Rome. IV, 24, 25.[139]
[Footnote 111: Anciently in some churches, as Thomassin has shewn (de
dierum Festorum celebratione lib. 2. c. 14), fire used to be struck
from a flint to light the church-lamps etc. every day and particularly
on Saturday, and the new fire was blessed; on holy Saturday however
this ceremony was performed with great solemnity; and in the 11th
century it was restricted to that day alone. At Rome in holy week
this practice was not originally confined to holy Saturday, but was
observed on the three days before caster: for the first _Ordo Romanus_
directs, that on holy _thursday_ fire should be struck from a flint
outside the church, and blessed. Amalarius also (4e Ordine Antiph.)
testifies that on good _friday_ "new fire was enkindled and reserved
till the nocturnal office". Leo IV however (A.D. 847) appears to have
first ordered that on Easter Eve "the old fire should be put out, and
new fire blessed and distributed among the people" (Homil. de cura
Pastorali). For Pope Zachary, about the year 731. in answer to
the enquiries of Boniface, bishop of Mayence, states that "on holy
thursday, when the sacred chrism is consecrated, three lamps of a
large size filled with oil collected from the different lamps of the
church, and placed in a secret part of the said church, should burn
there constantly, so that the oil may suffice till the third day,
that is saturday.
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