Advent
Advent, the season of penitential preparation for Christmas, begins this many Sundays before December 25th.
Four
St. John's last name reminds us that he's from this capital of Syria.
Damascus
St. Nicholas is known for his saintly patronage of this/these.
Children, coopers, travelers, sailors, fishermen, merchants, toymakers, broadcasters, the falsely accused, repentant thieves, brewers, pharmacists, archers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, Prilep, Aberdeen, Galway, Albania, Russia, Greece, Hellenic Navy, Liverpool, Bari, Čilipi, Siggiewi, Moscow, Amsterdam, Lorraine, Royal School of Church Music and Duchy of Lorraine, students in various cities and countries around Europe, Russian Navy
St. Ambrose served as the bishop of this northern Italian city, famous for fashion and finance.
Milan
Saint Bernadette, in 1858, encountered a young lady, who referred to herself as the Immaculate Conception, in this town.
Lourdes, France
The tradition of the Advent one of these decorations made it's way to the Catholic Church in the US in the 1930s from Lutherans in Germany.
Wreath
St. John Damascene is one of the Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is best known for his strong defense of these religious works of art.
Icons
In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from St. Nicholas' life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. The coins are said to have fallen into this kind of garment, which were drying by the fire.
Stockings
St. Ambrose is famous for having baptized this Latin Church father.
St. Augustine
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Cyril of Jerusalem developed the idea of Mary as the New this person.
Eve
The new one of these begins on the first Sunday of Advent.
Liturgical year
St. John Damascene's writings influenced the second council held in this place in present-day northwest Turkey.
Nicaea
St. Nicholas served as Bishop of Myra, which is in the southwest part of present-day country.
Turkey
A legend about St. Ambrose as an infant recounts that a group of this kind of insect settled on his face while he lay in his cradle, leaving a sweet and viscous substance in his mouth.
Bees
The Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of The Immaculate Conception, is the patron saint of this country.
United States of America
Mass readings during the season of Advent focus on the coming and/or return of this person.
Jesus Christ
St. John Damascene was promoted to Doctor of the Church in 1890 by this pope.
Leo XIII
St. Nicholas is famous for the apocryphal tale of slapping this heretic at the First Council of Nicaea.
Arius
The Ambrosian Rite, named for St. Ambrose and pracised by five million Catholics in northern Italy, has risked suppression at various points in its history. It was reformed after the Second Vatican Council. (This pope belonged to the Ambrosian Rite, having previously been Archbishop of Milan).
Paul VI
In 1854, following the recommendation from 90% of the world's bishops, the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull Ineffabilis Deus by this pope.
Piux IX
The third Sunday of Advent, known for it's rose vestments, is called this.
Gaudete Sunday
St. John Damascene was given the by-name of Chrysorroas (Χρυσορρόας, literally "streaming with" this substance.
Gold
The major bones of St. Nicholas were stolen by sailors and are now rest in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, Bari, which is in this country.
Italy
St. Ambrose wrote many hymns. Among them is the Advent hymn, Veni redemptor gentium, the title of which translates to this.
Come, Redeemer of the nations
While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary's freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent, had previously affirmed her freedom from this other kind of sin.
Personal