English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- For Epiphany 2027 we chalk 20 + C + M + B + 27 over the front door, with the two halves of the year at the ends, the three letters in between and a cross between each part.
- The feast falls on Wednesday 6 January 2027, Catholics in the United States keep it on Sunday 3 January, and families chalk the door on the feast or in the weeks after it.
- The letters stand both for Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, the names the Church has long given the wise men, and for the Latin prayer Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless the house,” though Matthew himself never names the wise men or says how many came.
- The Roman Ritual of 1872 gave a priest one prayer to bless the chalk and another to bless the home as he came in at the door, and in its chalk prayer the letters are the wise men’s names.
- The US bishops’ Epiphany house blessing is shorter, has no chalk in it and can be led by a mother or father.
- Anglicans in England, Canada and North America chalk their doors too, as does a Lutheran pastor in Houston, and the Anglican Church in North America’s chalk prayer keeps close to the old Catholic one but leaves out the wise men’s “intercession and merits.”
- The old blessing opens at the door with the words Jesus gave for every house, “Peace be to this house,” and Christ has promised to come in to anyone who hears him knock and opens the door.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (public domain): Matthew 2:1, 2:9, 2:11; Luke 10:5; Luke 1:46–47; Luke 19:9; Isaiah 60:1, 60:3, 60:6; Deuteronomy 6:9; Exodus 12:7; Psalm 121:8; Revelation 3:20. Passages fetched from BibleGateway.
- Rituale Romanum, appendix of blessings: “Benedictio Cretae in festo Epiphaniae” and “Benedictio Domorum in festo Epiphaniae” (Regensburg, New York and Cincinnati: Friedrich Pustet, 1872), Internet Archive; checked against the 1903 Pustet edition, Internet Archive. English translation ours.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Blessing of the Home and Household on Epiphany.
- Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (December 2001), paragraph 118.
- Walter Drum, “Magi”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910).
- Kindermissionswerk “Die Sternsinger”, press release PM 02-2021, “175 Jahre Kindermissionswerk” (Aachen, 7 January 2021), on the meaning of 20*C+M+B+21.
- University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, Epiphany home blessing (Chalking the Door) (January 2022).
- The Church of England, “Why are more Christians ‘chalking the door’ during lockdown and what is it?” (5 January 2021).
- The Community, Anglican Church of Canada, “Blessing Chalk and Proclaiming Easter – It’s Epiphany!” (7 January 2014).
- Anglican Church in North America, Book of Common Prayer 2019 resources, Blessing of Epiphany Chalk; Blessing of Homes at Epiphany (2025).
- Living Lutheran (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), “A light for the neighborhood” (6 January 2026).
- Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Ministry to the Armed Forces, Operation Barnabas newsletter, January 2024, “The New Year and the Pearl of Great Price”.
Leave a Reply