> [[js-cm-01|← Holy Water]] | [[the-carmelite-manual-toc|TOC]] | [[js-cm-03|The Manner of Lay Persons Baptizing an Infant, in Case of Danger of Death →]] # Feasts and Fasts Throughout the Year ## Holy Days on Which There Is a Strict Obligation to Hear Mass, and Refrain from Servile Works All Sundays in the year; the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord, Ist January: the Epiphany, 6th January; the Feast of St. Patrick, 17th March; the Annunciation, 25th March; Ascension of our Lord; Corpus Christi; SS. Peter and Paul, 29th June; Assumption of the B. V. M., 15th August; Feast of All Saints, 1st of November; Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ., 25th of December. The obligation is taken away on all other days by deörees of Popes Pius VI. and VIII. ## Fasting Days on One Meal All the days in Lent, except Sundays; the Eve of Whitsuntide; the Quarter Tenses, or Ember Days, that occur in the four seasons of the year; the Eve of SS. Peter and Paul; the Vigil of the Assumption of the B. V. M., and of All Saints; the Fridays and Saturdays in Advent, and Christmas Eve. ## Days of Abstinence from Flesh Meat All Fridays throughout the year. ## Observations on Fasting and Abstinence Eggs are forbidden on Fridays, when a fast falls upon them; and if a fasting day falls on a Sunday, the fast is kept on the Saturday before. If Christmas Day falls on Friday, it is neither fast nor abstinence. The use of white meats, that is milk, butter, and cheese, is allowed on all days of Lent, at dinner, except on Ash Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, and Good Friday. When the Feast of St. Mark (25th April) falls on Sunday, or within Easter week, there is no abstinence from meat. To fast, is to take but one full meal; a collation is allowed. To abstain, is to refrain from a certain kind of food. Fasting regards the quantity, abstinence the quality of the food. Persons under 21 years are not obliged to fast, but should abstain from meat, at least on prohibited days, when they come to the years of discretion. Hard labour, travelling, long journeys, decrepid old age, extreme poverty, infirmity, pregnancy, and after birth, exempt persons from the obligation of fasting, but they should abstain, except some particular reason requires the dispensation. Persons should not usurp the power of dispensing with themselves, in a fast or abstinence, but should apply to their confessor or pastor. A dispensation given, even by authority, is invalid without a real and just cause; when a just and real cause ceases, the dispensation likewise ceases. The use of meat or eggs is not allowed in Lent, except by special privilege, granted by prelates for just reasons. When meat is permitted in Lent, it should be taken only once a day (even on Sundays), and after noon; it is not lawful on those days to eat flesh and fish at the same meal. On fasting days no fish, butter, cheese, milk, or eggs, can be taken at collation, even on those days in Lent when the use of meat is permitted. The quantity allowed at collation cannot be determined, as it chiefly depends on the disposition of persons, but it is generally about the fourth part of our usual meals. ## Septuagesima Sunday The third Sunday before Lent is thus designated by the church. It is the seventh Sunday before Passion Sunday (or ninth before Easter), when, as the term imports, we begin the commemoration of the affecting and awful mysteries of our blessed Saviour's passion and death, previously to the joyful celebration of his glorious resurrection. The Sunday which follows is called Sexagesima, or sixth Sunday before Passion Sunday; the one after, Quinquagesima, or fifth Sunday before Passion Sunday; and then the next, Quadragesima, which is the first Sunday of Lent. We learn from Bergier, in his "Theological Dictionary," the reason why these Sundays were so designated. In early times there was a variety as to the day of commencing the Lenten observance, or the great fast, although all understood that the fast should be of forty complete days. As they did not fast on Sundays, they were accustomed to fast at what we term Quinquagesima Sunday, and not on the following Wednesday, which, by reason of the ceremony of the ashes, we call Ash Wednesday. But some did not fast on Thursday, and therefore commenced to fast a week sooner, or at Sexagesima Sunday: others again did not fast on Thursdays and Saturdays, and, of course, that they might have a fast of forty days complete, began another week sooner, or at Septuagesima Sunday. --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-spratt]] > [[js-cm-01|← Holy Water]] | [[the-carmelite-manual-toc|TOC]] | [[js-cm-03|The Manner of Lay Persons Baptizing an Infant, in Case of Danger of Death →]]