By the Gth century fasting ceased to be a voluntary exercise ; for by the second Council of Orleans, A.D. 541, it was decreed that any one neglecting to ol serve the stated times of abstinence should be treated as an ofilxMider against the laws of the Churcli. In the 8th century it was regarded as meritorious, and the breach of the observance subjected the oflencler to the penalty of excommunication. In later times, some persons who ate flesh during prescribed seasons of alistinence were punished with the loss of their teeth. These se- verities were, however, subsequently relaxed, and per- mission was given to use all kinds of food, except flesh,.
FASTING
491
FASTING
eeicis, cheese, and wine. Afterwards flesh onl}' was prohibited, eggs, cheese, and wine bcin.; allowed ; an uidulgence which was censured by the Grjek Church, and led to a quarrel between it and the Western. The following fasts generallj' obtained: 1. Lent, the annual fast of forty days before Easter. At first the duration of this fast was forty hours ; in the time of Gregorj- I it was thirtj-'Six days ; but afterwards, cither by Greg- ory I or Gregor}' II (8th century), in imitation of the fasts of Moses, Elias, and our Saviour, it was extended to forty days. See Lent; Quadragesima. 2. Quar- ter li/ fusts, which cannot be traced beyond the 5th cen- tury, though Bellarmin asserts that they dated from the" apostles' tim?. 3. A fast of three days bffore the festiviil of the Ascension, introduced by Mamercus of Vienne (5th century). In some places it was not cel- ebrated till after Whitsuntide. It was cMedjejunium roffutiomim, or jejunium litaniarum, the feast of roga- tions or litanies (hence rogation-days), on account of certain litanies sun i on those days (Bingham, bk. xxi, c. ii, § 8). 4. Monthly fasts, a day in every month, ex- cept July and August, being selected. 5. Fasts before festivals, instead of the anciant vigils, which were abol- ished in the 5th century. 6. Weekli/ fasts, on Wednes- days and Fridays, entitled staliones, from the practice of soldiers keeping guard, which was called staiio by the Romans. 7. There were also occasional fasts, ap- pointed bj' ecclesiastical authority, in times of great danger, emergency, or distress (Tertull. De Jejun. c. 13). " The custom of the Churcli at the end of the 4th century may be collected from the following passage of Epiphanius: 'In the whole Christian Church, the following fast-days throughout the year are regularh' observed. On Wednesday's and Fridays we fast until the ninth hour (i. e. three o'clock in the afternoon), ex- cept during the interval of fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide, in which it is usual neither to kneel nor fast at all. Besides this, there is no fasting on the Epiphany or Nativity', if those days should fall on a Wednesday or Friday. But those persons who espe- ciall}' devote themselves to religious exercises (the monks) fast also at other times when they please, ex- cept on Sundays and during the iifty da3's between Easter and Whitsuntide. It is also the practice of the Church to observe the forty days' fast before the sa- cred week. But on Sundays there is no fasting, even during the last-mentioned period (compare Doctr. de fde^.' But even at this late date there was no uni- versal agreement in the practice of the Church in this matter, neither had fasts been established by law. The custom, so fiir as it existed, had been silently intro- duced into the Church, and its observance was alto- gether voluntarv'. This fasting consisted, at first, in abstinence from food until three o'clock in the after- noon. A custom was afterwards introduced, probably Ly the Montanists, affecting the kind of food to be taken, which was limited to bread, salt, and water" (Siegel, Alterthnmer, ii, 77, translated bj' Coleman, An- cient Christianity, p. 445).
11. Eoinan and Greek Churches. — The Church of Rome prescribes the times and character of fasts by law (Concil. Trident, session xxv, De delect, ciborum). " Moreover, the holy council exhorts all pastors, and beseeches them by the most holy coming of our Lord and Saviour, that as good soldiers of Jesus Christ they assiduously recommend to all the faithful the observ- ance of all the institutions of the holy Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all churches, and of the de- crees of this and other oecimienical councils; and that they use all diligence to promote obedience to all their commands, and especially to those which relate to the mortification of the flesh, as the choice of meats and fasts." The Church commands fasts, and disobedi- ence to her commands is sin. "See Abstract of the Doua.y Catechism (p. 44) : ' Slighting or neglecting the precepts of the Church, and living in habits of break- ing cne »"asts commanded, or of eating meat on Satur-
days, or other days of abstinence, without just dispen- sation, were sins which excluded from the benefits of the jubilee, unless confessed and forsaken in the same manner as drunkenness, swearing, and debauchery' (^Instructions and Directions, etc., p. xxiv). But a papal dispensation changes the nature of things; the Span- iard who has jiaid the pope for a Jlesh lull may feast even in Lent; while his neighbor, who has neglected or declined to purchase the privilege, cannot eat an egg or drink a spoonful of milk during that period without committing mortal sin" (Cramp, Text-book of Popery, chap. xiv). Among the "satisfactory" works of " penance" in the Roman Church, fasting goes along with prayer and almsgiving (Dens, Tlieolofa, vi, De Satisf 170). The Church distinguishes between days of fasting and of abstinence. On the former but one meal, and that not of flesh, is tasted during twenty- four hours ; on the latter, flesh only is abstained from. The following is the distribution of Church fasts as given in bishop Challoner's Garden oj the Soul: 1. The forty days of Lent. 2. The Ember Days, being the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the first week in Lent, of Whitsun Week, of the third week in Septem- ber, and of the third week in Advent. 3. The Wed- nesdays and Fridays of the four weeks in Advent. 4. The vigils or eves of Whitsuntide, of the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mar}', of All Saints, and of Christmas Day. When any fasting day falls upon a Sunday, it is to be observed on the Saturday before. Abstinence D lys. — 1. The Sundays in Lent. 2. The three Rogation Days, being the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day. 3. St. Mark, April 25, unless it falls in Easter Week. 4. The Fridays and Saturdays out of Lent, and the Ember Weeks, or such as happen to be vigils; but should Christmas Day fall upon a Fri- d .y or Saturday, it is not of abstinence. In the Prac- tical (Jatechism upon the Sundays, Feasts, and Posts, the reason assigned for observing St. Mark's Day as a day of abstinence is, that his disciples, the first Christians of Alexandria, under his own conduct were eminent for their mortification ; moreover, that St. Gregory the Great, the apostle of England, first set it apart in mem- ory of the cessation of a mortality in his time at Rome. Ail Fridays and Saturdays, except those which fall be- tween Dec. 25 and Feb. 2, are days of Abstinence ; but in the United States there is a dispensation of Satur- days for twent}- years from 1840. The Fasting days are, every daj' in Lent except Sunday ; the Ember Days ; the vigils of Pentecost, Assumption, All Saints, and Christmas.