and furnish the Tables in the Inns of Court with good Chear In the Colledges at the Universities they are usually call'd Gawdy in the Inns of Court Grand-Days and at His Majestie 's Court White-Hall Collar-Days for on these Days at Court the King Knights of the Garter and Judges wear their Collars of S.S. It is also one of His Majestie 's Offering-days St. Matthias On February the 24th but in Leap-year the 25th is Celebrated the Feast of St. Matthias who was one of the 70 Disciples and elected Apostle by lot in the room of that Arch Traytor Judas after the Ascension of our Blessed Lord He Preached the Holy Gospel in Macedonia and after Travelled into Judaea where he was first cruelly stoned by the Jews and then Beheaded according to the Roman Custom Anno Dom. 51. and it is also one of His Majesties Collar-Days without Offering here we may properly come in with our Discourse concerning Bissextile or Leap-year 'T is term'd Bissextilis because the 6th of the Calends of March are twice reckon'd viz. on the 24th and 25th of February so that Leap-year has a supernumerary day more than other years according to that old Rhythm Thirty Days hath November April June and September February hath Eight and twenty alone And all the rest have thirty and one But when of Leap-year cometh the time Then Days hath February Twenty and nine Observe also this Latin Distich tho in old Monkish Rhythm regardless of true Quantity Bissextum Sextae Martis tenuere Calendae Posteriore die celebrantur Festa Mathiae This Leap-year is observed every fourth year and was first invented by Julius Caesar the Perpetual Dictator of Rome to accommodate and even the year with the Course of the Sun and takes the name of Julian Account from him who before the Incarnation of Christ the space of 44 years observing the erroneousness of the Account then in use ordered the year to consist of 365 days and six hours which six hours in four years time made 24 hours or a Civil Day and were added to the end of February and upon this account every fourth year contained 366 days and was call'd Annus Bissextilis for the reason premention'd and the thing it self Intercalatio an Interlacing or puting any odd thing between even ones meaning the odd day in Leap-year in which account for many years there was no sensible Error discovered yet in process of time it was found not to be so exactly agreeable with the Sun 's natural Motion for the Julian exceeded the true Solar year by 10 Minutes and 48 seconds and caused the Aequinoxes and Solstices yearly to alter and change their places and recede or fly back so many Minutes and seconds in consideration whereof Pope Gregory the 13th of that Name by the advice â—nd assistance of Antonius Lilius â—is Brothers and other Eminent Mathematicians did in the year of our Lord 1582. correct the Roman Calendar appointing the year to contain 365 days 5 hours 49 Minutes and 12 seconds and that the Vernal Aequinox which was then on the 11th of March might be reduced to the 21th as it was at the time of the first Council of Nicaea he commanded that 10 days in October should be totally omitted viz. from the 4th to the 14th so that the 4th day of the Month was counted the 14th Hence it is that the New Foreign Gregorian or Lilian is 10 days before the old or our Julian account Here it is also observable that every Leap-year to prevent all Ambiguities that may arise at Law it is provided by the Statute de Anno Bissextili 21 H. 3. that the 24th and 25th of February in Suits at Law shall be accounted for one day only Britton f. 209. Dyer 17 Eliz. 345. but for keeping of Fairs it is ordered that those which use to be on the 24th of February shall be kept on the 25th because the Feast of St. Mathias is not till the 25th of February in the Leap-year It is call'd Leap-year from the Dutch Loop-iare qu. Leap-year because it exceeds the bounds of other years by a day Sunday As for Sunday or the Lords-Day it is the weekly Feast of the Refurrection of Christ not Instituted by him or God himself but by his own Apostles in the place of the rejected Sabbath of the Jews for these ensuing Reasons 1. That Christians should not be obliged to the observance of Judaical Ceremonies but testifie the Abrogation of their Feasts and the liberty receiv'd by the coming of Christ 2. That as the Jewish Sabbath did continually put them in mind of the former World finished by the Creation so the Lord's-Day ought to keep us in the constant Remembrance of a far better world begun by our Saviour who came to restore all things and make Heaven and Earth new therefore for this Reason did they Honour the Last day we the First in every seven annually 3. In regard that the Lord rose from the Dead on this day and perfected the great and wonderful Work of Man's Redemption 4. We cannot more congruously apprehend the Majesty of the Super-eminent and Puissant Jesus by any other Creature than by the most resplendent and glorious Light of the Sun the Ruler of this day for it is written Et in sole posuit Tabernaculum suum exiit de Tribu Judae cujus Signum Leo est Solare Animal The Lord's-Day when any happens between Candlemas and Twelfth-Day hath no certain Name but is call'd the first or second Sunday on which it falls after Christmas but those that succeed the Epiphanie are denoted according to the Numeral order as the first Sunday after it is styl'd the first Sunday after Epiphanie the next the second c. whereof there are five this present year sometimes only four but more or fewer according to the greater quantity of the Intervallum majus tho the Sunday immediately preceding Septuagesima is ever counted the last Sunday after Epiphanie Valentine's-Day Valentine's-Day is on the 14th of February so call'd from Valentine Powerful Lat. a Roman Bishop whose Feast is kept this day about this time the Birds make choice of their Mates for the ensuing year and we among us of our Valentines that is Men and Women chosen for special Loving Friends it signifies also Saints chosen for special Patrons for the year The next 4 Sundays are known by the Name of Septuagesima Seragesima Quinquagesima and Quadragesima The three first have their Names from the Order in which they precede the 4th Quadragesima and so of the rest Septuagesima was Instituted as 't is generally believ'd for these three Reasons 1. For Suppletion i.e. making up what is wanting for because some did not use to fast on the Friday and therefore Sexagesima was Instituted as you shall understand by and by neither upon the Saturday in regard that our Saviour on that day rested in his Grave to denote our future Rest and 't is observ'd by St. Augustin that the
hard Eggs and Green-sauce The Robigalia and Ambarvalia of the Antient Romans did after their Heathenish manner in something resemble these Inâ—â—itutions They were call'd Robigalia from Robigus one of their numerous Deities to whom they ascribed the preserving of Corn from Blasting therefore these Feasts were sacred to him particularly And Ambarvalia quòd victima arva ambiret because the Sacrifice to be offered at that time did walk round the Fields May the 21th 1662. K. Charles was Married at Portsmouth to Donna Catarina Infanta of Portugal by Gilbert Bishop of London May the 22. is a Feast dedicated by the Romanists to one Julia a Holy Devout Virgin and is placed in their Rubrick not mention'd in our Calendar Holy Thursday or Ascension-Day The next Feast celebrated by our Holy Mother the Church is Holy-Thursday or Ascension-Day which is the 40th day after Easter or his Resurrection call'd Holy-Thursday because so Holy a Work was perform'd on this Holy-day and ascension-Ascension-day in memory of our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven in the sight of his Apostles and Disciples then present Acts 1.9 there to prepare a place for all true Christians being preceded by whole Legions of Angels and attended by Millions of Saints whom he had discharged set at large out of their imaginary Prison of Limbo as the Romanists fondly conceive In short and in truth this Festival of Christ's Ascension is the Consummation of all he did and taught during his Residence here upon Earth and therefore it was not without great reason termed by the Antients Felix Clausula totius Itinerarii Filii Dei the Sabbath or Consummation of all his labour in the Great and stupendous Work of Man's Redemption This is one of his Majesties Offering-dayes Next comes the 6th Sunday after Easter call'd Exaudi from the beginning of the 27th Psalm Exaudi Domine vocemmeam c. The Week after Ascension-Day is Expectation-Week for now the Apostles were earnestly expecting the promise of our Lord If I go away I will send the Comforter to you Jo. 16.7 King Charles 2d Nat. May the 29th is Celebrated upon a double account first in Commemoration of the Birth of our Soveraign King Charles the Second the Princely Son of his Royal Father Charles the First of happy Memory and Mary the Daughter of Henry the 4th the French King who was born the 29th day of May Anno 1630. and also by Act of Parliament 12 Car. 2. by the Passionate desires of the People in Memory of his most Happy Restauration to his Crown and Dignity after 12 years forced Exile from his undoubted Right the Crown of England by Barbarous Rebels and Regicides and on the 8th of this Month his Majesty was with Universal Joy and great Acclamations Proclaim'd in London Westminster and after throughout all his Dominions the 16th he came to the Hague the 23th with his two Brothers Embarqued for England and on the 25th he happily Landed at Dover being received by General Monk and some of the Army From whence he was by several Voluntary Troops of the Nobility and Gentry waited upon to Canterbury and on the 29th 1660 he made his Magnificent Entrance into that Emporium of Europe his Stately and Rich Metropolis the Renowned City of London On this very day also Anno 1662. the King came to Hampton-Court with his Queen Catharine after his Marriage at Portsmouth as is before mention'd This as it is his Birth-day is one of his Collar-days without Offering Pentecost or Whitsunday After this succeeds the Grand Solemnity of Pentecost or Whitsunday Pentecost from the Greek because 't is the 50th day from Easter or Christ's Resurrection and Whitsunday or White-Sunday from the Catechumeni who were apparell'd in White Garments and on the Eve of this Feast admitted to the Sacrament of Baptisme But Verstegan affirms That it was of old nam'd by our fore-fathers Wied-Sunday or Wihed-Sunday because Wied or Wihed in the Saxon Tongue signifies Sacred Now this Festival was antiently celebrated among the Jewes on the 50th day after the Passeover in the memory of Promulgation of the Divine Law of God on Mount Sinai and our Whitsunday is kept 50 dayes after Easter by all True and Good Christians to commemorate the Mission of the Holy Ghost on that day which descended on the heads of the Apostles in Tongues resembling fire Act. 2.3 who is the only and most Infallible Interpreter of the Divine Law This is one of his Majestie 's Offering-dayes and a Houshold-day when the Besant is given by the Lord Steward or one of the other White Staff-Officers and all the Holy-dayes in Whitsun-Week are Collar-days without Offering Ember-Week follows Whitsun-day which is one of the 4 Grand Seasons of the Year as is before specified at large Trinity-Sunday Trinity-Sunday falls next in course which is always the Lord's day following and the Octave of Whitsunday so nominated in Honour of the most Blessed Trinity and to signifie unto us that the holy Works of our Redemption and Sanctification which were then Consummated are common to all Three Persons in the Trinity This Festival was first Instituted by Gregory the 4th who then sate in the Episcopal Chair in the year of our Lord 827. It is one of his Majesties Offering-days at White-Hall St. Barnabas June the 11th St. Barnabas the Apostle comes next in the Calendar commonly call'd Barnaby The Name is Hebrew signifying Son of the Master of Prophecy or of Comfort The proper Name given him at his Circumcision was Joses for Joseph by a sweeter Termination or Cadence From the Apostles he received the Sirname of Barnabas He was born in the Isle of Cyprus an Island in the Mediterranean between Cilicia Syria and Aegypt whose Ancestors fled thither for their greater safety in the Tumultuous and Distracted Government of Antiochus Epiphanes or as some imagine when Pompey with his Romans Conquered Judaea He descended of the Tribe of Levi his Parents were Opulent and Pious he was committed to the Tutelage of the Great Doctor of the Law Gamaliel at whose Feet he was educated with his Fellow-Pupil St. Paul He was an Eye-witness of the Miracle in the Cure of the Paralytick at the Pool of Bethesda which soon convinced him of the Divinity of our Saviour He was one of the 70 sold all his Lands on Earth to Purchase in Heaven and when God gave Saul his Fiat for an Apostle's Place they two were Joynt-Commissioners for the Church Fellow-Travellers Consorts and Zealots for Christ c. Dr. Brough on the Fest And both Preached the Gospel in Seleucia Salamis Paphos Cyprus Perga in Pamphilia and here Mark the Son of Barnabas his Sister Mary whom they took with them as their Minister and Attendant weary of this Troublesome Itinerant Life departed from them which occasion'd the unhappy Difference between these two Apostles Paul and Barnabas afterwards they Travell'd to Iconium Lystra Derbe and so back to Antioch and then they parted with some discontent because Barnabas would take
Licensed Octob. 11. 1677. Roger L'Estrange Festa Anglo-Romana OR The Feasts of the English and Roman Church with their Fasts and Vigils Being an Exact and Concise Accompt of their various Etymologies and Appellations with the Reasons and Grounds of their Celebration Together with a Succinct Discourse of several other Grand Days in the Universities Inns of Courts and the Collar and Offering Days at White-Hall Tending To the Instruction of all Persons in all Capacities and the Dilucidation of several seeming Difficulties in the Ancient as well as Modern English and Roman Calendar By a True Son of the Church of England London Printed for William Jacob and John Place and are to be sold at the Black Swan and Furnivals-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1678. MVNIFICENTIA REGIA 1715. GEORGIVâ— D.G. MAG BRVRET Hâ—â—â—â—â— F.D. To the READER I Design not to Preface this small Tract with a Prolix Epistle for that were to make the Porch larger than the Temple but only to acquaint you that it is an Historical Collection of all the Feasts with the Fasts Vigils and Octaves Registred both in the English and Roman Rubrick together with their approved Etymologies Various Names and the True Grounds and Reasons of their Celebration A Treatise which differs from all others of this Nature that are hitherto extant both in its Method and Compendiousness for it begins according to the old Roman Computation of the year at the 1st of January and ends with the last of December giving an account of all the Festivals as they are placed successively in the Calendar And withal I must Advertise you to avoid Confusion that our Festivals are Intituled in an English and the Roman in an Italick Letter And thus I leave the Reader with these few necessary Instructions to the perusal of the Contents of this Book which may I presume tend to his more ample and plenary satisfaction The TABLE NEw-years Day Pag. 4 Epiphanie Pag. 6 St. Paul Pag. 10 Ianuary the 30th Pag. 11 Purification of the Blessed Virgin Pag. 12 St. Matthias Pag. 15 Sunday Pag. 20 Valentines-Day Pag. 23 Septuagesima Sexagesima Quinquagesima and Quadragesima Ibid. Shrovetide Pag. 27 Ash-Wednesday Pag. 28 St. David Pag. 29 St. Patrick Pag. 36 St. Joseph Pag. 37 Annunciation of the Holy Virgin ib. Palm-Sunday Pag. 39 Good-Friday Pag. 42 Easter Pag. 44 Low-Sunday Pag. 51 St. George Pag. 52 St. Mark Pag. 53 Misericordia Pag. 54 Phillip and Iacob ib. Holy-Cross Pag. 56 Rogation-Sunday Pag. 58 Holy Thursday Pag. 63 King Charles Birth Return Pag. 65 Penticost or Whitsontide Pag. 67 Trinity-Sunday Pag. 68 St. Barnabas Pag. 69 Corpus Christi Pag. 72 St. Iohn Baptist Pag. 74 St. Peter and St. Paul Pag. 75 Visitation of Mary Pag. 78 St. Swithins-Day Pag. 79 Dog-Days ib. Spanish Invasion Pag. 81 St. Iames. Pag. 86 St. Ann. ib. Lammas-Day Pag. 87 Gowrie's Conspiracy Pag. 91 Transfiguration Pag. 94 St. Lawrence Pag. 95 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Pag. 96 St. Bartholomew ib. Decollation of St. John Baptist Pag. 97 September the 2d the burning of London Pag. 98 Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Pag. 99 Holy-rood-Day or Holy Cross ib. St. Matthew Pag. 100 St. Michael the Arch-Angel Pag. 102 The Apparition of St. Michael Pag. 103 St. Luke Pag. 104 Ursula a Brittish Virgin Pag. 105 St. Simon and Iude. ib. All Saints Pag. 108 All Souls ib. Gunpowder-Treason Day Pag. 110 Queen Catharines Birth-day Pag. 119 Presentation of the Virg. Mary Pag. 120 St. Clement Pag. 121 St. Andrew Pag. 123 Advent Sunday Pag. 124 Conception of the Virg. Mary ib. St. Lucia Pag. 125 St. Thomas ib. Christ Mass-Day Pag. 126 St. Stephan Pag. 128 St. Iohn Pag. 130 Innocents ib. In the Press a Printing in a Pocket-Volume Englands Remarks very much enlarged a fit Companion for all Travellers and others Festa Anglo-Romana HOly-Day in the Sacred Phrase is the same as separate or set apart to God being taken out of ordinary Days and dedicated to the Holy Service of God and his Worship tho none of them are certainly declared in the New Testament nor is any Christian obliged to the observance of those in the Old But the Holy Church hath thought fit and necessary for the Confirmation of Faith and the Exercise of the true Christian Religion that peculiar days should be cull'd out of the common whereon we should convene Politick affairs being laid aside in the Publick Assembly to hear God's Holy Word and to offer up the Calves of our Lips in Prayers to and Praises of the Almighty with Reading and Meditation Now as there is a Holy Feast Nehemiah the 8th and the 10th which our Church hath dedicated to the Religious Commemoration of some eminent Mercies and Blessings received among which some Festivals are of a superior degree in regard of the greatness of the Blessing remembred and the solemnity of the Service appointed to that purpose so there is an Holy Fast Joel 2. such as are Ash-Wednesday Good-Friday and the whole Week before Easter which the Church hath dedicated to God's solemn Worship in Fastings and Prayer The Holy-Days we divide into General and Particular The General are such as are generally celebrated by all Men and term'd Solemnities as the Circumcision Epiphany Purification Annunciation Resurrection Ascension c. the Particular are solemnized by some particular Church or some Country call'd Commune as those dedicated to the Apostles or by some Bishop's Sea Parish-Town or call'd the proper Holy-Days of the Place They are again divided in respect of the days whereon they fall in the Calendar into Moveable and Fixed The Moveable are those which tho celebrated on the same Week-day have no fixed seat in the Calendar The Fixed are such which fall upon divers days of the Week yet upon one and the same day of the Month. New-Years Day The first of January commonly called New-years Day of the old Roman Account which began the year from that day otherwise the Circumcision of our Lord being celebrated eight days after his Birth inclusively as it was on the Male-Children of the Jews according to the Judaical Law in memory of his Circumcision as the old Law commanded Genesis the 17th and the 12th when he was named Jesus Gr. a Saviour as the Angel had foretold St. Luke 1.32 Circumcision is deriv'd from the Latin Circumcido which signifies a cutting round about and in truth to speak more properly it is the cutting away of the Praepuce or double fore-skin which enfoldeth the Head or Extremity of the Virga Virilis and was perform'd with a very sharp Stone ordered and fitted for that use and not with an Iron Knife steel'd as some are of Opinion tho mistaken It was a Ceremony Prescribed by the Great Jehovah to Abraham the Father of the Faithful and his Posterity who were Heirs of the Divine Promise and Commanded to be sacredly observed by the Hebrews upon the severe penalty of Death as a sign and seal of the Covenant betwixt God and them and a
mark of Distinction from all other Nations which Ceremony was always strictly observ'd among them but abrogated after the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ This Fast is one of His Majesties Offering-Days at Court whereon Gold Myrrh and Frankincense is offered and being celebrated on the first of January the second is term'd the Octave of St. Stephan the third of St. John and the fourth of the blessed Innocents Epiphanie The next we meet with in the order of the Calendar is Epiphanie or Twelfth-day Epiphanie is a Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies an Arparition so called and celebrated in memory and honour of our Saviours manifestation made to the Gentiles by a miraculous Comet or Blazing-Star by virtue whereof the three Magi or Sages vulgarly called the three Kings of Colen were conducted to him who upon Discovery of that Star came out of the East to Palestine or Jewry to adore him in the Manger where a Twelve-month after Christ's Birth the first of them is as Tradition delivers it down to us nam'd Melchior an aged Man with a long Beard who offered Gold to our Saviour as to a King in testimony of his Regality the second Jasper a Beardless Youth who offered Frankincense as unto God in acknowledgment of his Divinity the third Balthasar a Black or Moor with a large spreading Beard who offered Myrrh as to a Man that was ready or fit for his Sepulchre thereby signifying his Humanity of which this Distich is extant Tres Reges Regi Regum tria dona ferebant Myrrham Homini Uncto Aurum Thura dedêre Deo Englished thus Three Kings the King of Kings Three Gifts did bring Myrrh Incense Gold as to God Man and King And the Poet Prudentius sings sweetly on this Subject in this following Tetrastich Hic pretiosa Magi sub Virginis ubere Christo Dona ferunt Puero Myrrhaeque Thuris Auri Miratur Genitrix tot casti ventris honores Seque Deum genuisse Hominem Regemque supremum And thus Translated by Dr. Spark in his Primitive Devotion The Wise-men here choice Treasures do dispence To Christ and Mary Myrrh Gold Frankincense While thus astonish'd at this Glorious thing A Maid at once to bear God Man and King Or 't is so call'd from the appearing of the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove at his Baptism 30 years after for this sixth of January was the day of our Saviour's Baptism and is Celebrated as such by the Church and therefore 't is term'd by Alcas Cyriacus an Arabick Manuscript of Astronomical Tables in the Archbishop's Archives in the Library of Oxford the Feast of Epiphanie or Benediction of Waters On this day also is commemorated the first Miracle performed by our Saviour at the Wedding in Cana of Galilee where he turn'd Water into Wine The Vigil or Eve of this Festival so nam'd from Vigilia in Latin Watohing because then Christians were wont to Watch Fast and Pray in their Churches was call'd in the Primitive Times Vigilia Luminum and the Ancients then were accustomed to send Lights one to the other This day was of old Celebrated in honour of Augustus Caesar by the Romans for his Conquest of Media Aegypt and Parthia which were after added to their Empire but the Holy Church willing to alter that Solemnity and introduce a better instituted this Feast of the Epiphanie in lieu of it 'T is styl'd Twelfth-Day because Celebrated on the 12th day after the Nativity of the Blessed Jesus exclusively not taking in Christmas-Day for one This is also one of His Majesties Offering-days at White-hall St. Paul January the 25th is kept the Festival known by the Name of the Conversion of St. Paul that once bloody Persecutor of the People of God tho through his Mercy he afterward became the great Apostle of the Gentiles and was Martyr'd at Rome for the faith of Christ but inserted in our Rubrick since His Majestie 's Restauration Anno Dom. 1664. January the 30th January the 30th A Day Nigro carbone notandus and not to be thought upon without Horror Consternation 'T is kept annually as a solemn Fast for the barbarous unexampled Murder of the best of Kings Charles the First of blessed Memory and is by Act of Parliament 12. Car. 2di set apart to implore the Mercy of God that the guilt of the innocent Blood of this Royal Martyr may not hereafter be visited upon us and our Posterity c. Purification of the blessed Virgin February the 2d is Candlemas-Day or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Candlemas-Day 't is call'd from the Saxon Candlemaesse the Mass or Feast of Candles the old Saxons term all Holy-days Mass-days because they were obliged to hear Mass on those days or because High Mass was then Sung for before Mass is said on that day the Roman Church blesseth deputeth or sets apart her Candles for sacred use which do serve in the Church all the ensuing year and goes in Procession with Hallowed Candles carried by the Romanists in commemoration of the Divine Light wherewith our Saviour Illuminated the Universal Church at his Presentation when the Good Aged Simeon styled him a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of his People Israel Luk. 2.32 and both by Simeon and Anna proclamed to be the true Messiah 'T is nam'd also the Purification from Purifico to Purifie kept in memory both of the Presentation of our Blessed Lord and the Purification of the Holy Virgin in the Temple of Jerusalem within the space of forty days after her Happy Delivery of the Holy Child Jesus in obedience to the Mosaical Law as it is set down Leviticus the 12th and the 6th not that the Blessed Virgin had contracted any Impurity by her Child-birth which stood in need of Purification being the Mother of Purity in the very Abstract but partly because as Mr. Lightf says in his Harmony of the four Evangelists that Christ in nothing might be wanting to the Law and partly that this might be an occasion for the first publick Declaration of him by Simeon and Anna The Dutch call this Day Lichtmiss the Mass or Feast of Lights see the Saxon Dictionary by Summers and was Instituted by Justinian the Emperor Anno Christi 542. Besides 't is one of the four Gawdy or Grand-Days in the Inns of Court which singly fall out in every Term Candlemas or the Purification in Hilary Ascension or Holy Thursday in Easter Midsummer or St. John Baptist's in Trinity All Saints or Allhollandtide in Michaelmas Term. These four are no Days in the Courts at Westminster and in the Inns of Court on these Days double Commons are allow'd and Musick and Revelling on All-Saints and Candlemas-Day as the first and last day of Christmas The Etymologie of the word may be taken from Judge Gawdy who as 't is affirm'd by some was the first Instituter of these Days or rather from the Latin Gaudium because they are Days of Joy
Inhabitants of Asia some others grounding their Practice on an Apostolical Tradition would not Fast on the Saturday therefore the Week call'd Septuagesima was added to supply the seven days of Sexagesima 2. For it 's own Signification in that thereby is signified unto us the Exile and Affliction of Mankind from Adam to the last general Conflagration and therefore all Holy Hymns and Sacred Anthems of Joy are intermitted by our Holy Mother the Church during the time of Septuagesima 3. To represent the 70 years Captivity of the Jews in Babylon and as at that time the Israelites laid aside their Instrument saying Quomodo cantabimus Canticum Domini c. so the Church leaves off her Songs of Praises during this time Sexagesima was instituted by Melchiades Bp. of Rome a Martyr who flourished An. Dom. 311. and ordained that none should Fast on Friday because of the Lord's Supper and his Ascension on that day so neither on the Sunday which being the first day of the Week solemnizeth our Saviour's Resurrection to distinguish between Christians and Gentiles therefore the Ancients to redeem the Fridays in Quinquagesima added this other Week to the Fast call'd by them Sexagesima The next Sunday is Quinquagesima The Holy Church Commands a Fast to be observ'd consisting of 40 days before Easter styl'd Quadragesima or the Holy time of Lent wherein there are but 36 days besides the Lord's-Days on which she fasts not for joy of the Resurrection now to supply this Defect four days of the foregoing Week were added to the Quadragesimal Fast and afterward it was first by Telesphorus Bishop of Rome and Martyr who flourished Anno Dom. 142. and since that by Pope Gregory the Great Decreed that all Priests should begin their Fast two days sooner viz. two days before the additional four pre-mentioned that as they preceded the Laity in Dignity they might also in Sanctity and Holiness therefore this Week Quinquagesima was added to the Week Quadragesima Shrovetide Next we come to Shrovetide or Carneval which is derived from the Saxon Shrive or Shrift and the Belgick Tyde or Tijdt i.e. the time of shriving or confession of Sins for about this time the Roman Catholicks use to confess their Sins and receive the blessed Sacrament to the end they might more Religiously observe the Holy time of Lent then immediately ensuing 'T is call'd Carneval being a dissolute Season or Licentious Time qu. valeat caro because then they bid adieu to eating of Flesh and feed on Fish Ash-Wednesday Ash-Wednesday is the Beginning or Head of the Fast of Lent and was by Gregory the Great Pope of Rome Dedicated to the Consecration and sprinkling with Ashes and therefore call'd in Latine Dies Cinerum or Ash-Wednesday by the Ancients Caput Jejunii the Head of Fasting or first beginning of Lent yet as Hospinian affirms there is extant an Homily composed by Maximus Bishop of Tours in France with this Inscription In Die Cinerum which shews the Institution thereof to be before his Time because Maximus Taurinensis liv'd 170 years before him viz. Anno Dom. 420. 'T is call'd Ash-Wednesday from the ancient Ceremony of Blessing Ashes on that Day and therewith the Priest signeth the People on the Forehead in the form of a Cross affording them withal this wholsom Admonition Memento Homo quod Pulvis es in Pulverem reverteris Remember Man that thou art Dust and to Dust thou shalt return to mind them of their Mortality and prepare them for the Holy Fast of Lent the Ashes used this day in the Church of Rome are made of the Palms consecrated the Sunday Twelve-month before and formerly in the Easterin Countries they usually on this Day wore Sack-cloth and sprinkled Ashes on the Heads of the People which was done in token of sincere Humiliation and a true and unfeigned sorrow for Sin St. David St. David's vulgarly and ludibriously nick-nam'd St. Taffie's Day which is on the first of March is a British Holy-Day and observ'd by them very solemnly in Honour and Commemoration of St. David their worthy Patron who is by their Records and Tradition justified to be a Prelate of Eminent Holiness and Austerity of Life a Person of great Learning a most Florid and Eloquent Preacher of the Word of God and Archbishop of Menevy now taking from him the Name of St. David s in Pembrokeshire He flourished in the fifth and sixth Age after the Incarnation of Christ and died aged 140 years as Dr. Pits testifieth in his Treatise Intituled De Illustribus Angliae Scriptoribus The Britains on this Day constantly wear a Leek in Memory of a Famous and Notable Victory obtain'd by them over the Saxons they during the Battel having Leeks in their Hats for their Military Colours and Distinction of themselves by the perswasion of the said Prelate St. David The first Sunday in Lent is call'd Quadragesima the second Reminiscere the third Oculi the fourth Laetare the fifth Iudica the fixth Dominica Magna of these in order Quadragesima or the first Sunday in Lent so call'd because it is distant 40 days from the grand Feast of Easter containing the Lenten Fast as it was observ'd by the Primitive Christians in imitation of our Saviour's Fasting in the Desart 40 days and 40 nights it is call'd also Invocavit because on that Day the Church sings Invocavit me ego exaudiam eum or that taken out of Psalm the 90th v. 3 4. 'T is styl'd Lent so call'd from the old Saxons who nominated March Lenct Monat i. e. Length Month because the Days then begin to lengthen and exceed the Nights Now this Month being so named by our Ancestors when they did first imbibe or embrace Christianity and therewith also the ancient and Religious Custom of Fasting this Season is peculiarly term'd the Fast of Lent by reason of the Lenct-Monat or Month of March wherein the major part of the time of this Grand Fasting always hapned Sir Richard Baker saith in his Chronology that it was first commanded to be observ'd here among us in England by Ercombert the 7th King of Kent in or about the year of our Lord 641. So that it is of Antiquity in this Nation and no upstart and new-fangled Fast Then we meet with Ember-Week so named from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Dies Days by way of Emphasis the Grand Days of Fasting as some are of opinion others conceive that they are call'd the Days of Ashes or Ember-Days from that as Ancient as Religious Custom of wearing Hair-Cloth and using Ashes in times of Publick Penance and Piety or from the Antiquated usage of eating no other Food on those Days till Night only a Cake baked under the Embers or Ashes which they call'd Panem Subcineritium or Ember-Bread Turb Cath. Yet Sir Henry Spelman saith De Conciliis that the true and genuine word is Imber from the Saxon Imbren i. e. a Circle because the Ember-days move round the
year as it were in a Circle These Ember-Weeks are four in the year and they of old in every one of them fasted on Wednesday Friday and Saturday as you will find it in this ancient Couplet Post Cineres Pentec post Crucem postque Luciam Mercurii Veneris Sabathi Jejunia fiant That is the next Week after Ash-Wednesday Whitsunday Holy-Rood or the Exaltation of the Cross and St. Lucie's Day They are of great Antiquity in the Church being times of Publick Prayer Fasting and Procession and styl'd Quatuor Anni Tempora by the Ancient Fathers for besides the first Institution of them for quarterly Seasons of Devotion proportion'd to every part of the year that the intire year each Division thereof might be blessed thereby they were partly instituted for the successful Ordination of Priests in the Roman Church and partly to beg a Blessing on the Fruits of the Earth and render thanks to God for the same nay besides their answerableness to those Jejunia Quatuor or solemn fasting-Fasting-days instituted by the Jews and mentioned by the Prophet Zachary ca. 8. that we Christians might not be inferior to them in so Holy a Duty the Church hath assigned them an Excellent use in imitation of the Apostles Acts 13.3 See a Book Intituled A View of the Directory fol. 56. Much about this time the Aequinox happens which is an Imaginary phancied Line passing just between the two Poles in the midst of Heaven which Lines the Sun travels to twice a year namely about the 11th of March which is call'd the Vernal and the 11th of September the Autumnal Aequinox and equals the Day and Night for length throughout the Universe except with the Inhabitants directly under the Poles and therefore term'd Equinox The second Sunday in Lent is nam'd Reminiscere from the Entrance of the 5th Verse of Psal 25. Reminiscere miserationum tuarum Domine c. Call to Remembrance O Lord thy tender Mercies c. The third Sunday in Lent is call'd Oculi from the entrance of the 14th v. of the 25th Psalm Oculi mei semper ad Dominum c. My Eyes are ever looking unto the Lord. March the 17th St. Patrick's Day a great Saint Worker of Miracles and the much honoured Patron of Ireland The fourth Sunday is call'd Laetare from the beginning of the 10th v. of the 66th Chap. of Isaiah Laetare cum Jerusalem c. Rejoyce with Jerusalem c. It is also term'd Dominica de Rosa from the Golden Rose which the Pope of Rome carrieth in his hand when he walks before the People in the Temple as also Dominica de Panibus or Refectionis because the Miracle of the five Loaves in the Holy Gospel is explained on this Day in the Roman Church but we here in England truly style it Mid-Lent Sunday March the 19th in the Roman Church is Celebrated in Commemoration of St. Joseph Confessor the Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary Annunciation of the Holy Virgin The 25th of this Month is the Feast of the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin the Conception of our Saviour vulgarly Lady-Day and this is Celebrated in Commemoration of that most Happy Message or rather Embassy from God which was pronounced by the Angel Gabriel in which she was Declar'd and Proclam'd the Blessed Mother of God St. Luke 1st 31 32. The fifth Sunday in Lent is call'd Judica and Passion-Sunday from the entrance of the 35th Psalm Judica me Deus Discerne Causam meam c. Judg me O Lord Plead thou my Cause c. 'T is term'd Passion-Sunday from the Passion of our Lord which is then near approaching and was Instituted to prepare us worthily for the Religious Celebration thereof On this Day the Romanists clothe all their Crucifixes in their Churches with Mourning Colours in remembrance of our Saviour's going out of the Temple and absconding Himself in order to Dispose us to a Compassion with him Palm-Sunday Palm Sunday Dominica Palmarum or Dominica Magna is the 6th and last Sunday in Lent immediately preceding Easter 'T is call'd Palm-Sunday or Dominica Palmarum which is the same in Latin from the Branches of Palm which the Jews strewed under his feet at his Triumphant Entrance into Jerusalem upon an Ass crying Hosanna to the Son of David St. Matth. 21.25 and hence it is that the Romanists do annually on this day blesse the Palm and go solemnly in Procession in honour of our Saviour's Triumph all the people carrying Boughs or Branches of Palm in their hands It hath the Name Dominica Magna or the Great Lord's-Day because of the Great and many Infallible good things that were confer'd on the Faithful the Week ensuing namely Death abolished Slander and the Tyranny of Satan remov'd by the painful and ignominious Death of our Saviour This is call'd the Holy-Week because Men gave over their worldly employ Courts were shut up Prisoners freed and many Prayers and Offices perform'd by the Holy Church in order to our Preparation for the Grand Feast of Easter and the Week of Fasts because fasting was then increas'd with Watching Prayer for they did lye on the ground and when they did eat on these six days their Food was only Bread Salt and Water The next Wednesday after Palm-Sunday was the Day whereon the Scribes and Pharisees sate in Council against the Lord of Life the Thursday following the Parasceue Greek or Preparation of the Legal Passeover and the Institution of the Lord's Supper that very night which is otherwise nam'd Maundy Thursday quasi Mandati Thursday being the last Thursday in Lent and first before Easter from fulfilling the Mandate or Command of our Saviour which arose from an ancient Ceremony frequently practis'd by Prelates in Cathedral Churches and Religious Houses and is in imitation of Christ who on the Evening of this Day after his last Supper and before he Instituted the Blessed Sacrament washed his Disciples feet acquainting them withal that they must do so likewise to one another which is the Mandate whence the Day takes Denomination At the beginning of the said Ceremony Christ utter'd these words soon after he had washed their feet Joh. 13.34 which are sung as an Antiphone Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos Good Friday The next Day is styl'd Good-Friday because the Good Work of Man's Redemption was then Consummated the Cause of all our good and true ground of all our joy it being the most Sacred and Memorable Day of the Bloody Passion of Christ on the Cross which was a sufficient Attonement or Satisfaction for the Sins of Mankind And here it will not be amiss for the Reader to take notice in order to his understanding it when he meets it in Authors that in the Roman Church the Offices call'd Tenebrae are Sung on Thursday Friday and Saturday of this Holy or Great Week and that in Lamentation of our Saviour's Passion and because these are still anticipated in the Rehearsal the
Evening of the foregoing Wednesday Thursday and Friday hath obtain'd the Appellation of Tenebrae-Days from the Latin Tenebrae or the French Tenebres Days of Darkness or Dark Days because thereby they represent the Darkness that attended and accompanied our Lord's Crucifixion and then also that Church extinguisheth all her Lights and after some silence when the whole office is concluded they make a sudden great noise to represent the rending the Veil of the Temple and the disorder the whole frame of Nature was in at the death of her Maker Their Matins also or Morning-Service is on the first three days before Easter begun with very many Lights but ended in Darkness representing thereby the Night-time wherein they seized and apprehended our Saviour in the Garden Gethsemani in which Office there are 15 Tapers lighted at the first and placed in a Candlestick of a Triangular form viz. as many as there are Canticles in the Office and at the conclusion of every Canticle or Psalm one of the 15 Tapers or Lights is put out and so gradually till they are all extinguished Easter The next to this great Week that Great and High Feast of Easter or the Resurrection of the Holy Jesus after his three days Interment in the Grave succeeds and is styl'd Pasche Pascha or Easter 'T is call'd Pascha a Passeover not in memory of the Angels transit in Egypt the Jewish Passeover being a Holy Action appointed by God in the killing and eating of a Lamb partly that the Church of the Jews might remember the Benefits God confer'd upon them in passing over the Houses and not smiting them Exod. 12.11 but our Feast is celebrated in Commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ tho we still retain the Name Pascha not only because the Lamb that was kil'd by the Jews of old in their Passeover was a true Type of the Lamb of God Christ Jesus which was sacrificed for Man's Salvation but because at that very time he passed to his Father from this World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pesach signifies Transitio a passage from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pasach Transire to pass or because then there was made a passage from an Old to a New Life in Span. nam'd Florida a florido vernanti anni tempore from the flourishing and Spring-time of the year in which it falls 'T is call'd Easter from Eoster a Goddess of the ancient Saxons whose Feast they kept in the Month of April Cam. or as Minshew gives it in regard that then the Sun of Righteousness did rise as the Sun in the East and therefore Easter comes from the East Now this is the Basis of all the Lord's-Days in the year tho it be a Moveable Feast and falls sometimes higher sometimes lower as all the Moveable Feasts do but the time of Easter being known the rest are soon discovered and thus you may know when Easter will fall Post Martis Nonas ubi sit Nova Luna requiras Et cum transierit bis Septima Pascha patebit Or thus Inde dies Solis tertia Pascha venit But take it in English more plainly thus Easter-Day is always the first Sunday after the first full Moon which shall happen next after the 11 day of March and if the full Moon fall on a Sunday the Sunday after will be Easter Day Now tho this Rule be true enough as to the Gregorian yet it is not applicable to our Julian Accompt which the Table of Moveable Feasts in the Common-Prayer Book Calculated for 40 years regardeth only and must be followed till His Majesty Commands another and one reason is the Precession of the Aequinoctium Vernum which from the first Nicene Council to this time hath Anticipated 11 days falling now the 10th of March whereas it was on the 21th and the reason of this Anticipation is that the Julian exceeds the Solar year 10 Minutes and 48 Seconds or thereabout which causes the Aequinoxes and Solstices yearly to change their Places and go backward so many Minutes and Seconds The Lunations also by reason of the great quantity allow'd them do every 19 years anticipate almost an hour and a half and in 312 years and a half one whole day and therefore not exactly to be found by the Golden Number tho on those Lunations Easter depends as of it all the Moveable Feasts which is the other Cause of those Errors and both together the first occasion of the Roman Emendation whereby that Church doth always produce Easter on the Sunday following the first full Moon next after the Vernal Aequinox according to the Deeree of the Nicene Council This occasion'd that Error that all the Astrologers were guilty of viz. 5. Weeks Mistake in 1663 and one Week in 1664 and it is the 20th time it hath so happened since 1600 but in the Years 2437 2461 2491 there will be 42 days Error and some time afterward no less than 49 days and after the Year 2698 if the Old Calendar be still retain'd it will never agen happen according to the Rule of the Church as before Thus far Mr. G. Wharton Easter-Day and the rest of the Moveable Feasts Anno 1668 according to the Julian Accompt fell full as soon or low in the Year upon its nearest Limit or Boundary as ever it could which hath not hapned from 1573 till this Year nor will so fall out agen in 247 years till the year 1915 which will be 239 years from this Year before it so happen Here you may also Observe That Easter always falls between the 21th of March and the 26th of April these two dayes being excluded for it never happens on but between them Easter-day is one of his Majesties Offering-dayes at Court being a houshold-Houshold-day also when the Besant is given by the Lord Steward or one of the other White-Staffe-Officers All the Holy-dayes in Easter week are his Majesties Collar but not Offering-dayes Next follows the Quinquagesimal Interval of 50 dayes between Easter and Whitsontide which the Primitive Christians observ'd as an intire Festival in honour of the Resurrection and Ascension of the Holy Ghost with great Exultation and exceeding Joy it contains 6 Sundays Low-Sunday The first is Low-Sunday Dominica in Albis or Quasimodogeniti 'T is styl'd Low-Sunday because 't is a Low Festival in comparison of Easter-Day the preceding high Festival It is the Octave of Easter-Day nam'd Dominica in Albis in regard of the Angels who appear'd at the Resurrection in White Garments and from the Catechumeni or Neophyts i.e. persons lately Converted to the Faith newly taught the Principles of Religion but not Baptiz'd or if Baptiz'd not yet admitted to the Eucharist White Garments the Emblems of Innocence which in old times they usually put on at their Baptism and in the Church on this day were solemnly devested of them or for that those who had been Baptiz'd receiv'd then the Bishop's Confirmation and put on other white Vestments which they wore till the next Sunday 'T is call'd
the Tyrant Trajan Banished him into Patmos an Isle in the Aegean Sea where he pen'd his Holy Gospel which was afterward published at Ephesus by his Deacon and Host After the death of the Emperor he return'd to Ephesus and continued there till he lived 120 years and then died of an Apoplexy in the year of our Saviour's Incarnation 104. Innocents The 28th Innocents or Childermass-Day that is the Feast of the Children the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem who were Massacred by Herod the Great most Inhumanely in our Saviour's stead tho not for his sake among whom his own Son as Historians affirm escaped not the fate of his Cruelty which extorted this saying from the Emperor Augustus Caesar Melius est esse Herodis Porcum quam Puerum It is better to be Herod's Hog than his Son Dr. Sparrow in his Ration saith upon the account of these three Festivals There are three kinds of Martyrdom p. In Will and Deed which is the Highest 2. In Will but not in Deed. 3. In Deed but not in Will In this order they attend St. Stephan 1st who suffered both in Will and Deed next St. John who suffered Martyrdom in Will but not in Deed being Miraculously delivered out of the boyling Cauldron into which he was put before Pont. Latin in Rome Lastly the Holy Innocents who suffered in Deed but not in Will yet are reckoned among the Martyrs because they suffered for Christ whose Praise these his Witnesses Confessed and shewed forth not in speaking but in dying And thus we have done with the Festivals only it is observable that as the Romanists open so they close the year with a Festival in the Popish Rubrick tho not in ours which is the last day of December and consequently of the year as to our Method being a Day Dedicated to the Memory of Sylvester who once sate in the Seat of Rome and died a Confessor This is in the Roman not our Rubrick Now I conceive it will not be amiss to give you a just but Concise account of the Vigils and Fasts of the Church on the Eves of the Feasts Vigil comes from the Lat. Vigilo and signifies to watch In the time of the Apostles and for some continuance after when Persecuted and Dispersed Christians durst not appear in Publick by reason of the many Treacheries and daily snares laid for them by their violent Persecutors they were compell'd for their own Preservation and Self-security to Assemble in private Holes Corners and Subterranean Places to Exercise their Religion and Perform their Devotion to their God But in the Primitive times immediately succeeding the Blessed Apostles when they apprehended no danger of Persecution they Fasted and watched in their Oratories all the whole Easter-Week but those Fasts are now voluntary and not injoyn'd for there is no Fast commanded betwixt Easter and Whitsunday Christmas and Epiphany and the Vigils of this Festival by large Waxen Tapers were made as Light as day through the whole City to represent mystically the Light of Salvation then ready to diffuse it seâ—â— all over the Universe And this is the Original of that usage among Christians both Men and Women to Watch and Fast on the Eves of their High Solemnities in the Churches and at the Tombs of the Saints departed the Authors of which custom are credibly Reported to be Diodorus of Antioch together with Flavianus but in process of time this Usage at watching and fasting at Sepulchres was at the perswasion of Leontius then Bishop of Antioch restrained to the Church only Anno 375. The Watch by Night they used to divide into four parts the 1st Vigil began at 6 in the Evening and continued til 9 the 2d at 9 and continued till 12 the 3d. from 12 to 3 and the 4th from 3 to 6 in the Morning But at length these Promiscuous Nocturnal Vigils were the Cause of Great Impiety as some are of Opinion therefore Women were denied admission because as the Canon saith under the pretext of Prayer many Crimes were secretly Committed at length the Vigils themselves were prohibited tho not for the reason aforesaid others are of opinion but rather because Zeal and Fervour in Religion grew cool and Christians became more remiss in their Devotion and the Fasts now observ'd on the Eves of great Festivals were Instituted in their room yet they still retain the name of Vigils as being the Denomination of a Duty requir'd therein this was confirm'd by Pope Innocent the 3d about the year of the Incarnation 1210. Thus you have a short and true account of all the Feasts Fasts Vigils both of the English and Romish Rubrick with several other Holy-days not heretofore taken notice of in Treatises of this Nature FINIS