The morning call., 1892-03-03
THE LENTEN FAST.
Req atoms for the Catholic
Archdiocese.
Anomalies Removed by the Third Plenary
Council-Rigors Of the Penitential Period
in Early Times.


into effect yesterday in the Catholic Arch
diocese of San Francisco:
1. All the faithful who have completed their
twenty-nrst year are. unless legitimateIy dis
pensed bound TO observe The fast OF Lent.
2. All days OF Lent, Sundays excepted, are
fast days OF obligation on one meal,
3. BY dlspensaiion, granted August 81, 1887,
Tor ten years, nesh meat IS allowed at the prin-
epal meal on all days of Lent. except Wednes-
days, Fridays, Ember Saturday and the Satur.
day OF Holy week.
A. The use of flesh meat ana fish IL forbidden
at the same meal, even on Sundays
g.. AZ the COLLATION. 1t Is permitted To use brr ad
all kinds OF fruit. vegetables and FISH, and BY
dispensation granted February g. lSS7 for ten
years, The use OF butter, cheese milk and eggs ia
also permitted.
g.. The use Of lard is permitted In preparing
food on all days thrOughout the year.
T. When the principal meal cannot be taken at
midday II mag be taken In the evening, and the
COLLATION. IN the morning.
8. All persons under 81 wears or over 60 Years
OF age those who are engaged In hard labor the
SICK and eonvalescent and those WHO cannot
fast Without injury TO their health are exempt
from the obligation OF fasting.
~ Those VINO are not bound to fast may use
flesh meat more than once each day on which
lis use Is permitted.
10. Those who have any reasonable doubt as
TO their obligation TO fast OF abstain should con-
suit their confessOr.
IL. he time for fulfilling the pi ecept OF Easter
communion extends in the archdiocese n ON the
Penteeost.
have LenteD deyOtiOns in their churches on The
"wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings OF each
week.
UNIFORM RULES.
Since the third Plenary Council of Balt-
timore IN November. 1886, the regulations
are now practically uniform throughout the
United States. Prior 10 that time the rules
differed In the various dioceses, aud where
large cities adJ0ned each other on the divid-
Ing line OF arehiepise0pal Jurisdictions the
a ltr trns.
olies IN one place being forbidden the use
oil hesh meats on certain days, while their
corelIgOnists across the line were privileged
to enjoy them. This anomaly no longer
exists nor are the rules as rigorous as they
once were, even within the memory Of the
comparatively young.
The old-fashioned Lent would have been
terror TO the present generation. Down
10 the ninth century meat, eggs, butter
milk and cheese held no place on the
Christian table from Ash Wednesday till
Easter Sunday, ana but single meal each
day was permitted OF sucn other food as
was obtainable.
ORIGIN OF THE COLLATION..
The collation. had its origin in the monas-
terIes about the beginning of the sixteenth
century The monks, weakened by the
long lasts prescribed by their own rules
and by their hard labor in the fields, were
permitted, when called together for the
Office of complin. TO partake of little wine
anu bread. The custom spread to the
people, and In the course of time was
recognized by the church, which allowed
the dispensation for an evening repast to
consist OF not more than eight ounces Of
food, which Is restricted at the present day
10 about one-fourth OF an ordinary meal.
history is full of contrasts between the
severity oil the early fast as compared with
the present, and shows with what difficulty
dIspensation from the law was obtained. In
e.
kIng oil Bohemia had to ask special permis-
sion from the Pope to eat meat during Lent
on account OF sickness. 1t was granted to
him only after an examination by two
special commissioners from the Pope. and
he had to promise TO partake of 1t in private
with moderation.
HISTORIC DIspENsATIoNs.
In the fourteenth century Pope Clement
VI allowed King John of France to eat
meat In Lent. because he could not always
get fish during the wars in which he was
then engaged. In the fifteenth century
S!x,us ~ allowed James LII of Scotland
the use OF meat, and in the sixteenth
century Julius III granted the same per-
mission to King John Of Denmark and TO
christina. his Queen. Some years after
Clement VIII gave the same privilege to
the Emperor Charles V, in 1924, and shortly
afterward TO Henry III of France and Spain
and his queen.
In the early ages the fast was not broken
until evening. but about the ninth century
the faithful lost much of their fervor and
the fast was only kept till the vesper hour,
about o'clock In the afternoon. Suisse
quent TO this, and very gradually, the hour
at which food might be parker of grew
earlier, and In the twelfth century the Gus
tom OF breaking the fast at noon became
general.
In all Of the Catholic churches yesterday
the attendance at morning mass was very
large and the ceremony of sprinkljng ashes
took place. In most of the churches in this
archdiocese there will be special Lenten
services every evening from now till Easter
According TO the decree of the Third
Plenary Council Of Baltimore a collection
Will be taken up next Sunday at all the
masses and at veSpers for the missions
among the Indians and negroes