Note 323 — Chapter XI
Reading edition
It was the custom to signalise the great festivals by acts of mercy. “The oil of mercy glistens on the Festivals of the Church,” says Ambrose, Serm. 14, on Ps. cxviii. 7. Leo the Great also, Serm. 39, alludes to the custom. But, to prevent any abuse of the practice, it was enacted by Theodosius in A.D. 384-385, that it should apply only to those accused of petty offences: the grosser crimes of robbery, adultery, magic, murder, sacrilege, were to be excepted from claims to this indulgence.