Of all the changes in Catholic fasting and abstinence across the centuries, few are as striking as the regulation of eggs. Today, Catholics rarely think of eggs as a “penitential food,” but for well over a millennium they were strictly forbidden during Lent, alongside dairy and animal fat. Understanding the history of these rules helps us appreciate both the rigor of earlier generations and the cultural traditions that flowed from them as detailed in The Definite Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.
1. The Ancient and Patristic Church
Early Christian fasting was extraordinarily strict.
Dr. K.A. Heinrich Kellner records that in the ancient Church, especially in Holy Week, food was reduced to bread, salt, and water. The Apostolic Constitutions forbade flesh and wine for all of Lent and prescribed total abstinence on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. St. John Chrysostom testifies that in Antioch, no flesh was eaten during the whole of Lent. Crucially, milk and eggs (lacticinia) were also excluded as a general rule.
The Council of Trullo (692) confirmed this universality, forbidding the eating of eggs and cheese in Lent, even on Sundays, under penalty of deposition for clerics and excommunication for laymen (Canon 56).
Thus, from the earliest centuries, Lenten fasting meant abstaining not only from meat but also from dairy, eggs, and animal products.
2. Pope St. Gregory the Great and the Medieval Consensus
In 604, Pope St. Gregory the Great summarized the law succinctly: “We abstain from flesh meat and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese, and eggs.”
This form endured for nearly a thousand years. Whenever fasting was observed, abstinence was also observed. Thus: Lent = no meat, no eggs, no dairy, no animal products.
By the time of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Lenten fast still forbade lacticinia, while Fridays and other non-Lenten abstinence days had already relaxed to permit dairy and eggs. This distinction became fixed: Lent retained the stricter prohibition, while non-Lenten abstinence was milder.
3. Culture and Custom
From this tradition arose beloved customs:
- Shrove Tuesday pancakes used up eggs and butter before Lent.
- Easter eggs became a festive symbol of the Resurrection precisely because they were absent for 46 days.
In some countries, exceptions were made. As Fr. Francis Weiser notes, Scandinavia was never bound to strict lacticinia abstinence because substitutes were scarce; dispensations were common, often accompanied by pious almsgiving.
Even so, the general discipline remained firm until the modern era.
4. 19th-Century Relaxations
By the 19th century, the Church had begun granting wider concessions.
In 1886, Pope Leo XIII permitted meat, eggs, and dairy on Sundays of Lent and at the main meal on every weekday except Wednesday and Friday in the United States. Holy Saturday was excluded. This marked a decisive relaxation.
Mara Morrow notes that Leo XIII also allowed eggs and dairy at the evening collation daily during Lent and permitted bread with coffee or chocolate in the morning. These mitigations were part of a broader trend: the use of lard and meat drippings was allowed, and those exempt from fasting could eat eggs and milk more than once a day.
A 1905 Irish catechism by Fr. Patrick Power still listed milk, butter, cheese, and eggs as forbidden in Lent, though he acknowledged that some countries allowed milk at collation. Dispensation varied widely by nation.
5. The 1917 Code of Canon Law
The 1917 Code decisively ended the universal prohibition of lacticinia during Lent.
- Canon 1250: abstinence forbids meat and soups made with meat, “but not eggs, milk, and other condiments, even if taken from animals.”
- Canon 1251: mixing meat and fish in the same meal was permitted.
From this point, eggs and dairy were no longer excluded by law, even during Lent. The ancient and medieval practice was officially abrogated.
6. Mid-20th Century Clarifications
By the 1950s, theologians such as Fr. Dominic Prümmer explained the law clearly: abstinence forbade flesh meat and broth, but not eggs, dairy, or animal fats. In case of doubt, one was free to eat, since the law did not bind in uncertainty.
Thus, by mid-century, eggs were firmly reclassified as a permitted food on both fasting and abstinence days.
7. Today’s Law
Under the 1983 Code of Canon Law:
- Fasting (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday): one full meal and two smaller meals, no restriction on eggs.
- Abstinence (Fridays of Lent): no meat, but eggs fully permitted.
- Year-round Friday penance remains binding, but abstinence from eggs is nowhere in view.
8. Conclusion
For more than a millennium, the Catholic Church’s Lenten discipline excluded not only meat but also eggs and dairy. This practice, deeply rooted in the patristic and medieval Church, gave rise to traditions such as Easter eggs and Shrove Tuesday pancakes. Outside Lent, however, abstinence days rarely included eggs after the early Middle Ages.
From Pope St. Gregory the Great through St. Thomas Aquinas, lacticinia abstinence was normative in Lent. Dispensations and mitigations appeared over time, culminating in Pope Leo XIII’s late-19th-century relaxations and the 1917 Code’s universal allowance of eggs and dairy. Today, the Church’s law requires only abstinence from meat, leaving eggs entirely permitted.
Still, some Catholics voluntarily restore the older discipline of giving up eggs and dairy during Lent, rediscovering a penitential practice that once united Christendom and sanctified the approach to Easter.
Want to learn more about the history of fasting and abstinence? Check out the Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.
