Apostolic Lent; terms confused with Divine; Ecclesiastical customs by consent
Apostolic traditions, in the proper sense, are commands and institutes they ascribe to the Apostles even when the Apostolic writings are silent.
Under that head they place the Quadragesima (Lent) fast, which they claim the Apostles founded.
Often they blur the labels: what only the Apostles (not Christ) instituted they still call Divine, because those institutes came with the Spirit's breath; and what they tie to Christ they also call Apostolic, since nothing of Christ's teaching reaches us except through Apostolic writing and preaching.
Ecclesiastical traditions are old customs begun by prelates or peoples that, by gradual tacit consent, took on the force of law.
Latin
XIII. Apostolicae vero traditiones ab iis proprie dicuntur, quae ab Apostolis praecepta & instituta opinantur, quamvis eorum mentio nulla fiat in scriptis Apostolicis. Ad quas traditiones referunt jejunium quod vocant Quadragesimae, quod ab Apostolis institutum autumant. Et tamen saepe has voces contundunt, traditiones Divinas vocantes ea, quae non Christus ipse, sed Apostoli tantum instituisse putantur: quoniam quae sunt ab iis instituta non sine divini Spiritus afflatu instituerunt. Et vicissim quae ad Christum referunt, traditiones quoque Apostolicas vocant, quoniam eorum quae Christus docuit nihil ad nos pervenit, nisi per Apostolorum scripta & praedicationem. Ecclesiasticae vero traditiones ab iis vocantur quaedam consuetudines antiquae, vel a Praelatis, vel a populis inchoatae, quae paulatim tacito populorum consensu vim legis obtinuerunt.