Early church tradition used the celebration of Saturnalia to mark the birth of Jesus. The first time the 25th of December was recorded as being the birth of Christ was in 354 AD in the Chronography of 354. A “chronography” was a type of almanac, and this particular one was written by a man named Filocalus for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus. This picture is a copy of the cover of the Chronography.
