Durandus on the Ember Saturday of Advent

The following excerpts are taken from book VI, chapter 10, of William Durandus’ great commentary on the liturgy, the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum. As is usually case, I have slightly paraphrased him in a few places. It must be remembered that the Saturday Ember days are not just fast days, but also the traditional days for the conferring of all seven ranks of the Sacrament of Order.

On Saturday there are four lessons from the Old Testament (Isa. 19, 20-22; 35, 1-7; 40, 9-11; 45, 1-8) before the reading “The Angel of the Lord,” (Dan. 3, 47-51) … four, because there are four orders of those who bless God, namely, prelates, clergy, religious and laity. These does the prophet (David) enumerate, saying (Ps. 134, 19-20), “O house of Israel, bless the Lord,” this is the people; “O house of Aaron, bless the Lord,” this is the prelates; “O house of Levi, bless the Lord,” this is the ministers; “O ye who fear the Lord, bless the Lord,” through this is understood the religious. Therefore, the first reading pertains to the people, the second to the prelates, the third to the ministers, the fourth to all religious. In these readings, therefore, those who are to be ordained are instructed that, following the example of the holy fathers of the same four orders, they may bless the Lord with them, and their blessing come upon them.

The Prophet Isaiah, painted by Raphael in the basilica of St Augustine in Rome in 1512. On his scroll is written in Hebrew, from chapter 26 of his book, verses 2-3, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Whose mind is stayed on thee, Thou wilt keep him (in perfect peace).” The dedicatory inscription in Greek above reads “To Anne, the mother of the Virgin, to the virginal Mother of God, and to Christ the Redeemer, John Goritz” (hellenized as ‘Joannes Corycios’). Goritz, a merchant from Luxembourg, commissioned both the painting, which is on one of the pillars of the basilica, and the altar to St Anne originally located beneath it. The influence of Michelangelo, who was completing the Sistine Chapel ceiling when Raphael painted this, is very strong in this work; a famous story claims that when Goritz complained to Michelangelo about the price of it, he replied, “The knee alone is worth the price!”

Another reason why four lessons are read is that he who fasts must have the four cardinal virtues; namely, temperance, because fasting itself belongs to the temperate; prudence, for which reason the Apostle says (Rom. 12, 1), “Let your service be reasonable”. Regarding fortitude, Proverbs says (31, 17) about the strong woman, that is, the Church, “she girded her loins with strength,” since we must labor much to this end, that our flesh may be pure; and because this is a great battle, because the flesh is very corrupt, and brings forth thorns and thistles, (Gen. 3, 18) and only with much attrition is it restored to brightness like flaxen. Last is justice, of which Isaiah says, speaking of Christ in His members, “And justice shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his reins.”

When justice is done upon the earth, thieves depart; likewise, when justice is done by us, wicked impulses depart, and do not overcome us, even though they dwell within us. But if justice is not done, they do not depart, whence Isaiah also says, “And peace shall be the work of justice.” But faith is the girding of his reins, because as Gregory says, “The despising of earthly things restrains the billows of carnal desires.” (This is not an authentic citation of St Gregory.)

A Greek icon from the second half of the 18th century, signed by the painter, Konstantinos Adrianoupolitis, now in the Benaki Museum in Athens. The whole lower part of the image shows the episodes of the third chapter of the book of Daniel: the adoration of the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue, and the Three Children in the Furnace. In the upper right, the representation of the Three Children follows the opening words of Psalm 136, “Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion: on the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.” To the left of them, and further back within the image, is the episode of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, with the Prophet Habakkuk bringing him food.

Wherefore, if you fast from the foods of the body, you must also fast from the foods of the demon, and eat the foods of the mind. And he that so fasts will not be harmed by the fire of tribulation nor the fire of the world, as the three boys were not harmed by the fire of the furnace of Babylon, and therefore there follows the reading from Daniel, “The Angel of the Lord.”

Now before this reading comes the ordination of clerics, to signify that no one rightly can come to consecration, unless first he passed through the furnace, and in the furnace bless God, according to that saying of Ecclesiasticus (27, 6) “The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.” Those who come to the sacred ministry must be tried in the furnace of many tribulations and temptations, as the Apostle says (1 Tim. 3, 10), “And let them first be tried, and so minister.” It is read for the sake of the ordinands, to signify that they must live in such a way that no fire of the king of Babylon, that is the devil, harm them, as it did not harm the three children. And there follow the blessings, that is the hymn, “Blessed art thou, o Lord,” because after the trying they are crowned, and shall be blessed by the Lord.

… At the prayer which is said after this reading, the Church does not kneel as at the prayers of the other readings … to show that it is like the three children. For Nebuchadnezzar made the statue, and forced all to adore it, but the three children with Daniel would not bend the knee before the statue. Such must they be who are to be ordained, men who do not kneel before the statue, that is, before the glory of the world.