Heortology

by K. A. Heinrich Kellner

With the fact that the heathen worship of Rome recognised three sorts of such feriæ observed thrice in the year (no evidence of a fourth being forthcoming), agrees a passage in the Liber Pontificalis, which has long been regarded as the earliest evidence for the observance of Embertides, though it fell short of absolute proof. The passage states that Calixtus (217-222) ordained a fast on three Saturdays in the year.[406] The number corresponds well with the three sets of heathen feriæ mentioned above. As St Leo speaks of four fasts of this kind yearly in the fifth century, the fourth fast, corresponding to the fourfold division of the year, must have been added in the course of the fourth century. It may be that the passage, Zacharias viii. 19, referring to a Jewish custom of sanctifying by a fast the four seasons of the year, helped to bring this about.

All four Embertides are mentioned in the sermon of Leo the Great, and both the Leonine and Gelasian sacramentaries agree in marking Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday as the days to be observed as fasts.[407] Pope Gelasius[408] appointed that ordinations of priests and deacons were to be held on all Embertides, and in the middle of Lent, whereas in St Leo’s time the ordination of priests took place at Easter only.[409]

The Ember fasts were called jejunium primi, quarti, septimi et decimi mensis, in the earliest service-books, and fell in March, June, September, and December. The week in each of the aforesaid months, in which the Ember fast was to be observed, appears not to have been definitely fixed in earlier days.

If the opinion of Morin is correct, this would agree with the fact that the harvest feast was not fixed for any day in particular, but was determined by the pontiffs in each case. However, it remained for a long period undetermined whether the first Embertide should be observed before or during the course of Lent, and also in which week of Advent the last Embertide should fall. The present arrangement, according to the Micrologus[410] was first made by Gregory VII., i.e., the first Embertide to fall in the first week of Lent, the second in Whitsun week, the third in the third week of September, the fourth in the third week in Advent.

According to what has been said the Ember fasts were distinctively Roman in origin, and indeed belonged to the city of Rome, and the Roman bishops by repeated injunctions ordered their colleagues in Italy to adopt them in the first instance. In Gaul and in the Christian districts of Germany, their adoption was due to the patronage given to Roman usages by the Carolingians: in Spain the Ember Days were unknown until the Roman ritual was introduced in the eleventh century, and in Milan they were introduced much later, in fact by St Charles Borromeo.[411] It does not appear from history that the original object of the Ember Days was to petition God to raise up worthy priests in His Church. They are first mentioned in this connection after the popes had appointed them as the fixed times for ordinations. They owe their origin to the agricultural festivals of ancient Rome, as appears plainly from the references of Leo the Great,[412] to the December fast.

In a later age, they lost entirely their early significance and came to be regarded solely as days of penitence and prayer. In the prayers of the actual Roman missal, no trace of their original character is to be found. The Ember masses of Advent refer to the coming of Christ, those of Lent to the suffering caused by sin, and its Atonement, those of Whitsun week to the descent of the Holy Ghost. Where the prayers do not relate to these subjects they contain no special references, or deal only with fasting in general and its necessity. The masses for the September Ember Days alone preserve some traces of their historical origin, in as much as they are principally of a festive character (Exultate, etc.), such as might refer to a harvest safely gathered in. But such a connection cannot be proved beyond doubt.

When we go through the prayers in the oldest sacramentaries we find the same thing. The name of Embertide is not indeed employed, and the days are not yet marked as fast-days, but the Saturdays are distinguished, twice in the Gelasian, and on all four Embertides in the Gregorian sacramentary, by having twelve lessons.[413] With regard to the later recensions of these two sacramentaries, the Gelasian contains two formulæ for announcing the Ember fasts to the faithful after the “Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum”[414] in the Mass. In the first part, there is a Mass for the three Ember Days of the fourth month, June, and, in the second part, for September and December as well,[415] while the March Ember Days are merely indicated in Nos. XIX. and XX. of the first part. In the Frankish Gregorian sacramentary it is the same; masses are given for March, June, and September but not for December.[416] Few of the prayers in these two sacramentaries are contained in the missal actually in use. It is to be remarked concerning the lections that they numbered twelve on the Saturdays. The present Roman missal prescribes three lections for the Wednesdays, but for the Fridays only two as usual. For the Saturdays, however, the number reaches six, and, in the Advent Embertide, seven, including the Gospel.

That there were only three Embertides (i.e. the jejunium quarti, septimi, et decimi mensis) given in the ancient service-books is not surprising, since the fast in March fell usually in Lent and so needed no special mention.