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-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-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-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
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-Valentines-Day Pag. 23 Septuagesima Sexagesima Quinquagesima and Quadragesima Ibid. Shrovetide Pag. 27 ash-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
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
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-Ember-days move round the