earliest evidence of imposition of ashes catholic

After they are burned, the ashes are then blessed by the priest, usually immediately before the Ash Wednesday mass.

Parishioners are taught to place these blessed palms behind crucifixes and icons in their homes throughout the year, and then return them to the parish church during the weeks before Ash Wednesday. The ashes that are placed on the heads of the faithful are made from burning the blessed palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. Not long after that, the name of the day was referred to in the liturgical books as “Feria Quarta Cinerum” (i.e., Ash Wednesday). In 1091, this custom was then ordered by Pope Urban II at the council of Benevento to be extended to the church in Rome. What does seem clear is that, by the end of the 10 th century, it was customary in Western Europe (but not yet in Rome) for all the faithful to receive ashes on the first day of the Lenten fast. Most likely this fast was the Lenten fast, but the evidence is too thin to be conclusive. As early as the 4 th century, these rites were associated with a 40 day fast. Originally, the imposition of ashes was one of several public rites required of those penitents who wished to be restored to the church.

It is not clear when the Wednesday beginning the Lenten fast began to include the imposition of ashes. Hence, for about 1400 years the Lenten fast in the West has begun on the Wednesday before the First Sunday in Lent. Therefore, in order to achieve 40 days, since the 7 th century the Western Orthodox have fast not only for six fully weeks (i.e., 36 days) but also four additional days. Early on in the West, the Lenten included every day including Saturdays but never included Sundays. While both traditions observe a 40 day fast, the different starting dates for the fast are related to how the fast is calculated. For Byzantine Orthodox Christians, the First Day of the Great Fast is on the Monday before the First Sunday in Lent and for Western Orthodox Christians the Lenten fast begins on the Wednesday before, commonly known as Ash Wednesday. John W Fenton, Assistant to the Vicar Generalįor all Orthodox Christians, the Holy Season of Lent begins on the First Sunday in Lent (4 March in 2012), and the Lenten fast begins a few days prior.

Earliest evidence of imposition of ashes catholic