VIGIL (Lat. Fr. riggo, I watch), a preparatory time of devotion,
which, by very ancient Christian usage, went before the more
solemn festivals, and especially Christmas, Easter, Pentecost,
and the principal martyrs' days. In English, it was called " eve
or "even," a name which is still retained in relation to several
festivals, as Christmas eve, Hallow-e'en, etc. The observance is
traceable in the very earliest centuries, and was established
everywhere in the 4th and 5th centuries. It is one of the usages
of his time against which Vigilantius inveighs, and which Jerome
vindicates in his celebrated Let ter against Vigilantius. On the
day before the great festivals, which seems from the first to
have been held as a fasting-day, the people assembled in great
multitudes. The ser vices proper to the vigil, but having a
certain bearing on the coming festival, were cele brated; the
night was spent chiefly in the church 'and in prayer, and other
devotional exercises; but abuses arose out of these night-
watches, which