The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-02-17

physical StfenStn, tnOSe VINO from
poverty are unable to procure for the
principal repast a sutficiency of nu-
tritive food.
From the precept of abstinence
from flesh meats are excused: The
young under the age of seven years;
the sick; those who are so situated
as not to be able to procure for them
selves abstinence food.
Special Exemption for "Working
People,"
In virtue of the authority conceded
to bishops in the United States by
a recent Pontifical lndult, permission
is granted the working people" to
use meat on all days of Lent, with
the exception of Fridays, Ash Wednes.
day, the Wednesday and 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 lndult uses meat, all the men,
bers of the household may likewise
use it. The Church does not wish to
impose upon the household the incon-
venience 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 princi-
pal .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
he counsels that instead of the alb
stinence from meat some other sacri-
flee OF bodily comfort be practiced,
the Sovereign Pontiff himself sug-
costing as such sacrifice abstinence
from intoxicating 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:
Wednesday,, Friday and Saturday,
February 2Sth, March End and 3rd;
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday,
May 3Oth, June LIST and End; Wednes-
day, Friday and Saturday, September
10Th, 2lst and 22nd; Wednesday, Fri
day and Saturday, December 10TH
2lst and 22nd. The Vigils' are: The
Vigil of Pentecost, May 26th; that of
the Assumption, August 18th; that Of
All Saints. October 3lst; 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 Apos-
tolic favor to the faithful of the
United States
The, Pontiiical Indult, of which we
have spoken cXempts working peo-
pie" from the abstinence on Vigils
and Ember Days, except when such
Fisils and Ember days fall on Fri
day.
Pastors will make to their flocks,
i'll the usual terms, due announce
ments of approaching Ember days
and Eigils, adding to such announce
ments a statement of the privileges
given by the lndut to working peo-
pie"
General Remarks.
When doubt exists as to whether
ones condition or circumstances al
low exemption from the precepts of
tasting and abstinence. counsel should
be asked from cOnfessors or pastors.
who are the authoritative interpre-
ters of the law, and who even are EN-
powered in special cases, for good
and sufficient reasons, indicated or
suggested in Catholic theology, to
commute the precepts of fasting and
abstinence to other penitential works.
In enjoinng upon the faithful the
precepts OF fast and abstinence, Holy
Church is mindful of the evangelical
law of self-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
self-restraint will not be victorious
over sin amid the storms and tempta-
tions of life which all are compelled
to encounter
The observance of the fast and absti.
nences prescribed by the Church is
taken as a public and fearless profes.
sion OF Catholic faith. He who, with