The Evening critic., 1882-02-20
THE EVENING CRITIC.
THE LENTEN SEASON.
Something About the origin of tt

BLIsHED AUGUST 1858

tnSt.
Lent, the spring time fast OF forty days before
Easter, begins next wednesday, which IL
Ash Wednesday according to the church cal.
cndar. Roman Catholic thcologlans and many
Protestants maintain that the forty days fast
ia OF apostolic origin, and such appears to be
the opinion OF st. jerome, but the creator mum
Der OF Protestants consider it TO be OF ecclesi.
astical institution. II Is commonly supposed
10 be commemorative Of Christs hst OF forty
days In the wilderness, and Instituted as n
preparation for the great anniversaries OF HIS
crucinxion and resurrection. According to
come authors, the fast was, In the beginning,
OF only four days duration, embracing the
ualiy extended to forty days. but, according
10 other writer's was OF forty days dnra-
tion nom the iirst However this may
be, tt appears that the Latin torn
''quadragesima" was applied before the fourth
century TO a period OF forty days before Easter.
set apart for fasting and prayer, beginning
with what is now the first Sunday In Lent and
terminating on Holy Thursday. Within this
period neither the Latins nor Greeks at first
TASTED forty days, the sundays and Thursdays
being excepted by both, and Saturdays also by
the creeks. As general sentiment declared In
favor Of forty days fast, the period was
lengthencd both In the East and West, In the
time Of Pope Melchlades, the time extending
TO sixty days Gregory the Great finally dl-
rected the fast to begin ON the sixth Sunday
before Easter, and that all intervening week
days should be fasting days. This gave
but thirty-six days of fasting, however, and
the four days OF the preceding week
beginning on Ash Wednesday. The Council of
Loadlcea, In 363, prescribed entire abstinence
from food on Holy Thursday, and exclusive
use Of dry food during all the fast days of
Lent. Then the Council Of orleans, In 541,
commanded that those who did not keep Lent
should pe considered as transgrossing the laws
OF the church, and the eighth council of Toledo,
In 646, forbade the use OF flesh meat. Wine,
oil and animal food are still prohibited In the
Greek Church, and their use In the Latin
Church was made one OF the grounds OF sepa-
ration In tho time of Photius By degrees
all kinds of food, except flesh, were used
in the West eggs, cheese and wine being
allowed, and becoming general after the
eleventh century. In the United States at the
present day the use of flesh meat is
allowed several times n week, according to the
rule laid down by each bishop for his own
diocese; fish and flesh, however, mover being
allowed at the same meal. In nearly all the
Protestant churches OF Continental Europe,
and particularly among the Lutherans, Lent
is still penitental season. Tho Church of
England and the Protestant Episcopal Church
some curious old English Lenten. custom ;,
among which is one of pelting a puppet call ID
Jack o. Lent, the origin of which, however, Is
not explained. Ben Jonson alludes to 1t in his
"Tale of Tub, thus:
's---- on an Ash Wednesday
When thou didst stand six weeks, the Jack o.
Lent
For boys TO hurl three throws penny at
thee"
The fourth Sunday in Lent, often termed
Mid-Lent or Passion Sunday, was formerly
known as Carl Sunday, and ON that day peas
or beans called ''carlings," used TO be given
away or eaten. Thus an English translator
gives from the French, published in 1907 the
following; "After the salad (eaten In Lent
after the first service) we eat fried beanes, by
which we understand confession. When we
would have beanes well sooden, We lay them in
steepe, for otherwise they will never seeth
kindly. Therefore, IL we propose to mend our
faults, IL is not sufficient barely to confess
them at all adventures but we must let our
confession lie in steepe In the water OF med
itatiOn,"