The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-03-18

% When was the custom Of distrib-
uting blessed ashes on Ash Wednesday
Introduced? (2) Why is the ninth
Sunday before Easter called Septua-
gesima, or SEVENTEEN day2
Q) The custom of distributing ash
es to the faithful on Ash Wednesday
has been observed in the Church since
the thirteenth century. Prior to that
time it was in vogue in certain church
es, as we learn from the DEGREES of the
Council of Beneventum, held in 1891,
in accordance with which all the faith
full, clergy and laity, men and women,
we're required to be signed" with the
ashes. From earliest ages ashes were
used in the Church as a symbol of hui
initiation and sorrow. At first their
use was restricted to public penitents
who, at the beginning of Lent, received
them from the Bishop at the door OF
the Church. The penitents were then
excluded from the Church until Holy
Thursday, when they we're reconciled.
In the course of time, some of the
faithful, through humility, joined the
penitents and received the ashes also;
and thus the custom spread until it be-
came universal in the thirteenth CEN
fury. (2) The ninth Sunday before
Easter is called Septuagesima, or the
SEVENTEEN day, in reference to the
method of computing Lent by which
the first Sunday of the Lenten season
was designated Quadragesima, or the
fortieth day before Easter, though in
reality it is not. The name, Quadra-
gesima, was also applied to the Lenten
period itself Since the Sundays are
not fast days, the forty days of Lent
were made to begin on Ash Wednes-
day, four days before the first Sunday.
Now, in the Eastern Church, Saturday,
as we'll as Sunday, is excluded from the
fast; and in order to preserve the forty
days of fast the Lenten period was ex-
tended so as to include eight weeks OF
five fast days each, exclusive of Holy
Week, the great week of the Passion,
which was observed as a separate pas
chal fast This made it necessary to
begin Lent on the third Sunday before
Quadragesima, which was, therefore,
called Septuagesima, although it is not
the SEVENTEEN but the sixty-third day
before Easter. The intervening Sun
days are called Quinquagesima and
Sexagesima, respectively.
May Catholic become a member of
the Eagles, or of the Masons?
Catholics are not forbidden to join
the Eagles, but the Church has ex-
pressly prohibited their joining the
Masons No true Catholic can belong
to this order.
What is the attitude of the Church
estant ministers? Can Catholic mar
ried to a Protestant according to the
law of the State have the marriage
dissolved by the same law so that he
could contract another marriage with a
Catholic before priest?
Since Easter Sunday, 1908, no mar
rage is valid in the eyes of the Church
where two Catholics or a Catholic and
n-Catholic contract it before minis
ter or justice of peace or other civil
officer. In addition, marriage before a
minister accommodates the Catholic
or Catholics. Persons so married must
separate or be married by priest af-
ter a dispensation has been obtained.
At the same time, a Catholic married
outside the Church would be punished
by the civil law as a bigamist if he
married without securing legal di-
vorce.
What is proselytism?
Proselytism is the making of con-
verts to a religion, belief or Sect" 1t
is very commonly employed to desig.
nate the action of those who seek to
withdraw Catholics from their al1egi-
ance to the Church, in order that they
may become members of some non
Catholic sect.
Is priest obliged to say Mass every
day, If he is not sick or travelling?
No. Christ left no commandment
binding priests to offer the Holy Sac.
rifice of the Mass every morning nor
has the Church found reason to enact
such law. When people went to Mass
every day, as was the custom with the
early Christians, the Church had NO
precept of attending Mass on Sundays
and holy days of obligation. The case
is not otherwise with the priest and his
daily Mass. Fully conscious of the
power lodged in him by the Catholic
priesthood, he deems it the privilege
of privileges to offer Mass every morn
ing, in order that he may draw the
grace of God that will rebound to the
salvation of his own soul. Only for a
serious reason, therefore, does the
priest not say Mass every morning.
Is heaven a place, or state of the
soul? What do we really know about