In the Eastern Church it is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, that being the Gospel for the day. The week that succeeds is, in the East, Apocreos, because from Septuagesima Sunday meat

is forbidden.

Sexagesima also had only its Latin title. In the East it is the Sunday of Apocreos; the weeks, at that time of the year, preceding, and not following their Sunday. The ensuing week is, in the East, Cheese Week; in Russia, Butter Week; because, till the close of the following Sunday, cheese and butter are allowed. The Friday of Sexagesima was, in the north of Germany, the Kind-fet, or Kind-tag, being, by a peculiar rite, the Festival of the Invention of the Child in the Temple.

Quinquagesima. In Germany this is, in many places, called Pfaffen-Fastnacht (Priest's Fasting Night), many mediæval councils having ordered ecclesiastics to abstain from meat from that day forward. It was also very widely known as Esto mihi Sunday, from the commencement of the introit, Esto mihi in Deum Protectorem. In the patois of Navarre it_is_Dimenge cabée, a corruption of Dominica in Capite Jejunii. In Denmark it is Fastelavn's Sondag, Sunday of the Preparation for the Fast. In the East, for the reason given above, it is Butter or Cheese Sunday.

The following Monday is, in England, Collop Monday; because, on that day, the last meat, and that in small quantities, was supposed to be cooked. In Vienne, and the adjacent parts of France, it was (and still is) Fat Monday (Lundi gras), for the following reason:-Some provincial Councils endeavoured to commence the fast, as in the East, on this day, instead of on the Wednesday; the people compromised the matter by beginning it on Tuesday, and hence this title for the last flesh-day.

Shrove Tuesday. Here, as so often, the English name is beyond all dispute the most beautiful and appropriate of any; expressing the penitence with which Lent should be welcomed in.

In Southern Europe it takes its name from the exact reverse, namely, from the Carnival. In Italy it is Martedi grasso, as in France Mardi gras; also Martedi di Carnovale. The Spanish Church terms it Martes de carnestolendas; the Portuguese, Dia do Entrudo; or, more commonly, Entrudo alone; from the old word entrudur, to feast. Again, in France, we have Carême entrant; or, in the old medieval form, Carementramnus. In Walloon patois, Mâdicamentran. In Dansk, on the same principle as Quinquagesima Sunday, it is Fastelarastirstag; in Germany it is usually known as Fastendienstag, Fast Tuesday. In Welsh Shrovetide is Ynyd, which is probably derived from Initium Quadragesimæ, the beginning of Lent, and thus also the Manx, Oie-innyd.

Ash Wednesday has, in most Churches, its name from the benediction and the wearing of ashes on that day. Thus, in German, it is Ascher Mittwoche; in Dansk, Aske Onsdag; in Illyrian, Cista Srijda; French, Le jour de Cendres; in Spanish, Miercoles de Ceniza; in Portuguese, Quarta feira de cinza. But, from also being Wednesday in Capite Jejunii, it is, in Navarre, Mercré cabée, like Quinquagesima Sunday.

Lent itself has three classes of appellations. In the first place, those derived from the season of the year, as our own Lent, akin to the German Lenz, and identical with the Dutch and the Flemish Lente, the season of spring. Next, those which have their origin from the idea of the fast. So in Russ it is Velekie Post, the Great Fast; or simply Post, the Fast. In Dansk, Fastetid; in German, Fastenzeit. So, in the Eastern Church, it is simply the Meyaλn Nnoτeía. Thirdly, those derived from the number of days it lasts: Quadragesima in Latin, Carême in French. And this is the case in all the Romance languages, and so also in Welsh, where Lent is Garawys, and, in Manx, Kargys. Its weeks, when numerically reckoned, are forwarder by one in the East than in the West. The first week in Lent is, according to the rite of Constantinople, that which follows Quinquagesima: according to the use of Rome it is that which follows the first Sunday in Lent.

The day after Ash Wednesday is named, in some parts of England, Embering Thursday.

The first Sunday in Lent. Good old Durandus labours to explain why this should be called Quadragesima, when, in point of fact, it is not the fortieth, but the two-and-fortieth, day from Easter. His mystical reasons, if not convincing, are at least beautiful: Because Lent reacheth not save to Maundy Thursday, which is the day of absolution; for by means of Lent well observed, and by true penitence, man spiritually 'cometh to the Supper of the LAMB; as it is written: "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the LAMB." Again, because the children of Israel, being fed with manna in the desert by the space of forty years, came, through forty 'encampments, to the Land of Promise. By whose pattern we also, abstaining forty days from the lusts of the body, are refreshed by the word of life, and give ourselves up to prayer, 'that so we may enter by JESUS CHRIST into the land of the living; even as they by Jesus Nave, that is, Joshua, into the Land of Promise.' The more common name, however, was from the introit, the Sunday Invocavit. So we often read:

The emperor arrived at Metz on the Tuesday after Invocavit.' The Council was begun on the Wednesday of the week called 'Invocavit.' It was sometimes termed Quintana, because five Sundays intervened between it and Easter. Our old vernacular

name was Shrove Sunday. In some parts of Germany it was Alte Fasnacht, Old Fast Night,-a relic of the ancient commencement of Lent on the following day, before the additional four days were added to complete the forty. In the East it is Orthodoxy Sunday, a festival instituted primarily to commemorate the final defeat of the Iconoclasts, but extended to a general commemoration of all triumphs of the Faith.

The second Sunday in Lent is also, from the introit, the Sunday Reminiscere. In France it was sometimes called Transfiguration Sunday, because that event, according to the use of Paris, formed the Gospel of the day.

The third Sunday, or the Sunday Oculi, has not, to our knowledge, any vernacular name in the West, but in the East it is σταυροπροσκυνήσιμος, from the Adoration of the Cross on that day.

The fourth, or Lætare Sunday, is called both by the East and West, Midlent Sunday. In the West it is also termed Refection Sunday, partly because the Gospel for the day relates the feeding of the five thousand, partly because it was observed as a little carnival between the two halves of Lent; as now, the Mi-Carême in Paris is an occasion of great gaiety and splendour. In Rome, it is the Sunday of the Golden Rose, from the benediction of that token of the Pontiff's approbation. It was frequently termed in Spain the Sunday Mediante, because it exactly halved the old Spanish Lent, and because the Gospel commences with that word.

Thursday of the Midlent Week is, in the Eastern Church, Thursday of the Great Canon, because the hymn of S. Andrew of Crete, known by that name, is then sung.

The fifth Sunday is Passion Sunday, because then the Western Church begins her more solemn commemoration of the Passion. Then the two glorious hymns of Venuntius Fortunatus, Vexilla Regis prodeunt, and Pange lingua gloriosi prælium certaminis, begin to be said. It was also sometimes called Midlent Sunday, because it follows the Mident week; there being many instances in the West, where the Eastern example of considering the Sunday as the last day of the week may be traced. More properly it was called Midlent Octave. In Germany we find it named Black Sunday, with reference to the veiling of the crosses in black, which takes place at that passage of the Gospel, Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.'

The Saturday of Passion Week, or as the Eastern Church calls it, Palm Week, was named in the south of Europe, Alms Saturday, it being customary to bestow charity on the poor, in remembrance of our Lord's words spoken on that day, 'Ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will, ye may do them good.' In the East, it is appropriately named

S. Lazarus's Saturday, and often, both by East and West, Palm Saturday.

The sixth Sunday in Lent has a variety of names, most of them beautiful and appropriate. In England, Holland, Germany, and Denmark, it is Palm Sunday; in Italy, Olive Sunday; in Spain, Portugal, and France, Branch Sunday; in Welsh, Flower Sunday. In Russia, it is Verknie Voscresenie, Sallow Sunday, from the necessary employment of sallows in the procession. For a similar reason, it is in various parts of England, Willow Sunday, or Yew Sunday. Again, it was named Tradition Sunday, because on that day the Creed was taught to the catechumens who were to be baptized on Easter Eve; Indulgence Sunday, from an uncertain reason; Palm Easter; the Capitilarium, because it was then usual to wash the heads of the chil dren, who were about to be baptized; Flower-Easter; Easter of the Competents, or Pascha petitum, because of the tradition of the Creed to those who were competent for baptism; Hosanna Sunday, or merely Hosanna, in the South of Europe, as it is in the Coptic Church. In the Greek Ritual it is simply Palm Sunday, though sometimes called S. Lazarus's Sunday. Georgia, by a singular reference to S. Mary Magdalene, it is Bzobisa Aghebisa, Prostitution Sunday.

In

The sixth week in Lent is, in all the Romance languages, as with us, Holy Week. The title Passion Week, so often bestowed improperly on it among ourselves, is in Russia given to it by right, Strastnoe Nederie. The Latin term, the Greater Week, Hebdomada Major, does not seem to have come into vernacular use. In old French it was called, as it sometimes is still, La Semaine Peneuse. The most beautiful term, however, as setting forth its abstraction from worldly labours, and its holy quiet, is that by which it is known in Germany and Denmark, the Still Week. In Germany it is also the Marterwoche, and Car or Charwoche, Suffering Week. In the East it is the Great Week, and each day has the same epithet, Great Monday, Great Tuesday, &c. Finally, in many medieval writers, it is the Authentic Week; in the sense, we suppose, of the week,-the Week that is a week indeed; and so we have found it named in a Mayence Missal of 1519. The Welsh call it Wythnos y Grog, the Week of the Cross.

We come now to Maundy Thursday. It is rather singular that this day should not have derived its vernacular name from its great institution, the Blessed Eucharist. It had, indeed, in mediæval Latin, the name, The Birthday of the Chalice. Peter of Blois :

Hoc in Natali Calicis non est celebratum,

Quando Pascha novum vetus est post Pascha dicatum.

So

But, in modern languages, this did not obtain. In Dansk

we have the name of Skiertorsdag, as, in some parts of England, that of Sheer Thursday, from the old root Skier, signifying pain or affliction. In France it is simply Jeudi Saint, a term likely to be confounded with Ascension Day. In German it is Grüne Donnerstag, Green Thursday; the origin of the term is much disputed. It is probable, however, that the epithet is here to be taken in the sense of unripe, inasmuch as in Slavonia and Carinthia the day is called Raw Thursday, with what reference we are quite unable to explain. In Spain, as with us, it is Juéres del Mandato, from the performance of the mandatum, the washing of the feet. In Portugal it is Quinta Feira de Endoenças, Sickness Thursday, on account of the consecration of the chrism for the unction of the sick. In Welsh, with reference to the mocking of our Lord, it is Iau y Cably, Thursday of Blasphemy.

Good Friday is another example of an English appellation that surpasses in beauty the vernacular terms of other languages. But that we are so completely used to it, we should probably feel what a touching acknowledgment is the name of the work accomplished on that day. In some parts of England it is CharFriday, that is, Passion Friday; a name also in use in Germany. There, however, it is usually called Still Friday. Denmark has a far less appropriate name, Long Friday. It is not a mark of very high devotion, that the length of the office should be that which has given the title to the day. Black Friday, a name common over Southern Germany, gives the popular view of the season, and Holy Friday is the somewhat common-place title adopted in most of the Romance languages. In Welsh, it is Gwener y Croglith, Friday of the Lesson of the Cross.

Easter Eve has in few modern languages any more recondite name than in our own. In Portugal it is Sabbado de Alleluia, from the triumphant resumption of the Alleluia in the first vespers of Easter. In the East, in the same way as the rest of the week, it is Great Saturday, except among the Armenians, who call it Burial Saturday.

We come now to the Queen of Festivals. And here the Greek and Latin name, in various corruptions, is almost universal; appearing in the French Pâque, in the Portuguese Pascoa, in the Illyrian Paska, and (which is rather strange) in the Danish Paaske, and the Welsh Pasg. The English Easter, and the German Ostern, from the goddess Eostre, whose feast fell in April, afford a curious instance how the Church, when it suits her, lays hold of a Pagan word, and adapts it to her highest and holiest purposes. This derivation, however, does not seem to have pleased ritualists. So, for example, the piety of Honorius of Autun is more conspicuous than his etymology