LOW SUNDAY. The Sunday after Easter is called Low Sunday, because, although it partakes in some sort of the festal nature of Easter, it being the Octave, yet it is a festival of a much lower degree than Easter itself.
LUKE'S (St.) DAY. October 18. Kept in commemoration of St. Luke, the companion of St. Paul, the author of the third Gospel, and also probably of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. He is believed to have been a physician, and his writings prove that he was a man of education. According to St. Augustine, his symbol is the ox, the Sacrificial Victim.
LUTHERANS. The followers of Martin Luther, an Augustine monk, a German, born 1483. He was the great Reformer of the Continent. They retain the use of the Altar, some of the ancient vestments, lighted tapers, incense, crucifix, confession, &c. At the time of the Reformation, the Lutherans, meeting with nothing but opposition from the Bishops, were constrained to act without them, and consequently they are in much the same position as the Scottish Presbyterian body, though not from the same cause. The Lutherans earnestly protested, that they much wished to retain episcopacy, but that the Bishops forced them to reject sound doctrine, and therefore they were unable to preserve their allegiance to them. The ritual and liturgies differ in the various Lutheran countries, but in fundamental articles they all agree.
LYCH GATE. A covered gate of the churchyard where the body (Leich, a corpse) rests on its way to burial.
MAGNIFICAT. The song of the Blessed Virgin, Luke i. It is the first canticle of Evening Prayer, and has been sung in the Church from very early times.
MANIPLE, or MANUPLE, see Vestment.
MARIOLATRY. The worship, or cultus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the principal errors of the Church of Rome, and on the increase.
MARK'S (St.) DAY. April 25th. St. Mark was a companion of St. Peter, and is thought to have written his Gospel under St. Peter's directions. This evangelist is symbolized by the Man.
MARRIAGE, see Matrimony, Holy.
MARTINMAS. November 11th. A festival formerly kept in honour of St.
Martin, Bishop of Tours, in France, in 374.