EMBER DAYS

In ecclesiastical law. Those days which the ancient fathers called "quatuor tempora jejunii" are of great antiquity in the church. They are observed on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday next after Quad rage sima Sunday, or the first Sunday in Lent, after Whit sun tide, Holyrood Day, in September, and St. Lucy's Day, about the middle of December. Brit. c. 53. Our almanacs call the weeks in which they fall the "Ember Weeks," and they are now chiefly notioed on account of the ordination of priests and deacons; because the canon appoints the Sun days next after the Ember weeks for the solemn times of ordination, though the bishops, if they please, may ordain on any Sunday or holiday. Enc. Lond. [s. 424]