Holy days occupy a very prominent place in the estimation and practice of Roman Catholics. Among the 6 commandments of the church, as given in "A General Catechism of the Christian Doctrine," prepared by order of the National Council, and approved by the late arch bishop Hughes of New York, are these: CHAPTER XVI. "1st. To hear mass, and to rest from servile works on Sundays and Holydays of Obligation. "2d. To keep fast in Lent, the Ember days, the Fridays in Advent, and eves of certain Festivals, and to abstain from flesh on Fridays, and on other appointed days of abstinence." The following is taken from Sadliers' Catholic Directory for 1871, a few explanations being added in brackets and notes: Quadragesima Sunday 66 Mid-Lent "MOVABLE FEASTS. "Septuagesima Sunday, Feb. 5 Easter Sunday,1 66 66 12 Low 66 Sexagesima Palm Good Friday, HOLY DAYS. 66 19 Rogation 22 Ascension Day,2 26 Pentecost Day,3 March 19 April 2 66 7 66 66 66 66 Trinity Sunday, Middle of the Year, April 9 66 16 May 14 66 18 66 28 June 4 July 2 1 According to the Roman Catholic church, Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon which occurs on or next after the 21st of March, the 14th day of the moon being counted the time of full moon. Hence Easter may be as early as March 22d (in 1818) or as late as April 25th (in 1886). 66 HOLYDAYS OF OBLIGATION. "1. The Circumcision of our Lord [Jan. 1]-The Epiphany [Jan. 6]-The Annunciation of the B. V. Mary [Mar. 25].-The A-cension of our Lord [see above].-Corpus Christi.-The Assumption of the B. V. Mary [Aug. 15].-All Saints [Nov. 1].-Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary [Dec. 8].-Nativity of our Lord, or Christmas [Dec. 25]. "N.B.-Sundays, and the feasts which fall on them, are not included in this enumeration. "(In some Western Dioceses, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Annunciation, and Corpus Christi are not holydays of obligation.) FASTING DAYS. 66 "Fridays in Advent. Every day in Lent, Sundays excepted. The Ember-days (see below). The Vigil of Whitsunday or Pentecost, of the Assumption, of All Saints, and of Christmas. "N.B.-1. When a fast falls on Monday, the vigil is kept on the Saturday preceding. To fast, consists in abstaining from fiesh-meat and eating but one full meal in the day, not before 12 o'clock M. Besides this, a collation, or about the one-fourth of a meal, is allowed in the evening. All who have completed their 21st year are obliged to observe the fasts of the Church, unless exempted for some legitimate cause. "2. In some dioceses the Friday of the Ember-days is the only Friday in Advent on which there is an obligation to fast. "3. It has been directed by the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, that the feast of SS. Peter and Paul be solemnly celebrated in the United States on the Sunday immediately after the 29th of June, birth. 2 The name "Holy Thursday" is given in the "Garden of the Soul," Brande's Encyclopedia, Webster's Dictionary, &c., to Ascension Day; but, in the Catholic Almanac, Catholic World, &c., it is a synonym of Maundy-Thursday. "" 3 Also called "Whitsunday " or Whitsuntide," from the white garments worn by catechumens who were baptized at this time. 4 Corpus Christi (= body of Christ) is a feast in honor of the "blessed sacrament," according to the doctrine of transubstantiation, and occurs on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. 5 The name "Christmas" is from the mass then celebrated in honor of Christ's and it is the wish of the Sacred Congregation that the Bishops exhort the faithful under their charge to keep fast on the Saturday preceding that solemn celebration. "DAYS OF ABSTINENCE.' "All Fridays. When Christmas falls on a Friday, abstinence is not of precept. Abstinence on Saturday has been dispensed with for the faithful of the United States, except when a fast falls on that day. Soldiers and sailors in the service of the United States, even in barracks, garrisons, etc., are dispensed by the indult [= indulgence, privilege, exemption] of Pope Pius IX., from the rule of abstinence, except on 6 days in each year, namely, Ash-Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Holy Week, the Vigil of the Assumption, and Christmas Eve. 66 EMBER-DAYS." "The Ember-days are the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays which occur, 1st, in winter, immediately after the 3d Sunday of Advent; 2d; in the spring, immediately after the ist Sunday in Lent; 3d, in the summer, during Whitsun-week; 4th, in the autumn, immediately after the 14th of September. They are days of fasting, and of great antiquity in the Church. The object of their observance is, to consecrate to God the four seasons of the year, by penance; to obtain his blessing on the fruits of the earth, and to beg of him worthy ministers of the Church. The ordination of clergymen generally takes place, in Catholic countries, on Ember Saturday." The Roman Missal and Breviary have religious services (masses, &c.) for every day in the year, the greater part of the days being set apart as the feasts or festivals of saints. It is considered meritorious, but not obligatory on people generally, to attend these services. Some of the festivals, not mentioned above, are thus named and dated: 1 On "days of abstinence," the eating of flesh-meat is prohibited, but 3 meals are allowed; but on 66 'fasts" or "fasting days" the eating of flesh-meat is prohibited, and only 14 full meals are allowed. 2 Ember-days are also called "Quarter-tenses." The "Conversion of St. Paul," January 25th; "Candlemas-day,1 or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary," Feb. 2d; "Shrovetide (= confession-time), also called "Shrove-Tuesday," the day before Ash-Wednesday; "Holy Week," the week preceding Easter Sunday, in which "Maundy-Thursday," "Good Friday," and "Holy Saturday" occur; St. Matthias, Feb. 24th; St. Gregory the Great, Mar. 12th; St. Patrick, Mar. 17th; St. Joseph, Mar. 19th; St. George, April 23d; St. Mark, April 25th; SS. (= Saints) Philip and James, May 1st; "Invention (or "Finding ") of the Holy Cross," also called "Holy Rood-day," a feast, May 3d, in memory of St. Helena's discovery of the Cross of Christ, which is said to have taken place miraculously in A. D. 326; St. Barnabas, June 11th; " Nativity of St. John the Baptist," June 24th; SS. Peter and Paul, June 29th; St. James the Great, July 25th; St. Ann, or Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, July 26th; St. Lawrence, Aug. 10th; St. Bartholomew, Aug. 24th; "Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary," Sept. 8th; St. Matthew, Sept. 21st; St. Michael the Archangel, or "Michaelmas-day," Sept. 29th; St. Luke, Oct. 18th; SS. Simon and Jude, Oct. 28th; All Souls, a day of prayer for the souls of all the faithful departed, Nov. 2d; St. Andrew, Nov. 30th; St. Thomas, Dec. 21st; St. Stephen, Dec. 26th; St. John, Dec. 27th; Holy Innocents, Dec. 28th; St. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Dec. 29th. Lent, which begins with Ash-Wednesday, and lasts (Sundays excepted) till Easter, is the great fast of the Roman Catholic church, and is regarded as commemorative of our Savior's 40 days' fast in the desert. It is preceded, in Rome and elsewhere, by the "carnival" (from the Latin carni vale to flesh farewell), which is thus described in the Penny Cyclopedia: "It is properly a season of feasting, dancing, masquerading, and buffoonery, which begins on the feast of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Day, and ends on Ash-Wednesday, when it is succeeded by the austerities of Lent. Some of the license of the Saturnalia of the ancient Romans is still detected in these long revels, which are now 1 "It is called Candlemas, because, before mass is said, the church blesses her candles for the whole year, and makes a procession with them in the hands of the faithful." confined to Catholic countries, and seem to be rapidly declining even in them. Milan,' Rome, and Naples were celebrated for their carnivals, but they were carried to their highest perfection at Venice. . . . In modern Rome the masquerading in the streets and all the out-ofdoor amusements are limited to 8 days, during which people pelt each other with sugar-plums, and are treated with horse-races, in which the horses run without any riders on their backs. After the races of the 8th day, masquers go about with tapers in their hands, every one trying to light his own at his neighbor's candle, and then blow out his flame. This is the last of their frolics, and is about as rational as any part of a Roman carnival." Ash-Wednesday, with which Lent begins, is a day of public penance and humiliation, and is so called from the ceremony of blessing ashes (made from the palms blessed on the PalmSunday previous, &c.), with which the priest makes the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the people, saying, "Remember, man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Gen. 3: 19). On Passion-Sunday (the 5th in Lent, and 2d before Easter), as the passion of Christ approaches, crucifixes, &c., are covered in churches with mourning color. But the Holy Week, which immediately precedes EasterSunday, constitutes the grand center of attraction at this season, and is thus described in the "Garden of the Soul": "Palm-Sunday, the first day of the Holy Week, is in memory and honor of our Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, so called from the palm-branches strewed under his feet by the Hebrew children, crying, Hosanna to the Son of David' (Matt. xxi.). And therefore this day the church blesses palms, and makes a solemn procession, in memory of the humble triumph of our Savior, the people bearing palm-branches. And in the Mass is read the passion of our blessed Redeemer from the Gospel of St. Matthew, as that from St. Mark is on Tuesday, and from St. Luke on Wednesday. "On Wednesday, Maundy-Thursday, and Good Friday, the office of Tenebræ, which signifies darkness, is said or sung in churches, when 1 The carnival at Milan is now 3 or 4 days longer than is allowed elsewhere. |