Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

MOVEABLE FEASTS

FROM

"Tables, Calendars, &c. for the use of Historians, Antiquaries, and the Legal Profession, by N. H. Nicolas, Esq." Advent Sunday, is the nearest Sunday to the feast of St. Andrew, November 30th, whether before or after. Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday, is the Thursday in Rogation week, i. e. the week following Rogation Sunday. Ash Wednesday, or the first day in lent, is the day after Shrove Tuesday. Carle, or Care Sunday, or the fifth Sunday in lent, is the fifth Sunday after Shrove Tuesday.

Corpus Christi, or Body of Christ, is a festival kept on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday; and was instituted in the year 1264. Easter Day.

The Paschal Sabbath. The Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, is the seventh Sunday after Shrove Tuesday, and is always the first Sunday after the first full moon, which happens on or next after the 21st of March.

Easter Monday Easter Tuesday

are the Monday and Tuesday following Easter day.

Ember Days, are the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, after the first Sunday in lent; after the Feast of Pentecost; after Holy-rood Day, or the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, viz. 14th September; and after St. Lucia's day, viz. 15th December. Ember Weeks, are those weeks in which the Ember days fall.

The Eucharist. See Easter day.
Good Friday, is the Friday in Passion
Week, and the next Friday before Eas-
ter day.

Holy Thursday. See Ascension day.
Lent, a Fast from Ash Wednesday, to

the Feast of Easter, viz. forty days. Lord's Supper. See Easter day. Low Sunday, is the Sunday next after Easter day.

Maunday Thursday, is the day before Good Friday.

Midlent, or the fourth Sunday in Lent, is the fourth Sunday after Shrove Tuesday.

Palm Sunday, or the sixth Sunday in Lent, is the sixth Sunday after Shrove Tuesday.

Paschal Sabbath. See Easter day. Passion Week, is the week next ensuing after Palm Sunday

Pentecost or hit Sunday, 13 the fiftieth day and seventh Sunday after Easter day.

Quinquagesima Sunday, is so named from its being about the fiftieth day before Easter. It is also called Shrove Sunday.

Relick Sunday, is the third Sunday after Midsummer-day.

Rogation Sunday, is the fifth Sunday after Easter day.

Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday following Rogation Sunday.

Shrove Sunday, is the Sunday next before Shrove Tuesday. It is also called Quinquagesima Sunday.

Septuagesima Sunday, so called from its being about the seventieth day before Easter, is the third Sunday before Lent.

Sexagesima Sunday, is the second Sunday before Lent, or the next to Shrove Sunday, so called as being about the sixtieth day before Easter.

Trinity Sunday, or the Feast of the Holy
Trinity, is the next Sunday after Pen-
tecost or Whitsuntide.
Whit Sunday. See Pentecost.

Whit Monday Whit Tuesday

Whitsuntide, is mentioned.

are the Monday anu Tuesday following

Whit Sunday. the three days above

The Vigil or Eve of a feast, is the day before it occurs. Thus the Vigil of the feast of St. John the Baptist is the 23d of June. If the feast-day falls upon a Monday, then the Vigil or the Eve is kept upon the Saturday preceding. The Morrow of a feast, is the day following: thus the feast of All Souls, is November 2d, and the Morrow of All Souls is consequently the 3d of November.

The Octave or Utas of each feast, is always the eighth day after it occurs; for example, the feast of St. Hillary, is the 13th of February, hence the Octave of St. Hillary, is the 20th of that month.

In the Octaves, means within the eight days following any particular feast.

SEPTUAGESIMA

Is the ninth Sunday before Easter Sunday

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Butler.

Shepherd in his "Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer” satisfactorily explains the origin of these days:

"When the words Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima were first applied to denote these three Sundays, the season of Lent had generally been extended to a fast of six weeks, that is, thirty-six days, not reckoning the Sundays, which were always celebrated as festivals. At this time, likewise, the Sunday which we call the first Sunday in Lent, was styled simply Quadragesima, or the fortieth, meaning the fortieth day before Easter. Quadragesima was also the name given to Lent, and denoted the Quadragesimal, or forty days' fast. When the three weeks before Quadragesima ceased to be considered as weeks after the Epiphany, and were appointed to be observed as a time of preparation for Lent, it was perfectly conformable to the ordinary mode of computation to reckon backwards, and for the sake of even and round numbers to count by decades. The authors of this novel institution, and the compilers of the new proper offices, would naturally call the first Sunday before Quadragesima, Quinquagesima; the second, Sexagesima; and the third, Sepuagesima. This reason corresponds with the account that seems to be at present most generally adopted."

There is much difference of opinion as to whether the fast of Lent lasted anciently during forty days or forty hours.

[blocks in formation]

January 31.

King George IV. proclaimed. Holiday at the Exchequer

St. Peter Nolasco, A. D. 1258. St. Serapion, A. D. 1240. St. Cyrus and John. St. Marcella, A. D. 410. St. Maidoc, or Maodhog, alias Aidar, otherwise Mogue, Bishop of Ferns, A. D. 1632.

St. Peter Nolasco.

was

Ribadeneira relates, that on the 1st of August 1216, the virgin Mary with beautiful train of holy virgins appeared to this saint at midnight, and signified it was the divine pleasure that a new order should be instituted under the title of Our Blessed Lady of Mercy, for king James of Aragon had the same the redemption of captives, and that vision at the same time, and "this order, therefore, by divine revelation, founded upon the 10th, or as others say, upon the 23d of August." Then St. Peter Nolasco begged for its support, and thereby rendered himself offensive to the devil. For once taking up his lodging in private, some of the neighbours told him, that the master of the house, a man of evil report, had lately died, and the place had ever since been inhabited by "night spirits," wherein he commended himself to the virgin and other saints, and "instantly his admonitors vanished away like smoke, leaving an intolerable scent behind them." These of course were devils in disguise. Then he passed the sea in his cloak, angels sung before him in the habit of his order, and the virgin visited his monastery. One night he went into the church and found the angels singing the service instead of the monks; and at another time seven stars fell from heaven, and on digging the ground "there, they found a most devout image of our lady under a great bell," and so forth.

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Hartstongue. Asplenium Scolopendium. Dedicated to St. Marcelli.

VOL. I.

97

H

[graphic][merged small]

Then came cold February, sitting

In an old waggon, for he could not ride,
Drawne of two fishes, for the season fitting,
Which through the flood before did softly slyde
And swim away; yet had he by his side
His plough and harnesse fit to till the ground,
And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hasting prime did make them burgeon round.

This month has Pisoes or the fishes for its zodiacal sign. Numa, who was chosen by the Roman people to succeed Romulus as their king, and became their legislator, placed it the second in the year, as it remains with us, and dedicated it to Neptune, the lord of waters. Its name is from the Februa, or Feralia, sacrifices offered to the manes of the gods at this season. Ovid in his Fasti attests the derivation :

In ancient times, purgations had the name
Of Februa, various customs prove the same;
The pontiffs from the rex and flamen crave
A lock of wool; in former days they gave
To wool the naine of Februa.

A pliant branch cut from a lofty pine,
Which round the temples of the priests they
twine.

Is Februa called; which if the priest demand,
A branch of pine is put into his hand :

Spenser.

In short, with whatsoe'er our hearts we hold Are purified, was Februa termed of old; Lustrations are from hence, from hence the

name

of this our month of February came;
In which the priests of Pan processions made;
In which the tombs were also purified
Of such as had no dirges when they died;
For our religious fathers did maintain,
Purgations expiated every stain
Of guilt and sin; from Greece the custom

came,

But here adopted by another name;
The Grecians held that pure lustrations could
Efface an impious deed, or guilt of blood
Weak men; to think that water can make
clean

A bloody crime, or any sinful stain.
Massey's Ovid.

Our Saxon ancestors, according to Ver stegan, "called February Sprout-hele, by kele meaning the kele-wurt, which we

now call the colewurt, the greatest potwurt in time long past that our ancestors used, and the broth made therewith was thereof also called kele; for before we borrowed from the French the name of potage, and the name of herbe, the one in our owne language was called kele, and the other wurt; and as this kele-wurt, or potage-hearbe, was the chiefe winterwurt for the sustenance of the husbandman, so was it the first hearbe that in this moneth began to yeeld out wholesome yong sprouts, and consequently gave thereunto the name of Sprout-kele." The "kele "here mentioned, is the wellknown kale of the cabbage tribe. But the Saxons likewise called this month Solmonath," which Dr. Frank Sayers in his "Disquisitions" says, is explained by Bede mensis plancentarum," and rendered by Spelman in an unedited manuscript "pan-cake month," because in the course of it, cakes were offered by the pagan Saxons to the sun; and "Sol,' or "soul," signified "food," or cakes." In "The Months," by Mr. Leigh Hunt,

66

66

he remarks that "if February were not the precursor of spring, it would be the least pleasant season of the year, November not excepted. The thaws now take place; and a clammy mixture of moisture and cold succeeds, which is the most disagreeable of wintry sensations." Yet so variable is our climate, that the February of 1825 broke in upon the inhabitants of the metropolis with a day or two of piercing cold, and realized a delightful description of January sparkled from the same pen. "What can be more delicately beautiful than the spectacle which sometimes salutes the eye at the breakfastroom window, occasioned by the hoarfrost dew? If a jeweller had come to dress every plant over night, to surprise an Eastern sultan, he could not produce any thing like the pearly drops," or the silvery plumage.' An ordinary bed of greens, to those who are not at the mercy of their own vulgar associations, will sometimes look crisp and corrugated emerald, powdered with diamonds."

THE SEASON.

Sunk in the vale, whose concave depth receives
The waters draining from these shelvy banks
When the shower beats, yon pool with pallid gleam
Betrays its icy covering. From the glade
Issuing in pensive file, and moving slow,
The cattle, all unwitting of the change,
To quench their customary thirst advance.

With wondering stare and fruitless search they trace
The solid margin: now bend low the head
In act to drink; now with fastidious nose
Snuffing the marble floor, and breathing loud,
From the cold touch withdraw. Awhile they stand
In disappointment mute; with ponderous feet
Then bruise the surface: to each stroke the woods
Reply; forth gushes the imprisoned wave.

[blocks in formation]

St. Bride, otherwise St. Bridget, confers her name upon the parish of St. Bride's, for to her its church in Fleetstreet is dedicated. Butler says she was born in Ulster, built herself a cell under a large oak, thence called Kill-dara, or cell of the oak, was joined by others of her own sex, formed several nunneries, and became patroness of Ireland. 'But," says Butler, "a full account of her virtues has not been transmitted down to us, together with the veneration of her name;"

66

yet he declares that "her five modern lives mention little else but wonderful miracles." According to the same author, she flourished in the beginning of the sixth century, her body was found in the twelfth century, and her head "is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon." This writer does not favour us with any of her miracles, but bishop Patrick mentions, that wild ducks swimming in the water, or flying in the air, obeyed her call, came to her hand, let her embrace them, and then she let them fly away again. He also found in the breviary of Sarum, that when she was sent a-milking by her mother to make butter, she gave away an the milk to the poor; that when the rest of the maids brought

99

in their milk she prayed, and the butter multiplied; that the butter she gave away she divided into twelve parts, "as if it were for the twelve apostles; and one part she made bigger than any of the rest, which stood for Christ's portion; though it is strange," says Patrick, "that she forget to make another inequality by ordering one portion more of the butter to be made bigger than the remaining ones in honour of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles."

[ocr errors]

BURIAL OF ALLELUIA.

In Mr. Fosbroke's "British Monarchism," the observation of this catholic ceremony is noticed as being mentioned in Ernulphus's Annals of Rochester Cathedral," and by Selden. From thence it appears to have taken place just before the octaves of Easter Austin "that it says, used to be sung in all churches from Easter to Pentecost, but Damasus ordered it to be performed at certain times, whence it was chanted on Sundays from the octaves of Epiphany to Septuagesima, and on the Sundays from the octaves of Pentecost and Advent. One mode of burying the Alleluia was this: in the sabbath of the Septuagesima at Nones, the choristers assembled in the great vestiary, and there arranged the ceremony. Having finished the last Benedicamus,' they advanced with crosses, torches, holy waters, and incense, carrying a turf (Glebam) in the manner of a coffin, passed through the choir and went howling to the cloister, as far as the place of interment; and then having sprinkled the water, and censed the place, returned by the same road. According to a story (whether true or false) in one of the churches of Paris, a choir boy used to whip a top, marked with Alleluia, written in golden letters, from one end of the choir to the other. In other places Alleluia was buried by a serious service on Septuagesima Sunday."

FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Lesser Water Moss. Fontinalis minor.
Dedicated to St. Ignatius.

Bay. Laurus nobilis.
Dedicated to St. Bridget.

February 2.

Holiday at the Public Offices, except Excise, Stamps, and Customs. The Purification. St. Laurence, Archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 619

CANDLEMAS DAY.

This being the festival which catholics

call the Purification of the virgin, they observe it with great pomp. It stands as a holiday in the calendar of the church of England. Naogeorgus thus introduces the day; or rather Barnaby Googe, in his translation of that author's, " Popish Kingdom:"

"Then comes the Day wherein the Virgin offred Christ unto

The Father chiefe, as Moyses law

pomp

commaunded hir to do. Then numbers great of Tapers large, both men and women beare To Church, being halowed there with and dreadful words to heare. This done, eche man his Candell lightes where chiefest seemeth hee, Whose Taper greatest may be seene and fortunate to bee;

Whose Candell burneth cleare and b..ght,
a wondrous force and might
Doth in these Candels lie, which if
at any time they light,

They sure beleve that neyther storme
thunder in the skies be heard,
or tempest dare abide,

Nor

Nor

nor any Devil's spide,
fearefull sprites that w lke by night,

nor hurts of frost or haile."According to "The Posey of Prayers, or the Key of Heaven," it is called Candlemas, because before mass is said this day, the church blesses her candles for the whole year, and makes a procession with hallowed or blessed candles in the hands of the faithful."

From catholic service-books, quoted in "Pagano Papismus," some particulars are collected concerning the blessing of the candles. Being at the altar, the priest says over them several prayers; one of which commences thus: "O Lord Jesu Christ, who enlightenest every one that cometh into the world, pour out thy benediction upon these Candles, and sanctifie them with the light of thy grace," &c. Another begins: "Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God, who hast created all things of nothing, and by the labour of bees caused this liquor to come to the perfection of a wax candle; we humbly beseech thee, that by the invocation of thy most holy name, and by the intercession of the blessed virgin, ever a virgin, whose festivals are this day devoutly celebrated, and by the prayers of all thy saints, thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless and sanctifie these candles," &c. Then the priest sprinkles the candles thrice with holy water, saying "Sprinkle me with," &c. and perfumes them thrice with incense. One of the

« ZurückWeiter »