Throughout the year in the
Western Church, Ember Days (jejunia quattuor temporum or "Fasts of the Four Seasons") are four quarterly groups of three days within one
week (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday), set aside specifically for prayer and
fasting.
The Ember Weeks are as
follows:
- Between the 3rd and 4th
Sundays of Advent
- Between the 1st and 2nd
Sundays of Lent
- Between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday
- Week beginning the Sunday after the Feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14th)
The term is a corruption of
the German Quatember, derived from
the Anglo-Saxon ymbren (a circuit or
revolution, from ymb, around, and ryne, a course running), relating to the
annual cycle of the year. In Latin, it
is rendered quattuor anni tempora
(four seasons of the year) or jejunia
quattuor temporum (fasts of the four seasons), in Irish Gaelic as Laethanta
na gCeithre Thráth (days of the four times), and in Welsh as Wythnos y
Cydgorian (Week of the Processions).
The most accepted origin is the
early Church’s practice of assigning a holy purpose to Roman or Celtic pagan
holidays, in this case calendar and harvest festivals. The earliest known mention is in the writings
of Philastrius, Bishop of Brescia (died c. 387), Pope St. Leo the Great (A.D.
440 – 461, who wanted to bring the grace and discipline of abstinence from meat
to every season of the year), and Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604, who is
believed to have fixed the timing). The
current schedule was established by Pope Blessed Urban II at the Councils of
Piacenza and Clermont, 1095, and can be remembered by this clever mnemonic
device in Latin:
Dant
Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut
sit in angariâ quarta sequens feria
or in old English:
Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie
[Lent, Pentecost, the Holy Cross, and St. Lucy]
The Ember Days began on the
Wednesday immediately following those feast days.
The Church originally
mandated fasting (only one full meal per day, plus two small meatless meals) on
all Ember Days, and the faithful were encouraged (but not required) to receive
the Sacrament of Penance. On February
17, 1966, Pope Paul VI’s decree Paenitemini
excluded the Ember Days as days of fast and abstinence, and their observance
now is up to the discretion of the local bishops conference. Pope St. Gelasius I (492-496) is credited
with associating the Ordination of clergy to Ember Weeks.
Pray! Fast!
Esther 4:16 (Esther fasted
three days without food or water)
II Samuel 12:16-18 (David
fasted seven days without food)
Isaiah 58 (what is a proper
fast before God)
Matthew 17:21 (prayer and
fasting are linked)
Acts 9:9 (Paul fasted three
days)
II Corinthians 11:27 (Paul
fasted often)
Here are some helpful websites with more information for you about Ember Days:
