By this time had become customary to receive ashes at the beginning of Lent. The Christian use of ashes is rooted in the Jewish custom of sprinkling ashes on the head as a sign of repentance.Ĭontrary to popular belief, Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation. Our current celebration of Ash Wednesday began to develop in the eleventh century. Instead, it was replaced by private confession and private penance. The practice of public penance gradually fell into disuse from the eighth to the tenth centuries. In the fourth century, public penitents dressed in sackcloth and were sprinkled with ashes to show their repentance. We receive them as a sign of the beginning of the season of Lent, the season of penance and preparation for Easter. It is a day when Catholics go to mass and in addition to receiving the word of God and the Eucharist we receive ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. What is Ash Wednesday?Īsh Wednesday is the first day of the liturgical season of Lent. The name “Ash Wednesday” comes from the blessed ashes that are applied to the foreheads of the faithful.īeing marked with ashes is a public acknowledgement that one is a sinner, as we all are. Catholics and some Protestants celebrate Ash Wednesday.
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