4. Sabbatum Luminis, Holy Saturday.
5. Festum claudens s. terminans est octiduo post pascha, Low Sunday.
6. Festum transfigurationis (6th August).
7. Festum crucis, on the 14th September.
For the Egyptian Christians, Good Friday was not a festival of either the first or second class. In this it stood in marked distinction from the preceding and following days—Maundy Thursday and Holy Saturday, which were regarded as festivals of the second class.
The festivals observed in the latter period of the Byzantine Empire under the Paleologi are found in the treatise of an official of the palace, George Codinus, De Officiis Palatii, in which detailed information is given of the costume, insignia, etc., with which the Emperor and his courtiers attended divine service in the different churches of the capital. Beside the great festivals—Christmas, Epiphany, Hypapante, Easter, and Pentecost—the following days were distinguished by the attendance of the Court at divine service: the First Sunday in Lent, called by the Greeks Orthodox Sunday, Palm Sunday, Holy Saturday and the Easter Octave, the 1st September being New Year’s Day. To these were added a great number of saints’ days, i.e. 1st January, St Basil; 23rd April, St George; 21st May, Constantine; 24th June, Nativity of St John the Baptist; 30th June, the Feast of the Apostles; 8th August, the Transfiguration; 15th August, the Assumption (κοίμησις τῆς ὑπεραγίας θεοτόκου); 29th August, the Beheading of St John the Baptist; 31st August or 2nd July, the Translation of Our Lady’s garment to the Church of the Blachernæ; 8th September, the Nativity of Our Lady; 14th September, the Invention of the Cross (ὕψωσις τοῦ σταυροῦ); 26th October, Feast of the Martyr Demetrius Myroblyta; 13th November, St Chrysostom; 21st November, the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple; and, finally, the day of the Resurrection of Lazarus, which was kept on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. The Court did not attend divine service on Good Friday, although it did on Holy Saturday. No mention is made of the Ascension.
The large increase in festivals in the Middle Ages was due to the fact that the bishops exercised the right given them by Canon Law,[68] of introducing new feasts within the limits of their dioceses. This arose from the ancient custom, that it belonged to them to watch over the cultus of the martyrs, and it depended upon their authorisation whether or not a given martyr should be recognised and venerated as such. Later, when the religious orders became widespread and influential, it usually happened that some monastery began to venerate a mystery or a saint, and then, as this cultus was taken up by the people, other monasteries, or the whole Order, adopted the festival,[69] and, finally, the bishops gave their approbation to the institution of the holy day in question. Lastly, the civil power and the Roman See intervened, and the new holy day was in this way fully sanctioned. Things, however, did not always proceed so far, for in many cases the festival was confined to a single diocese, the result being great variety in particulars and general uncertainty. These abuses became more deeply felt in course of time, and so Urban VIII., in his constitution Universa per orbem, published in 1642, warns the bishops not to use their rights in this respect for the future, and at the present day these rights, without having been abrogated, are regarded as antiquated.[70]
The fact that formerly the bishops enjoyed the right of introducing festivals into their dioceses, or of excluding them, must constantly be borne in mind, because, if it is left out of sight, the institution and development of even a single festival cannot be understood, much less the historical development of the whole festal cycle. When we realise that this principle was acted upon from the beginning, and for more than a thousand years, during a period remarkable for its rich development in many directions, the wonder is that the result is as harmonious and systematic as it is. No departure was made from the natural basis upon which the whole was built up, and the attempts of the Councils were all in the direction of uniformity.
The abuses resulting from the excessive multiplication of holy days was remarked upon even in Catholic times, especially by John Gerson, at a provincial synod at Reims in 1408, and by Nicholas de Clemangiis, who, in a work[71] devoted to that purpose, published about 1416, spoke out boldly against the introduction of any more festivals. In the sixteenth century, the Protestants in their Gravamina denounced the great number of festivals, and already in 1524 the legate Campeggio settled their number, and so put an end to their arbitrary increase for the future.[72]
By the introduction of diocesan and local festivals, the number of holy days became excessive in some localities, and great uncertainty arose as to which festivals should be celebrated by all, in accordance with the general precepts of the Church, and which should not. This, and the complaints of the poor that they were prevented by the number of holy days from gaining their livelihood, while others again took advantage of them to indulge in laziness or the pursuit of pleasure, was the ground which Gerson had already adduced in his time. The same reasons now induced Pope Urban VIII. to regulate the arrangements of festivals and to fix limits for the whole Church beyond which it would not be lawful to go. For this purpose, he published, on the 24th September 1642, the important constitution Universa per orbem, in which the following holy days are prescribed: 1. Feasts of our Lord—Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, with the two following days, New Year, Epiphany, the Ascension, Trinity, Corpus Christi, the Invention of the Cross. 2. Feasts of Our Lady—Candlemas, the Annunciation, the Assumption, and the Nativity. 3. Saints’ Days—St Michael (8th May), Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, St Andrew, St James, St John, St Thomas, SS. Phillip and James, St Bartholomew, St Matthew, SS. Simon and Jude, St Matthias, St Lawrence, St Silvester, St Joseph, St Anne, All Saints’, and the patron saint of the country. The actual reduction was small, and concerned chiefly the lesser saints days, such as St Mary Magdalene, St Cecilia, St Catherine, St Martin, etc. A more important consequence of this constitution was, that the original right of the bishop to appoint festivals, although recognised by the Council of Trent, was rendered practically ineffective.