A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

At St. Agatha, a city of Calabria, is a chapel, in which they show a piece of a pillar, kept in a glass case, which they say shined when St. Paul preached there. It was broken by the Turks, when they took this place, and this piece was kept at Messina till they brought it hither. The Jesuits would have carried it to their college, but several men, they pretend, could not stir it; nevertheless, when it was resolved to place it in this chapel, one man’s strength was sufficient.

We will add but one legend more. At Malta they tell this story. Three Maltese knights were taken prisoners by the Turks, and carried before the Grand Seignior, who endeavoured, by sending priests to them, to convert them from the Christian religion; but they continued stedfast. The Grand Seignior’s daughter observing them, fell in love with them, and told her father she would endeavour their conversion. After this, she discovered to them her affection; but they informed her of their obligation to live chastely, and discoursed about the Christian religion, and their order, and promised to show her the true representation of the Virgin Mary. Accordingly, they undertook to carve a piece of wood; but none of them being skilful in that art, they prayed for assistance, and suddenly appeared the image of the Virgin shaped exactly like her. Upon the sight of this, the princess turned Christian, and procuring the means of their escape, went away with them, and placed herself in a nunnery.—Broughton.

LEGION, THUNDERING. In the wars of the Romans, under the emperor Marcus Antoninus, with the Marcomanni, the Roman troops being surrounded by the enemy, and in great distress from intense thirst, in the midst of a burning desert, a legion of Christians, who served in the army, imploring the merciful interposition of Christ, suddenly a storm with thunder and lightning came on, which refreshed the fainting Romans with its seasonable rain, while the lightning fell among the enemy, and destroyed many of them. The Christian legion to whose prayers this miraculous interposition was granted, was (according to the common account) thenceforth called The Thundering Legion.

LEIRE. (Probably a corruption of the old French lieure, for livre, a book.) A Service Book. “Two great leires, garnished with stones, and two lesser leires, garnished with stones and pearls,” are mentioned among the furniture of the communion table of the Royal Chapel, 1565, in Leland’s Collectania, vol. ii. pp. 691, 692, 1770.—Jebb.

LENT. (A Teutonic word: in German, Lenz, the “Spring.”) The holy seasons appointed by the Church will generally be found to date their rise from some circumstance in the life of our Lord, some event in Scripture history, or a desire to keep in remembrance the virtues and piety of the saints who adorned the early Church. But the origin of the season of Lent is not so obvious, though it is usually supposed that Lent is observed in commemoration of our Saviour’s temptation and fasting of forty days in the wilderness. It is most probable that the Christian Lent originated from a regard to those words of the Redeemer, “the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” We learn from the history of the Church that the primitive Christians considered, that in this passage Christ has alluded to the institution of a particular season of fasting and prayer in his future Church. Accordingly they, in the first instance, began this solemn period on the afternoon of the day on which they commemorated the crucifixion, and continued it until the morning of that of the resurrection. The whole interval would thus be only about forty hours. But by degrees this institution suffered a considerable change, different however at different times and places. From the forty hours, or the two days, originally observed, it was extended to other additional days, but with great variety in their number, according to the judgment of the various Churches. Some fasted three days in the week before Easter, some four, and others six. A little after, some extended the fast to three weeks, and others to six, and other Churches appointed certain portions of seven weeks in succession. The result of all this was the eventual fixing of the time at forty days, commencing on the Wednesday in the seventh week before Easter, and excluding the intermediate Sundays. It is not, however, to be supposed that the Church remained long in uncertainty on this point, for it appears that the Lent of forty days can be traced to a period very near that of the apostles. That its term of forty days was settled at a very early period, is evident from the writings of the bishops of those times, who refer us, in vindication of it, to the example of Moses, Elias, and our Lord, all of whom fasted forty days. From all this, then, we arrive at the conclusion, that though fasting is frequently alluded to in the Scriptures as a Christian duty, yet the set times for it are to be referred solely to the authority of the Church. It may here be remarked, that the name we apply to this season is derived from the time of the year when it occurs. The term Lent, in the Saxon language, signifies Spring; and, as we use it, indicates merely the spring fast, preparatory to the rising of Christ from the grave.

The Lenten fast does not embrace all the days included between Ash Wednesday and Easter, for the Sundays are so many days above the number of forty. They are excluded, because the Lord’s day is always held as a festival, and never as a fast. These six Sundays are, therefore, called Sundays in Lent, not Sundays of Lent. They are in the midst of it, but do not form part of it. On them we continue, without interruption, to celebrate our Saviour’s resurrection.

The principal days of Lent are, the first day, Passion Week, and particularly the Thursday and Friday in that week. The first day of Lent was formerly called the head of the fast, and also by the name which the Church retains—Ash Wednesday. In the Church of England there is a solemn service appointed for Ash Wednesday, under the title of a “Commination, or denouncing of God’s Anger and Judgments against Sinners.” This was designed to occupy, as far as could be, the place of the ancient penitential discipline, as is sufficiently declared in the beginning of the office in the English Prayer Book. The last week of Lent, called Passion Week, has always been considered as its most solemn season. It is called the Great Week, from the important transactions which are then commemorated; and Holy Week, from the increase of devotional exercises among believers. The Thursday in Passion Week is that on which we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s supper. The Epistle for the day has been selected by the Church with a view to this fact. On the following day we commemorate the sufferings, and particularly the death, of our Saviour Christ. And, from the mighty and blessed effects of these, in the redemption of man, the day is appropriately called Good Friday. As this day has been kept holy by the Church from the earliest times, so has it also been made a time of the strictest devotion and humiliation.

The general design of this institution is thus set forth by St. Chrysostom: “Why do we fast these forty days? Many heretofore were used to come to the communion indevoutly, and inconsiderately, especially at this time, when Christ first gave it to his disciples. Therefore our forefathers, considering the mischiefs arising from such careless approaches, meeting together, appointed forty days for fasting and prayer, and hearing of sermons, and for holy assemblies; that all men in these days being carefully purified by prayer and alms-deeds, and fasting, and watching, and tears, and confession of sins, and other the like exercises, might come, according to their capacity, with a pure conscience, to the holy table.”

But if we inquire more particularly into the reasons of instituting the Lent fast, we shall find them to be these following: First, the apostles’ sorrow for the loss of their Master. For this reason, the ancients observed these two days in which our Saviour lay in the grave, with the greatest strictness. Secondly, the declension of Christian piety from its first and primitive fervour. Thirdly, that the catechumens might prepare themselves for baptism, and the penitents for absolution; Easter being one of the settled times of baptizing the catechumens, and absolving the penitents.

This solemn season of fasting was universally observed by all Christians, though with a great liberty, and a just allowance for men’s infirmities; and this was in a great measure left to their own discretion. If men were in health, and able to bear it, the rule and custom was for them to observe it. On the other hand, bodily infirmity and weakness were always admitted as a just apology for their non-observance of it.