Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-21
THE FASTS OF LENT
As Celebrated in Europe in the Years
That Are Past and Gone.
THE NOTIFYING OF THE FLESH
Strongly Insisted On in the Early Days Of
the Church.
RULES THAT WERE DECIDEDLY RIGID

I, /
Bishops from the inquisition, empowering
them, in all dioceses visited BY the epidemic
'qui hoe tempore non European modo sed
alias Orbis regiones late pervssit," to dis.
pense their focks from the law of fasting
and abstinence during Lent, has reminded
the world in general of the fact that in by
gone days those observances occupied a
prominent place both in private and in pub
lie life. The first thing that will strike
anyone who takes the trouble to inquire
into the subject, says writer in
the London Saturday ReUieU, will be the i'm
mense variety in the methods followed in
different countries, at different periods, and
under different circumstances; and if the
student chooses to enlarge his field, and OBJ
serve the various "uses," from that of the
serious-mInded young English woman, who
takes no sugar in her tea during Lent, to
those of the Mohammedan, who tastes no
food from sunrise to sunset during the whole
of the month of Ramadan, or of the Hebrew,
who on the six solemn fasts of the year eats
nothing from daybreak until the three first
stars appear, he will find matter enough TO
fill good-sized volume
1t is our present purpose to conine our
selves to the consideration of very small
number of the variations in the rules and
customs connected with fasting that either
prevail, or have prevailed, exclusively
among bodies protesting Christianity, al
though we are well aware that some very
interesting details might be collected con-
cerning those existing among the adherents
of other religions.
BOTH LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS.
In the early Christian Church wine was as
much forbidden as meat to those who were
fasting. II, in one of his encyclicals, the
present POPE were to say, like Mr.. Goschen,
81 cast my eyes upon wine" and then to
forbid its use oD days OF fasting and ab-
stinence, there would, we think, be not a
little wailing among the faithful. Very
terrible must have been the ancient days of
holy week that were classed under the
euphonlous title of Xerophagy, when the
only food allowed was bread and salt, to
which, in certain localities only, vegetables
were added. st. Gregory of Nyssa, in the
fourth century, wrote that neither food nor
water was allowed to be taken until sunset
on fast days. Much later, mass was not
said in Lent until 8 P. NJ; and until that
was over, as we'll as the services of none
and vespers, nobody was permitted to eat or
drink.
In the eighth century we find Theodulf,
Bishop of Orleans, reproving those who be-
gan to eat during Lent at o'clock without
waiting for mass. In the same century
Charlemagne made matters a little easier
for his courtiers, who mi ght not eat until he
had finished his own meal, and then at sue
cessive tables, according to their rank, by
having the afternoon services at instead
o: at 8. In the thirteenth century st.
Thomas Aquinas considers it sufficient that
the one Lenten meal be not taken till
"about" 8 o'clock. In the next century
Robert de Brunne censures those who on
any day of the year eat before mass
Me thinketh they trespass full ill.
That any day eat, ere they hear mass
But If 1t be through harder Distress
In the later middle ages mass and vespers
during Lent finished rather before o'clock,
and in the year 1900 the synodal DEGREES of
Paris allowed the single fast day meal to be
taken as early as midday.
A VARIETY OF RULES.
The rules concerning Lent varied greatly |
in different localities Tor several centuries. |
A writer in the fifth century mentions that |
in certain places it lasted only three weeks, |
in others six, and in some as much as seven.
Then there were centuries in which the
Lenten fast was kept on every day of the
week. Sunday was omitted in others, and
elsewhere there was no fasting on either
that day or Saturday. The latter was the
rule of st. Ambrose. AT the Council of
Trullo, held at Constantinople in the seventh
century, it was forbidden to fast on Satur-
days in Lent. In most places Lent began,
not on ash Wednesday, but on the first
Sunday in Lent, until the Latin Church, in
the ninth century, added the four days be-
ginning with Ash Wednesday. Even then
the new custom was long in becoming
universal. About 100 years afterward ST.
Margaret of Scotland enforced its OBJ
servance among her subjects, who do not
appear to have adopted it until then, and
600 years later still, st. Charles Borromeo
recognized the Ambrosian use of deerriug
the beginning of Lent until the first
Sunday.
To this day in the Roman Catholic
Church the fast days vary greatly in differ
ent countries and even dioceses, and al
though its Lent now begins or ends on the
same days throughout the world. there is
considerable difference in the rules for keep
ing it in certain localities. Then with re-
gard to Advent there is some diversity. In
the fifth century it was kept as a general
fast of 40 days, from November IL till
Christmas This custom has so died out
that, although in England and Ireland Ro-
|
Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent, there
is no such rule on the Continent except in
religious houses, and only in some of those.
A curious custom prevails in France
OF allowing a certain waterfowl that feeds
chiefly on fish to be eaten on days OF the
year on which other flesh meat is forbidden.
We think, however, that many people who
have once tasted this particular delicacy
will not be likely to avail themselves of the
privilege second time.
AN EXCEPTIONAL CASE.
The most interesting exceptional rule con-
nected with abstinence is the one that
exists in Spain. 1t seems that at the time
Of the Crusades all who contributed fixed
annual sum were dispensed from certain
days of abstinence by Papal Bull, and
this dlspensatlon has never been Withdrawn.
As the fee required has become a mere
trif1e through the deterioration in the value
Of money (about couple of shillings), the
has fallen within the reach of
most people, and the funds thus accumu-
lated are devoted to charitable purposes. ;
The Cistercians who did so much in the !
Middle Ages for agriculture in this country,
used to fast from September the 14th until
Easter, eating neither meat, fish nor eggs. {
Alter the Reformation a statute was passed
in England enjoining abstinence from meat !
on Fridays, Saturdays and Vigils; and this /;
was enjoined in the reign of Queen Eliza 4,
beth. 1t was, however, expressly declared /
that this was not done with view to the
spiritual edihcation of her subjects. but in
order to benefit the fish trade, and economize j
,he stock of mutton. Even now the Carthu- {
'ians. who have large monastery in the
South of England, as well as at the Grande
Jhartreuse and the Certosa near Florence,
never eat meat and never buy fish, although
hey will eat the latter when given to them
,c aims |