The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-02-22
THE LENTEN SEASON.

churches is fast of forty-days imme-
diately preceding Easter. The origin
of this fast has been disputed but is
generally regarded as preparation for
Easter, and time especially set apart
for repentance over the sins of the past
year; while the number Of forty days
devotion is thought to have reference
to the Savior's forty days fast in the
wilderness, to the forty days OF the
deluge, the forty years wandering Of
the Jews, the forty days granted to the
Ninevites for repentance, or the time
spent in fasting by Moses and Elias
Saint Jerome speaks OF the fast as a
memorial of the Saviors passion. Ac-
cording to the same writer, as well as
St. Leo, St. Augustine, and most Of the
fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries,
it was instituted by the apostles,
although Protestants commonly hold
that it was not established until the
second and third century. 1t seems to
have been made obligatory at least as
early as the middle of the second Gen.
fury. At first there was great diversity
in the time and manner OF its observ-
ance. Its duration was soon fixed by
the church at thirty-six days, to which
four were subsequently added.
Ash Wednesday derives its name
from custom which still prevails in
the Roman Catholic Church of sprink-
ling the head or forehead with ashes.
To roll oneself in the dust, to cover the
head with ashes, was, in primitive time,
a mark OF profound grief A man who
appeared with dust announced by such
exterior his mourning and affection.
Examples Of this are frequent in scrip
ture, being mentioned in Job, the Kings,
the Prophets, and also the Gospels.
David, to express the bitterness Of his
grief, says he ate ashes like bread. In
the first centuries of Christianity, when
public penance was imposed, ashes were
cast upon the heads OF those who were
condemned, and they were obliged to
stand without the gate Of the church
amid the lamentations OF the people
within. The ceremonies of Ash We'd
nesday in Roman Catholic countries
are a continuation of this primitive
usage.
The old linen Of the altar and frag-
ments OF consecrated wood are burned
and the ashes carefully collected. Be-
fore the celebration of the mass, the
priest, in mourning robes, recites peni-
tential psalms and solemnly blesses the
sacred ashes. Then all the faithful ap-
proach and PROSTATE themselves, while
a priest marks sign Of the cross with
the ashes upon the forehead OF each Of
them, repeating each time the words Of
the anathema pronounced on Adam for
his sins: Memento, homo, quod pulois est,
IN pulUerem rscerteriS Remember
man, that thou art dust. and unto dust
thou shalt return" The people having
thus listened to the sentence Of death,
and each bearing upon his brow the pro-
phetic ashes, return to their places.
The somber monotony Of the ceremony,
the silence which follows it, the
confusion of ranks, and the humilia-
ton of all pride which attend this
common recognition of the tran
sen:ness, and the fearfulness Of hui
man existence, render it one of the
gravest and most impressive Of all
religious rites. 1t is the overture Of
forty days Of penitent mourning, and
follows Immediately the wild excite
ments Of the carnival. The heroes Of
the delirious and clamorous follies OF
one day are found on the next kneeling
in silence and contrition around the
altar Of the church, and thus the
utmost frivolity and disorder of a
worldly spirit and Christianity in all
its severity and sadness as the veritable
law of a fallen humanity, stand in i'm
mediate contrast. The use Of ashes is
omitted by those branches of Protestant
ism which retain any observance Of
Ash Wednesday. In the Anglican
Church, the maledictions pronounced
against impenitent sinners are read
on that day, at the end OF which
the people repeat, Amen. Ash Wednes-
day is the forty-sixth day before Easter,
the six Sundays which intervene not
being counted as part of Lent, nor
observed as fast days.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the
nature of the fast is prescribed by rule.
Only one meal day is allowed, and
at this the use Of flesh meat is prohibited,
the precept Of fasting always implying
that of abstinence from flesh. A slight
rejection, however, may be taken morn
ing and evening, the quantity of food
not to exceed two ounces in the former
case, and eight ounces in the latter
But considerable notifications of these
rules are made in countries where the
climate or habits of the people render
their observance injurious to health,
and dispensations are also granted to
particular persons. In the United
States, the use of flesh meat is allowed
several times a week, at the discretion
Of the bishops. In the Greek Church
the rules are strict, and there are four
Lenten fasts in the year. The
Protestant denominations which re-
cognize the season of Lent leave the
manner OF its observance to individual
judgment.
THANKs.-"Felis Domestica" has our
profound thanks for the gorgeous mono