In the liturgical calendar of the Western Christian churches, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week—specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday—roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer. The liturgical year, also known as the Christian year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when Western Christianity is a term used to cover the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, the Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all Food, Drink, or both for a period of time These days set apart for special prayer and fasting were considered especially suitable for the ordination of clergy. The Ember Days were known in the medieval church as quatuor tempora (the "four seasons"), or jejunia quatuor temporum ("fasts of the four seasons").
The Ember Weeks—the weeks in which the Ember Days occur—are the week between the third and fourth Sundays of Advent, between the first and second Sundays of Lent, the week between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, and the calendar week after Holy Cross Day (September 14) (the liturgical Third Week of September). Advent (from the Latin word la ''adventus'' meaning "coming" is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the Lent, in some Christian denominations, is the forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. Pentecost (πεντηκοστή, pentekostē, "the fiftieth day" is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian Liturgical year, celebrated the Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern In the Christian Liturgical calendar, there are several different feasts known as Feasts of the Cross, all of which commemorate the cross used in the Events 81 - Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
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Etymology
The word "ember" derives from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren, a circuit or revolution (from ymb, around, and ryne, a course, running), clearly relating to the annual cycle of the year. The occurrence of the Anglo-Saxon compounds ymbren-tid ("Embertide"), ymbren-wucan ("Ember weeks"), ymbren-fisstan ("Ember fasts"), ymbren-da gas ("Ember days") makes this etymology quite certain. The word imbren even makes it into the acts of the council of 1009 (jejunia quatuor tempora quae imbren vocant, "the fasts of the four seasons which are called "imbren'"). It corresponds also with Pope Leo the Great's definition, jejunia ecclesiastica per totius anni circulum distributa ("fasts of the church distributed through the whole circuit of the year"). Pope Saint Leo I or Pope Saint Leo the Great was Pope from September 29, 440 to November 10, 461.
However, others maintain that the term is derived from the Latin quatuor tempora, meaning "four times" (a year), while folk etymology even cites the phrase "may ye remember (the inevitability of death)" as the source. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. J. M. Neale's Essays of Liturgiology (1863), Chapter X, explains the etymology:
"The Latin name has remained in modern languages, though the contrary is sometimes affirmed, Quatuor Tempora, the Four Times. Year 1863 ( MDCCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common In French and Italian the term is the same; in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas. The German converts them into Quatember, and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English Ember. Thus, there is no occasion to seek after an etymology in embers; or with Nelfon, to extravagate still further to the noun ymbren, a recurrence, as if all holy seasons did not equally recur. In Welsh, Ember-week is Wythnos y cydgorian, the Week of the Processions. In mediæval Germany they were called Weihfasten, Wiegfastan, Wiegefasten, or the like, on the general principle of their sanctity. . . . We meet with the term Frohnfasten, frohne being the then word for travail. Why they were named foldfasten it is less easy to say. "
In Ireland, the Catholic Church called them "Laethanta na gCeithre Thráth" (the days of the four times) in Irish and Quarter tense in English. Quarter tense (called in all other English speaking countries " ember days " is a uniquely Irish name for those days set aside in the western Christian church
Origins
Though the origins of the term ember are clear enough, nevertheless, the reasons for the observance are open to considerable debate. What is generally agreed upon, however, is that the concept of the observance predates the Christian era, and that since Ember Days have never been observed in the Eastern Churches, the pagan origins must lie in the west. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth In pagan Rome offerings were made to various gods and goddesses of agriculture in the hope that the deities would provide a bountiful harvest (in June), a rich vintage (in September), or a productive seeding (in December). Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Others point to much more specific Celtic origins, linked to the Celtic custom of observing various festivals at three-month intervals: Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated among Gaelic peoples and some other Celtic cultures either at the beginning Beltane is the anglicized spelling of Bealtaine ( or Bealltainn ( the Gaelic names for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on Lughnasadh ( Old Irish, pronounced luɣnəsəð Modern Irish Lá Lúnasa; Modern Gaelic Lùnastal) is a Gaelic Samhain (ˈsaʊn or /ˈsɑːwɪn/ Irish /ˈsˠaunʲ/ from the Old Irish samain) is the word for November in a few Gaelic languages In any event, the ancient Christian church often sought to co-opt pagan feasts and reorient them to different purposes, and that seems to have been applicable in this instance. The historical phenomenon of Christianization (or Christianisation &mdash see spelling differences) the conversion of individuals to Christianity
These seasonal fasts, four in number, do not appear in early Christian observations: they are first known from the writings of Philastrius, bishop of Brescia (died ca 387) (De haeres. St Philastrius or Philaster, Bishop of Brescia, died before 397 119). He also connects them with the great Christian festivals.
The Christian observation of these (possibly Celtic) seasonal observance of the Ember days had its origin as an ecclesiastical ordinance in Rome and spread from there to the rest of the Western Church. They were known as the jejunium vernum, aestivum, autumnale and hiemale, so that to quote Pope Leo's words (A. D. 440 - 461) the law of abstinence might apply to every season of the year. In Leo's time, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were already days of special observance. In order to tie them to the fasts preparatory to the three great festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, a fourth needed to be added "for the sake of symmetry" as the Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 has it. The correspondence is forced.
From Rome the Ember days gradually spread unevenly through the whole of Western Christendom. Neither in Gaul nor Spain do they seem to have been generally recognized much before the 8th century.
Their observation in Britain, however, was embraced earlier than in Gaul or Spain, interestingly, and Christian sources connect the Ember Days observations with Augustine, AD. Augustine of Canterbury OSB (born c first third of the 6th century - died 26 May 604 was a Benedictine Monk who became the first Archbishop 597, said to be acting under the direct authority of Pope Gregory the Great. The precise dates appears to have varied considerably however, and in some cases, quite significantly, the Ember Weeks lost their connection with the Christian festivals altogether.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, where Celtic traditions were not a concern, ember days have never been observed. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world
Timing
The Ordo Romanus fixes the spring fast in the first week of March (then the first month), thus loosely associated with the first Sunday in Lent; the summer fast in the second week of June, after Whitsunday; the autumnal fast in the third week of September following the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14; and the winter fast in the complete week next before Christmas Eve, following St. Lucy's Day (Dec. In the Christian Liturgical calendar, there are several different feasts known as Feasts of the Cross, all of which commemorate the cross used in the Saint Lucy's Day ( Sankta Lucia, Saint Lucia is the Church Feast day dedicated to St 13).
Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now observed being laid down under Pope Urban II as the law of the church, at the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont, 1095. Pope The Council of Piacenza was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Roman Catholic Church, which took place from March 1 to March 5, 1095 The Council of Clermont was a mixed Synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, which was held on November 27 1095 at Clermont France
These dates are given in the following mnemonic distich with a frank indifference to quantity and meter:
- Dant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
- Ut sit in angariâ quarta sequens feria
Or in the equally clumsy old English rhyme
- "Fasting days and Emberings be
- Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie. "
The ember days began on the Wednesday immediately following those days. This meant, for instance, that if September 14 were a Tuesday, the ember days would occur on September 15, 17, and 18. As a result the ember days in September could fall after either the second or third Sunday in September. This, however, was always the liturgical Third Week of September, since the First Sunday of September was the Sunday closest to September 1st (August 29 to September 4). As a simplification of the liturgical calendar, Pope John XXIII modified this so that the Third Sunday was the third Sunday actually within the calendar month. Pope John (numberingBlessed Thus if September 14 were a Sunday, September 24, 26 and 27 would be ember days, the latest dates possible; with September 14 as a Saturday, however, the ember days would occur on September 18, 20 and 21 - the earliest possible dates. (This rule is followed by those Traditionalist Catholic communities who observe the liturgical calendar and breviary of 1962. Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics, or people who identify as Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical A breviary (from Latin brevis, 'short' or 'concise' is a Liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. )
Prior to the reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church mandated fasting (only one full meal per day plus two partial, meatless meals) on all Ember Days (which meant both fasting and abstinence from meat on Ember Fridays), and the faithful were encouraged (though not required) to receive the sacrament of penance whenever possible. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twentieth century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. For Roman Catholics, Fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food to one full meal a day Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging a desire or appetite for certain bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a Rite in which God is uniquely active Penance is repentance of Sins as well as the proper name of the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession On February 17, 1966, Pope Paul VI's decree Paenitemini excluded the Ember Days as days of fast and abstinence for Roman Catholics. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Pope Paenitemini is a 1966 Apostolic constitution by Pope Paul VI. [1] Since the revision of the liturgical calendar in 1969, Ember Days, along with Rogation days are no longer explicitly listed. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Rogation days are in the calendar of the Western Church four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy They may be observed with the celebration of one of the "masses for various needs". [2] Sometimes they are observed at the discretion of each country's National Conference of Bishops, and they are frequently called “days of prayer for peace. " [3]
They were made optional by churches of the Anglican Communion in 1976. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Ordination of clergy
The present rule which fixes the ordination of clergy in the Ember weeks was set in documents traditionally associated with Pope Gelasius I (492 - 496). In general religious use ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is set apart as Clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies Pope In the earlier church ordinations took place whenever necessity required. Gelasius is stated to have been the first who limited them to these particular times. The rule once introduced commended itself to the mind of the church, and its observance spread. We find it laid down in the pontificate of Archbishop Ecgbert of York, A. D. 732 - 766, and referred to as a canonical rule in a capitulary of Charlemagne, and it was finally established as a law of the church in the pontificate of Pope Gregory VII, ca 1085. Pope
Notes
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica article Ember days
- ^ Normae universales de anno liturgico et de calendario, numbers 45-47
- ^ Article at Bartleby dot com
See also
- Perchta (Quatemberca, Kvaternica, Lady of the Ember Days)
External links
- Francis Mershman (1913). Perchta or Berchta (English Bertha) also commonly known as Percht and other variations was once known as a Goddess in Southern "Ember Days". Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911
- Readings and Litanies for the Ember Days
- Medieval Sourcebook: The Golden Legend: Ember Days
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