loft for that purpose, just over the passage out of the church into the chancel."* The next day of importance in this month is the 8ththe APPARITION OF ST. MICHAEL-held sacred by the Catholics on account of the three apparitions, or appearances, of St. Michael. The first was on Mount Garganus, now called Mount St. Angelo, a lofty hill and promontory of Apulia, which advances into the Adriatic Sea. A herdsman, having lost his ox, and after a long search finding it in the mouth of a cavern, flung a dart at the animal, when the weapon rebounded upon him and wounded him. Terrified at this miracle, he consulted his bishop, who ordered a three days' fast, and the latter, being afterwards visited by St. Michael in person, was informed by him that he had wounded the herdsman by way of letting them know that he was the patron-saint of the city. A second apparition was when the Neapolitans, who were then Pagans, waged war against the Christian people of Sipentum, a city of Apulia. In this case also the then bishop ordained a three days' fast, the usual episcopal panacea for all evils, and commanded moreover that the people should pray to Saint Michael for assistance. They of course obeyed these injunctions, and in the night-time the bishop was rewarded for his advice by a familiar visit from St. Michael, with a promise that his flock should have the victory. Most faithfully, too, did the saint keep his word, for the next day, when the opposing armies met, Mount Garganus was shaken with repeated thunders, the air was darkened, and the heathens, terrified out of their wits by these prodigies, fled as fast as they could to Naples. * History of Waltham Abbey, p. 16.-See his works, folio. Lond. 1655. Ad finem. 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 entitled 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 dolest 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! For which incantation the confused rabble expect a gratuity in money, or drink, which is no less welcome. But 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 crab. apple, 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. |