With the arrival of mid-September, and the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (14 Sept) we come around again to our Ember Days. The September Ember Days this year are today, Wednesday 20 Sept, Friday 22 and Saturday 23.
More on Ember Days, HERE.
Observance of Ember Days is very ancient, going back in the Roman Church to at least Gelasius I (496) who speaks of four times a year. Leo the Great (+461) preached about three times. Pope Callixtus I (+222) laid down fasting laws. The Ember Days correspond, roughly, to changes of seasons.
Keep in mind that Ember Days were times of penance. Perhaps you could fast and abstain for some good intention on these days.
If memory serves, the newer Ordo – for the Novus Ordo – mentions something about the custom of Ember Days, but it does so in such a vague way that no one might be prompted to do anything with it.
I wonder: is there still a mention of Ember Days in the Ordo for the Ordinary Form? Perhaps some priests out there who have one could check.
Fun fact.
In the 16th c. Spanish and Portuguese missionaries settled in Nagasaki, Japan. From their interest in inculturation and out of sensitivity for the ways of the people, they tried to make meatless meals for Embertide, which is a fast time. They started deep-frying shrimp. The Japanese ran with and developed it to perfection. This is “tempura,” again from the Latin term for the Ember Days” Quatuor Tempora“.
I think I’ll get some tempura on Friday.
In the meantime, do you know the mnemonic for the times of year of the Ember Days?
The old rhyme is:
Dat crux Lucia cineres charismata dia
quod sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.
Or
Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.
A short version: Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy.
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We keep Ember Days in our home. We’ll join you in preparing shrimp tempura on Friday, though it hardly seems penitentiary in out meal rotation!
I love tempura. In Japan, restaurants specialize in one thing. So there are tempura restaurants, sushi restaurants, ramen bars, soba restaurants, etc. My favorite tempura restaurant in Kyoto serves tempura of seafood but also of various types of mushrooms and vegetables like broccoli, zucchini, zucchini flowers (similar to the Italian way of preparing fior di zucca lightly battered and quickly dipped in hot oil), etc. and it’s all seasonal too.
Actually, the version know in Portugal is indeed that Tempura comes from Portuguese lenten food i.e. of Tempora quadragesimæ, but that was “Peixinhos da horta” or Little fish from the garden, which are fried green beans indeed in a style similar to Tempura. Those were traditional in Portugal. In those days, Lent meant no meat, but also no fish, eggs or dairy… (as it still does for Russian Orthodox, btw). So the peixinhos da Horta were “replacement for fish”… Peixinhos da Horta are still part of Portuguese cuisine…
Google translate does not distinguish itself on this phrase:
Lucia gives the cross the ashes of the charismatic dia
that he should be in trouble on the following Wednesday.
I’ve snacked on Peixinhos da Horta many times in Madeira, but I never knew the reason they were called that. Mostly that’s because my Portuguese is terrible and I’ve never asked why “piexe.” Thanks for the fun information, Marc.
I gave up meat EVERYDAY as Bideniflation has made the purchase of it prohibitively expensive. That ol’ Joe is such a good Catholic! sarc/off
The new ordo mentions embers days twice that I see. Ones on the Exultation of the the Cross it says
“ “PN Formerly, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the Feast of the Holy Cross were observed as Ember Days, a time to give thanks to God for the first fruits of the harvest. Rural communities may wish to celebrate the Order for a Blessing on the Occasion of Thanksgiving for the Harvest (BB, nos. 1007-1023) on one of these days or on some other occasion.”
The other under the instruction for Votive and other Masses it states
“ “22. Days of Prayer (formerly Ember Days), designated by the diocesan bishop, should consider at least these special needs: general needs of humankind, the harvest and fruits of the earth, world peace and justice, and human rights and equality. Existing Votive Masses, with appropriate readings and chants from the Lectionary, are to be used on these days”
And one other place for the memorial of St. Callistus I
“Callistus I, † 222; incurred ire of Tertullian and Hippolytus (13 Aug.) over lapsi controversy; organized the first official Christian cemetery in Rome and instituted Ember Day fasts.”
The Divine Worship Missal for the Anglican Ordinariates (Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter for the US) created by Benedict XVI includes the Ember Days, so it seemed someone in the Congregation of Divine Worship (where Bp. Lopes worked IIRC) realized it and tried to correct it at some point, but alas the best opportunity for the Roman Missal would have been in 2011. Sadly that will have to be shelved for another Pontificate… Kyrie eleison.