AN TeE.Q Us ‘Ti. B S. 
_ gommission of many crimes, and had 
~ 
bec«me in all respects an object of 
ecclesiastical cen-ure, we accerd- 
ingly find the pious Tertullian, with 
many other fathers of the church, 
vehemently declaiming against it; 
and Si. Augustine, in one of bis 
Sermons, menaces severe punishment 
against all who should encourage it; 
but the anahemas of these holy 
men appear to have no effect in 
checking these impious fooleries, for 
they were continued without .inter- 
ruption even to the middle ages, the 
religious and other manuscripts of 
which, particulaily those of the 
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth 
centuries, furnish many allusions to 
them, dep'cted in their margins. The 
late ingenicus Mr. Strutt, whose ins 
defatigable but ill-rewarded services 
will be duly appreciated by every 
real antiquary, has preserved a me- 
morial of these representations, but 
not aware of their precise significa» 
tion, he has included them in the 
general mass of ancient mummeries. 
These festivities, which prevailed 
at the opening of the new year, were, 
it is to be hoped, «riginally confined 
to the laity ; but it is certain that 
they were very soon imitated by the 
clergy. In the ninth century the 
acts of the eighth general council of 
Constantinople, indistinctly refer to 
some ecclesiast.cal mockesies, that 
seem to have relation to the before- 
mentioned excesses. During the 
tweifth century, a festival remained, 
called ‘ Libertas Decembr ca,” 
which in some degree resembled the 
Roman Saturnalia, inasmuch as the 
archbishops and bishops degraded 
themselves by playing at dice and 
otber games, and dancing with the 
inferior clergy in the monasteries 
and episcopal houses. 
997 
In France a very singular ceré= 
mony crept into the church about 
this time, under the name of * La 
Féite des Foudiacres ;”’ or the feast 
of subdeacons. The learned M. Du- 
cange conjectures that this exprese 
sion did not indicate that the sub- 
deacons were exclusively the actors 
in this farce, but that it is to be lites 
rally expounded, diacres faouls, or 
drunken clerks, from their bacchae 
nalian excesses; an opinion, which 
with great reverence to so high an 
authority, I cannot help regarding 
as very apocryphal. It is more ge» 
nerally known under the title of the 
Feast of Fools, on which occasion in 
the cathedrals, a mock bishop or 
archbisbop was elected. Sometimes 
be was called an abbot, and in those 
churches that were more immediately 
under the papal jurisdiction, a pope. 
There was no unity of time in this 
election, for it is found to have been 
celebraied, according to variety of 
place, on Christmas-day, St. Ste- 
phen’s, St. John’s, andthe Innocents? 
Days; the Circumcision, the Epis 
phany, and on some of the octaves 
of those festivals. An ancient cere- 
monial for the church of Viviers 
States, that the abbot was elected om 
the 17th of Detember. It is neces- 
sary te observe, that an episcopus 
stultorum bad been already elected 
on the Innocents’? day of the pre- 
cedit g year, but he enjoyed his offi. 
ciat rights only during the three 
days of St. Stephen, St. John, and 
the Innocents?» At Auxerre the 
ceremony tock place on the 18th of 
July. In the celebrated Beaford 
Missal, now in the possession of Mr, 
Edwards, there is'a calendar, in 
which, under the month of February, 
tbe following inseription  cecurs,’ 
$* Comment a Fevrier on soulvit faire 
383 i 
