Note 69 — PART II.
Reading edition
The Days of certain Weeks set apart by the Roman Catholic Church for Fasting and Prayer, in the four Seasons of the Year. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, the Feast of Whitsuntide, the 14th of September, and the 13th of December, are the Ember-days; and the Weeks in which they occur are Ember-weeks. "Ember-days were so called, from the Word Ember, i. e., Ashes; because in old Times the Fathers us'd to sprinkle themselves with Ashes; or from the Custom of eating nothing on those Days till Night, and then only a Cake, baked under the Embers, which was thence called Ember-bread."—Phillips and Kersey.