EVE
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EVE
which in later Jewish tradition is identified with Satan
(Wisdom, ii, 24). He tempts Eve presumably as the
weaker of the two, and she in turn tempts Adam, who
yields to her seduction. Immediately their eyes are
opened, but in an unexpected manner. Shame and
remorse take possession of them, and they seek to hide
from the face of the Lord.
For her share in the transgression. Eve (and woman- kind after her) is sentenced to a life of sorrow and tra- vail, and to be under the power of her husband. Doubtless this last did not imply that the woman's es- sential condition of equality with man was altered, but the sentence expresses what, in tlie nature of things, was bound to follow in a world dominated by sin and its consequences. The natural dependence and sub- jection of the weaker party was destined inevitably to become something little short of slavery. But if woman was the occasion of man's transgression and fall, it was also decreed in the Divine counsels, that she was to be instrumental in the scheme of restoration which God already promises while in the act of pro- nouncing sentence upon the serpent. The woman has suffered defeat, and infinitely painful are its conse- quences, but henceforth there will be enmity between her and the serpent, between his seed and her seed, until through the latter in the person of the future Re- deemer, who will crush the serpent's head, she will again be victorious.
Of the subsequent history of Eve the Bible gives little information. In Gen., iv, 1, we read that she bore a son whom she named Cain, because ghe got him (njp — to acquire, possess) through God — this at least is the most plausible interpretation of this obscure passage. Later she gave birth to Abel, and the narra- tive does not record the birth of another child until after the slaying of Abel by his elder brother, when she bore a son and called his name .Seth; saying: "God hath given me [n'C — put or appoint] another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew". Of daughters no specific mention is made in this account, but inGen., v, 4 ("P") we find the general statement that " the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters".
Eve is mentioned in the Book of Tobias (viii, 8; Sept., viii, 6) where it is simply affirmed that she was given to Adam for a helper; in II Cor., xi, 3, where reference is made to her seduction by the serpent, and in I Tim., ii, 1.3, where the Apostle enjoins submission and silence upon women, arguing that "Adam was first formed; then Eve. And Adam was not seduced, but the woman being seduced, was in the transgres- sion".
As in the case of the other Old Testament person- ages, many rabbinical legends have been connected with the name of Eve. They may be found in the "Jewish Encyclopedia", s. v. (see also, Adam), and in Vigouroux, " Dictionnaire de la Bible", I, art. "Adam". They are, for the most part, puerile and fantastic, and devoid of historical value, unless in so far as they serve to illustrate the mentality of the later Jewish writers, and the unreliability of the "traditions" derived from such sources, though they are sometimes appealed to in critical discussions.
Palis in Vioouroux. Dictionnaire de la Bible, 11,2118: Ben- nett in Hastings, Diet, of the Bible, s. v. ; Encyclopedia Bihlica, 8. V. Adam and Eve: Gigot, Special Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament, Part I, p. 162; Jewish Encyclopedia, s. v., V, 275.
James F. Drlscoll.
Eve of a Feast (or Vigil; Lat. Vigilia/Gr. Taumxls). —In the first ages, during the night before every feast, a vigil was kept. In the evening the faithful assem- bled in the place or church where th(! feast was to be celebrated and prepared themselves by prayers, read- ings from Holy Writ (now the Offices of Vespers and Matins), and sometimes al.so by hearing a sermon. On such occasions, as on fast days in general, Mass also
was celebrated in the evening, before the Vespers of
the following day. Towards morning the people dis-
persed to the streets and houses near the church, to
wait for the solemn services of the forenoon. This
vigil was a regular institution of Christian life and was
defended and highly recommended by St. Augustine
and St. Jerome (see Pleithner, Aeltere Geschichte des
Breviergebetes, pp. 223 sq.). The morning intermis-
sion gave rise to grave abuses; the people caroused and
danced in the streets and halls around the church
(Durandus, "Rat. Div. off.", VI, 7). St. Jerome speaks
of these improprieties (Epist. ad Ripuarium).
As the feasts multiplied, the number of vigils was greatly reduced. But the abuses could be stopped only by abolishing the vigils. And where they could not be abrogated at once and entirely they were to begin in the afternoon. A synod held at Rouen in 1231 prohibited all vigils except those before the patronal feast of a church (Hefele, "Conciliengeschichte", V, 1007). In place of nocturnal observances, the bishops introduced for the laity a fast on the day before tlie feast, which fast Durandus (loc. cit.) calls "jejunium dispensationis". Honoriusof Auxerre, in 1152 (Gemma Animae, III, 6), and others explain in this way the origin of this fast. It existed, however, long before the abolition of the nocturnal meetings. The fast on Christmas Eve is mentioned by Theophilus of Alex- andria (d. 412), that before the Epiphany by St. John Chrysostom (d. 407), that before Pentecost by the Sac- ramentary of St. Leo I. Pope Nicholas I (d. 867), in his answer to the Bulgarians, speaks of the fast on the eves of Christmas and of the Assumption. The Synod of Erfurt (932) connects a fast with every vigil. The very fact that the people were not permitted to eat or drink before the services of the vigil (Vespers and Matins) were ended, after midnight, explains the ex- cesses of which the councils and writers speak.
The Synod of Seligenstadt (1022) mentions vigils on the eves of Christmas, Epiphany, the feasts of the Apostles, the Assumption of Mary, St. Laurence, and All Saints, besides the fast of two weeks before the Nativity of St. John. After the eleventh century the fast, Office, and Mass of the nocturnal vigil were trans- ferred to the day before the feast ; and even now the liturgy of Holy Saturday (vigil of Easter) shows, in all its parts, that originally it was not kept on the morn- ing of Saturday, but during Easter Night. The day before the feast was henceforth called vigil. A sim- ilar celebration before the high feasts exists also in the Orthodox (Greek) Church, and is called irafvuxli or dypv-rrvta. In the Occident only the older feasts have vigils; even the feasts of the first class introduced after the thirteenth century (Corpus Christi,the Sacred Heart) have no vigils, except the Immaculate Con- ception, which Pope Leo XIII (30 Nov., 1879) singled out for this distinction. The number of vigils in the Roman Calendar besides Holy Saturday is seventeen, viz., the eves of Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascen- sion, Pentecost, the Immaculate Conception, the As- sumption, the eight feasts of the .\postles, St. John the Baptist, St. Laurence, and All Saints. Some dioceses and religious orders have particular vigils, e. g. the Ser- vites, on the Saturday next before the feast of the Seven Dolours of Our Lady; the Carmelites, on the eve of the feast of Mount Carmel. In the United States only four of these vigils are fast days: the vigils of Christmas, Pentecost, the Assumption, and All Saints.
The vigils of Christmas, the Epiphany, and Pente- cost are called vigilice majores; they have a proper Office (semi-double), and the vigil of Christmas, from Lauds on, is kept as a double feast. The rest are vigilia minores, or communes, and have the ferial office. On the occasion of the reform of the Breviary, in 1568, a homily on the (iospel of the vigil was added, an innovation not accepted by the Cistercians. If a vigil falls on a Sunday, according to the present rubrics, it is kept on the preceding Saturday; during the Middle
