We have arrived at the final days of Shrovetide. “Shrove” is from “shrive”, “to absolve a penitent”.
On this day one customarily in earnest began to consume the leftover meat in the house, before Lent began.
Remember: once upon a time Latin Church Catholics were more serious… about everything.
Hence, today we would eat collops – slices of bacon – reserving the bacon fat for pancakes and so forth on Tuesday, when we would consume the last of the animal fats… Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras.
In this time of “carne-vale” we would, as Catholics, say “good-bye – Latin vale!” to meat.
So, have some bacon today. Perhaps bacon and eggs?
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As the good Fr Hunwicke has pointed out, Saturday was “Egg Saturday”. Yes, there was a time when all Catholics were vegan for forty days.
@pjm88:
Vegan plus fish.
The Polish are even more on top of things with Fat Thursday.
MMmmmmmmmmmm ….. bacon.
I’m so happy not to be a Jew or Moslem!
Mmmmmmmmmmmm ….. bacon!
May I make a suggestion? Go over to YouTube and search for “bacon fraze”. The Townsends channel has lots of amazing 18th century recipes.
Close but no cigar. Pork chops tonight. Bacon and eggs tomorrow.
A Keto diet dream today. Lent will be tough, but our Lord didn’t eat ANYTHING, so as my dearly departed Mum used to say: “Offer it up!”
MLPA, Make Lent Penitential Again. A call for Catholics to voluntarily take up Medieval discipline in Lent: no food before 3pm, no meat, eggs, dairy.
You know, this is where the church really dropped the ball. As a young person whose family had no family traditions other than the main cultural ones, this was the kind of thing that drew me to Catholicism in the first place. It had meaning, and there was a consistency and order, some discipline to it. People don’t realize that young people who may have not much to anchor them in life crave such things, they provide structure and something to orient your life around, something to belong to. When they took away these traditional practices they eliminated the very thing crave. How on earth could they not understand discipline and tradition are what children and young people most need, and what will help keep them in the church.
We took our SSPX priest out for breakfast this morning. He gleefully ordered the pancakes and bacon, citing the tradition described above. It was great seeing him enjoy himself.
Fellow laics: It’ll make your day if you do something that puts a smile on a priest’s face.
Just remember, medieval penitence for Lent also included things like sometimes forbidding pregnant or nursing women to fast; and allowing the poor to eat whatever they could get, at any time of day.
Aim high, train hard, but do not do anything stupid. Be crazy devout, but with prudence!
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