Ritual Conformity Part 2

| S. _John Baptist_.

| S. _Peter_.

The | S. _James_.

Evens / S. _Bartholomew_.

or S. _Matthew_.

Vigils | S. _Simon_ and S. _Jude_.

before | S. _Andrew_.

| S. _Thomas_.

| All Saints.

Note, That if any of these Feast-Days fall upon a _Monday_, then the Vigil or Fast-Day shall be kept upon the _Sat.u.r.day_, and not upon the _Sunday_ next before it.

This Table includes several days not anciently observed as Fast-days, and refers to private observance and not to public service.

When a Saint's Day which is preceded by a Vigil falls on a Monday, though the fast of the Vigil is to be kept on the Sat.u.r.day, yet the Collect for the Saint's Day is not to be said on the Sat.u.r.day evening, but on the evening of Sunday, in accordance with Rubric (82).

_DAYS_ of Fasting, or Abstinence.

I. The Forty Days of Lent.

| The First _Sunday_ in | Lent.

II. The Ember-Days at the Four Seasons, / The Feast of _Pentecost_.

being the _Wednesday_, _Friday_, _September_ 14, and and _Sat.u.r.day_ after | _December_ 13.

III. The Three Rogation-Days, being _Monday_, _Tuesday_, and _Wednesday_, before _Holy Thursday_, or the _Ascension_ of our Lord.

IV. All the _Fridays_ in the Year, except Christmas-Day.

The word 'or' implies a distinction in the mode of observing these days: Nos. I. and II. in the 'Table,' viz., the Forty Days of Lent and the Ember-days, are days of _Fasting:_ Nos. III. and IV., viz., the three Rogation-days and Fridays, except Christmas-Day, are days of _Abstinence_.

14. _A CERTAIN SOLEMN DAY_, for which a particular Service is appointed.

The Twentieth Day of _June_, being the Day on which her Majesty began her happy Reign.

THE ORDER FOR

MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER

DAILY TO BE SAID AND USED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

15. The Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accustomed Place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel; except it shall be otherwise determined by the Ordinary of the Place. And the Chancels shall remain as they have done in times past.

The direction given in the first clause of this rubric was introduced in 1559, in correction of the order of 1552, which had enabled the Minister to choose any place in which the people could best hear.

It was retained in 1662, and in reading the clause with the second, it appears distinctly to point to the ancient use, when the accustomed place for the minister was within the chancel.

The direction that the Chancels shall remain as in times past, dates from 1552, and must therefore refer to arrangements before that time. It seems also definitely to refer to the retaining the screen, and the steps, as interpreted by the order of 1561. Hence no fixtures may be introduced, such as pews, monuments, &c., nor any alteration made in the furniture or ornaments of the Chancels, which will interfere with the convenience of the Minister and Clerks in the celebration of Holy Communion, or other offices of the Church.

16. And here is to be noted, that such Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof, at all Times of their Ministration, shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by the Authority of Parliament, in the Second Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth.

This paragraph of the rubric is essentially taken from the Act of Uniformity of 1559. In the ecclesiastical language of that day, the word 'ornaments' technically includes everything which is connected with the purposes of the consecrated building beyond the mere fabric of the building, and with the dress of the officiating Minister beyond his usual dress in secular life.

In the Act of 1559, the intention was to take as the basis of the Prayer-Book then authorized the Book of the fifth and sixth years of Edward VI. (1552); but to adopt the ornaments of another period, viz. of the second, not of the fifth year of Edward VI.[a]

The ornaments of the second year are those which were intended to be, and were actually, used under the Prayer-Book of 1549. Whatever question may arise about other ornaments, there can be no question about those prescribed by that Book, as well as those implied in it.

As to those which were not prescribed by, or implied in, that book, they must be determined by the existing usage of the time, subject to such modifications as were implied by the Injunctions, or other authoritative doc.u.ments, up to the year 1548.

The following ornaments are prescribed by the Book of 1549.

1. Altar. 9. Surplice.

2. Chalice. 10. Hood.

3. Paten. 11. Albe.

4. Corporas. 12. Vestment[b].

5. Font. 13. Tunicle.

6. Poor Man's Box. 14. Rochet.

7. Bell. 15. Cope.

8. Pulpit. 16. Pastoral Staff.

This rubric, if construed to include only these ornaments, would exclude many things which common sense and custom have sanctioned; and if the doctrine that "omission is prohibition" be insisted on, would actually shut out organs or harmoniums, hangings on doorways, seats for priests, clerks, and people, stoves, ha.s.socks, pulpit-cloths or pulpit-cushions, pews, Christmas decorations, and the use of the pulpit or bell except on Ash Wednesday; it would forbid any bishop to officiate publicly on any occasion without a cope or vestment and pastoral staff. On the other hand, there seems to be a limit to laxity in construing the rubric, and that it cannot, unless this laxity be strained beyond the bounds of reason, be taken to admit the subst.i.tution of other ornaments for those which the rubric enjoins; such as the use of a bason in, or instead of the Church font, of a common bottle for the Holy Communion, of a black gown instead of an authorised vesture in the pulpit during the Communion Service, or of foreign forms of surplices and vestments instead of the English ones.

In general, the more nearly the ornaments of the Church and Minister, and the use thereof, are conformed to the English, usage in the early years of the reign of Edward VI., the better; as marking the continuity of the English Church, and avoiding the imputation of adopting at second hand the ornaments and usages of foreign communions, whether Belgian, French, Italian, or Swiss.

Nevertheless, the non-user of any legal ornaments, such as the Eucharistic Vestments, in any old Church, for a long period, seems to be a valid plea against any absolute obligation of sudden restoration in that Church, when the communicants do not desire them to be restored.

With regard to the colours of the Priest's vestments, and of other coloured ornaments of the Church and Minister, there were variations in different Churches.

In the rubric of Sarum, which seems to have been regarded as a standard of English usage up to the beginning of the reign of Edward VI., _red_ was directed to be used on all Sundays in the year, except in the Easter season and the Ascension festival (up to Whitsun Eve), and except on any other festival marked by the use of white, which takes precedence of the particular Sunday.

In these cases the colour would be _white_.

Also on the Circ.u.mcision the colour would be White.

On the Epiphany " " White.

On the Conversion of St. Paul " White.

On the Purification " " White.

On St. Matthias' Day " " Red.

On the Annunciation " " White.

On St. Mark's Day " " /White (because in On St. Philip and St. James' Day " Easter Season).

On the Ascension " " White.

On St. Barnabas' Day " " /Red (White if in Easter Season).

On St. John the Baptist's Day " White.

On St. Peter's Day " " Red.

On St. James' Day " " Red.

On St. Bartholomew's Day " " Red.

On St. Matthew's Day " " Red.

On St. Michael and All Angels' " White.

On St. Luke's Day " " Red.

On St. Simon and St. Jude's Day " Red.

On All Saints' Day " " Red.

On St. Andrew's Day " " Red.

On St. Thomas' Day " " Red.

In the Christmas Season " " White (probably).

On St. Stephen's Day " " Red.