[126] ‘In tribus quadragesimis anni et in dominica die et in feriis quartis et in sextis feriis conjuges continere se debent.’ Lib. xlvi. c. 11: Wasserschleben, Die Irische Kanonensammlung (ed. 1885), p. 187.
[127] The Great Litany on St Mark’s day at Rome was much earlier.
[128] See Serm. xix. 2; lxxx. 4.
[129] For the reasons for his ingenious conjecture see Christian Worship, E. tr. p. 223.
[130] See Sinker’s scholarly article ‘Ember Days’ in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, for many valuable details.
[131] The MS. is wanting for the part before April.
[132] Can. 8 (Labbe xi. 274). It is to be observed that in the Leofric Missal, of much earlier date, the Ember days are noted as falling in the first week of Lent; in the week of Pentecost; in the full week before the autumnal equinox; and in the full week before the Nativity.
[133] The study of the Martyrologies of Bede, Florus, Ado, and Usuard has been recently approached in the true scientific spirit by Dom Henri Quentin, of Solesmes. Manuscripts in the various libraries of Europe have been examined and classified, and the sources of the entries traced in most cases with great success. See this writer’s Les Martyrologes historiques du moyen age (1908).
[134] Med. Æv. Kal. I. 397-420.
[135] [On these terms see Ducange, Glossarium, s.v. Festum; Addis and Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, art. ‘Festival.’ Edd.]