Ash Wednesday: Beginning of Christian 'Quarantine'

Photo: This was taken in St Peter’s during a cold rain on the day of Pope Francis' election, 13 March 2013.

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sh Wednesday, a.k.a., "Dies Cinerum" (Day of Ashes) is determined by counting exactly forty days before Easter Sunday excluding the six Sundays in between. Just like the Chinese New Year, Easter is also based on the cycles of the moon or what is known as the Lunar calendar which is different from the more universally used Solar or Gregorian calendar. Being a movable feast, Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon. The possible dates for the Paschal full moon vary from March 21st (spring equinox) through April 18th. This gives the date of Easter Sunday which comes after spring equinox from March 22nd through April 25th. The earliest date Ash Wednesday could occur is February 4th which took place back in 1818 and will occur again in 2285.

Quarantine, Lent and Ash Wednesday are all historically connected dating back to ancient period. Those who committed grave faults had to make public penance to ask God to forgive their wrongdoings for a period of forty days; hence, lent in Italian is "Quaresima." During the Black Death in fourteenth century Italy, the same period of forty-days was adopted as a major part of the world's first anti-contagion measures against the plague. The now English word quarantine came from the Italian quarantinario "forty days." Plague-infested ships were required to go on isolation to an isola "island" off the coast of Venice and sit at anchor for forty days before the sailors or the cargo are allowed ashore. The waiting period of staying on this island either to get better or to die became known as "quarantine." It was shortened to thirty days but the old name remained.

Lent is tied biblically to the number forty which the medieval Christians used as a standard period of purification before it crossed over into health practices. In Genesis, God made it rain for forty days and forty nights. After childbirth, a new mother was expected to rest for forty days as a part of the purification ritual. In Mark 1:12-15 Jesus remained in the desert for forty days where he was tempted by Satan. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, "lent" is derived from an Old English word for the season of "spring" lencten and from West Germanic langitinaz "long-days," or "lengthening of the day" (source also of Old Saxon lentin, Middle Dutch lenten, Old High German lengizin manoth). But the Church sense is peculiar to English where the en in Lenten was perhaps mistaken for an affix.

An ancient Hebrew custom of indicating humility, mourning or repentance antedates the name's evolution. The Jewish people, when showing a repentant heart, would often wear sackcloth made of black goat’s hair, making it quite uncomfortable to wear. Ashes accompanied the sackcloth to signify desolation and ruin especially during times of national disaster or of repentance from grave sins. Esther 4:1, for instance, describes Mordecai tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and walking out into the city “wailing loudly and bitterly.” This was Mordecai’s reaction to King Xerxes’ edict of giving the wicked Haman authority to destroy the Jews (Esther 3:8-15). Mordecai and the rest of the Jewish people responded to the devastating news with sackcloth and ashes, showing their intense grief and distress. “In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes” (Esther 4:3).

Today, all Christians, whether public or secret penitents, continue the custom of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday. Clerics, unlike the laity, receive the ashes on the top of their heads because that is where they first received their clerical tonsure. Pope Francis, in his 2021 Lenten message, says, "The call to experience Lent as a journey of conversion, prayer and sharing of our goods, helps us–as communities and as individuals–to revive the faith that comes from the living Christ, the hope inspired by the breath of the Holy Spirit and the love flowing from the merciful heart of the Father."

Fr JM Manzano SJ

WORD OF GOD (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)

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our Father who sees in secret will repay you. Jesus said to his disciples: "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."