Remember, It's Ember

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… as G. Thomas Fitzpatrick at Recta Ratio likes to say. 😃

The Lord our God is Lord of every season. For many centuries, the Roman Church sanctified the start of each season with three days of prayer, fasting and partial abstinence. The Catholic Encyclopedia says that the purpose of these days, “besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy”.

This was also in the past a time of prayer for our clergy, who were often ordained on Ember Saturdays.

Observance of these days was abandoned in the 1960s. Although they are no longer obligatory, if you are looking for a way to offer the Lord a little extra this Lent, you could voluntarily follow this ancient custom of the Roman Catholic Church.

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of Ember Week were fast days. Wednesday and Saturday were days of partial abstinence (meat, meat gravy, or meat soup at the main meal only). Fridays in Lent, of course, remain days of obligatory total abstinence.

Pope St. Leo the Great also encouraged works of mercy for the poor on these days.
 
Its easy to remember the Ember Days during Lent because of the Fasting that I do anyway. My wife has a tendency to forget the saturdays though. So she’ll often start cooking a meat dish. But thats easy to solve too. I just skip that part of the meal.
 
What days are Ember Days? And sorry to kind of side track, but what are Rogation Days?
 
In Traditional Catholicism those 21 to 59 are required to Fast and Partial Abstinence every day of Lent and of Course Full Abstinence on Ash Wednesday Holy Saturday and Every Friday (Which we do all year unles dispenced like the day after Thanksgiving for example) On Ember days the Age is 7 and older and partial abstinence - which is meat only at the main meal. In Fasting we are allowed 2 snacks that do not add up to a Full meal and One Full Meal each day. Meat only at the main meal.

Pax
 
Nowhere_Man said:
What days are Ember Days? And sorry to kind of side track, but what are Rogation Days?
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Malleus is correct.

Here is some more info. from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

(Check out Newadvent.org)
Ember days (corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times) are the days at the beginning of the seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. They were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday, after Whitsunday, and after 14 September (Exaltation of the Cross). The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding; hence their feriae sementivae, feriae messis, and feri vindimiales. The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose. At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December; the exact days were not fixed but were announced by the priests. The “Liber Pontificalis” ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering: the fast, but probably it is older. Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Gelasius (492-496) speaks of all four. This pope also permitted the conferring of priesthood and deaconship on the Saturdays of ember week–these were formerly given only at Easter. Before Gelasius the ember days were known only in Rome, but after his time their observance spread. They were brought into England by St. Augustine; into Gaul and Germany by the Carlovingians. Spain adopted them with the Roman Liturgy in the eleventh century. They were introduced by St. Charles Borromeo into Milan. The Eastern Church does not know them. The present Roman Missal, in the formulary for the Ember days, retains in part the old practice of lessons from Scripture in addition to the ordinary two: for the Wednesdays three, for the Saturdays six, and seven for the Saturday in December. Some of these lessons contain promises of a bountiful harvest for those that serve God.
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Before Vatican II ember days were important. The church used to do special things during these days, such as ordinations. Not anymore. I guess this was another great improvement of V-II.
 
Days of prayer, instituted by the Church, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest
Errata* for Rogation Days:
  • Published by Encyclopedia Press, 1913.
    Rogation Days,
    days of prayer, and formerly also of fasting, instituted by the Church to appease God’s anger at man’s transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest, known in England as “Gang Days” and “Cross Week”, and in Germany as Bittage, Bittwoche, Kreuzwoche. The Rogation Days were highly esteemed in England and King Alfred’s laws considered a theft committed on these days equal to one committed on Sunday or a higher Church Holy Day. Their celebration continued even to the thirteenth year of Elizabeth, 1571, when one of the ministers of the Established Church inveighed against the Rogation processions, or Gang Days, of Cross Week. The ceremonial may be found in the Council of Clovesho (Thorpe, Ancient Laws, I, 64; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, III, 564).
The Rogation Days are the 25th of April, called Major, and the three days before the feast of the Ascension, called Minor. The Major Rogation, which has no connection with the feast of St. Mark (fixed for this date much later) seems to be of very early date and to have been introduced to counteract the ancient Robigalia, on which the heathens held processions and supplications to their gods. St. Gregory the Great (d. 604) regulated the already existing custom. The Minor Rogations were introduced by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne, and were afterwards ordered by the Fifth Council of Orleans, which was held in 511, and then approved by Leo III (795-816). This is asserted by St. Gregory of Tours in “Hist. Franc.”, II, 34, by St. Avitus of Vienne in his “Horn. de Rogat.” (P.L., LVIII, 563), by Ado of Vienne (P.L., CXXIII, 102), and by the Roman Martyrology. Sassi, in “Archiepiscopi Mediolanenses”, ascribes their introduction at an earlier date to St. Lazarus. This is also held by the Bollandist Henschen in “Acta SS.”, II, February, 522. The liturgical celebration now consists in the procession and the Rogation Mass. For April 25 the Roman Missal gives the rubric: “If the feast of St. Mark is transferred, the procession is not transferred. In the rare case of April 25 being Easter Sunday [1886, 1943], the procession is held not on Sunday but on the Tuesday following”.

The order to be observed in the procession of the Major and Minor Rogation is given in the Roman Ritual, title X, ch. iv. After the antiphon “Exurge Domine”, the Litany of the Saints is chanted and each verse and response is said twice. After the verse “Sancta Maria” the procession begins to move. If necessary, the litany may be repeated, or some of the Penitential or Gradual Psalms added. For the Minor Rogations the “Ceremoniale Episcoporum”, book II, ch. xxxii, notes: “Eadem serventur sed aliquid remissius”. If the procession is held, the Rogation Mass is obligatory, and no notice is taken of whatever feast may occur, unless only one Mass is said, for then a commemoration is made of the feast. An exception is made in favor of the patron or titular of the church, of whom the Mass is said with a commemoration of the Rogation. The color used in the procession and Mass is violet. The Roman Breviary gives the instruction: “All persons bound to recite the Office, and who are not present at the procession, are bound to recite the Litany, nor can it be anticipated”.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN

Retrieved from “http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Rogation_Days”
 
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