For many years, the Church combined three events in the life of Jesus (the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and his first miracle at the wedding in Cana) as one feast, known as the Epiphany.
In Rome, the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord was shifted to the octave (the eight day) of the Epiphany around the eighth century. In 1955, when the Vatican's Sacred Congregation of Rites suppressed all octaves (except for Christmas and Easter), the commemoration of the Baptism of Jesus began to be celebrated on January 13.
After the Second Vatican Council, the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord was transferred to the Sunday after the Epiphany and designated as the conclusion of the Christmas season.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw