Just some references and reasons to season this before toddling off into Lent.
Lard is not flesh so it is not considered a meat product according to the classical canonists.
The piece of stuff in the beans is generally viewed as seasoning. Some of the commentaries did note that the white stripes were fat, but the dark ones were meat though.
Canon 1250 of the former code (1917) stated that the law of abstinence prohibited meat (carno) and soup or broth (ius) made from meat, but not however of eggs, milks, and any sort of condiment derived from animal fat.
However Pope Paul VI’s apostolic constitution of 1966, Paenitemini (III:1) revised the law of abstinence and reordered the content of abstinence: “The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat.”
So while the 1917 law included an exclusion of soups using meat, the 1966 norm which replaced it did not. The omission of broth derived from meat (iure ex carne vesci) was important. Had the legislator, who knew the law, wished to forbid broth, he would have done so. According to the principal of canon 20, “A later law abrogates, or derogates from, an earlier law it if it states so expressly, is directly contrary to it, or completely re-orders the entire matter of the earlier law.”
The same omission was carried into the current law: “Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ (canon 1251).”
Consequently, the common opinion appears to be that a meat broth or bouillon would not violate the law of abstinence. Clearly though, chunky beef or chicken soup would.
Jello involves the boiling down of hooves and bones and tendons and tissues. Is it meat? There’s a fun question. Someone else can think about that one. Other questions include what is it really, and why would anyone eat it. But taste is a personal matter. In case a Jewish friend has you over for Lenten days of abstinence, shmaltz (chicken fat) would appear to be permitted. But while lard may be licit for various foods, such as refried beans, living la vida manteca may bring someone’s Lent (not to mention cardiac functions) to an abrupt end. Finally, if the giant of Jack and the Beanstalk were Catholic, he would have been safe in saying, “And I’ll grind your bones to make my meal.”
But as Bugs Bunny might have said about rabbit broth, let’s not split hares. Even if broth and bouillon are not forbidden, the spirit of penitential practice might ask us, so why consume them anyway?
Blessed Lent and Easter!
