The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-02-11
THE LENTEN FAST.

Throughout the Christian world, to-day,
the first day Of lent, when the early Chris
tians used to appear in their churches with
ashes on their heads, in symbol of penitence,
will be kept with more or less deYoutness.
Some Of the sectS, such as the Presbyterans
ard Methodists, ignore the day; but Cath
OiicS, EpiscopalianS and members of the
Greek church remember it faithfully. Strict
churchmen will not marry, nor engage in
amuSements, during the coming forty days
and during a given number of those days
according to their capacity to endure priYa-
ton, they will mortify the flesh by reducing
their consumption of food, and elevate the
spirit by an increased ardor of devotion.
Theological writers have taken much pains
to investigate the origin of the leEten fast.
The works of the fathers and the sermons of
early Popes aud Bishops are quoted to prove
that il was observed in the very earliest age
of Christianity, at least as far back as the
second century. 1t was then supposed to
commemorate the Savior's long fast in the
wilderness. But the conspicuous figure
which fasts cut in the Jewish church sug-
gest an origin from which Christian fnsts
may have been borrowed. The ancient Jews
were constantly fasting under the influence
OF sorrow, fear or passion; their fasts varied
IN length and intensity; some Of them were
voluntary. so far as the mass of the people
were concerned, while others again, like the
fast of the tenth day of the seventh month.
were compulsory under pain of DEATH I'm
der the wise counses of the Apostolic
writers, the heads of the early church did
not insist on severity in the ordained fasts.
Church members abstaned pretty much as
they pleased. Some contented themselves
by adjuring animal food; others ate fish and
fowl; others denied themselves eggs ana
EuIt; others restricted their diet to bread :;
while some deemed their duty fulfilled if
they ate nothing till after three in the after
noon, at which hour they were free to in
dulge their appetite as they chose.
Toward the sixth and seventh centuries
the lenten fast was observed with more
Tigor. At the Councils of Orleans and To-
ledo fasting was declared to bs a duty, the
neglect Of which entailed serious penalties
Charlemague pronounced sentence of death
on Saxons who obstinately insisted on
square meal in lent, and in some localities
the officers of the churches made examples
of recalcitrants by knocking their teeth out
1t need hardly be observed that the severity
of this regime bred a generation of Dr..
Tanners, whose performance, owing to the
nOn-eXistence Of cOntemporaneous newspa-
pClS, hdo DCGLl IOoL W DO5LtElLN. IlbN were
perhaps the less noticeable, as in those days
lots of people tasted because they had
nothing to eat.
In our day the churches administer the
canons regarding fasting with due regard to
the weakness of the flesh. 1t cannot be
said that any disciple runs risk of injuring
bis health by fast enforced by his church.
Church-goers are told that ecclesiastical
law prescribes certain fasts, but they are
free to obey the law or to transgress it with
out risk Of ecclesiastical censure. In point
Of fact it would be better for most of them
If they lived up 10 the rules of their church
Everybody eats too much, and especially
too much animal and stimulating food.
That Is particularly the case at the lenten
season, when the cold Of winter melts into a
genial spring, and the blood warns and cir
culates more fercely through the veins. In
March and April it requires less nutriment
and less nitrogen0us substance to sustain
lie and keep the human machine in repair
than IN winter or summer, and therefore it
Is wise IN those months to reduce the dietary
and to practice occasional abstinence from
feeding. The thing should not be carried
to extremes. A twenty-four hour fast re-
acts on the nervous system, and stimulates
1t TO abnormal activity, so that the imagina
uon becomes morbidly active and the faster
Is apt to become a prey to hallucinations
ana ana TO religious enthusiasm. But n reduc
tion OF the number of meals from three to
w. anu substitution of cereal and vege-
Iaoie ioou LOT animal food, Is likely at the
lenten season to be beneficial TO the General
health. 1t is probably to this reason that
the maintenance of the lenten fast through
period OF eighteen centuries must chiefly
be ascribed.