Some Abstain from Eggs

 

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent with its heightened rules of fasting and abstinence.  Not so long ago Catholics refrained from meat during the entirety of Lent and also refrained from eggs and cheese during Lent.  According to the old Catholic Encyclopedia published online by New Advent, abstention from dairy products was still the rule in the early 20th century.  So far, I haven't been able to determine if the practice of abstaining from eggs and cheese as well as meat persisted until Vatican II but I will update this post if I find the answer.

According to one source (non-Catholic), the festal letter of Athanasius in 330 shows that the early church was by then practicing a 40-day fast prior to Easter (also indicated in Canon V of the first Nicene Council). The fifth-century church historian Socrates Scholasticus noted "Some abstain from eggs …" Canon LVI of the Council in Trullo, 692, enjoined such abstinence: "It seems good therefore that the whole Church of God which is in all the world should follow one rule and keep the fast perfectly, and as they abstain from everything which is killed, so also should they from eggs and cheese, which are the fruit and produce of those animals from which we abstain." (Read more here.)

This meant that on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) Catholics would hurry to use up cheese and eggs.  It also meant that there was a big backlog of eggs by Easter, which apparently resulted in the tradition of Easter eggs.

The rules of fasting and abstinence for contemporary traditional Catholics are complex.   Gratefully, they do not require abstention from eggs or cheese.

For those of us who enjoy fish, it seems a greater penance to eat eggs rather than fish on days of abstinence, so we can be glad for that option.