antelucan

[Lat. antelucan us = before daybreak: ante before, and lux, gen it. lucis light.] Held before daylight. A term specially applied to the religious services held in the early ages of Christianity before daylight, to shield the worshippers from persecution, or to afford convenience to those who were not their own masters, and could not attend a congregation during working hours. There was a fascination to some minds about such meetings, which were continued after the nece ity which had first brought them into existence had pa ed away. "There the Jupiter of exemplary honour and magnificence, there the Phosphorus of piety and antelucan devotion.-Bp. Hall: Rem., p. 44. "All manner of antelucan labourers, who make make provision for the flesh, make the flesh their provision." -Gayton: Notes on Don Quiz ., iii. 6.