Sept-Ember Days

In the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, the September Ember Days are the traditional Autumn Ember Days, observed on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14). They remain part of the Ordinariate's liturgical patrimony and are specifically encouraged for prayer, fasting, repentance, thanksgiving for the harvest, and prayers for vocations.

For 2026, those days (Embertide) fall on:

Wednesday, September 16
Friday, September 18
Saturday, September 19

The Ordinariate explains that the September Ember Days are associated with the grape harvest, directing our gratitude toward the wine that becomes the Precious Blood in the Holy Eucharist. They are also traditional times to pray for priests, deacons, and future vocations.

Discipline

Regarding discipline, the Ordinariate notes that Ember Friday is a day of obligatory abstinence from meat. The faithful are also encouraged to undertake additional fasting, prayer, and almsgiving throughout the Ember Days.

On the recommendation of the Governing Council (of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter), the Bishop has decreed that Ember Friday in September is to be kept as an obligatory day of abstinence. Ordo p.94

A traditional Ordinariate-style collect for the season might be:

Almighty God, who dost richly provide the fruits of the earth and the increase of every good thing: Grant us thankful hearts for thy bounty, and so sanctify our labour and our harvest, that we may bring forth the fruits of righteousness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The traditional Scripture readings are:

Ember Wednesday

Lesson: Amos 9:13-15. The prophet foretells abundant harvests and restored vineyards: "the mountains shall drop sweetness." This is one of the classic harvest texts of the autumn Embertide.

Gospel: Saint Luke 7:11-16 (traditional Roman usage), the raising of the widow's son at Nain.

Ember Friday

Lesson: Hosea 14:2-10. A call to repentance and conversion: "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God." The passage concludes with images of flourishing wheat, vines, and olive trees.

Gospel: Saint Luke 7:36-50. The penitent woman anoints our Lord's feet, and Christ forgives her sins.

Ember Saturday

The traditional Ember Saturday contains several Old Testament lessons, culminating in the canticle of the Three Young Men in the fiery furnace. The lessons emphasize atonement, covenant fidelity, and God's saving power.

Gospel: Saint Luke 13:6-17. The parable of the barren fig tree and the healing of the woman bowed down for eighteen years.

For many Ordinariate communities, however, the exact readings used at Mass depend on the provisions of Divine Worship: The Missal and local observance. The Ordinariate has preserved Ember Days as part of its patrimony, but their celebration may be adapted according to the approved liturgical books.

A beautiful way to read the September Embertide is to see a progression:

• Ember Wednesday: God promises abundance (Amos).
• Ember Friday: God's people return in repentance (Hosea).
• Ember Saturday: God seeks fruitfulness and healing (St Luke 13).

The whole Embertide thus becomes a harvest retreat: thanksgiving for God's gifts, repentance for our sins, and prayer that the Church may bear abundant fruit in holiness and vocations.

Vocations & Embertide

Sources

1. Ember Days — Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter: ordinariate.net
2. Ember Wednesday of September — Mass Propers: unavocelacrosse.org
3. Ember Friday in September | The Fatima Center: fatima.org
4. Ember Letter 2026 | Bishop Steven J. Lopes

The Ember Days are often remembered as days of fasting connected with the changing seasons and the harvest. Yet from an early period they also became closely associated with vocations, especially to the priesthood. By the time of Pope Gelasius, ordinations were commonly conferred during Embertide, and the Church came to regard these quarterly fasts as privileged times for praying that God would raise up faithful ministers for His people.

The September Ember Days express this vocational dimension in a particularly beautiful way. Their readings are filled with images of harvest, conversion, and fruitfulness. The prophecy of Amos speaks of overflowing abundance: vineyards planted, crops gathered, and the land restored. The Church hears in these harvest images a reminder of the Lord's own words that "the harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few." Vocations are therefore not merely responses to institutional need; they are God's provision for a spiritual harvest already ripening in the world.

The lesson from Hosea adds a second insight. Before anyone can serve as a shepherd of souls, he must first hear the call to repentance: "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God." The foundation of every authentic vocation is conversion. The priest is not chosen because he is already holy, but because God continually calls him to holiness. The accompanying Gospel of the forgiven sinner reminds us that the future shepherd must himself be a recipient of divine mercy.

Finally, the Saturday readings point toward fruitfulness and healing. The barren fig tree is given time to bear fruit, and the afflicted woman is restored by Christ's compassion. These images capture the very purpose of ordained ministry. The priest is called to cultivate fruit where little is growing, to strengthen the weak, to reconcile sinners, and to bring Christ's healing presence through word and sacrament.

Thus the September Ember Days reveal a complete theology of vocation. God prepares the harvest, God calls laborers into His field, God converts them by His mercy, and God sends them forth to bear fruit in the lives of others. For this reason the Church has long prayed during Embertide not only for abundant crops, but also for an abundance of holy priests and deacons, that the spiritual harvest of God's kingdom may never lack faithful workers.

His Excellency Steven J. Lopes, Bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, in his recent Ember Day letter, has written,

I urge you to find some way to celebrate the Ember Days in your families. Ember Friday (September 18 this year) is already a day of abstinence from meat, so a bit of penance is already built in! But what else might we do? Because these September days are closely associated with Holy Cross Day, one possibility would be to pray the Stations of the Cross or Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary as a family. Another would be to attend daily Mass on the Ember Days, offering that Mass and Holy Communion for the specific intention of new vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life. Our celebrations can vary, but the logic remains: thanksgiving opens our hearts to petition, all so that we can better and more worthily receive God’s gracious bounty.

Additional Reading

• https://fatherz.substack.com/p/the-september-ember-days
• NLM https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2010/09/michaelmas-embertide-ember-days-of.html