clergy, behind the icon screen or iconostasis, in the East. If singing a text gives it greater solemnity, then saying it silently is a sign of a still greater level of importance.
Fourthly, there is silence as pause, a silent interval for the worshiper’s private prayer between texts that are proclaimed aloud. This is a feature of the rubrics of the reformed Mass and was introduced in some situations in liturgical reforms before Vatican II, in 1955 and 1960.
When silence in the liturgy is promoted in the context of the reformed Mass, as by John Paul II quoted above, it is most likely that this last type of silence is intended. Another kind of silence that John Paul felt the need to defend was the silence of the congregation, when this is called for: “Active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness, and listening” (address to the bishops of the northwestern United States, 1998).
The liturgical reform greatly limited the place of silence in the Mass, in theory, and still more in practice. (The silent Offertory option is not widely used.) Pope St. Paul VI noted that with the reform, “pious persons” and “even priests” would have to adjust their way of participating in Mass: “They will feel shaken out of their usual thoughts and obliged to follow those of others” (general audience, November 26, 1969).
One way of understanding the liturgical reform, then, is this. Instead of having texts recited in silence, to establish a kind of background to our prayers, the texts are to be read aloud, and we are to be silent while listening intently to them, or else we are to reflect on them in a short pause after they have been recited. We will be obliged to follow the thoughts of others.
This, however, is not quite right. As the passage from the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours, promulgated by Paul VI only two years after the general audience already quoted, indicates, it is not only our own thoughts that are allowed play by periods of silence, but also those of the Holy Spirit. A longer quotation from this document illustrates the dilemma faced by the liturgical reformers.
<blockquote>In order to receive in our hearts the full sound of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and the public voice of the Church, it is permissible, as occasion offers and prudence suggests, to have an interval of silence. . . .
Care must be taken to avoid the kind of silence that would disturb the structure of the office or annoy and weary those taking part (General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours 1971, 202).</blockquote>
One the one hand, there is a danger that a torrent of words actually impedes the worshipers’ engagement with the liturgy, which is not, in the last analysis, about following the thoughts of the liturgy planning committee or even those of the composers of the liturgical texts; rather it is a matter primarily of listening to the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, attempting to avoid this problem can lead to another: a series of awkward, artificial gaps interrupting the flow of the liturgy, begetting annoyance or weariness: “molestiam seu tædium.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church returns to this problem in its section on prayer, where it compares contemplative prayer with liturgical prayer:
<blockquote>Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the eucharistic liturgy: we “gather up” the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us (2711).</blockquote>
As the Catechism points out, contemplative prayer is the highest form of prayer, and though it may take its starting point from a text, it is not about following anyone’s thoughts; rather, it is about allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you where he wants to take you. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, put it, with great force, referring to the traditional Mass,
<blockquote>anyone who has experienced a church united in the silent praying of the Canon will know what a really filled silence is. It is at once a loud and penetrating cry to God and a Spirit-filled act of prayer (The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 215).</blockquote>
It seems that the Church’s conversation about silence in the liturgy has not yet drawn to a conclusion.

4 Benefits to Silence in the Mass

<div>Where in the Old Testament is it prophesied that the Messiah will be a Nazarene, as Mathew states in the beginning of his Gospel?</div><div>These words, as you indicate, are asserted in Matthew 2:23. No Old Testament prophecy corresponds to these precise words. There are two different, yet related, main scholarly explanations to illustrate what St. Matthew is attempting to say in this passage.
According to the first, Matthew apparently paraphrases in summary form the words of several prophets. The paraphrase is based on Jesus’ boyhood home, Nazareth, and a similar-sounding Hebrew word netser, which is translated as “sprout,” “shoot,” or “branch.” Recall that the Holy Family fled to Egypt because of the murderous machinations of Herod the Great, who feared the Christ Child as a potential royal competitor and thus slaughtered every male child under two in Bethlehem and the neighboring area (Matt. 2:16-18). They returned to reside in Nazareth after word came that Herod the Great had died (Matt. 2:19-20).
Scripture affirms that Jesus came to restore the throne of his ancestor King David (Luke 1:31-33) and that he is “the King of kings” (Rev. 17:14). Isaiah prophesizes that a “branch” (netser or netzer) will sprout from the stump of Jesse (the father of David), indicating that the kingdom of David that had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. would one day be restored. Subsequent prophets such as Jeremiah use this same branch image to speak of the anticipated Messiah-king (Jeremiah 23:5, 33:14-16).
According to the second interpretation, Jesus’ Nazareth residence is the providential fulfillment of the Messiah’s mission not only for the Jews but all nations, i.e., “Gentiles” (Matt. 28:18-20, Is. 66:18ff., Amos 9:11ff.). Nazareth is in Galilee, which in Jesus’ day was known for having a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles.
In both cases, the argument is that had Matthew intended to cite an exact prophetic quotation from the Old Testament, he would have cited a specific prophet, instead of saying summarily, as he does, &#8220;the prophets&#8221; (Matt. 2:23).
</div>

“He Shall Be Called a Nazarene:” Where in Old Testament?

How can the Catholic Church teach that our justification is a process when the Letter to the Romans says that our justification is a one-time event? Karlo Broussard can&#8217;t help himself, he just has to keep meeting Protestant challenges to Catholic belief.