The Ember Wednesday of September 2026

Truly it is worthy and just, right and profitable to salvation that we should give Thee thanks always and everywhere, o Lord, Holy Father, almighty and eternal God: because Thou didst beneficially enjoin fasts upon us by which the law of the flesh might be quieted, and the mind stand out in greater purity. But since even in the midst of our observances, we do not abstain from what is harmful and unlawful, Thou bearest witness by the voice of the prophet (Isa. 58, 5) that this is not the sort of fast Thou hast chosen. For not only is the chastisement of the body powerless to benefit us if our spirit be caught up in wicked thoughts, but it is also evidently worse if, even when the our earthly condition is made calm, the mind is not made quiet from evil deeds. And therefore do Thou, o Lord, mercifully grant that our frugality, we may rightly observe an outward parsimony, in such wise as to refrain within from wicked intentions, and thus practice moderation perfectly: through Christ our Lord, through whom the angels praise Thy majesty... (An ancient Roman preface for the Ember days of September, attested in the Leonine Sacramentary ca. 550 AD)

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!”

Vere dignum: quia tu quidem nobis jejunia salubriter indidisti, quibus carnis lege sedata purior animus emineret. Sed cum in ipsis nostris observationibus a noxiis et illicitis non vacamus, non hoc te jejunium deligisse profetica voce testaris. Quoniam non solum prodesse non poterit castigatio corporalis, si spiritus noster nefandis cogitationibus implicetur; sed hoc constat esse deterius, si etiam terrena condicione mitigata, mens ab iniquitatibus non quiescit. Et ideo tu nobis, Domine, largire placatus, ut exterius parsimonia convenienter adhibita, intrinsecus a pravis intentionibus temperemus, ut continentiam valeamus exercere perfectam. Per Christum....