Of the VIGILS, FASTS, and DAYS of ABSTINENCE,

The Evens or
Vigils before

to be obferved in the Year.

The Nativity of our Lord.

The Purification of the Bleffed Virgin Mary.
The Annunciation of the Bleiled Virgin.
Eafter-day.
Afcenfion-day.
Pentecoft.
St. Matthias.

St. John Baptift.
St. Peter.

St. James.

St. Bartholomew.

St. Matthewv.

St. Simon and St. Jude.

St. Andrew.

St. Thomas.

All Saints.

NOTE, That if any of thefe Feaft-days fall upon a Monday, then the Vigil or Faft-day fhall be kept upon the Saturday, and not upon the Sunday next before it.

Days of Fafting or Abftinence.

. The Forty Days of Lent.
II. The Ember-Days at the Four
Seafons being the Wednesday,
Friday, and Saturday, after
I. The Three Rogation-Days,

The Feaft of Pentecoft.
The first Sunday in Lent.
September 14.
December 13.

being the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy-Thuriday, or the Afcenfion of our Lord. IV. All the Fridays in the Year, except Chriftmas-Day.

Certain Solemn Days for which particular Services are appointed.

The Fifth Day of November, || III. The Twenty-ninth Day of

being the Day kept in memory of the Papifts' Confpiracy.

II. The Thirtieth Day of January, being the Day kept in memory of the Martyrdom of King Charles I.

May, being the Day kept in memory of the Birth and Return of King Charles II.

IV. The Twenty-fifth Day of Oc

tober, being the Day on which his Majefty began his happy reign.

great feaft of Eafter fhould be obferved on one and the fame day; and that, not on the day ut the Jewish Paffover, but, as had been generally obferved, upon the Sunday afterwards." Explanatory of this general canon, the following rules were established :

"Ift. That the 2ift day of March thall be accounted the Vernal Equinox.

2d. That the full moon happening upon or next after the 21ft day of March fhall be

taken for the full moon of Nizan.

"

34. That the Lord's-Day next following that full moon be Eafter-day.

4th. But if the full moon happen upon a Sunday, Eafter-day fhall be the Sunday after."

A TABLE to find EASTER-DAY from the prefent Time, till the Year 1899 inclufive, according to the foregoing Calendar.

18

7

2

9

ΙΟ

II

12

B

HIS Table contains fo much of the Calendar as

neceflary for the determining of Ealler: to

find which, look for the Golden Number of the year in the first column of the Table, against which ftands the day of the Pafchal Full Moon; then look in the third column for the Sunday-Letter, next after the day of the Full Moon, and the day of the month ftanding against that Sunday-Letter is EafterDay. If the Full Moon happen upon a Sunday, then (according to the firft rule) the next Sunday after is Eafter-Day.

To find the Golden Number, or Prime, add one to the year of our Lord, and then divide by 19; the remainder, if any, is the Golden Number; but if nothing remaineth, then 19 is the Golden Number.

To find the Dominical or Sunday-Letter, accord-
Ging to the Calendar, until the year 1799 inclu-
A five, add to the year of our Lord its fourth cA
B part, omitting fractions, and alfo the Number 1 G
C 1: Divide the fun by 7; and if there is no 2 F
Dremainder, then A is the Sunday-Letter: But 3E
E if any number remaineth, then the Letter 4 D
Fftanding against that number in the small an-
Gnexed Table, is the Sunday-Letter.

15

4

12

I

13

14

A

B

18

76

19

C

6B

For the next Century, that is, from the year 1800 Ctill the year 1899 inclufive, add to the current year only its fourth part, and then divide by 7, and proceed as in the last rule.

D

Golden Number] We have feen in the preceding note, that in order to fettle EafterThis was imday, it was neceffary to determine the time of the new and full moons. perfectly done at the time of eftablishing the Canons for regulating Eatter; and accordingly the Fathers of the fucceeding century directed that the new and full moons fhould be found out by the Cycle of the Moon, or a revolution of moons confifting of nineteen years. This cycle, from its utility in fettling the moon's age, was called the Golden Number; and tor fome time was written in Calendars in letters of gold. Meton, an Athenian geomatrician first obferved, that at the end of nineteen years the moon returns fo as to have her changes on the fame day of the Solar year and month whereon they happened nineteen years before; and hence this Lunar computation obtained the name of the Metonizn Cycle. But ftill there was defect in it; tor, though at the end of every nineteen years the moon changes on the very fame day of the Solar months, on which it changed nineteen years before; yet the fact is, that the change occurs nearly an hour and a halt fooner every ucceeding nineteen years than in the preceding Cycle. Hence in the courfe of years an alteration of feveral days had gradually taken place in the time of holding Eafter; an error which Pope Gregory XIIIth corrected in 1582, when he reformed the Calendar, and brought back the Vernal Equinox to the 21st of March. This reformation was adopted in the English Calendar in 1752, (and called changing the ftyle) by the fuppreffion of 11 days between the 3d and 14th of Sept.; and bringing by thefe means the fucceeding Vernal Equinox

Another TABLE to find EASTER till the Year 1899 inclufive.

To make ufe of the preceding Table, find the Sunday-Letter for the year in the uppermoft line, and the Golden Number, or Prime, in the column of Golden Numbers; and against the Prime, in the fame line under the Sunday-Letter, you have the day of the month on which Eafter falleth that year. But note, That the name of the month is fet on the left hand, or just with the figure, and followeth not, as in other Tables, by defcent, but collateral.

to the 21st of March, as it had been originally fettled by the Synodical Canons. The 21ft
of March and the 18th of April are properly the Paschal limits, becaufe the full moon by
which Eatter is governed must not fall before the former, or after the latter day; fo that
March the 224 is the earliest day, and April 25th, (which, if the 18th fhould be full moon
and a Sunday, will be the Sunday following) the latest day upon which Easter can happen.
Sunday or Dominical Letter] It is to be obferved, that the days in the old Roman Ca-
lendar, (previously to the birth of Chrift) were marked by the first eight letters in the
phabet, called Nundinal Letters, becaufe they pointed out on what days the regular
Nandine,
or markets, would occur. In lieu of thefe, the early Chriftians adopted the feven
rit letters of the Alphabet, to denote the Sundays throughout the year; and thence they
were called Dominical Letters, becaufe declarative of the Dies Dominica, or Lord's-Day.
To the first of January they affixed the letter A; to the 2d B; and fo on to G, which
marked January the 7th; after which the letters were repeated again, A being affixed to
January 8th, and fo on. Now as there are 52 weeks in the year, this feries of letters will
neceffarily be repeated 52 times; and had there been no more days than what are com
prized in the 52 weeks, the letter G would belong to the luft day of the year, as A would
have perpetually belonged to the first: But every common year confifting of 52 weeks
and an odd day, and every fourth, or leap-year, having Two days above the 52 weeks,
at follows of courfe that there will be a change in the Sunday or Dominical Letter corref
pondent to thefe irregularities; and that fome method of computation must be adopted to
detect that letter, which would have been unneceffary, had the number of the days ex-
actly agreed with the number of the letters. The Dominical Letter may be found.how.
ever, univerfally by following this old metrical rule:-

Divide the centuries by 4, and twice what does remain,
Take from 6, and then add to the number you gain

Their odd years and their 4th, which dividing by 7,.

What is left take from 7, and the (letter or) number is given.

A TABLE of the MOVEABLE FEASTS for Thirty-one Years, according to the foregoing Calendar.

Feb. 21Feb. 19|Apr. 6|May 11 May 15 May 25,25 Nov.30

Jan. 2511 Mar.29|

Feb. 14 Mar.

Apr.17

1809 514
181 625 G
1811 7 6 F
1812 817 ED

22

-Ic Feb. 27

ΙΔ

22 4

1813 928 C

3

-22

-17,26

-26 June 5 23

-29

-27

-11 May21 26 Dec. 3 -31 June 10 231 2

19 May29 24

Feb. 14 Mar. 3 Apr. 18

8 Mar.26 Apr.30

-27 June 623

-28

-27

4 -14 27 Dec. 3

-23 June 224 I

611 -15 May25 25 Nov.30

4 Mar.22 Apr.26 Apr.30

1814 10 91 B

4

6 Feb. 23-10

1815 1120 A

Jan. 22

1816 12 IGF 18171312 E

Feb. 11

-28 Apr. 14 May19|

2

-19

1818 14 23

-1027

29

1819 15 4 C

Feb. 7

24 Apr.11 May 16 May 20

-3024

-28

1820 1615 BA 182117 26 G

-21 26 Dec. 3

Feb. 18 Mar. 7

3 Feb. 20

2Jan. 26 -12 Mar.3c
Feb. 15 Mar. 4 Apr. 18
Jan. 30 Feb. 16

-22

3

8 Mar.26 Apr.30

12 May22 25 27 4 -14 27 Dec. 3

-28 Apr.15 May 20 --24 June 324- 2

1824 I of DC 1825 211 B 1826 322 A 2 1827 4 3 G 1828 514 FE

Feb. 11

3

1829 625 D

1830 7 6 C

Feb. 24
Jan. 30 -16

1832 928 AGFeb. 19 Mar. 8 --22

3 Feb. 20

10007

8 Mar.26 Apr.30

15 May25 25 Nov.30 -28 June 723 29

20 May 30 24 -12-22 25

28

27

31 June1023 Dec. 2 -16 May26 25 I 8 -18 26 Nov.30 -28 June 723 -29 -12 May22|25| 4-1427 Dec. 3

-27

The Epat The Lunar year confifts of twelve months, each containing about twenty. nine days and a half. In order, however to avoid the confufion of fractions, the computiits agreed (and hence is the derivation of the name, e from, and patio an agreement) to allow to the moons 30 and 29 days alternately; beginning, for instance, the year with March, which was the ancient cuftom) they reckoned 30 days for its moon, and 29 for that of April, and fo on to the conclufion of the year. But though this mode of computation was attended with convenience in fome refpects, it had alfo this difadvantage; that the Lunar year by thefe means included only 354 days, whereas the Solar year confifted of 365 days: So that, fuppofing the new moon to be on the 1ft day of March in any year, in the enluing year it will be eleven days earlier, viz. on February 18; therefore, to dif cover the age of the moon in that year, an Epaft muft be added, or eleven days must be intercalated. At the end of the next year the fame procefs must be adopted; and alfo on the third year; hence 33 days will be gained, that is one whole month, and three days over; by which means we compute thirteen moons, and take the odd three days for the next year, and then proceed in the fame manner, by adding eleven at the end of every year, Laking care, when the number of days exceeds thirty, to add a moon to that year, and to carry on the remainder of days above thirty for the Epact of the fucceeding year. By thefe means we have nineteen Epacts anfwering to the Golden Numbers. The ufe of the Epacts s to difcover the true aftronomical moons; and though they do not effect this with perfect iccuracy, we find that no Cycle can approach fo nearly to the point defired as this."

A TABLE of the MOVEABLE FEASTS, according Table to find Eafter

to the feveral Days that Eafter can

poffibly fall upon.

from the Year 1900

to 2199 inclufive.

Mar.22 1Jan.18 Feb. 4/Apr. 261Apr. 30 May 10.27 Nov.29

•23:119

-25 2

26/2 27 2

2

•292

·302

312

27 May 1

19

27

2

1227 Dec. 1

2

4

2525

30

20

26 25 Dec. 1

9

144

222 22

789

-21

22

23 15

13

∙19

29 24 Nov.27

24

-25

-26]

3024- 28
3124

17

29 6

18

∙19

224 Dec. I

20

25

THE Golden Numbers in the foregoing Calendar will point out the days of the Pafchal Full-Moons, till the year of our Lord 1900; at which time, in order that the Ecclefiaftical Full-Moons may fall nearly on the fame days with the real Full-Moons, the Golden Numbers must be removed to different days of the Calendar, as is done in the annexed Ta-, ble, which contains fo much of the Calendar then to be ufed, as is neceflary for finding the Pafchal Full-Moons, and the Feast of EASTER, from the year 1900 to the year 2199 inclufive. This Table is to be made ufe of, in all refpects, as the firit Table before inferted, for finding EASTER till the year 1899.

NOTE, That in a Biffextile or Leap-Year, the Number of Sundays after Epiphany will be the fame as if Eafter-Day had fallen one day later than it really does. And for the fame reafon, one day muft in every Leap-Year be added to the day of the month given by the Table for Septuagefima-Sunday: And the like muit be done for the first day of Lent, commonly called Ah-Wednesday, unless the Table gives fome day in the month of March or it; for in that cafe the day given by the Table is the right day.