Reading I
1 Macc 4:36-37, 52-59
Then Judas, and his brethren said: Behold our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places, and to repair them.
And all the army assembled together, and they went up into Mount Sion.
And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month, (which is the month of Casleu) in the hundred and forty-eighth year.
And they offered sacrifice, according to the law, upon the new altar of holocausts which they had made.
According to the time, and according to the day wherein the heathens had defiled it, in the same was it dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals.
And all the people fell upon their faces, and adored, and blessed up to heaven, him that had prospered them.
And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise.
And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and escutcheons, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doors upon them.
And there was exceeding great joy among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was turned away.
And Judas, and his brethren, and all the church of Israel decreed, that the day of the dedication of the altar should be kept in its season from year to year for eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu, with joy and gladness.