FASTING AND ABSTAINING
EMBER DAYS
Ember days are those ordered by the church as days of fasting and abstinence. They occur at the beginning of the seasons and are:
1. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after December 13.
2. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of the week following Ash Wednesday.
3. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after Whit Sunday.
4. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after September 14, which is the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross.
DAYS OF ABSTINENCE
A day of abstinence is one on which Catholics are prohibited from using flesh meat at any of their meals. All Fridays of the year, except those on which a holiday of obligation falls, are days of abstinence. During the Lenten season, in addition to being days of abstinence, Fridays are also fast days.
Throughout the Latin Church, the law of abstinence prohibits all responsible Catholics from indulging in meat diet on days of abstinence.
Meat diet comprises the flesh, blood or marrow of such animals and birds that constitute flesh meat, according to appreciative, intelligent and law-abiding Christians.
On days of abstinence the use of fish, vegetables, molluscs, crabs, turtles, frogs and such cold-blooded creatures is not at variance with the law of abstinence. The sick, infirmed, mendicants, laborers, and such as find difficulty in procuring a fish diet are not bound to observe the law of abstinence, as long as such conditions prevail.
Regular days of abstinence are as follows:
1. All Fridays excepting those on which a holiday of obligation falls.
2. The first and last Wednesday and the second and last Saturday of Lent.
3. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays of ember weeks.
4. The vigils of Christmas, Pentecost, Assumption and All Saints’ Days (In Canada, the vigil of St. Peter and Paul, and Wednesdays of Advent, as well as all the ember days, are added to the list of fast and abstinence days.)
FASTING
In the U. S. all the days of Lent, the Ember days, the vigil of Christmas, Pentecost, Assumption and All Saints Days are fast days. (In Canada the vigil of St. Peter and Paul, June 28, is a fast day.)
Fasting consists in eating but one full meal in twenty-four hours and that about mid-day. It also implies the obligation of abstaining from flesh meat during the same period unless legitimate authorities granted permission to eat meat. Pope Benedict XIV granted permission to eat meat on fast days, but prohibited the use of fish and flesh at the same meal on all fast days during the year, as well as the Sundays during Lent.
In the U. S. working men and their families may use flesh meat once a day throughout the year, except on Fridays, Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, and the vigil of Christmas. For working men during Lent, it is forbidden that fish and flesh be taken at the same meal. Flesh and fish may be eaten at the same meal at other times except on fast days and days of abstinence.
The quantity of food allowed at the one full meal permitted on fast days has never been defined, and one full satisfying meal may be partaken of without breaking the rule. Moreover a slight collation is now allowed in the evening, the full meal usually being taken at noon. In the U. S. and Canada fast day meals usually consist of milk, eggs, cheese, butter, bread, fish, and similar foods.
NOT REQUIRED TO FAST
Those exempt from fasting are:
The sick, the infirmed, convalescents, delicate women, men or women sixty years or over; families whose members cannot have the necessaries for a full meal at the same time, or who have nothing but bread, vegetables or such-like food; those to whom fasting brings headaches or loss of sleep; wives whose fasting incurs their husband’s indignation; children whose fasting arouses their parents’ wrath; in a word, all those who cannot comply with the obligation of fasting without undergoing more than ordinary hardships are excused because of their inability to fulfill the obligation.