![]() However, the liturgical renewal and the deeper appreciation of the joy of the holy days of the Christian year will, we hope, result in a renewed appreciation as to why our forefathers spoke of "a fast before a feast." We impose no fast before any feast-day, but we suggest that the devout will find greater Christian joy in the feasts of the liturgical calendar if they freely bind themselves, for their own motives and in their own spirit of piety, to prepare for each Church festival by a day of particular self-denial, penitential prayer and fasting. Vigils and Ember Days, as most now know, no longer oblige to fast and abstinence. ![]() In the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence dated November 18, 1966, they have this to say under the subheading “Vigils and Ember Days”:ġ7. ![]() They are non-existent in the new order calendar, but that doesn’t mean that they are not to be taken seriously. Though certainly not required, consider observing the last ember day of the year today, thanking God for nature and for the gifts it brings.This Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are the Ember Days of September in the 1962 liturgical calendar. And in fact, some bishops in the United States have explicitly encouraged their Catholics to observe ember days and pray for specific intentions.Įmber days are a fascinating and ancient tradition of the Catholic Church that has been largely forgotten, at least in the United States. Though canon law no longer requires the observance of fasting and abstinence on ember days, they remain important for Catholics in many countries, and their continued observance by Catholics everywhere is certainly not discouraged. So, ember days were a big part of Catholic life for quite a while. The observance of ember days was later prescribed for the entire Latin Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085). That tradition of holding ordinations of ember Saturdays also continues today, and in addition, ember days have traditionally been days of prayer for vocations. Gelasius also started the practice of permitting the conferring of ordinations on ember Saturdays, which were formerly given only at Easter, The Catholic Encyclopedia records. The first record of the fasts for all four seasons being decreed comes in the writing of Pope Gelasius at the end of the fifth century.Īfter Gelasius, the practice spread beyond Rome. At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December, but the exact days were not fixed. The purpose of their introduction, according to The Catholic Encyclopedia, was to thank God for the gifts of nature (hence their tie to the natural seasons), especially the crops used to make bread and wine for the Eucharist to teach people to make use of those gifts in moderation and to assist the needy.Įmber days also served as a response to the pagan festivals of Rome the days encouraged Christians to counter the excesses and debauchery of those festivals by, instead, fasting and praying. 13Įmber days appear to be a very early Christian practice, first attested to as part of apostolic tradition by Pope Leo I in the fifth century. The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the feast of St.The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept.The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Pentecost.The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Ash Wednesday.The 12 total ember days throughout the year are: The reason “ember” is associated with these days seems to be that the word is a corruption of the Latin phrase “quatuor tempora,” meaning four seasons.Įach of the four seasons of the year contains three ember days. And in fact, it’s the last ember day of 2022.īut what are ember days, and why do they exist?Įmber days are tied to the four seasons of the year. Saturday is an ember day, a day traditionally set aside for fasting and abstinence from meat. ![]() ![]() 17, is a special day in the Catholic Church, though relatively few Catholics probably realize it. ![]()
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