English-speakers call it "The Epiphany", but the Germans say Heilige Drei Könige: the Three Holy Kings. And yet St Matthew doesn’t tell us that they were kings or even that there were three of them. “Kings” comes from the prophecy of Isaiah 60:3, read on the feast: "Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
What Matthew does tell us is that these were wise men – probably astrologers – and that they brought three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Three gifts suggest that there were three bearers of gifts, and so Three Wise Men or Three Holy Kings.
