As the
feasts multiplied, the number of vigils was greatly reduced. But the abuses could be stopped only by abolishing the vigils. And where they could not be abrogated at once and entirely they were to begin in the afternoon. A
synod held at
Rouen in 1231 prohibited all vigils except those before the patronal
feast of a church (
Hefele, “Conciliengeschichte”, V, 1007). In place of nocturnal observances, the
bishops introduced for the
laity a fast on the day before the
feast, which fast Durandus (loc. cit.) calls “jejunium dispensationis”. Honorius of Auxerre, in 1152 (Gemma Animae, III, 6), and others explain in this way the origin of this fast. It existed, however, long before the abolition of the nocturnal meetings. The fast on
Christmas Eve is mentioned by Theophilus of
Alexandria (d. 412), that before the
Epiphany by
St. John Chrysostom (d. 407), that before Pentecost by the Sacramentary of
St. Leo I.
Pope Nicholas I (d. 867), in his answer to the
Bulgarians, speaks of the fast on the eves of
Christmas and of the Assumption. The
Synod of Erfurt (932) connects a fast with every vigil. The very fact that the people were not permitted to eat or drink before the services of the vigil (
Vespers and
Matins) were ended, after midnight, explains the excesses of which the councils and writers speak.
