The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-02-17

granted 10 working people" to use
meat on all days of Lent, with the
exception of Fridays, Ash Wednesday.
the Wednesday and the Saturday of
Holy Week.
This dispensation from abstinence
extends to all three repasts in the day.
The usual prohibition remains
against using flesh meat and fish at
the same meal.
Where the Wage-earner, in virtue of
the indult, uses meat, all the members
OF the household may likewise use it.
The Church does not wish to impose
upon the household the Inconvenience
OF double cooking. But in cases of this
KIND, those members of the household
who may be bound by the precept of
Fasting are allowed the use of meat
only at their principal repast.
The Sovereign Pontiff exhorts all
who may make use of the privileges
OF the indult to be still mindful of
their duty to practice self-denial, and
ne counsels that instead of the abstin-
ence from meat some other sacrifice
OF bodily comfort be practiced, the
Sovereign Pontiff himself suggesting
as such sacrifice abstinence from in
toxicating drinks.
Days of Fast and Abstinence Outside
The Lenten Season.
Other days of fast and abstinence
occurring during the year are the
Ember days and the Vigils of certain
festivals. The Ember days are: We'd
nesday, Friday and Saturday, Febru-
airy 2Sth, March LIST and End; Wednes-
day, Friday and Saturday, May 29th,
31st and June list; Wednesday, Friday
and Saturday, September 18th, goth
and 21st; Wednesday, Friday and Sat
urday, December 18th, goth and 21st.
The Vigils are The Vigil of Pente-
cost, May 25th; that of the Assump-
ton, August 14th; that of All Saints,
October 31st, and that of Christmas,
December oath.
All Fridays are, of course, days of
abstinence. The abstinence which
formerly was obligatory on Saturdays
has been dispensed with by Apostolic
favor to the faithful of the United
States. "
The Pontifical Indult, of which we
have spoken, exempts working peo-
pie" from the abstinence on Vigils and
Ember days, except when such Vigils
and Ember days fall on Friday.
Pastors will make to their fiocks, in
the usual terms, due announcement of
Ember and Vigils days,
adding to such announcements a state
ment of the privileges given by the
Indult to working people"
General Remarks.
When a doubt exists as to whether
ones condition or circumstances allow
exemption from the precepts of fast
ing and abstinence, counsel should be
asked from confessors or pastors, who
are the authoritative interpreters of
the law, and who even are empowered
in special cases, for good and sufficient
reasons, indicated or suggested in
Catholic theology, to commute the pre-
cepts of fasting and abstinence to
other penitential works.
In enjoining upon the faithful the
Of fast and abstinence, Holy
Church is mindful of the evangelical
law of se1f-denial, of which the Saviour
and His apostles were, by example and
by word, most eminent teachers. With
out self-denial there is no Christianity.
Indeed, without self-denial there is no
natural morality. The man who has
not acquired by habit the power of
will not be victorious
over sin amid the storms and tempta-
tons of life which all are compelled
to encounter.
The observance of the fasts and alb
stinences prescribed by the Church is
taken as a public and fearless profess
sion Of Catholic faith. He who, with !
out sufficient or obvious reasons, eats
meat or takes his usual meals when
abstinence or fast is enjoined, becomes
an occasion of scandal, and is not
accepted as a practical Catholic.
Let Catholics, therefore, have the
courage of self-denial for the sake of
Christ and of their own souls, and be
on their guard lest by their acts scan
1al be given, and the fair name of their
religion be dishonored.
During Lent pastors will hold special
exercises of devotion in their several
churches at appointed times. Instruc-
tons of practical character upon the
Christian duties, the nature of the sac
raments, and the preparation for their
should be given on those
occasions
The devotion of the Way of the
Cross will be observed, if at all pos
sible, in all churches and chapels on
The Friday evenings throughout Lent |
+ JOHN IRELAND,
Archbishop of st. Paul. |