Ember Days question

  • Thread starter Thread starter CruceSignati
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CruceSignati

Guest
I would like to start fasting on the Ember Days, and from what I’ve read, the winter ones are on the first full week after the feast of St. Lucy. That would make the next ones December 18, 20, and 21, right?

Also, is it supposed to be a full fast, partial abstinence, or complete abstinence?

Thanks in advance. I’m new at this. :o
 
🍿
I have always wanted to understand the Ember Days. I will be watching this thread. Thanks for asking this question.
 
I thought you were talking about the fantasy film. Unless there’s some stricture attached to it (ie, penitential fasting or fasting for an indulgence), how you fast is up to you. I perform badly at work and have a short temper when I fast from food, so I either fast for a brief period and focus my prayer then, or fast from a type of food (meat, warm food) or another activity.

Some ordered brothers living in community whom I know decided to pray for the poor while fasting from the comforts the poor don’t get to have over a period of four weeks. One week they went without electric light or television, the next without hot water, the next without hot food, the next without using gasoline transportation (as much as they could, anyway).
 
CruceSignati said:
I would like to start fasting on the Ember Days, and from what I’ve read, the winter ones are on the first full week after the feast of St. Lucy. That would make the next ones December 18, 20, and 21, right?

Also, is it supposed to be a full fast, partial abstinence, or complete abstinence?

Thanks in advance. I’m new at this. :o
Click to expand...
I never heard of ember days, either a movie or the other till now! Thanks for bringing this up!
 
My parents used to have a church calendar with Ember Days on it.
Is it another practice that ended with Vatican II?
 
There are four sets of Ember Days, and the Ember Days are always Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of that particular Ember Week. The 4 Ember Weeks are:
  • The 3rd Week of Advent (so, yes the next ones are 12/18, 12/20, and 12/21).
  • The 1st Week of Lent,
  • The Week after Pentecost (before Trinity Sunday)
  • The Week after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14).
Ember Days have been abolished, so strictly speaking, should you decide to take up the practice yourself you can fast/abstain however you like since you are not legally bound to fast/abstain on such days. I suspect you’re asking what the traditional practice was when Catholics were canonically bound to fast/abstain, correct?

Traditionally, The Ember Days were days of full fast (one full meal, and an allowance of two smaller meals which cannot collectively be as large as the full meal), and partial abstinence. Of course during this time all Fridays of the year were days of full abstinence, and so by default the Friday Ember Days were also days of full abstinence.
 
CruceSignati said:
I would like to start fasting on the Ember Days, and from what I’ve read, the winter ones are on the first full week after the feast of St. Lucy. That would make the next ones December 18, 20, and 21, right?

Also, is it supposed to be a full fast, partial abstinence, or complete abstinence?

Thanks in advance. I’m new at this. :o
Click to expand...
Yep, my family observes this tradition and you’ve got the right dates, and it’s a full fast and partial abstinence, so you can have meat at the main meal of the deal (except Friday, of course).

Ember days are also a traditional time for ordinations and prayers for the priesthood so it’s a great time to remember them in our rosaries, etc.
 
Modern_Revert said:
My parents used to have a church calendar with Ember Days on it.
Is it another practice that ended with Vatican II?
Click to expand...
Not exactly. It continued under the first “Mass of Vatican II,” the one that came out during the council. But the second new missal that came out after Vatican II came with a totally new calendar and that’s when Ember Days disappeared, around 1969.
 
Rich_C said:
Not exactly. It continued under the first “Mass of Vatican II,” the one that came out during the council. But the second new missal that came out after Vatican II came with a totally new calendar and that’s when Ember Days disappeared, around 1969.
Click to expand...
Do you mean disappeared from the Missal or disappeared from practice? I recall Catholic colleagues and friends still fasting and abstaining during the Ember Days well into the early 70s.
 
The Ember days fast are Wednesday; partial, Friday full fast; Saturday, partial.

My family is getting better at marking these on the calendar so we can remember them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top