Article I. On Abstinence from Meat and Broth from Meat

I say 1st. The law of abstinence forbids eating meat and broth from meat, but not eggs, dairy foods, and any condiments whatsoever, even from the fat of animals (Can. 1250).

Therefore on days of abstinence two things are forbidden, meat and broth from meat; all other things are permitted: fish, eggs, dairy foods, and any condiments from the fat of animals.

Question 1. What comes under the name of meat, eggs, and dairy foods?

Response. Under the name of meat come all animals living and breathing upon the earth, as theologians commonly admit from the rule handed down by St. Thomas; or, as St. Alphonsus suggests, n. 1011, animals which have warm blood; or that which the custom of the region has as meat; or, if neither custom is at hand, the doubt can be solved by considering the mind of the Church in sanctioning the choice of foods, that it might provide for restraining and diminishing the concupiscence of the flesh through salutary abstinence. Let it be examined whether an animal of this kind is similar or dissimilar to those whose eating is forbidden, and whether its flesh is discerned as fit for nourishing and strengthening the human body more powerfully; and if it appears thus, that flesh is to be placed among forbidden things. Benedict XIV, De syn. dioec., lib. 11, c. 5, n. 12. These four things will serve much for solving every doubt.

But under the name of eggs and dairy foods are understood all those things which derive their origin from flesh and have the nature of food.

Eggs and dairy foods and condiments even from the fat of any animals whatsoever are permitted; the use is no longer restricted to the fat of swine's flesh. Moreover butter is permitted, and margarine.

Pepsin is not prohibited on days of abstinence, nor, as it seems to us, gelatin. On the contrary, bovine flesh prepared with peptone (peptonized beef), meat extracts, as they are called, are prohibited. You may see The Encyclopedia Britannica, v. 10, p. 613; v. 21, p. 131. By equal reason, stock, i.e., the essence of meat cooked with bones, etc., is prohibited.

Question 2. What must be said concerning the use of lard?

Response. It is certain that it is not licit to eat it in pieces and after the manner of a side-dish, because thus it is reputed as meat. Yet it is licit to use it, even in the evening collation, either as a condiment or for cooking foods, provided that it has previously been liquefied. But this condition, which seems to be required by the Sacred Penitentiary, is sufficiently observed if the lard is liquefied in the very cooking of the foods and the fleshy and thicker particles are separated.

Question 3. What is meant by broth from meat?

Response. Broth properly is the liquid of those things which are cooked (broth); broth from meat is the liquid of cooked meat: chicken-broth, mutton-broth, beef-broth, etc. Fat is distinguished from gravy; "the former," says Alberti in the book On Ecclesiastical Fasting, "is a light substance which floats above in a vessel, but the latter remains dissolved in water."

Question 4. Whether for those who are not held to fasting, and to whom it is licit by virtue of an indult to eat meat, it is licit to eat these several times in the day?

Response. Affirmatively, provided that the Bishop in the concession of the indult has not placed an express limitation; but the Sacred Penitentiary declared in a response to the Bishop of Buffalo that to place this limitation "is not expedient." Wherefore, except in the case of this limitation, it will be licit for those who are not held to fasting, whatever may finally be the cause why they are not held to it, to eat meat several times in the day, whether the Ordinaries of places have declared this lawfulness, or whether they have said nothing. - I said, whatever may finally be the cause why they are not held to it; for considering the practice which today is in force at Rome and the doctrine which is handed down there, and with the declarations of the Sacred Penitentiary weighed more carefully, it does not seem that a distinction is to be made, as far as this question is concerned, between those who are exempt from fasting by virtue of labor or age, and those who are simply dispensed by legitimate authority. - Cf. Acta S. Sedis, vol. 1, p. 426, nn. 7 and 8 with notes; and vol. 14, p. 568. - Nouvelle Revue Theologique, vol. 14, pp. 251 and following.