ObservanceWednesday, February 10, 2027
Ash Wednesday
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Ash Wednesday opens Lent, the forty-day season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It is the day Catholics and, increasingly, Protestants receive a mark of ash on the forehead — ash made by burning the palms blessed on the previous year's Palm Sunday. In the United States it is not a holy day of obligation, which makes the size of the crowds it draws one of the more interesting things about it.
History
Ashes as a sign of repentance are older than the day named for them. At Rome, Christians guilty of grave sin performed public penance through Lent: barred from Communion, dressed in sackcloth, sprinkled with ashes and kept apart until they were reconciled, a discipline Britannica traces back to Tertullian around 200. Public penance died out between roughly the eighth and tenth centuries, and as it went the ashes moved outward from the penitents to everyone. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia says the distribution of ashes to all the faithful arose in imitation of the penitents' rite.
The popular version of what happened next is wrong, and the correction is the most useful thing on this page. Nearly every holiday roundup credits the Synod of Benevento in 1091, often Pope Urban II personally, with extending ashes to the whole congregation. The Catholic Encyclopedia, which actually discusses that synod, says the reverse: Benevento describes the distribution of ashes as already generally observed by clerics and laity, and the homilist Ælfric assumed the practice for all classes of people nearly a hundred years earlier. Benevento records the custom; it did not create it.
The Latin name is old too: dies cinerum, "day of ashes," appears in the earliest surviving copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates to at least the eighth century. Why the season starts on a Wednesday is less settled than most accounts admit. The Wednesday exists to yield exactly forty fast days once the six Sundays are excluded, but sources place the change anywhere from the late fifth to the seventh century. In Gregory the Great's Rome the fast ran six weeks of six days — thirty-six days, not forty.
Timeline
- c. 200 — Tertullian attests penitents at Rome in sackcloth, sprinkled with ashes and excluded from Communion through Lent.
- c. 8th century — The name dies cinerum, "day of ashes," appears in the earliest surviving copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary.
- c. 990s — The homilist Ælfric already writes of ashes as applying to all classes of people, a century before the Synod of Benevento.
- 1091 — The Synod of Benevento describes the distribution of ashes to clerics and laity as already general practice, making it a witness to the custom rather than its origin.
- 1549 — The first English Prayer Book replaces the blessing of ashes with the Commination service; the American Prayer Book never adopts it, and only Psalm 51 survives.
- 1992 — The United Methodist Book of Worship adopts the first official Methodist rite using ashes, which remain optional.
How to observe
For Catholics between 18 and 59 this is one of only two obligatory fast days in the year, the other being Good Friday: one full meal, plus two smaller meals that together do not add up to a full one. Abstinence from meat binds from age 14. Nobody is obliged to attend Mass.
Listen for which formula is said over you, because there are two and they are not the same prayer. "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" is the older one, and until 1970 it was the only one in the Roman Rite; "Repent and believe in the Gospel" was added beside it. Episcopalians use only the first.
If you cannot get to a church, look for Ashes to Go, which started on a St. Louis sidewalk in 2007 and had reached at least 49 Episcopal parishes in twelve states by 2012. And if you keep your palms from Palm Sunday, you are holding next year's ashes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation?
No. The U.S. bishops say so in as many words — "not even a Holy Day of Obligation" — which is what makes the crowds remarkable. It still ranks in the top tier of the Roman Rite's liturgical days, just after the Easter Triduum, so nothing else can displace it.
Who has to fast, and what does fasting mean?
Latin Catholics from age 18 to 59: one full meal plus two smaller ones that together do not equal a full meal. Abstinence from meat binds from age 14. Eastern Catholics follow their own church's law.
Where do the ashes come from?
From the previous year's Palm Sunday palms, burned. Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran practice agree on this, which ties the first day of Lent to Holy Week at the other end.
Why is the date different every year?
It is tied to Easter — 46 days before it, or forty fast days once the six Sundays come out — so it can land anywhere from February 4 to March 11.
Do Orthodox Christians observe Ash Wednesday?
No. They begin Great Lent on Clean Monday, a public holiday in Greece. Their fast historically excluded Saturdays as well as Sundays, so their Lent runs eight weeks rather than six.
When is Ash Wednesday?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | February 10 | Wednesday |
| 2028 | March 1 | Wednesday |
| 2029 | February 14 | Wednesday |
| 2030 | March 6 | Wednesday |
| 2031 | February 26 | Wednesday |
Sources
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Why Ashes? — https://www.usccb.org/resources/Why%20Ashes.pdf → Ash Wednesday is "not even a Holy Day of Obligation"; ashes made by burning the previous year's Palm Sunday palms; ashes as an Old Testament sign of repentance and humility; the two formulas said at the imposition.
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Information on Lenten Fast and Abstinence — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/lent/catholic-information-on-lenten-fast-and-abstinence → Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as the two obligatory days of fasting and abstinence; fasting binding from age 18 until 59; one full meal plus two smaller meals; abstinence from meat from age 14; Eastern Catholic Churches following their own law.
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, What is Lent? — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/lent → Lent as forty days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending at sundown on Holy Thursday; the 46 calendar days less six Sundays.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Ash Wednesday — https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01775b.htm → dies cinerum in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and dating to at least the eighth century; distribution of ashes to all the faithful arising in imitation of the public penitents' rite; the Synod of Benevento in 1091 describing the practice as already general among clerics and laity; Ælfric assuming it for all classes of people nearly a century earlier; the custom being older than usually supposed; the single pre-1970 formula; ashes made from the previous Palm Sunday's palms.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Lent — https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09152a.htm → Gregory the Great's Rome keeping six weeks of six days, thirty-six fast days; the later wish to reach exactly forty days producing the Wednesday start, without a date.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Church year: Lent — https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-year/Lent → public penitents at Rome in sackcloth sprinkled with ashes, traced to Tertullian c. 200; public penance dying out; the Roman fast beginning on the Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent from the late fifth century; the Eastern fast excluding Saturdays as well as Sundays, hence eight weeks.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ash Wednesday (Britannica Student) — https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Ash-Wednesday/611156 → ashes placed on the whole congregation after public penance lapsed; Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and other Protestant observance; Eastern Orthodox churches beginning Lent on a Monday and not observing Ash Wednesday; the date falling between February 4 and March 11.
- Liturgy Office, Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Table of Liturgical Days — https://liturgyoffice.org/Calendar/Info/Days.shtml → Ash Wednesday ranked in the first tier of liturgical days, immediately after the Easter Triduum, so that no other celebration displaces it.
- The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: Ashes, blessed — https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/ashes-blessed/ → blessed ashes made by burning palms from previous Palm Sunday services; ashes in the Old Testament as an expression of humiliation and sorrow; use of ashes being optional.
- The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: Imposition of Ashes — https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/imposition-of-ashes/ → the Episcopal Church using only the formula "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
- The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: Commination — https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/commination/ → the 1549 Prayer Book's Commination service drawn up to replace the blessing of ashes; the American Prayer Book never including it; only Psalm 51 surviving in the Prayer Book's Ash Wednesday service.
- The United Methodist Church, Ask The UMC: When did Ash Wednesday begin? — https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-when-did-ash-wed-begin-and-why-do-we-celebrate-it → no official Methodist Ash Wednesday service through 1964; the 1965 Book of Worship's service being ashless; the 1992 Book of Worship adopting the first official rite using ashes, which remain optional; the same two formulas.
- Religion News Service, Episcopalians take it to the streets on Ash Wednesday (February 21, 2012) — https://religionnews.com/2012/02/21/episcopalians-take-it-to-the-streets-on-ash-wednesday/ → Ashes to Go beginning on Ash Wednesday 2007 in St. Louis out of a clergy Bible-study conversation; spread through Chicago-area train stations from 2010; at least 49 Episcopal parishes in twelve states participating by February 2012.
- Ashes to Go, About Ashes to Go — https://ashestogo.org/about-ashes-to-go/ → the first St. Louis event growing out of an ecumenical clergy Bible study including Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ, American Baptist and Mennonite clergy.
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Clean Monday — https://www.goarch.org/-/did-you-know-clean-monday-march-18 → Clean Monday as the first day of Great Lent and an official public holiday in Greece.
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