The world consists of all things, viz.: — the heavens, the stars, and the elements; and further, every other created thing. The Greeks call it Cosmos, and the Latinists Mundus, i.e., ornateness or comeliness even as it is. The world was created in the autumn, as the principal authors say, in the month of September; and their reason for that statement is that it was the custom of the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks, and all the nations of the East, to reckon the year in the olden time from September. And they give another reason in proof of this: to wit, that the forbidden fruits which our first parents Adam and Eve ate, and by which they sinned, were ripe; and that it was only a short space of time from their creation until then; and because the month of September is the time of ripening of all fruits, they deduce from this that it was in the autumn that the world was created. But, although one might think these reasons good, there is another reason against them, proving that it was not in the autumn that it was created, but in March, in spring; for naturally the growth of everything precedes its ripening, and the month of March is the natural time for the growth and generation of everything: and consequently it was not in the autumn that the world was created but in March on the eleventh day thereof, at the time when the sun enters the first degree of the celestial sign which is called Aries. In addition to this there is another strong reason proving that it is at this time that the world was created: for it was the will of Christ to suffer death in spring, and that on Friday, the third day of April, at the age of less than thirty-three years: and further, it was His will to be put upon the cross at the sixth hour, because
The world is divided into two, to wit, the celestial region and the elemental region: of these we shall treat with God's help.
Time is the duration of the march of the equinox — that is to say of the period when day and night are of equal length; and that comes twice in the year, viz., on the eleventh day of March and the eleventh day of September or thereabouts. Or time is (as Aristotle says, 4 Physic.) the measure of the movement which the First Movement, i.e., primum mobile, makes; from which springs the measure of the age of the world and of the age of man, and every other part of time, great or small; and further the change of every thing that is under the power of time. The beginning of time was, according to the Apostle John, Apoc. 10, when the world was created; and since then, according to the Hebrews, until the present year are 5,654 (years). Time is divided into three periods, corresponding to the three laws which God gave to the world in succession, viz., the period of the natural law which obtained from Adam until Moses, to whom God gave the written law, and the number of its years was 2,453. The second period, which was from the giving of the written law (which Moses wrote) to the law of grace which Christ gave and till His death, 1,540. The third period from the giving of the law of grace until the present year, 1694, and further it will be until the coming of Christ at the end of the world. [The primum mobile is the tenth heaven, as I say after this.] Further time is divided particularly into ages, years, months, weeks,
All time past and to come is divided into six ages according to the Divine Scriptures. The first age from Adam to the Deluge, according to Genesis, Cap. 5 — 1,656 years: the second age from the Deluge to Abraham, in it the number of years was 505: the third age from Abraham to the Law of Moses — 292: the fourth age from the law of Moses to the commencement of the temple of Solomon, the son of David the king — 480: the fifth age from the commencement of the temple to the destruction of the same temple — 440: the sixth age from the destruction of the temple to the birth of Christ — 587. From that it is understood that the time that passed from the beginning of the world until the birth of Christ is 3,960 years.
The life of man is divided, according to Galenus, into five ages, viz., the growing age, the childish age, the youthful age, the manly age, and the old or senile age. And the cause of this variation of ages is the change of properties which happens in men at each period of life, for when one of the properties parts from a man another property comes in him which is not the same as the first property, and that in a certain time. The first age which is called the childish age, of which the property is to be warm and moist, remains in a man from his birth until the age of 14 years. The second age which is called the growing age, of which the property is to be warm and dry, lasts from the age of fourteen years to twenty-five years. The third age which is called the youthful age and of which the property
The year is a space of time or the measure of twelve solar months: that is to say, the time that the sun takes travelling round the twelve celestial signs until it comes to the same point from which it started at the beginning of the year. It was the emperor Julius Caesar who ordered the year which is now in use of 365 days and 6 hours nearly; nevertheless that number is not correct as it stands, because we see plainly the time and the equinox changing towards us more quickly. King Alphonsus of Spain, in the collection which he made of the books of the astrologers and philosophers, upon closely examining and scrutinising the length of the year, found out that there were 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 40 seconds in the year. And according to the opinion of this king (which is accepted by all astrologers) it is not possible to intercalate a whole day into the four years, because it lacks 42 minutes and 56 seconds. But our Holy Mother the Church, that she might not have to deal with the minute reckoning of moments, makes use of the year which Julius Caesar ordered, viz., 365 days with six hours; and accordingly she intercalates every four years a day though not complete. And that is the reason why our Holy Father Gregory the Thirteenth ordered the time to be changed in the year 1582, on the fifth day of October, taking ten days from the same month, and changing the
Month is named from the Latin word metior, metiri, i.e., to mete or to measure; for it is a part of the twelve months of the year. There are three kinds of months, to wit, a solar month, a lunar month, and a 'usual' (i.e., calendar) month. A 'usual' month is the month of which use is made in the calendar, and it is so called because the Church makes use of it. A solar month is the name given to the space of time which the sun spends in travelling through one sign of the twelve celestial signs. A lunar month is of three kinds, viz., 'travelling month,' 'showing month,'and 'following month.' A 'travelling' month is the space of time that the moon spends in travelling through the twelve celestial signs, and that is 27 days and 8 hours. An 'apparent' month, or otherwise a 'healing' month, is the space of time from the time of seeing the new moon after coming till the time of seeing her again after coming the second time. A ' following month, that is the space of time which the moon spends from parting from the sun till meeting with it again; and that is 29 days and a half. There are twelve months in the year, and these are their names, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
A week is the space of seven days of time, and is so called from the Latin septemane, i.e., seven mornings or seven lights, because the sun rises seven times in the
The word 'day' means 'light' or 'brightness,' because when the sun comes in sight it is day; and it is of two kinds, i.e., the natural day and the working or artificial day. 'Working' day, according to Aristotle, is the name given to the space of time which is from the rising of the sun to its setting. It is so called because it is in that space (of time) that working folk do their work. A natural day is the space of twenty-four hours, which begins from the rising of the sun until its rising again; and this is the method of reckoning employed by the Chaldeans, Persians, and Babylonians; but the Hebrews are accustomed to reckon the day from sunset to sunset again. Howbeit, our Mother
An hour is one of the twenty-four parts which are in the natural day; or, after another method of reckoning, the twelfth part of the working day of which Christ spake to the apostles, saying: Nonne duodecim horae sunt diei? John makes mention of these working hours when he said: Erat quasi hora sexta quando crucifixus est Jesus; that is to say that it was about midday when Christ was crucified, understanding the sixth hour as twelve (of the clock); and therefore the Hebrews call the sixth hour in the morning the first hour, and the ninth hour the third, and midday the sixth hour, and the third hour after midday the ninth hour; as may be gathered from Matthew C. 27, where he says that there was darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour till the ninth hour, that is, from midday until the third hour after it. This is the way the Church says the Canonical Hours.
A quarter is one of the four parts which are in the hour; that is equal to fifteen minutes, and those four together make 60 minutes, and that makes a full hour.
The year is divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and in each part of those there are three months according to the astronomers. The spring begins on the 21st day of March, and ends on the 22nd of June; and the property of that season is to be warm and moist, and in that season the red humour predominates, or is most powerful then: and if the spring is very wet the herbs will have a great growth but they will be of little substance, and the fruits will be rotten before the time of their harvesting comes. If the spring is very warm, the trees will shed their flowers and foliage early, and their fruit will be full of maggots, and the roses will be earlier than is proper, and accordingly without perfume. If the spring be cold and dry, that denotes great frost at the end of it which will destroy the fruits and do much damage to the vine. If. it is very dry, the wheat will be very scarce and the fruits scarcer, but they will be very good. If the spring be cold, the fruits will be late, good, and profitable. The summer begins on the 22nd day of June, and ends on the 23rd day of September; and its property is to be cold and dry, and it is then that the choleric humour is strongest. And if the summer be wet, the fruits will be rotten and the wheat will be scarce, the barley less, and the diseases numerous. If it be very dry, the fruits will be good and wholesome; but the diseases will be very acute. If it be cold, the fruits will be late, and the year very laborious. The autumij begins on the 23rd day of September, and ends on the 21st day of December; and its property is to be cold and dry, and it is then that the bilious humour is strongest. And if it be very wet at the end of it, the wheat will be
There are two equinoxes and two solstices in the year, i.e., two times in the year when night and day are of equal length; and two other times in the same year, the one of which is the longest day in the year, and the other the shortest day in the year. The first equinox occurs when the sun begins to enter the sign Aries, and it does that each year on the 21st day of March; and it is then that night and day are of equal length. The second equinox occurs when the sun enters the sign Libra, and it does that each
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