The Parishes of Bantry Bay

On Wednesday, September 14th last,  the Feast of the Holy Cross, three Deacons were Ordained as priests by the Bishop at St FinBarre's Cathedral. In a small diocese such as ours it is a cause of great celebration. We continue to pray for the new priests and their parishes - Jean Carney and Douglas Union, Carole Pound and Abbeystrewry Union and Richard Dring and Carrigaline Union. 

The Feast of the Holy Cross was introduced into the church calendar by the Emperor Constantine. On that day in Jerusalem a newly built church was blessed and consecrated on the site of Calvary. Holy Cross Day is also known as the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,  the  Triumph of the Cross, or Holyrood Day “rood” meaning “cross”.  It also commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross on which Jesus was crucified. (It had been taken from Jerusalem by the Persians in a war in A.D. 614. In A.D. 629, Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered and returned the Cross to Jerusalem. 

Holy Cross Day is  major feast observed  in honor of Christ's self-offering on the cross for our salvation. The Collect for Holy Cross Day recalls that Christ "was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world unto himself," and prays that "we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him". Because Good Friday is a day of great solemnity and fasting Holy Cross Day provides us with opportunity for a joyous celebration of Christ's redeeming death on a cross.

Holy Cross Day became one of four annual markers for the “Ember Days”.  The name is derived from the Latin quattuor tempora, meaning “Four Times” or “Four Seasons.” The specific themes for each Ember Week of the year are as follows: Spring ( the first Sunday in Lent)  to give thanks for the rebirth of nature and for the gift of light,  Summer (Pentecost) to give thanks for the wheat crop Autumn (Holy Cross Day) to give thanks for the grape harvest and Winter (St. Lucy's Day on  December 13th)  to give thanks for the olive crop.

In the church, the Ember Days became special times for prayer, fasting, and the ordination of clergy in certain Christian denominations. The weather on each of the three Ember Days in each season is supposed to foretell the weather for each of the three succeeding months. The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach christians to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy.