Thu Feb 23, 2023 – 12:00 pm ESTThu Feb 16, 2023 – 11:17 am EST
(LifeSiteNews) — Although the law of the fasting began yesterday, yet, Lent, properly so called, does not begin till the vespers of Saturday next.
In order to distinguish the rest of Lent from these four days which have been added to it, the Church continues to chant vespers at the usual hour, and allows her ministers to break their fast before having said that Office.
But, beginning with Saturday, the vespers will be anticipated; every day, (Sundays excepted, which always exclude fasting,) they will be said at such an early hour, that when the faithful take their full meal, the Evening Office will be over. It is a remnant of the discipline of the primitive Church, which forbade the faithful to break their fast before sun-set, in other words, before vespers or evensong.
The Church has given to these three days after Ash Wednesday a resemblance to the other ferias of her Lenten season, by assigning to each of them a Lesson from the Old Testament, and a Gospel, for Mass. We, of course, insert them, adding a few reflections to each. We
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at LifeSite News
The views expressed in this news alert by the author do not directly represent that of The Official Street Preachers or its editors