Lenten Regulations for Fast and Abstinence
ABSTINENCE: All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are
bound by the law of abstinence.
FAST: All adults are bound by the law of fast from the beginning of their
nineteenth year up to the beginning of their sixtieth year.
EXPLANATION: The law of abstinence means that a person is bound to
abstain beginning the day after ones fourteenth birthday. The law of
fast means that adults are bound to fast from the day after their eighteenth
birthday until the end of the day of their fifty-ninth birthday.
APPLICATION: The law of abstinence forbids the eating of meat and food
prepared with meat or meat by-products. The law of fast allows only one full
meal and two lighter meals in the course of a day, and prohibits eating between
meals.
In the United States, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of
fast and abstinence. All other Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence
only.
EXCEPTIONS: Women who are pregnant and persons who are sick are not bound
by the law of fast.
This information has been
reprinted from Holy Cross' Sunday Bulletins
Holy Cross Catholic Church - Batavia, IL -- Page
Last Updated 03 Apr 2007
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