A third appearance was at Rome in the time of Gregory the Great. The pontiff was praying against a pestilence, when he saw an angel upon the mount of Adrian, with a bloody sword in his hand, which he then sheathed, whence the supplicant inferred that his prayers had been granted, and in consequence he built a chapel on the spot in honour of all the angels.* There would, however, seem to be some little difficulty in understanding why the day should be particularly dedicated to St. Michael, a difficulty which Durandus endeavours to get over by many ingenious arguments, his principal one being that St. Michael was the guardian of Paradise,† and therefore more especially en titled to such an honour. It ROGATION SUNDAY. The fifth Sunday after Easter. took its name from preceding the Rogation Days, that is the three days before Holy Thursday, Rogation being a term generally used to denote processional supplications; the reason of the word being more specifically applied to the days in question was this :-About the year 550, the city of Vienne, (in Dauphinè,) was much troubled with earthquakes and the irruption of wild beasts, whereupon Mamertus, the bishop of the diocese, obtained permission from the senate to ordain processional supplications on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, before the Ascension.‡ * Hospinian De Festis Christ. fol. 85. † Durandi Rat. Divin. Offic. lib. vii. cap. 12. "Dum civitas Viennensium crebro terræ motu subrueretur et bestiarium desolaretur incursu, sanctus Mamertus, ejus civitatis episcopus, eas dicitur pro malis quæ præmissimus ordinasse." Wallifred, Stral. c. 28. d. De Rebus Ecclesiast. I give the passage, as quoted by Bourne, having only taken the liberty of reading dicitur for legitur, a manifest misprint, which as a matter of course, Sir Henry Ellis, who quotes from him, has retained, with the addition-also of courseof another typographical blunder-De REP. Ecclesiast. See also Shep It is not easy to say when or how these rogations became mixed up with the parochial perambulations, but there cannot be the least doubt that the latter have been derived to us from the times of the Romans. It is only a Christian form of the Terminalia, established by Numa Pompilius, in honour of the God Terminus, the guardian of fields and landmarks, and maintainer of peace amongst mankind.* Even the Reformation did not sweep away this useful custom; it only modified the observance; and we find Elizabeth ordering that "the curate, at certain and convenient places, shall admonish the people to give thanks in the beholding God's benefits, for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of the 103d psalm, at which time the minister shall inculcate these, or such sentences-'cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles† of his neighbours.'" The week, in which these days fell, was also called herd's "Elucidation of Common Prayer,” vol. ii. p. 127, who, however, in the earlier edition of his work mistook this "civitas Vien. nensium," for Vienna, the capital of Austria. In the second edition of vol. ii. the error is corrected. * Spelman, in his Glossary under the head Perambulatio, says, "refert Plutarchus in Problem xiii. Numam Pompilium cum finitimis agri terminis constituisse et in ipsis finibus Terminum, Deum, quasi finium præsidem amicitiæque ac pacis custodem posuisse. Hinc festa ei dicata quæ Terminalia nuncupantur, quorum vice nos quotannis ex vetustissimâ consuetudine parochiarum terminos lustramus,—Saxonibus gangdagas, hodiernis processiones et Rogationes appellatas. Dole means a boundary-stone. Todd derives it from the Saxon dælan, to divide; but I should rather fancy it was the Celtic dol, a stone, which we find in the compound word dolman, i.e. the Stone of the Men, another name for the cromlech. Bourne's Antiq. vol. i. p. 207. Cross-week," because in ancient times, when the priests went into the fields, the cross was carried before them." In the north it was, and I believe still is, called gang-week, from the provincial word gang, a descendant from the Anglo-Saxon gang-days already noticed. Lastly, it was termed Grass-week, in some of the inns of court, because the commons then consisted mostly of sallads and green vegetables. There is a superstitious observance appertaining to this week peculiar to Kent, but which I believe may be found, with modifications, in Devonshire also. Hasted, who sometimes condescended to relieve his antiquarian details by scraps of this kind, informs us "there is an odd custom used in these parts, about Keston and Wickham, in Rogation week ; at which time a number of young men meet together for the purpose, and with a most hideous noise run into the orchards, and incircling each tree, pronounce these words: Stand fast root, bear well top, God send us a youling+ sop! Every bough, apple enow. But For which incantation the confused rabble expect a gratuity in money, or drink, which is no less welcome. if they are disappointed of both, they with great solemnity anathematize the owners and trees with altogether as insignificant a curse. It seems highly probable that this custom has arisen from the ancient one of perambulation among the heathens, when they made their * Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. p. 285, note. I hardly know whether it may be necessary to explain to any one that this youling, or yuling sop is an allusion to the roasted crabapple, which is put into the wassail bowl at Christmas, the ale thus prepared forming the well-known drink called lambs-wool. prayers to the Gods for the use and blessing of the fruits coming up, with thanksgivings for those of the preceding year. And as the heathens supplicated Æolus, God of the winds, for his favourable blasts; so in this custom, they still retain his name with a very small variation, this ceremony being called youling, and the word is often used in their invocations."* I doubt much however the word youling having any thing to do with the God Eolus. It is derived, in my opinion, from the Indian huly, a spring festival; for though in more modern times YULE has been restricted to mean a Christmas feast, yet with the Druids it was also applied to those that were celebrated in the month of May. We shall find, too, that the word, under various modifications of the original root, runs through the Gothic, Danish, Welsh, and other languages, and always more or less distinctly signifying a rejoicing or festival-making This is clearly its meaning amongst the people of Kent in the ceremony just described. Ascension Eve. This, though not noticed amongst Protestants, is held by the more rigid Catholics to be a particular occasion for alms-giving, for, as Durandus tells us, the previous fasts are of no avail without works of charity; "if," says he, quoting St. Gregory, "you wish your prayer to rise to Heaven, you must lend it two wings-fasting and alms-giving." * Hasted's History of Kent, vol. i. p. 109. "Quia vero jejunium quo præmissum est non sufficit sine operibus misericordiæ, ideo in vigiliâ Ascensionis, quæ est tertia dies rogationum, ecclesia monet ad opera misericordiæ.... Dicit enim Gregor. 'Si vis orationem tuam ad cælum volare, fac ei duas alas, scilicet jejunium et eleemosynam.'"' Gul. Durandi, Rat. Div. Offic. lib. vi. cap. ciii. p. 260. ASCENSION-DAY, or HOLY THURSDAY. This, as the name sufficiently implies, is the anniversary of Christ's Ascension, but there is no peculiar mention of this festival amongst the elder writers on such subjects. It is celebrated on the fortieth day after the passover, because Christ ascended into Heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection.* A few trifling observances still cling to it in some parts, the relicks of our forefathers' superstitions. Thus we are told by a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, when speaking of superstitions prevalent in the neighbourhood of Exeter, "that the figure of a lamb actually appears in the east on the morning of AscensionDay is the popular persuasion. And so deeply is it rooted that it hath frequently resisted (even in intelligent minds) the force of the strongest argument."† Reginald Scot also mentions two superstitions as connected with this day, but without localizing them—" in some countries," he says, "they run out of the doors in time of tempest, blessing themselves with a cheese, whereupon there was a cross made with a rope's end upon Ascension-Day-Item, to hang an egg, laid on AscensionDay in the roof of the house preserveth the same from all hurts."+ In conclusion it should not be forgotten that the custom of parochial perambulations has amongst us been chiefly confined to this day; but such deviations from the original observance are too common to excite the least surprise. * "Apud vetustiores authores festi Ascensionis Christi peculiaris mentio nulla fit, sed comprehendunt illud sub Quinquaginta illis festis diebus post Pascha." Hospinian De Festis Christianorum, p. 86. + Gentleman's Magazine, for August 1787, vol. lvii. p. 718, note. The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, p. 152, folio, Lond. 1665. |