Why the Church commands fasting and abstinence

THERE are various reasons why the Church bids Catholics to fast and abstain from flesh meat on certain days. By these means we more easily keep our lustful appetites in due subjection and we do penance for our sins. There are certain devils, which, as our Lord taught us, are only cast out by prayer and fasting. Moreover, by denying and curbing our appetites we exercise ourselves in the virtue of temperance, and, like soldiers on parade, we accustom our lower nature to obey the command of reason, so that it may not betray us when we are in presence of the enemy in time of temptation.

The Obligation of Fasting.—The Second Precept also commands that on the weekdays of Lent and certain other specified days (holydays outside Lent excepted) every baptized person between the ages of twenty-one years completed and sixty years begun shall eat not more than one full meal a day (Canon 1251).

(a) The law speaks of eating, that is, of solid food, and hence the Lenten and other similar fasts are not broken by liquids which are beverages rather than foods, or which are used to allay thirst, or carry food or assist digestion, and not chiefly to nourish (e.g., water, teas, coffee, light cocoa, wine, beer, lemonade, fruit juice). Likewise, sirups taken as medicines are not considered foods, even though they contain nourishment, unless one drinks a large quantity for its food content. Light ices may be considered drink, but ice-cream is food. On the contrary, liquids that are chiefly nourishing are regarded as food (e.g., soup, oil, honey). Finally, some liquors vary between food and drink, according to their richness or weakness, their great or small quantity. Thus, hot chocolate as made in the United States contains only a small amount of solid and may be considered as a drink, but as made in Europe it is stronger and rather food than drink.

(b) The law admits as an indulgence on fast days, in addition to the one meal, a small breakfast in the morning and a light collation to be taken either around noon (lunch) or in the evening (supper). The quality and quantity of these two repasts are left to local custom. The Uniform Norm for Fast and Abstinence in the United States adopted by the Hierarchy, Nov. 14, 1951, establishes the following norm for these two meatless meals. They are to be “sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one’s needs; but together they should not equal another full meal.” This norm, called the relative standard, was adopted by many Bishops of the United States, beginning with Lent of 1952. Thus, the amount of food is dependent to some degree on a person’s own needs and appetite. The relative standard is distinguished from the absolute norm which allows about two ounces for the morning collation and eight ounces for the evening.

(c) The law permits one to eat but once in the day (exception being made for breakfast and collation), but it places no limits as to the quality of the food at the principal meal (unless the day be also a day of abstinence, when meat is forbidden), or as to its quantity, though temperance bids one to eat at all times in moderation. On fast days, therefore, one may not eat between meals, nor so divide or prolong the dinner that it really becomes several meals. A notable interruption (two or three hours) made without good reason divides a dinner into two meals, and over two hours of uninterrupted eating, under ordinary circumstances, seems to be more than the one full meal which the law allows.

The Obligation of the Precept of Fasting.—(a) Origin.—The natural law commands fasting in general, since without some kind of austerity above common temperance certain desirable ends (such as atonement for past transgressions, conquest of unruly passions, and elevation of the soul) cannot be attained; and as these ends are necessary it is also necessary to use the means as far as one needs them. The particularization of this natural law has been made by the positive law of the Church, and with such wisdom as to promote the good of both soul and body. The times appointed are most appropriate (e.g., the season when the Passion is commemorated, Luke, v. 35); the duration of the long fast is modelled on that of Christ (Matt., iv. 1); the curtailment of food required is not only beneficial (as an exercise of self-control and a rest and change to the metabolism), but is moderate, since it permits sufficient food for the day, and even in the fast of Lent the Sundays occur to give a respite.

(b) Gravity.—The precept of fasting is grave, both from the purpose of the law (see 2469), and from the express declaration of the lawgiver (Denzinger, n. 1123). But the spirit of the precept is not notably deviated from by every transgression, and hence even in reference to matter there are minor or venial violations; and moreover the precept is probably (unlike that of abstinence) an indivisible one, since it consists in the limitation to one meal, and hence it cannot be violated more than once a day. Grave matter, when the absolute norm is used, seems to be about four ounces added to the collations or taken between meals, either all at once or at different times during the day (Denzinger, n.1129), But if the relative norm is used, a greater quantity is needed to establish grave matter, e.g., one fourth of a full meal. But he who has broken his fast (e.g., by a second full meal) does not break it again by a third or fourth full meal on the same day, for after the second full meal the fast has become impossible for that day. He who accidentally takes too much at breakfast can still keep the fast by proportionately diminishing his evening repast.

(c) Exceptions.—Physical or moral impossibility excuses from the fast, and gives the right to eat meat as often as moderation allows on days that are not meatless days. The chief persons who labor under impossibility are those who are too weak to fast (e.g., the sick, the convalescent, pregnant and nursing mothers, the nervous), those who are too poor to get one square meal a day (e.g., street beggars who have nothing may eat as often as they are given an alms, if it does not buy them a dinner), and those who cannot do their necessary or customary hard work if they fast. Hard work is such as is exercised for many hours continuously, or for a less time if it is very intense, and which is greatly fatiguing to the mind (e.g., daily teaching, lecturing, studying, hearing confessions, preaching, etc.) or to the body (e.g., heavy manual labor, the difficult jobs in offices or stores, work that requires one to be on one’s feet for hours at a time, necessary journeys made under hardship). The confessor or physician can decide about cases of impossibility that are not manifest, but dispensation should be had from the pastor (Canon 1245). Those who are dispensed from the ecclesiastical fast or abstinence should remember that they are not dispensed from the natural law of temperance, and they should practise some abstemiousness according to their ability (e.g., by self-denial in alcoholic beverages, tobacco, sweets, etc., or mortification in the quantity or quality of food).

488. • Ecclesiastical fasting is situated in abstinence from foods and from a certain quality of foods, which according to the form prescribed by the Church is to be observed especially in the time of Lent, of the Ember Days, and of certain vigils, namely of Pentecost, of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of All Saints, and of the Nativity of Our Lord.

We must treat, 1. of the essence and obligation of fasting; 2. of the causes excusing from fasting.

650. Notions. The word fasting is taken: 1. for total abstinence from every food and drink, or from everything which is transmitted into the stomach by way of food. I say: by way of food; whence such a fast is not broken if by chance something enters the stomach by way of saliva, for example, if someone swallows some blood proceeding from the teeth or nose, or if by chance a fly enters the mouth and stomach, etc. It is then called a natural fast, or even the fast of one who is fasting. Such a fast from midnight is required for the reception of the Eucharist, unless a special permission is present, concerning which there is treatment in the tract on the Eucharist. 2. It is taken for abstinence from food and drink according to the common rules of temperance, in order to its proper end, which is a good disposition of body and mind for performing their functions perfectly. This fast is called a moral or philosophical fast, and it is sometimes employed by men without any respect to religion, solely on account of some honorable good. 3. It is taken for abstinence from food and drink in a determined degree, and indeed a greater one than moral abstinence requires. Such a fast is customarily determined by either a general or a particular positive ecclesiastical law, and it is employed on days of fasting determined for the whole Catholic Church, or also at other times for certain religious orders. This fast is called ecclesiastical or arbitrary. 4. Finally, fasting is taken in a metaphorical sense for abstinence from vices and sins.¹¹⁹⁷ These things having been explained, the following propositions are to be noted:

1. A natural fast is not of itself an act of virtue, since it consists in mere negation; nevertheless, it becomes meritorious if it is undertaken on account of an honorable motive.¹¹⁹⁸

2. A moral fast is an act of the natural or acquired virtue of abstinence. For the virtue of abstinence moderates the pleasures of food and drink according to right reason. But a moral fast is nothing other than abstinence from foods made according to right reason.

3. An ecclesiastical fast is a good act elicited by the virtue of abstinence, and moreover it is a good act which is commanded by diverse other virtues, for example, by religion, by penance, etc. For in an ecclesiastical fast there is reasonable abstinence from foods, which indeed is commanded by diverse virtues insofar as it is undertaken on account of diverse good ends.

¹¹⁹⁷ "Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? Loose the bands of wickedness ..." (Isa. 58:6). Cf. S. theol. 2, 2, q. 147, a. 2 ad 1.

¹¹⁹⁸ S. theol. 2, 2, q. 146, a. 2.

651. Excellence of fasting. Fasting performed in a right manner and according to right reason is commended by so many examples and admonitions in Sacred Scripture and by the holy Fathers that it is astonishing how several persons, especially Protestants, have dared to disparage so efficacious an exercise of Christian virtue. Christ Himself sanctified fasting by His example, observing it for forty days, and foretold that the disciples would fast. The Apostles and the first Christians fasted.¹¹⁹⁹ Whence St. Paul admonishes: "Let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, ... in fastings, in chastity,"¹²⁰⁰ and already in the Old Testament fasting had been prescribed: "Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning."¹²⁰¹ The holy Fathers wrote entire books in praise of fasting; for example, St. Augustine commended the Lenten fast in seven sermons.¹²⁰² St. Jerome wrote a little book against Jovinian, who disparaged fasting.¹²⁰³ Since these things are so, the Catholic Church can deservedly prescribe fasting at certain times, and indeed under grave sin.

Concerning the excellence of fasting St. Thomas writes:¹²⁰⁴ "Fasting is undertaken principally for three things. First, for repressing the desires of the flesh; whence the Apostle says: 'in fasting and chastity,' because through fasts chastity is preserved. For, as Jerome says: 'Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus grows cold'; that is, through abstinence from food and drink lust grows tepid. Secondly, it is undertaken so that the mind may be raised more freely to contemplate sublime things; whence it is said that Daniel, after a fast of three weeks, received a revelation from God. Thirdly, for making satisfaction for sins; whence it is said: 'Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning.' And this is what Augustine says in a certain sermon concerning prayer and fasting: 'Fasting purifies the soul, raises the mind, subjects one's own flesh to the spirit, makes the heart contrite and humbled, disperses the clouds of concupiscence, extinguishes the ardors of lust, and kindles the light of chastity.'"

¹¹⁹⁹ Cf. Acts 13:3; 14:22.

¹²⁰⁰ 2 Cor. 6:4.

¹²⁰¹ Joel 2:12.

¹²⁰² Migne, Patr. lat. 38, 1039ff.

¹²⁰³ Ib. 23, 312.

¹²⁰⁴ Cf. S. theol., l.c., a. 1.

652. Scholion. On the development of the ecclesiastical law of fasting. Before we treat in particular of the extent of this precept and of excusing causes, it is useful to note with Cajetan:¹²⁰⁵ "Since the whole matter of ecclesiastical fasting is almost solely of positive law, custom and dispensation over the passage of time can change the discipline of fasting greatly. Hence it has come about that what formerly was law is no longer of the necessity of law, and what formerly was forbidden is afterward lawful." But St. Alphonsus¹²⁰⁶ skillfully observes: "The authority of more recent doctors, although fewer, who alone can testify concerning later modern custom, must be esteemed more and without doubt preferred to the authority, even though more common, of older authors, who could know nothing of the custom to be introduced afterward."¹²⁰⁷

For confessional practice it cannot be sufficiently noted that in the matter of fasting the customs of places and the diverse circumstances of times have very great force. Hence almost everything must be taken from the so-called episcopal mandates which are customarily published at the beginning of each Lent in individual dioceses. Certain moralist authors do not attend sufficiently to the fact that in our times the same determinations concerning the law of ecclesiastical fasting can no longer be given which theologians of great name gave in the Middle Ages. Thus, for example, until the twelfth century only one meal, and that taken after sunset, was in use during the time of the Lenten fast; but in the thirteenth century, while St. Thomas was living, this one meal was taken at the third hour of the afternoon; in the fourteenth century, however, the same meal was taken about noon, a custom which is still in use, at least in most regions. In the eighteenth century St. Alphonsus taught with many other authors that the inversion or anticipation of the time of the one meal was gravely unlawful; today several theologians rightly teach¹²⁰⁸ that the one meal can be taken at any hour of the day for a reasonable cause. This opinion today is morally certain, since the Code of Canon Law, canon 1251, § 2, simply establishes: it is not forbidden to interchange the evening meal with dinner. Omitting, therefore, those things which were prescribed concerning fasting in ancient times, and likewise omitting those precepts which are observed by particular law in certain regions or institutes, only the presently prevailing discipline of ecclesiastical fasting is explained.

¹²⁰⁵ Comm. in 2, 2, q. 147, a. 7.

¹²⁰⁶ Theol. mor. l. 3, n. 1025.

¹²⁰⁷ Concerning the historical development of the law of fasting, see: Thomassin, Traité des jeûnes de l'Église, Paris 1680; Funk, Kirchengesch. Abhandl. I, 247-250. Leo XIII and Pius X enacted special laws concerning fasting for Latin America by the Constitution Trans Oceanum of April 18, 1897, and January 10, 1910. For Italy Pius X greatly tempered the law of fasting and abstinence by a Decree of September 5, 1907, and likewise for Dalmatia and other places. For Spain and Portugal Benedict XV greatly mitigated the rigor of fasting on December 31, 1914, and August 12, 1915 (Act. Ap. Sed. VII, 554ff.). Likewise, ample indults were granted for Switzerland.

¹²⁰⁸ Cf. Lehmkuhl, Moraltheol. I, n. 1468; Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. mor. II, n. 1114; Noldin, De praeceptis n. 674.

S. Th. II-II, q. 147, a. 1, 2, 3, 6.

949. Notion of fasting. - Fasting is one thing when it is natural, which consists in abstinence from food and drink from some hour: this of itself is not an act of virtue; nevertheless it can be ordained to virtue, and thus it is prescribed by the Church before the reception of the Eucharist, in which case it pertains to religion because it is prescribed in reverence for the sacrament, and is customarily called eucharistic. But the fasting concerning which we speak in the present matter can be called moral, and consists in abstinence from food and drink according to reason, that is, according to the proper ends of the virtue of abstinence, whether on account of human reasons, for example, on account of bodily health, a good disposition of the mind for studying, and then it is philosophical, or on account of supernatural reasons, for example, on account of restraining concupiscence and subjection of the body to the mind so that we may better exercise supernatural virtue, and then it is Christian. This, having been prescribed by the Church according to a special mode to be observed at a determined time, is then called ecclesiastical.

Hence moralists customarily distinguish threefold fasting: eucharistic - moral - ecclesiastical.

950. Fasting is an act of virtue, because it is ordained to some honest good, namely, 1) to repressing concupiscences of the flesh (II Cor. VI, 5-6); 2) to this, that the mind may be more freely elevated to contemplating sublime things (Dan. X); 3) to satisfying for sins (Joel II, 12); moreover it has the power of impetrating spiritual and temporal benefits, especially when it is joined to prayer. Hence the Church praises God who "by bodily fasting represses vices, elevates the mind, grants virtue and rewards"; and the Scriptures and Fathers, by the warnings and examples of Christ, the Apostles, and the first faithful, commend fasting (Acts XIII, 3; XIV, 22; II Cor. VI, 5; Joel II, 12; Aug., 7 serm. on fasting; Jerome, book 1 against Jovinian).

But in order that it be an act of virtue, it must be conformed to right reason, which commands two things to be observed in temperance, namely, the preservation of life and of the power for due works. Hence a) if from evil intention someone abstains, for example, so that he may die or be weakened, or be incapable of carrying out due offices, it is an act directly opposed to the virtue of temperance, and gravely so whenever notable harm or impotence for a gravely intended office follows; likewise, if it is done from the intention of singularity, it will be a venial sin of vainglory or boasting; b) if it is done not from an evil intention but from a motive of virtue, yet in such a way that someone renders himself incapable for a due work, it will be a grave or light sin as was said; but if it only shortens life or contracts infirmity without impotence for due offices, it is done licitly, provided the reason for abstaining is so great that it is equivalent to the harm brought about; otherwise illicitly.

951. Fasting is per se an act elicited by the virtue of abstinence. - For every act of virtue belongs to that virtue which establishes the mean in that matter. But fasting is concerned with foods, in which the virtue of abstinence finds the mean. Therefore.

Yet it can be done also for other ends and be commanded by other virtues: by charity, religion, penance, chastity, etc., for example, that we may love God better, that we may satisfy for sin, that we may flee lust. Hence it will not always be an act of abstinence formally, but then only if also, at least partially, it is done from the proper motive of abstinence, namely, that the mind may be more suitable for its functions and for virtue.

952. The precept of fasting. - Fasting is a useful good and therefore is not prescribed per se, but only in order to the end for which it is useful. Now the utilities of fasting enumerated can ordinarily be obtained otherwise, and therefore by the law of nature it is not prescribed absolutely for all, but only relatively for those for whom it is necessary and insofar as it is necessary for them. Yet because generally it is very useful for all, therefore the Church determined the law of nature and established the time and mode of fasting to be observed commonly by all.¹

¹ On the history of ecclesiastical fasting, cf. Tanquerey, Th. M. fundamentalis, nn. 1108-1110; Prummer, Th. M., II, n. 652; and Vermeersch, Th. M., III, in the appendix.

Therefore ecclesiastical fasting is that which is done according to the mode prescribed by the Church, introduced by custom.

The mode consisted in three things, namely, in taking a single meal in the day, to be held at a fitting hour, without forbidden foods, namely, meats and sometimes also eggs and dairy products which have their origin from flesh. Thus it includes several very diverse parts, and indeed three principal ones: one essential, without which fasting is not even conceived, a single meal in the day; and two integral parts, the hour at which the meal is to be held, and abstinence in the meal from a certain quality of foods. From these things it is established that the precept of fasting is virtually multiple and divisible; whence one part can be prescribed by the Church without the others, for example, abstinence from flesh without fasting; and also one part can be dispensed without the others, for example, in abstinence and not in fasting, or conversely; and one must be observed when the other becomes impossible to observe.²

² Benedict XIV, Non ambigimus, 30 May 1741.

In fact the Church imposes abstinence upon those who are not bound to fast, as a distinct precept, so to speak; and fasting remains prescribed for those who are dispensed in abstinence. Hence the new Code of law already considers these as a twofold precept: fasting strictly so called and abstinence, so that not only is abstinence prescribed without fasting, but now sometimes fasting is prescribed without abstinence, which formerly did not happen.

953. The time of fasting is indicated by can. 1252: "The law of abstinence and fasting together is to be observed on Ash Wednesday, on Fridays and Saturdays³ of Lent, and on the ember days, on the vigils of Pentecost, of the Mother of God assumed into heaven, of All Saints, and of the Nativity of the Lord.

³ In Belgium, by indult, Wednesday in place of Saturday.

"The law of fasting alone is to be observed on all the remaining days of Lent.

"On Sundays or feasts of precept the law of abstinence, or of abstinence and fasting, or of fasting alone ceases, except for a feast in the time of Lent, nor are vigils anticipated."

The faculty of dispensing from the aforesaid law was granted to Ordinaries. Yet that faculty by the Decree of the Congregation of the Council of 28 January 1949 was restricted in such a way:

1. that abstinence be observed on each Friday;

2. that the law of abstinence and fasting together be observed on Ash Wednesday, on Friday of Great Week, and on the vigils of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Further, however, the obligation of ecclesiastical abstinence and fasting on the vigil of the Assumption was transferred to the vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on 7 December (S. C. Conc., 25 July 1957), and moreover the grace was granted of anticipating the obligation of abstinence and fasting from the twenty-fourth day, the vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twenty-third day of the month of December, and this for all the faithful of the Catholic world (S. Congr. Conc., 3 Dec. 1959).

It should especially be noted that the final words of can. 1252: "likewise it ceases (the law of abstinence and fasting) on Holy Saturday after noon," no longer have force. For the liturgical order of Holy Week having been changed by decree of the S. C. of Rites (16 Nov. 1955), the law of fasting and abstinence ceases only at midnight on Holy Saturday.

Thus according to the universal law; besides this, a particular obligation can exist:

a) An Ordinary can impose a day of fasting by way of act (can. 1244, § 2).

b) Before the consecration of a church, the consecrating Pontiff and those who ask that the church be consecrated to them must fast through the day which precedes the consecration (can. 1166, § 2): thus among others the pastor, but not the people, unless the people itself had built the church at its own expense or had asked that it be consecrated to itself (S. C. C., 3 July 1909).

c) From a vow a physical or moral person can be obligated: thus, for example, at Rome fasting is to be observed on the vigil of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (S. C. C., 18 Feb. 1911; 25 Feb. 1912).

d) The constitutions and rules of a religion or approved institute can prescribe fasting for its members.

In all these things nothing was changed by the new code of law (can. 1253); whence if someone is exempted from the obligation of the universal law, he is not thereby yet exempted from a precept by which he would be bound particularly: thus, for example, religious can be bound before the twenty-first year and after the sixtieth.

THE necessity of the fasts used in the Church heretics have attacked, apud Valentiam disp. 9, quaest. 2, puncto 1, Bellarmine lib. 2 de bonis operibus, in particulari, who defend it gravely. Others, however, blame not fasting precisely, but certain of its circumstances, which are employed according to the prescription of the Church.

Thus most recently dogmatize the sectaries, Luther lib. de visione Danielis, Calvin lib. 4 Instit. cap. 12, Kemnitius in fest. 25 Tridentini, and others of this chaff.

FIRST, then, it is certain that fasting, as it is an act of Temperance for taming the flesh, is a good, even if one abstains from foods which otherwise one might lawfully use.

IT IS PROVED by the Holy Doctor in Diaeta, tit. 2, cap. 6, Exodi 24, where Moses fasted forty days; 3 Reg. 19, where Elias likewise spent the same number of days in fasting. Ioel. 2: Convertimini ad me in ieiunio, etc. Iudith. 8, where the almost perpetual fasts of this holy widow are praised.

From the New Testament, Matth. 6, where Christ hands down the manner of fasting; Marci 9, where he says: Hoc genus daemoniorum non eiicitur, nisi in oratione, et ieiunio.

IN 2 Lucae the Holy Doctor proves it by the example of Anna, quae non discedebat de Templo, ieiuniis, et obsecrationibus serviens; Tob. 12: Bona est oratio cum ieiunio.

SERM. 4 prima Dominicae, he brings forward. The fast of Christ, to which he was led by the Holy Spirit. The fast of the Ninevites, praised Ionae 3. The fast of Moses Deuter. 9, and the others brought forward above.

IT IS PROVED by the Holy Doctor in the cited places, from the Fathers, whom see there.

IT IS PROVED there by reason. That which stands in the place of arms for taming the passions, insofar as they impede salvation, is useful and holy: Such is fasting: Therefore. The reason is from SS. Basil de laudibus ieiunii, Athanasius de virginitate, Cyprian serm. de Ieiunio, Ambrose lib. de Elia, et ieiunio, cap 4, Leo serm. 7 de ieiunio septimi mensis, and D. Augustine de utilitate ieiunii, of which Possidonius makes mention in the Indice operum Augustini, where he has an elegant similitude; for if I were to mount a horse which, being ferocious, could easily throw me headlong, would I not strive to tame it, by withdrawing the stronger foods from its fierceness and putting in hay? So too now.

IT IS CERTAIN also that fasting is useful for other holy ends. First, for rendering prayer more efficacious: So it is had in Tob. 12, prima ad Corinth. 7, Act. 13 et 14.

SECOND, for stirring up penance the more, as is intimated Ioel 2 et Ionae 3 supra.

THIRD, for a readier contemplation, as is said of Daniel; for the lean bird is the swifter of flight. So it is compared by D. Chrysostom homil. 2 in Genes.

FOURTH, for avoiding the scandal of the infirm Rom. 14, prima Corinth. 8.

FIFTH, for withdrawing the food of the pot of covetousnesses; for it is said: Luxuriat raro non bene pasta caro; Subtrahe ligna foco, si vis extinguere flammam.

SIXTH, for curing sickness a diet is advised.

SEVENTH, for putting the wolves to flight from the wood, as is said Marci 9.

EIGHTH, for storming the town in which a strong man armed keeps guard; for a siege wears down the defenders Lucae 11. See these and other things in D. Bonaventure Diaeta tit. 2 cap. 6.

IT IS CERTAIN, thirdly, beyond controversy: Fasting, although of itself it is not an evil, when referred to the aforesaid ends, yet if it have not joined to it other good works also, which are necessary, and indeed, unless it be propped up by the grace of God, is unprofitable unto salvation. The Holy Doctor proves it by that Isa. 58: Hoc est ieiunium, quod elegi; Dissolve colligationes impietatis, etc. Nolite ieiunare sicut usque ad hanc diem.

This the SS. Fathers warn of, Jerome lib. 2 cont. Iovin, Gregory homil. 16 in Evang, Maximus homil. prima de ieiunio.

FOURTHLY it is certain, if we abstain from certain foods as being defiled by their nature, the fast will not be holy, but impious. For this was the error of the Tatianists, as D. Augustine relates lib. de haeresibus, cap. 25.

OUR controversy, therefore, with the heretics is: Whether fasting is rightly taken up as a command of the Church, binding under pain of mortal sin.

For the sectaries, raising up the heresy of the Aërians, which Epiphanius records haeresi 75, boast that this kind of fast is superstitious.

Yet the Catholic Church declares this holy command.

IT IS PROVED first by the arguments by which I showed p. p. Tract. 1 disp. 5 proaemiali, et prima secundae, Tract. de legibus, disp. 5 that the Church can make laws binding in Conscience.

Moreover this law of Fastings is proved from many Councils, especially Gangr. can. 19, where it is said: Si quis ieiunia, quae communiter custodiuntur ab Ecclesia, dissolvit, sit anathema. In the Council of Tiburtina can. 35 it is said, Irasci Dominum, si quis Quadragesimae, aut ieiuniorum diebus non coerceatur a ieiunando; and in the Fourth Council of Carthage can. 63: Statuitur ut clericus, qui tempore ieiunii absque inevitabili necessitate, ieiunium rumpit, inter minores habeatur; and in the Council of Agde can. 12 it is commanded ut omnes Ecclesiae filii in Quadragesima ieiunent; and in the Council of Mainz under Charlemagne can. 35 those are anathematized who dissolve the appointed fast; and in the Eighth Council of Toledo: Frangentes ieiunium Quadragesimae, privantur in Paschate communione; and in the sixth Synod cap. 56 it is had: Visum est, ut omnis Dei Ecclesia, quae est in universo terrarum orbe, unum ordinem sequens, ieiunium perficiat, et abstineat, sicut ab omni mactabili, sic ab ovis, et caseo. Si autem hoc non servaverint, si sint quidem Clerici, deponantur; si autem Laici, segregentur. See also other authorities prima secundae, disp. 17 de consc. quaest. 10, where the propositions condemned by Alexander VII are treated of.

The SS. Fathers pursue this truth with abundant arguments, calling heretics those who deny it, especially Epiphanius haeresi 75, Augustine lib. de haeresibus, cap. 53.

YOU OBJECT first, that to abstain from foods is the doctrine of devils, which the Lord created to be received 1. Tim. 4 and Matth. 15: Non quod intrat in os, coinquinat, 1. Corinth. 1: De eo, quod in macello venit, manducate.

IT IS ANSWERED, that those ancient heretics are reproved who said one must abstain from foods as unclean by nature; or the Judaizers, who wanted abstinence from foods still to be kept according to the Mosaic ceremonial law. But Matth. 15 wills that one be not defiled of oneself, but only by reason of an external precept, insofar as they are opposed to things intrinsically forbidden. Paul, moreover, shows that one must not inquire too scrupulously whether meats have been sacrificed to idols.

Moreover these commands are had as declared cap. Non oportet, cap. Placuit de consecr. dist. 3, cap. Quadragesima, dist. 5 cap. 1, et cap. Consilium, de observ. ieiun.

ECCLESIASTICAL fasts, therefore, are had from the ancient practice of the Church, and indeed the fast of Lent was instituted by the Apostles, and is had in can. 68 Apostolorum, as Epiphanius testifies haeresi 75, Jerome epist. ad Marcellam, Leo serm. 6 in Quadrag, and it is gathered from Augustine epist. 118 ad Ioan. et lib. 4 de Baptism. cap. 24.

TELESPHORUS the Pope sanctioned that the clergy should begin the Lenten fast from Septuagesima cap. Quadragesima, dist. 4. But this custom has been abrogated, as Balaeus warns V. Ieiun. 2. By the common law, from Apostolic tradition, as D. Leo notes serm. de Pent, and as Bellarmine proves cap. 19, Baronius anno 57, and as is related cap. statuimus, dist. 76, we have the fast of the four Seasons (Ember days). By the same law one fasts on the Vigils of the Nativity of the Lord and of the Assumption of the B. V. cap. ex parte, de observ. ieiun. Likewise on the Vigils of the Apostles cap. Consilium, ibi. Exceptis SS. Philippi, et Iacobi, ob tempus Paschae, et D. Ioannis ob Nativitatis solemnia.

Now certain vigils of the Apostles were not kept.

The VIGILS of Pentecost, of St. John the Baptist, of St. Laurence, and of All Saints bind by custom alone, as Sylvester notes num. 5, Sylvius quaest. 147 art. 5 quaesito 7, Fagundez cap. 5, apud Balaeum.

There are some who doubt whether this custom has been introduced so as to bind: Pasqualigo decif. 171.

IF the Vigil of St. John the Baptist falls on the feast of Corpus Christi, it is transferred by the precept of Urban VIII, die 15 Oct. 1638 edito.

The Bishop also can transfer vigils falling on some solemnity of a place; and so for other causes. The same holds for regular Prelates with their subjects. For although Pontifical Law does not subject them to itself, yet its prudent execution does.

ABSTINENCE also on Friday and Saturday is had from the ancient practice of the Church.

It is a pleasure to add the saying of D. Jerome epist. 28, apud D. Bonaventure Spec. cap. 3: Unaquaque Provincia abundet in suo sensu, et praecepta maiorum leges Apostolicae arbitretur. See the Holy Doctor also serm. 5 Ciner. et serm. 3 et 5 primae Dom. Quadr.