Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1915-02-19

ed the Lenten season wednesday by ap-
| preaching the affairs before the masses
and the priests made crosses on
their foreheads with the ashes blessed
at special ceremony.
The ashes used in this ceremony are
} made BY burning the remains of the
palms blessed on Palm Sunday last year.
In the blessing Of the ashes four pray
er are used, all Of them ancient, and the
ashes are sprinkled with holy water
and rerfumed with incense.
The purpose Of putting ashes on the
foreheads Of the faithful is to remind
them Of death and the necessity Of doing
penance to prepare for death and the
last judgment. In placing the ashes
on the foreheads the priests say "Re-
member, man, that thou art dust and
into dust thou shalt return
There cat be no doubt that the Gus
tom Of distributing ashes to all the
faithful arose from devotional imita-
tion OF the practice observed in the
case of public penitants. One OF the
early writer's saws: 1.-THE men who re-
pented their sins in the first days Of the
church bestrewed themselves with ashes
and clothed their bodies with sack
cloth.r
"Wednesday also the Lenten fast be-
gan in the Catholic Church. However,
in thia cnnntrv h, a snao;of at-ns..o.
ton all laboriug men and their families
are excluded from observing the strict
fast that is observed in other countries.
These laboring men and their fami-
lies en- most of the Lenten days are al
lowed the use of Ash meat. but all
Catholics are exhorted by the priests
10 their sermons to abstain from all
worldly pleasures until after Easter
Sunday.
The following recu atoms TO be OBJ
served by Catholics during Lent. which
began last Wednesday, have been is
sued by Cardinal Gibbons through
the Rev. Louis R. Sticknpy, chancellor
of the diocese:
All the faithful who have completed
their twenty-tirst year, unless exempt
by dispensation or some other legiti-
mate cause, are bound to observe the
fast OF Lent.
They are to make one meal onlY a
a day except on Sundays.
A small refreshment, commonly call
ed a collation., is permitted in the even
ing
The following persons are exempt
from obligations Of fasting: Persons
under 81 years Of age, the sick, nursing
women, those who are obliged to do
hard labor, and those who those who
through weakness. cannot fast without
great prejudice to their health.
The faithful are reminded that, be-
sides the obligations Of fasting imposed
by the church, this holy season of Lent
should be in an especial manner a time
of earnest prayer, of sorrow for sins, of
seelusion from the world and its anuse-
ments and of generous aimsgiving.
BY virtue of an indult to the United
States the following special dispensa-
tions are granted:
The use of flesh meat is permitted at
all meals on Sundays and once a day
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays. with the exception of the
second and last Satur lays of Tent.
But flesh meat and fish are not to be
used at the same meal during Lent,
even on Sundays,
The use OF butter, cheese, milk and
eggs is also permitted every day in
Lent.
II is allowed in the morning to take
some warm liquid. as tea, coffee or thin
chocolate made with water, and with
this liquid mouthful eff bread.
Those for whom the hour of noon
may be an inconvenient time for dinner
may inyert the order and take their
COLLATION. In the morning and their din
ner in the evening.
The use of hogs lard or drippings,
instead of butter, is authorized in pre-
pairing permitted food.
Persons exempt from the obligation
of fasting are free to take meat more
than once on those days when its use
is granted by dispensation.
| BY virtue of an induit granted to US
by the Holy See March Is, 1895, we per-
nit to all workingmen and their fami-
lies the use Of flesh meat once day on
all fast days and abstinence days
throughout the year, with the excep-
tion Of Fridays, Ash Wednesday. the
Wednesday and Saturday Of Holy Week
and the Eve Of Christmas.
Those who are exempt from the obi
CATION of fasting are free to take meat
more than once on the days mentioned.
Those who avail themselves of this in
duit are not allowed to use flesh meat
and fish at the same meal and they are
earnestly exhorted to perform some
other act of modification, such as alb
stinence from intoxicating liquors.
| The paschal time extends from the
first day OF Lent till Trinity Sunday,
during which time all Catholics who
have attained the proper age are bound
to receive worthily the holy communion.
The holy season Of Lent is very prop
err time for children to make their first
confession, which they ought to do
generally at about the age of years.
Parents shonid see to this.
By order of his Eminence the Car
dinal. L. r. STICKNEY,
| ChancaIlor