Journal entry

Author: Matthew Plese The Remnant of the Lenten Fast Left by the 20th Century The Catholic Encyclopedia from 1909 in describing that fast immediately before the changes to occur under St. Pius X enumerates them as follows: “In the United States of America all the days of Lent; the Fridays of Advent (generally); the Ember…

Author: Matthew Plese The Lenten Fast Begins Deteriorating in the 1700s Some of the most significant changes to fasting would occur under the reign of Pope Benedict XIV who reigned from 1740 – 1758. On May 31, 1741, Pope Benedict XIV issued Non Ambiginius which granted permission to eat meat on fasting days while explicitly forbidding the…

Author: Matthew Plese Collations Are Introduced on Fasting Days in the 8th Century The rules on fasting remained largely the same for hundreds of years. Food was to be taken once a day after sunset. After the meal, the fast resumed and was terminated only after the sun had once again set on the horizon….

Author: Matthew Plese The Purpose of Fasting In principio, in the beginning, the very first Commandment of God  to Adam and Eve was one of fasting from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Genesis 2:16-17), and their failure to fast brought sin and disorder to all of creation….

Author: Matthew Plese The Lenten Fast in the Early Middle Ages The Lenten fast began under the Apostles themselves and was practiced in various forms in the Early Church. As time went on, the fast became uniformly observed under pain of sin. St. Augustine in the fourth century remarked, “Our fast at any other time…

Author: Ryan J. Moreau With Ash Wednesday only eight days away, the Lenten season is nearly upon us. Because one of our greatest goals at Essentialist Press is to help you find deeper union with God, we believe that there is no better time than the present to start learning about the Church’s history regarding the practice…