For about one thousand years, the days that follow the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (when we commemorate the foundation of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher that was built over Christ’s tomb) in September have been observed by Catholics as days of fasting and penance, thanksgiving and prayer. It is one of the four ‘Embertides’ that mark the four seasons of the Church’s year.
When we say ‘ember’, we are using a bastardised version of much older words. The Old English ‘ymbren’ or circuit, may give a clue as to the origin of the term or the Latin phrase ‘Quatuor tempora’ or ‘four times’ may be its origin. St Augustine of Canterbury, when he alighted at Thanet in AD 597, was talking Latin and his native Italian I suppose, but he brought with him the tradition of four fasting weeks, which we converted to be called Ember Days (after we all became Catholics, that is).
The days consist of Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of a particular week. The weeks are:
the last week of Advent following 13th December: The Feast of St Lucy,
the second week of Lent, the one following Ash Wednesday,
the week following Pentecost,
and the week after 14th September: The Feast of the Exaltation of The Cross.
Those lucky souls brought up as Catholics, versed in Latin, remember these dates in this way:
Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.
“Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.”
… or “Lucy, Ashes, Dove and Cross”
… or even more contracted: “Lenty, Penty, Crucie, Lucie”
On 18th September this year, I celebrated mass at Westminster Cathedral; a most important place to me. I grabbed the opportunity to take the Eucharist there after an unexpected business meeting came up the day before. I was hoping for a special mass, (I had heard that there are extra readings for the Ember Days like at the Vigil Mass at Easter), but was disappointed. The Ember Day seem to have been forgotten about. Very few Catholics, and even fewer Protestants, keep the traditions of the Ember Days. This forgetfulness is quite a recent thing and I’m not sure why it should have happened. It is usual for older and traditionalist Catholics, at this point, to shake their heads wearily and blame it all on “Vatican 2”, the reforming Second Vatican Council of the 1960s that brought in innovations like masses you could participate in and priests who turned to face you. But there is nothing in Vatican 2 that would ban Ember Day observance; in fact Pope John Paul 23rd was all in favour of anything that helped God reach into our hearts. I think that it is a huge shame that we don’t keep these fasts anymore. Cutting out coffee breaks and snacks between meals, eschewing meat for a day and saying some prayers to count our blessings is not a bad idea.
The Ember Days are much more than simple fasts, however. Each week is of its particular season. In Lent, the Ember Days are a distillation of the Lenten fasting and penance. At Christmas, we prepare ourselves for the Nativity (the Embertides are older than Advent). At Pentecost, we have the chance to really focus on the Holy Spirit and how He can change us. September’s Ember Days are when we give thanks for all the blessings we receive from God. An appropriate thought at harvest, of course.
Recognising our blessings, let alone giving thanks for them, is not as easy as considering our faults and poverty. Indeed, many of us consider that the main things that are wrong with us is the lack of skills, gifts, looks and possessions that others seem to have in spades.On 21st September this year, I was given the opportunity to have all my blessings brought home to me when I stopped to give a young man a lift. He was hopping in and out of the road, dodging the traffic while trying to attract the drivers' attention. As I took him towards his destination (Stonehenge), our discussion revealed him to be homeless, hungry, sober, unemployed and unloved. I am none of those things. I worry about all of them: he lives with them.
The penance of Pentecost and September is thus associated with thanksgiving; indeed this is to a large extent true of all the Ember Days. As the liturgical commentator, Fr Pius Parsch, expressed it:
"Lent is our annual retreat, while the Ember Days serve as quarterly check-ups. A grave and earnest mood comes over Mother Church, but there are no tears or mourning. Fasting is not so much an expression of penitence and sorrow as a joyous tithe to God, and an incentive to almsgiving".
(Pius Parsch, The Church’s Year of Grace, Vol I pp104f)
Another historical feature of the Ember days is their use for ordinations. The series of readings on Ember Saturday could introduce ordinations to a succession of minor and major orders.
While the obligation for fasting on Ember Days is no longer imposed by Canon Law, they are a particularly ancient and rich part of the Church’s tradition. By keeping the Ember days, we could get back to being deeply connected to the seasons and their meaning for us as Catholic Christians and disciples of Christ. As Fr Anthony Paris, our Parish priest here in Salisbury, says: "the main thing is to keep The Main Thing as the main thing" or as the Second Vatican Council declared:
In the various seasons of the year and according to her traditional discipline, the Church completes the formation of the faithful by means of pious practices for soul and body, by instruction, prayer, and works of penance and of mercy.
(Sacrosantum Concilium 105)
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