utilised for a good purpose." The fasts were fixed by the Church before
the time of Callixtus (217-222). The spread of the observance of Ember
days was slow; but they were fixed definitely and the fast prescribed
for the whole Church by Gregory VII. (1073-1085). (_Cf. Catholic
Encyclopedia_, word, Ember Days; Duchesne _Christian Worship_, chap,
viii.; Dom Morin _Revue Benedictine_, L'Origine des Quatre Temps, 1897,
pp. 330-347.)


NOTE A.

THE BREVIARY HYMNS.

Of all the many and varied branches of Christian art, there is none
which offers to the researches of criticism a field so extensive as does
the hymnography of the Roman Breviary. No other source of liturgical
study, if we except the antiphonarium, has received such attention from
studious men. But never, in any age, did this study receive such careful
treatment and give rise to such patient and laborious research as in
our own. (Pimont, _Les hymnes du Breviare Romain_, Introduction.)

In this note, an attempt will be made to define a hymn, to tell of the
introduction of hymns into the Roman Breviary, and to note briefly the
character of these hymns.

St. Augustine, commenting on Psalm 122, defined a hymn as a song with
praise of God, cantus est cum laude Dei. It may, however, be more
strictly defined as a spiritual song, a religious lyric (v. _Cath,
Ency._, art. "Hymn").