History of the Lenten Fast

   Lenten fasting is a cornerstone of Lent and rediscovering traditional Catholic fasting for Lent is making a comeback.

   The Lenten Fast began under the Apostles themselves and was practiced in various forms. St. Augustine in the fourth century remarked, “Our fast at any other time is voluntary; but during Lent, we sin if we do not fast.” At the time of St. Gregory the Great at the beginning of the 7th century, the fast was universally established to begin on what we know as Ash Wednesday. While the name “Ash Wednesday” was not given to the day until Pope Urban II in 1099, the day was known as the “Beginning of the Fast.”

   Historical records further indicate that Lent was not a merely regional practice observed only in Rome. It was part of the universality of the Church, Lenten fasting began in England, for instance, sometime during the reign of Earconberht, the king of Kent, who was converted by the missionary work of St. Augustine of Canterbury in England. During the Middle Ages, fasting in England, and many other then-Catholic nations, was required both by Church law and the civil law. Catholic  missionaries brought fasting, which is an integral part of the Faith, to every land they visited.

   The rules on fasting remained largely the same for hundreds of years. Food was to be taken once a day after sunset. By midnight, the fast resumed and was terminated only after the sun had once again set on the horizon. But relaxations were to soon begin.

   By the fourteenth century, the meal had begun to move up steadily until it began to take place even at  12 o’clock. The change became so common it became part of the Church’s discipline. In one interesting, but often unknown fact, because the monks would pray the liturgical hour of “None” before they would eat their meal, the custom of calling midday by the name “Noon” entered into our vocabulary as a result of the fast. With the meal moved up, the evening collation remained.

   Father Anthony Ruff relates in his article “Fasting and Abstinence: The Story.” of the changes made by Pope Leo XIII in the document entitled Indultum quadragesimale.

   In 1886 Leo XIII allowed meat, eggs, and milk products on Sundays of Lent and at the main meal on every weekday [of Lent] except Wednesday and Friday in the [United States]. Holy Saturday was not included in the dispensation. A small piece was permitted in the morning with coffee, tea, chocolate, or a similar beverage.
   While the evening collation had been widespread since the 14th century, the practice of an additional morning collation was introduced only in the 19th century as part of the gradual relaxation of discipline.

   The Catechism of Father Patrick Powers published in Ireland in 1905 mentions that abstinence includes flesh meat and “anything produced from animals, as milk, butter, eggs, “However, Father Powers notes, “In some countries, however, milk is allowed at collation.” The United States was one of those nations whereas Ireland and others were not granted such dispensations. The use of eggs and milk during Lent was to drastically change with the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

   With this history in mind we can better understand the importance of the Lenten fast to our ancestors and rediscover in our own lives this Lent the keeping of Lent as forty days of fasting.
   
   It is not too late to commit to some form of bodily penance for the remainder of Lent.
 
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,

Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook, KHS