Note 247 — Chapter I · THE CHURCH’S YEAR (continued 2)

The aim of the forty-third canon of Elvira seems to be the abolition of this custom. A later addition to the canon adds: “post pascha quinquagesima teneatur, non quadragesima.” The date of this addition is unknown. Hefele-Knöpfter, Konziliengesch. ii., 2nd ed., 174. Dr Herbst (ibid.) thought the reference was to the Montanists, but even if there were any Montanists in Spain at that period, their heresy could scarcely be called “Nova.”