Fasting

[Thomas_White]

There was a time prior to Vatican II when the rule was that a person should fast from midnight on if they were going to receive communion at morning Mass. This meant no consumption of either solid food or liquid, including water, after midnight. However, a person was permitted to brush their teeth in the morning as long as nothing was swallowed! This was not always so easy to accomplish, and sometimes resulted in uncertainty.

We were required to attend Mass prior to the start of every school day, but the students only received communion on the First Friday of every month. That meant no breakfast at home prior to school on that day. So, the nuns provided donuts and milk in the classroom, but it was strictly a cash sale, a nickle for a each donut or small carton of milk. In the early 1950’s, having even nickel was not always a certainty for a kid at our school. It was an altogether different era.

The rule was eventually relaxed, and fasting was required for three hours and later one hour prior to receiving communion.

 

[dans0622]

This is a good explanation of the post-VII reforms, but even long before Vatican II the norms were very relaxed compared to modern Orthodox practices.

If you are trying to compare what was required in, let’s say, Medieval times in the West to modern Orthodox practices, I can be of little help. I know what the 1917 Latin requirements were and the work of Gratian (1100’s) is referenced in the 1917 Code’s treatment of fast/abstinence. So, there is some continuity there.

You are using the word “relaxed” so does that mean you think practices were the same at some point in time, when there was a defined “East” and “West”?

Dan

 

[JRS_88]

I was always under the impression that Roman Catholics practiced more rigorous fasting well into the 60’s.

I follow the Apostles Fast, Christmas Fast, Dormition Fast, etc, as taught to me by my parents and grandparents (Maronite).

 

[twf]

I was always under the impression that Roman Catholics practiced more rigorous fasting well into the 60’s.

I follow the Apostles Fast, Christmas Fast, Dormition Fast, etc, as taught to me by my parents and grandparents (Maronite).

More rigorous than today, but still a far cry from the traditional Eastern practices.

 

[twf]

If you are trying to compare what was required in, let’s say, Medieval times in the West to modern Orthodox practices, I can be of little help. I know what the 1917 Latin requirements were and the work of Gratian (1100’s) is referenced in the 1917 Code’s treatment of fast/abstinence. So, there is some continuity there.

You are using the word “relaxed” so does that mean you think practices were the same at some point in time, when there was a defined “East” and “West”?

Dan

I don’t know if they were the same, but I believe that at the very least Wednesday fasting was once practiced universally in Christianity and gradually dropped in the West (other than remnants found in Ember Days / Ash Wednesday and some monastic traditions).