Ash Wednesday tomorrow

Kenneth Hynek • 24th Feb 2009 • Religion, Catholicism, Religion, Holy Days and Feast Days
abstinence, Ash Wednesday, Catholicism, Edmonton, Edmonton City Centre, faith, fasting, Lent, LRT, Mass, Palm Sunday, Roman Missal, St. Benedict's Chapel, St. Joseph's Basilica, St. Joseph's College, the Church, University of Alberta

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For those of you who practice the Catholic faith, that means it’s a day of fasting and abstinence; I admit that I have always had troubles remembering not to eat meat on fast days of this sort, but am going to strive to uphold that obligation during this Lenten season.

For the curious, some history:

The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Roman Missal is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead — or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure — of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: “Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.” The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. In the blessing of the ashes four prayers are used, all of them ancient. The ashes are sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense. The celebrant himself, be he bishop or cardinal, receives, either standing or seated, the ashes from some other priest, usually the highest in dignity of those present. In earlier ages a penitential procession often followed the rite of the distribution of the ashes, but this is not now prescribed.

Most local parishes will offer several Mass times at which ashes will be offered to those who wish them; if you’re in Edmonton’s downtown area, St. Joseph’s Basilica typically offers services, with ashes, at 12:05 PM, 5:30 PM, and 7:30 PM. St. Joseph’s College, on the University of Alberta campus (accessible by means of a short LRT ride) will offer ashes at 12:10 PM and 5 PM services.

St. Benedict’s Chapel, in Edmonton City Centre, may also be offering ashes, but I don’t know at what times that might be taking place.