The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-02-25
The Lenten Season Its Origin &c.

Wrlnes,. ~ last, a. all good Chulch folk
! NnO" was Ash Wednesday, the first day %!
! the i.rutuu Season Yet how many ct them
! cave any extended know ledge at the orr gin
! Ut Significance of this festival. The follow
| iug upon that subject, which may prove OF
interest 10 our readers, We clip from the
| Baltimore 1iacrjcta of Monday last;
| Roman CaIh"iic thrnlngllnS and many
! rr"trSta.1s maintain that The forty days
! fast is Of apostolic origin, and such appears
| 10 hr the opinion OF -. .lrrOn+. but the
! greater uumbrr OF prutc>tants consider il,
| to lie OF ecclesiastical institution. 1t l.,
! commonly supposed to he commemorative
| IT thriStS fast of forty days in the wilder
ness, anu instituted aS y preparation for the
| ,r"at anniversaries of His rruCii Xiou and
resurrection. According tn some authors.
he fast WAS, i'll the beginning. at only four
| lays of Holy Week, aud was gradually rx-
| tended to forty DAYS: bur, according /"
rthrr writers, was of forty days duration
from the first However this may be- it ap
pears that the Latin term qUadrage>ima
was applied before the fourth century TO Il
period of forty days before Easter, set apart
FOR fasting and prayer. beginning with what
is now the first Sunday III Lent, and termi-
Mating on Holy Thursday. Within this
period neither the LatinS nor Greeks AT first
tasted forty days the Sundays and Thurs
lays being excepted by both and Saturdays
also by the Greeks. As general sentiment
declared i'll favor of a forty days fast, the
period was Heightened both in tn" East and
West, in the tim" OF Pope Mechanics, the
time extending t. SHY days. Gregory the
Great finally directed the fast tn begin on
rhe sixth Sunday before Faster, AMI THAI
al intervening weei, days should he fast
NJ laws This lint -lirry II Il
fasting, however, and 1hc four days of the
preceding week We're then added, the SOL
.mn fast thus beginning on Ash WednpS-
lay. The Council of LoIdcca, in :i6}, pre-
>rribed 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 III, commanded
hat tnoSe who did not keep Lent should be
considered rs transgreS>ing the laws of the
Church, and the eighth council of Toledo in
GIG forbade the use of flesh meat. Wine,
oil and animal food are still prohibited i'll
the Greek Church, and their use in the Lat
in Church was made one of the grounds of
separation i'll III" time OF Ph"tiuS. BY de
grees ali kinds of fond except flesh
used in the West eggs. cheese and wine be
mg allowed, and becoming general after
the eleventh century. In the United
States 1T the present day the Use of flesh
meat is allowed several times Il week, ac
rording to the rue laid down by each bish-
np for his own dioceSS fish and flesh, how
ever, never being allowed ar the same meal.
In nearly al the PrOtest.ut churches of
Continental Europe, and particularly
among the Luthcran>, Lent i still peni-
Tential season. The Church of England
and the Protestant Episcopal Church both
observe Lent. Accounts are given of some
curious old English Lenfeu customs among
winch is one of prting n puppet called
lack q Lent, the origin of which. however
is not explained, Ben Johnson alludes to
it in his Tale OF a Tub, thus;
''-Gn an Ash Wednesday
when thou didst stand six weeks, the Jack
q Lent
For boys TO hur three throws penny at
thee.
The fourth Sunday in Lent, often termed
Mid Lent or Passion Sunday, was form
erly known - Carl Sunday, and on thar
day peas or beans called " earnings" used
to he given away or eaten. Thus an Eng
li-h translator gives from the French, pub
lished in 1907, the following After iii"
salad (earen IN Lent after the first Srrvice)
We eat fried beans, by which we under
stand confession. When we would have
beans we'll Sootirr, We lay them in Steepr,
for otherwise they will never Seerh kindly.
Therefore, If We purpose to mend our faults
it is not sufficient barley to confess them ut
all adventure but must let our confess
sion lie in steepe i'll the water of lnedit;l-
ton.