day, though she herself, in the !N^icene age, was devoted with special earnestness and zeal to the development of the doctrine of the Trinity. The reason of this probably is, that there was no particular historical fact to give occasion for such celebration, and that the mystery of the holy Trinity, revealed in Christ, is properly the object of adoration in all the church festivals and in the whole Christian cultus. But with these three great feast cycles the ancient church was not satisfied. So early as the Nicene age it surrounded them with feasts of Mary, of the apostles, of martyrs, and of saints, which were at first only local commemorations, but gradually assumed the character of universal feasts of triumph. By degrees every day of the church year became sacred to the memory of a particular martyr or saint, and in every case was either really or by supposition the day of the death of the saint, which was significantly called his heavenly birth-day." This multiplication of festivals has at bottom the true thought, that the whole life of the Christian should be one unbroken spiritual festivity. But the Romish calendar of saints antici- pates an ideal condition, and corrupts the truth by exaggera- tion, as the Pharisees made the word of God " of none efiect " ^ The assertion that the festum Trmitatis descends from the tune of Gregory the Great, has poor foundation in his words : " Ut de Trinitate specialia cantaremus ; " for these refer to the praise of the holy Trinity in the general public worship of God. The first clear traces of this festival appear in the time of Charlemagne and in the tenth century, when Bishop Stephen of Liege vindicated it. Yet so late as 1150 it was counted by the abbot Potho at Treves among the novae celebritates. Many considered it improper to celebrate a special feast of the Trinity, while there was no distinct celebration of the unity of God. The Roman church year reached its cul- mination and mysterious close in the feast of Corpus Christi (the body of Christ), v? which was introduced under Pope Clement the Fifth, in 1311, and was celebrated on Thursday of Trinity week (feria quinta proxima post octavam Pentecostes) in honor of the mystery of transubstautiation. "^ Hence called Natales, natalUia, nativiias, yevtOKia, of the martyrs. The Greek church also has its saint for every day of the year, but varies in many par- ticulars from the Roman calendar. § Y6. THE CHUBCH YEAR. 391 by their additions. It obliterates the necessary distinction be- tween Sunday and the six days of labor, to tlie prejudice of the former, and plays into the hands of idleness. And finally, it rests in great part upon uncertain legends and fantastic myths, which in some cases even eclipse the miracles of the gospel history, and nourish the grossest sui^erstition. The Greek oriental church year differs from the Eoman in this general characteristic : that