Treatise — Marc, Institutiones Morales
Tractate I: On the Precepts of the Church
- There are FIVE precepts of the Church which are proposed to be observed by all the Christian people, namely: 1. To be present at the sacred rite, on Sundays and feast days of precept. 2. To fast in Lent, on vigils, and on the Four Times. 3. To abstain from meats on Friday and Saturday. 4. To confess, at least once in the year, and to communicate at Easter. 5. Not to celebrate nuptials at forbidden times.01
Concerning the obligation of assisting at the sacred rite and sanctifying feasts, we have already treated in the treatise on the third Precept. Concerning annual confession, concerning paschal communion, and concerning the forbidden time of nuptials we shall more suitably deal in the treatises on Penance, on the Eucharist, on Matrimony.
Therefore it remains to be treated: 1. concerning ecclesiastical fast; 2. concerning abstinence from meats.
(01) Supreme Pontiff Pius X, in the new Catechism (1913), explains the precepts of the Church thus: 1. To hear Mass on Sundays and feast days of precept. 2. Not to eat meat on Friday and other prohibited days, and to fast on the prescribed days. 3. To go to penance at least once in the year, to communicate at least in Easter time. 4. To assist the necessities of the Church, according to laws or customs. 5. Not to celebrate nuptials solemnly at prohibited times.