APPETENTE SACRO (On the Spiritual
Advantages of Fasting)
Pope
Clement XIII
Encyclical of
Pope Clement XIII promulgated on 20 December 1759.
To the Venerable Brothers the Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, and Bishops. Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic Blessing.
The holy season of Lent approaches, which is
full of mysteries but not without mystery. It precedes that great celebration
of Easter, by which alone the dignity of all other religious occasions is
consecrated. Venerable Brothers, you should see that the faithful religiously
observe this holy fast, which was recommended by the testimony of the laws and
the prophets, consecrated by the Lord Jesus Christ, and handed on by the
apostles. The Catholic Church has always preserved it so that by the
mortification of the flesh and the humiliation of the spirit, we might be
better prepared to approach the mysteries of the Lord's passion and the paschal
sacraments. Likewise through fasting we might rise
again in the resurrection of Him whose passion and death we joined after we put
off the old man. Our predecessor Benedict XIV aroused you with two earlier
briefs, that you might zealously preserve such a holy and salutary institution.
Your work and zeal should recall the discipline of the Lenten fast, now
weakened by many corruptions, to its original observance. For this reason, Pope
Benedict XIV removed from your midst many quibblings
which impaired fasting. However, as there are many persistent threats to the
Lord's flock from the foul and dangerous enemy of the human race, we should be
wary lest the sly old fox add new calculations and perverse customs to the
minds of the weaker faithful. These things will weaken the strength of the fast
and make it sink back to that point from which it was recently recalled. We
think it is necessary to send you this letter to show your brotherhood how
fearful We are that the old corruption might remain, or that a new stain might
come upon ecclesiastic discipline in this matter, with the resulting
destruction of the souls of the faithful.
2. We understand that it is just as necessary
to lessen this fear of Ours as it is to increase your pastoral vigilance by it.
After Our predecessor's letters, it perhaps remains for you to eradicate with
God's help anything pertaining to the old or new corruption for breaking the
laws of the fast, or the fabrications of opinions, or the customs which shy
away from the true power and nature of the fast. Among these We number that
abuse which rumor has brought to Us: while many people were permitted by
dispensation to eat meat for just and legitimate reasons, they thought it was
also permitted to consume drinks mixed with milk, contrary to what Our
predecessor thought was right. He was of the opinion that those who were
permitted by dispensation to have meat, as well as those who were fasting in
any way, with one mixture excepted, were comparable to
those who had no dispensation. Accordingly they can have meat, or whatever
originates from meat, in only one mixture.
3. You will begin most appropriately, and with
hope of the greatest profit, to recall men to the observance of the holy law of
fasting, if you teach the people this: penance for the Christian man is not
satisfied by withdrawing from sin, by detesting a past life badly lived, or by
the sacramental confession of these same sins. Rather, penance also demands
that we satisfy divine justice with fasting, almsgiving, prayer, and other
works of the spiritual life. Every wrongdoing--be it large or small--is
fittingly punished, either by the penitent or by a vengeful God. Therefore we
cannot avoid God's punishment in any other way than by punishing ourselves. If
this teaching is constantly implanted in the minds of the faithful, and if they
drink deeply of it, there will be very little cause to fear that those who have
discarded their degraded habits and washed their sins clean through sacramental
confession would not want to expiate the same sins through fasting, to eliminate
the concupiscence of the flesh. Besides, consider the man who is convinced that
he repents of his sins more firmly when he toes not allow himself
to go unpunished. That man, already consumed with the love of penance, will
rejoice during the season of Lent and on certain other days, when the Church
declares that the faithful should fast and gives them the opportunity to bring
forth worthy fruits of penance. After all, it is always necessary to subdue
concupiscence, for it is written, "Do not follow behind your desires, and
do not turn away from your will." Let the faithful easily turn their
attention during this most holy time of year to lessening the intemperance of
the body by fasting. In this way the soul might understand how it should prepare
itself to recall the holy mysteries of the passion, death, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Therefore, those who are spurred on by penance do not seek the
delicacies of the table, which seem indistinguishable from forbidden foods,
even with abstinence. However, one can rightfully say that whoever sets them on
his table does not so much put aside his customary delicacies as give his
appetites over to unusual enticements. Finally, those spurred on by penance do
not seek escapes by which they might withdraw from fasting, nor do they seek
various subtleties to break ecclesiastical law.
4. It is your duty, Venerable Brothers, to in
spire enthusiasm and love of penance in the faithful by word and example. Thus,
they will approach the fast more quickly, observe it according to the laws
prescribed by the Catholic Church, and sanctify it through almsgiving and
prayer. Finally--and this matter greatly concerns the Church--they should
understand that they have died and been buried with Christ. They have been
called to the new life of the new man in the paschal feast so that they can
come to the risen Lord Jesus Christ in full confidence. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with all of you, to whom We most
lovingly impart the apostolic blessing as a pledge of Our love and good will
toward you.
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