Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-04-10
ORIGIN OF LENT
AND MEANING
AT FIRST 1T MEANT NO MORE
THAN SPRING SEASON AC-
CORDING TO HISTORIANS

Considerable Diversity of Practice Ex-
listed During First Three Centuries
After Christ and 1t Was Long Before
Uniform Observance Was Obtained.
Lent, the 40 days fast preceding
Easter, originally meant no more
than the spring season. As early as
the fifth century some supported the
view that this 40 days fast was of
apostolic institution but the best
modern scholars are rejecting this
view. In the existing remains of the
first three centuries are found con
siderable diversity of practice regard
ing the fast before Easter and gradu-
al process of development in the
matter of its duration. st. Irenaeus,
in a letter to Pope Victor about the
year $50, said some think they
ought to fast for one day, others for
days, while others reckon 40 hours
both of day and night for their fast"
Christians were regarding the weekly
observance of the Sunday and the Fri
day which was primitive but the an
nual Easter festival was sometimes
superimposed by q process of natural
development largely influenced by con-
ditions existing locally in the different
churches Of the east and west.
In determining this period Of 40 days
the example of Moses, Elias and Christ
must have exercised a predominant in
fluence, but it is also possible that the
fact was borne in mind that Christ
lay for 40 hours III the tomb. On the
other hand the Pentecost, so days, was
a period during which Christians we're
joyous and prayed standing, though
they were not always engaged in such
prayer, SO the Quadragesima, 40 days,
was originally a period marked by
fasting, but not necessarily a period in
which the faithful tasted every day.
This principle was differently under
stood in different localities, and great
divergence Of practice resulted.
Lasted Six Weeks
In Rome, in the fifth century, Lent
lasted six weeks, but according TO the
historian Socrates, there were only
three days of actual fasting exclusive
even then of the Saturday and Sunday
and these weeks were not continuous,
but were the first, the fourth and the
sixth of the series. But the number
40" having established itself, pro-
duced other notifications. 1t seemed
necessary to many that there should
not only be fasting during 40 days,
but 40 actual fasting days. In the time
of Gregory the Great (590-60D there
were apparently at Rome six weeks OF
six days each, making Sc fast days in
all. At a later date the wish to realize
the exact number of 40 days led to
the practice OF beginning Lent upon
our present Ash Wednesday, but the
Church of Milan still adheres to the
primitive arrangement. MOI was there
originally less divergence regarding
the nature of the fast. Socrates tells
of the practice of the fifth century:
Some abstain from every sort of crea-
ture that has life, while others of all
the living creatures eat of fish only.
Others eat birds as well as fish be-
cause they, too, sprang from the
waters; others abstain from fruit COW
cred with a hard shell and from eggs.
Some eat dry bread only, others not
that; others again When they have
tasted to the ninth hour g o'clock
partake Of various kinds of food.
Amid this diversity some inclined to
the extreme limits of rigour. Especial
ly during Holy Week Christians were
expected to pass "a hours or more with
out food Of any kind. The ordinary
rule on fasting days was to eat but
one meal a day and that only in the
evening, while meat and, in the early
centuries, wine were entirely forbid
den. During Holy Week, or at least
on Good Friday, it was common to
enjoin a diet OF dry food, bread, salt
and vegetables. The general prohibi-
ton of eggs and milk during. Lent is
perpetuated in the popular custom OF
making gifts Of eggs at EastsI, and in
the English usage Of eating pancakes
on Shrove Tuesday"
At a very early period, however, the
practice began to be tolerated of break
ing the fast at the hour of 3 O'Clock.
This gradual anticipation of the hour
of dinner was facilitated by the fact
that the c%anonical hours of none, YES
pers, ETC., represented periods rather
than fixed time. None in the course of
time came to be regarded as beginning
at midday and in this point Of view
is p~erpetuated in our moon" Now
the hour for breakfast during Lent
was more and more anticipated until
at last the principle was officially
recognized.
Certain t~heologians pronounced that
a man who took his dinner at mid
day did not break the Lenten fast.
Other mitigations of an even more
substantial character have been intro
duced into the service in the couyse
of the last few centuries. But what
more particularly regards Lent, sue
cessive indults have been granted al
lowing meat at the principal meal,
first on Sundays, then on two, three,
four and five week days, throughout
nearly the whole of Lent. Quite re-
Gently Maundy Thursday, upon which
meat, hitherto, has always been for
hidden, has come to share in the same
indulgence. In the United States, the
Holy See grants faculties whereby
working men and their families may
use flesh meat once a day throughout
the year except Fridays, Ash Wednes-
day, Holy Saturday and the vigil of
Christmas. The only compensation
imposed for all these mitigations is the
prohibition during Lent against par
taking of both fish and flesh at the
same repaSt.
inclined to break, that 1 would find