WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ash Wednesday is Feb. 14 this year. Here are some things to know about Ash Wednesday and the kickoff to Lent:
In the Table of Liturgical Days, which ranks the different liturgical celebrations and seasons, Ash Wednesday ties for second in ranking – along with Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, Pentecost, Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter, and a few others. But Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, though it is a day of prayer, abstinence, fasting and repentance.
Top ranked in the table are the Paschal Triduum – the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil – along with Easter Sunday. Good Friday isn’t a holy day of obligation either, but Catholics are encouraged to attend church for a liturgy commemorating Christ’s crucifixion and death.
Ash Wednesday begins the liturgical season of Lent. There are hymns that speak to the length of the season – one of them is “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” – but Lent spans more than 40 days. So what gives?
“It might be more accurate to say that there is the ‘40-day fast within Lent,’” said Father Randy Stice, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship.
“Historically, Lent has varied from a week to three weeks to the present configuration of 46 days,” Father Stice said. “The 40-day fast, however, has been more stable. The Sundays of Lent are certainly part of the time of Lent, but they are not prescribed days of fast and abstinence.” There are six Sundays in Lent, including Passion Sunday.
Ashes
The ashes used for Ash Wednesday are made from the burned and blessed palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday.
“The palms are burned in a metal vessel and then broken down into a powder. I believe ashes can also be purchased from Catholic supply companies,” Father Stice said.
“As far as I know, palms from the previous year are always dry enough,” he added. “Parishes normally ask parishioners to bring their palms shortly before Ash Wednesday, so there is no need to store them. People usually like to keep the blessed palm as long as possible.”
Almost half of adult Catholics, 45 percent, typically receive ashes at Ash Wednesday services, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
During Ash Wednesday services, ashes are marked on the foreheads of the faithful with the Sign of the Cross. The ashes are a symbol of penance and remind us that we are creatures of the earth and mortal beings: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19).
Alleluia
You might not have noticed, but the use of the word “Alleluia” is verboten during Lent. What is known as the “Alleluia verse” preceding the Gospel becomes known during Lent as “the verse before the Gospel,” with a variety of possible phrases to be used – none of which include an alleluia.
“The Alleluia was known for its melodic richness and in the early Church was considered to ornament the liturgy in a special way,” Father Stice said, adding it was banned from Lenten Masses in the fifth or sixth century.
Fasting
Ash Wednesday also is a day of abstinence and fasting; Good Friday is another. Abstinence means refraining from eating meat; fish is OK. Fasting means reducing one’s intake of food, like eating two small meals that together would not equal one full meal.
“Fasting during Lent followed the example of Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness. It also recalled the 40 days that Moses fasted on Sinai and the 40 days that Elijah fasted on his journey to Mount Horeb,” Father Stice said.
“In the second century, Christians prepared for the feast of Easter with a two-day fast. This was extended to all of Holy Week in the third century. In 325 the Council of Nicea spoke of a 40-day period of preparation for Easter as something already obvious and familiar to all.”
— Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service
More online: Read more about the customs of Ash Wednesday
Born to a wealthy military leader in 1562 at Tounucumada, Japan, Paul Miki felt called to religious life at a young age. He became a Jesuit in 1580 and was soon widely known as a successful evangelist. In 1587, the political climate became hostile to Christianity, when the Japanese emperor became suspicious of the Catholic missionaries that had followed in St. Francis Xavier's footsteps a few decades earlier and were converting large numbers of Japanese. He accused the missionaries of "corrupting and stirring up the lower classes" and ordered them all out of the country. Miki and 25 other missionaries and laypeople, including three teenaged boys, were arrested in 1597 for disobeying his edict.
Over the next 30 days, they were forcibly marched 600 miles through the snow from Kyoto to Nagasaki so that they could be a warning to other Japanese Christians. On Feb. 5, 1597, as the group approached the hill in Nagasaki where they were to be tied to crucifixes measured especially for each of them, they all sang the Te Deum. More than 4,000 residents of Nagasaki – many of them Catholics who were crying and praying – witnessed the executions.
Miki's last sermon was delivered from the cross: "All of you who are here, please, listen to me... I have committed no crime, and the only reason why I am put to death is that I have been teaching the doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am very happy to die for such a cause, and see my death as a great blessing from the Lord. At this critical time when, you can rest assured that I will not try to deceive you, I want to stress and make it unmistakably clear that man can find no way to salvation other than the Christian way. The Christian religion tells us to forgive our enemies and those who do harm us, and so I say that I forgive the emperor and those responsible for my death. I have no hatred for the emperor; indeed, I wish that he and all the Japanese would become Christians."
In another account of his final preaching, he was recorded as also saying, "The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason that I die. I believe that I am telling the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain."
Like his 25 companions, Miki died on the cross after being stabbed through the chest with a lance. He was just 30 years old, but he was not the youngest in the group: St. Louis Ibaraki was 12, St. Anthony was 13, and St. Thomas Kozaki was 14. St. Anthony's parents were at the foot of his cross to witness their son's bloody killing.
Persecution of Christians continued for another 300 years. Thousands of Catholic missionaries and the faithful – including their spouses and children – were imprisoned, tortured, burned alive, drowned, buried alive, hung or beheaded for the faith. More than 650 martyrs were killed on Martyrs Hill in Nagasaki alone. Japanese Christianity was driven underground until the 1860s, when European missionaries returned and found the faith still alive. In 1889, Japan constitutionally recognized freedom of religion, and in 1919 the country established diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
Miki and his 25 companions, called "The 26 Martyrs of Japan," were canonized in 1862 by Pope Pius IX, and a shrine was built on the hill in 1962.
— Sources: Catholic News Agency, Catholic Online, 26 Martyrs Museum
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To learn more about the day in 1597 when the 26 Martyrs were crucified and the memorial that now stands in Nagasaki, go online to www.26martyrs.com.