What hour of the day was Christ born?
“The gospels provide no evidence, except that Jesus was born at night, but the Jewish book entitled the Wisdom of Solomon has two verses [18:14–15] which the early Christians applied to Christ’s birth. ‘For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your [God’s] all-powerful word leapt from heaven.’ Many Early Christians interpreted the phrase ‘the night half gone’ as midnight, and God’s word was Christ in the gospel of John [1:1]. … This midnight birth also gave rise to the tradition of Midnight Mass, … as well as the belief that ‘It (the Angels’ Song) Came Upon a Midnight Clear.’ … Since the [midnight] Mass meant that Christ had been born, by the eleventh century in England it was called ‘Christ’s Mass,’ from which comes the word ‘Christmas.’” (Joseph F. Kelly, The Origins of Christmas, 72–74)