The Lenten Fast
Rules of Fast :
The laws of fast apply to persons between the ages of twenty-one and
fifty-nine.
On a fast day one may eat one full meal and two light
meatless meals, which together would not equal the main meal. Meat
may be taken at the principal meal, except on days of complete abstinence.
Liquids such as water, milk, and fruit juices may be taken between meals.
Rules of Abstinence:
The laws of abstinence apply to everyone seven years of age and over.
On a day of complete abstinence no meat, meat gravy or soup made from meat
may be taken. On a day of partial abstinence meat may be taken once.
Days of Fast during Lent:
All the days of Lent except Sundays, up till noon on Holy Saturday.
[In many places in the United States before Vatican II,
it was customary to dispense from the fast on St. Patrick's Day (March
17).]
Days of Complete Abstinence
during Lent:
Every Friday of Lent, Ash Wednesday, and Holy Saturday (until noon).
Days of Partial Abstinence
during Lent:
The Lenten Ember Days (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the First
Sunday in Lent).
Kneeling Days
"Kneeling day" is the term given to a feria or vigil on which the following occur:
1. Lauds 2 (first psalm is Miserére)
2. Fourth psalm is said at Prime
3. Ferial preces are said at Lauds, Prime and the Little Hours.
These are of course the penitential days of the
liturgical year. These include the ferias of Advent and Lent, most
vigils, and Ember Days on which no feast occurs. They are named
"kneeling days" because at these times of penance, much of the Office is
said kneeling instead of standing, for example, the Preces at all the
Hours, the Collect, and so on. Even at High Mass, the congregation is
supposed to remain kneeling for parts of the Mass at which they would
normally stand, eg. The Collect, the Pater Noster, the Postcommunion.
The liturgical colour on a kneeling day should normally be purple.
Chair of Unity Octave
The Chair of Unity Octave is one of the most special
and richly indulgenced novenas of the Church year. Its origin
makes one of the most fascinating stories in American Church history,
for it centers around the extraordinary vocation of the apostle of
Unity, Father Paul James Francis of the Atonement.
Numerous Anglican groups who were received
corporately into the Church attribute their conversion to the Chair of
Unity Octave, which is truly a rainbow of hope for the conversion of
those nations and peoples still wandering in the mists of error and
schism. This is the goal of the only true ecumenical movement.
The Chair of Unity Octave has accomplished an immense
good in awakening Catholics to a mission consciousness and to the need
of interesting themselves in the conversion of those without the Fold.
In these days of darkness and confusion, when the enemies of Christ seem
to be triumphing as never before, how great is our obligation to pour
forth fervent prayer for the souls of the millions who wander in
darkness, that God in his Mercy will grant them the grace of conversion.
Let us take very seriously our responsibility with regard to the souls
of our brethren, and make this yearly Octave truly a week of grace!
―Bishop Daniel Dolan
"In every age it has been the concern of the Roman
Pontiffs, Our predecessors, and likewise it concerns Us greatly, that
Christians who have, unfortunately, withdrawn from the Catholic
Religion should at length be recalled to us as a forsaken Mother.
For in the Unity of the Faith the foremost characteristic of the truth
of the Church shines forth, and it is thus that the Apostle Paul
exhorts the Ephesians to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace, by proclaiming that there is One Lord, one Faith, one
Baptism (Ephes. 4:5). With a glad mind, therefore, We have
heard that prayers have been proposed to be recited from the Feast of
the Chair of the Blessed Peter at Rome to the Feast of the Conversion
of St. Paul, in order that this aim of Unity might be obtained from
the Lord. We mercifully grant and bestow in the Lord a Plenary
Indulgence and remission of their sins to each and all the faithful of
Christ who from the eighteenth day of the month of January, the
Festival of the Chair of Blessed Peter of Rome, until the twenty-fifth
day of the same month, on which the Conversion of St. Paul is
commemorated, shall recite once a day the prayers appointed."
―Pope Benedict XV
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