Code of Canon Law:
Can. 1249 All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe.
Can. 1250 The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.
4 comment(s):
HONESTLY IT WAS A GOOD AND MILD REMINDER OF FRIDAY PENANCE AN I AM GRATEFUL FOR IT AND FOR THE CANON REFERENCES. THANKS AMILLION FOR PROVIDING TIMELY REMINDERS. GOD BLESS YOU
Im one of those trads who doesn't subscribe to thinking meat is traditionally ok, today. However, Im seeking proof, to show those who think there is some ancient allowance of it, today. Going off the canons you quote, the line directly after your emphasis mentions an exemption to abstinence on solemnities. I know many in the non-abstinence crowd think they are justified because, supposedly, today is a solemnity. Would they be right? My instinct is that, despite misinformation, today is in fact not a solemnity, at least not in the traditional calendar. Do you know the liturgical rank for today, especially how it is ranked in the pre-1955, 1962, and novus ordo calendars? Or are there any other pre-conciliar sources which speak to maintaining absence, today?
In the 1917 Code of Canon Law which most Traditionalists like to subscribe by since it is just a more strict Law than the one promulgated in 1983, all Fridays are required days of abstinence unless a Holy Day of Obligation would fall on the Friday. Today is Easter Friday and that was not a Holy Day of Obligation
Thank you very much! I did some looking, and found it at Can 1252 of the 1917 Code.
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