Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune: A Tale of the Days of Saint DunstanCrake, A. D. (Augustine David)
ReligionChristian
Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune: A Tale of the Days of Saint Dunstan
Crake, A. D. (Augustine David)
Dunstan, Saint, 909-988 -- Juvenile fiction; Edwy, King of England, -959 -- Juvenile fiction; Historical fiction
“On the week next before holy night shall every one go to his shrift
(i.e. confessor), and his shrift shall shrive him in such a manner as
his deeds which he hath done require and he shall charge all that
belong to his district that if any of them have discord with any, he
make peace with him; if any one will not be brought to this, then he
shall not shrive him; [but] then he shall inform the bishop, that he
may convert him to what is right, if he he willing to belong to God:
then all contentions and disputes shall cease, and if there be any one
of them that hath taken offence at another, then shall they be
reconciled, that they may the more freely say in the Lord’s Prayer,
‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against
us,’ etc. And having thus purified their minds, let them enter upon the
holy fast-tide, and cleanse themselves by satisfaction against holy
Easter, for this satisfaction is as it were a second baptism. As in
Baptism the sins before committed are forgiven, so, by satisfaction,
are the sins committed after Baptism.” Theodulf’s Canons, A.D. 994
(Canon 36).
It is evident, says Johnson, that “holy night” means “lenten night,” as
the context shows.
xi Incense in the Anglo-Saxon Church.
Dr. Rock, in his “Hierurgia Anglicans,” states that incense was used at
the Gospel. In vol. i., quoting from Ven. Bede, he writes —“Conveniunt
omnes in ecclesium B. Petri ipse (Ceolfridas Abbas) thure incenso, et
dicto oratione, ad altare pacem dat omnibus, stans in gradibus,
thuribulum habens in menu.” In Leofric’s Missal is a form for the
blessing of incense. Theodore’s Penitential also affixes a penance to
its wilful or careless destruction. Ven. Bede on his deathbed gave away
incense amongst his little parting presents, as his disciple, Cuthbert,
relates. Amongst the furniture of the larger Anglo-Saxon churches was a
huge censer hanging from the roof, which emitted fumes throughout the
mass.
“Hic quoque thuribulum, capitellis undique cinctum,
Pendet de summo, fumosa foramina pandens:
De quibus ambrosia spirabunt thura Sabæa,
Quando sacerdotes missas offerre jubentur.”
Alcuini _Opera_, B. ii,, p. 550.
xii Psalm xxi. 3.
xiii “All were indignant at the shameless deed, and murmured amongst
themselves,” —William of Malmesbury.
xiv The Welsh were driven from Exeter by King Athelstane; before that
time, Englishmen and Welsh had inhabited it with equal rights.
xv The earliest inhabitants of Ireland were called Scots.
xvi Legends about St. Dunstan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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