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Ember Days
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What are the Ember Days in the Ordinariate?
The four sets of Ember days, located as they are at the onset of the four natural seasons, call to mind the agrarian cycle of planting, tending, and harvesting. In spring, we give thanks for the renewal of the earth and the gift of light as the days grow longer. In summer, we thank the Lord for the gift of wheat, and in autumn again for the grape harvest. As winter approaches, we pray in gratitude for the olive crop. Holy Mother Church provides her children these times to give thanks for the goods we have reaped, and to humbly seek the Divine assistance in the goods yet to be sown.
From these harvests will come the bread, the wine, and the sacred oils that will nourish and strengthen us in the Sacraments. We recall the prayers of the Offertory, as the priest presents the bread and wine at the Altar of God, that these are “fruit of the earth/vine and the work of human hands.” And so, as we give thanks for these harvests, we also give thanks for the abundance of grace poured out in the divine mysteries of our faith.
Each Embertide is kept over three days: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. These days recall Our Lord’s betrayal, death, and his harrowing of Hell. The term “Ember Day” or “Embertide” has nothing to do with embers or ashes. It may be from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren, meaning a circle or revolution, or it may be a corruption of the original Latin term, quatuor tempora, through the German quatember.
The Ember days date back to the early Church. Pope Callistus (217-222) ordered the observance of a thrice annual fast over against the pagan Roman seasonal rituals of the time. By the time of Pope Gelasius, (492-496), there were four such times in the liturgical year, which harkens to the Old Testament practice of fasting four times a year: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah: therefore love truth and peace.” ~ Zachariah 8:19
It was Pope Gelasius, too, who seems to have begun the practice of conferring Holy Orders on the Saturdays of Embertide. Thus, these became times of prayer not only for the physical harvest of the fields, but also for a plentiful spiritual harvest of vocations to the diaconate and priesthood.
Ember days are no longer widely celebrated. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal recommends them but does not obligate them (cf. GIRM 394). They are still observed in the Ordinariates, though, as they came with us as a beloved part of our English patrimony, and thus as a treasure to be shared with the whole Church.
Observing the Ember Days in the Ordinariate:
Fasting and Abstinence: In the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, Ember Friday is a day of obligatory abstinence from meat. The one exception is Ember Friday after Pentecost, as the Octave of Pentecost gives a celebratory character to that day. The faithful are nevertheless welcome to follow the traditional pattern of fasting and abstinence, that is, a fast and partial abstinence on Wednesdays and Saturdays (two small meatless meals, and one full meal that can include meat). Fasting on the Ember Days is an ancient spiritual discipline that is optional to all.
Prayer: The faithful are asked to pray in a special way during the Ember Days for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, as well as for seasonable weather and an abundant harvest. The Saint Gregory Prayer Book offers a number of prayers for these intentions.
An interesting note regarding the Advent Embers in the Ordinariate. While the traditional reckoning of these Embers is in the Third Week of Advent (nearest St. Lucy’s day), the Holy See shifted them to the First Week of Advent for the Ordinariate. This was done to safeguard the observation of the O Antiphons (Sapientiatide), from 17-24 December in the Ordinariate calendar.
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