Mercredi des Cendres — Franco-Americans and Lent

http://francoamerican.bangordailynews.com/2020/02/28/franco-american-news-and-culture/mercredi-des-cendres-franco-americans-and-lent/

Bangor Daily News blog

Lent is the liturgical season that marks 40 days of prayer and repentance practiced by the faithful in preparation for celebrating the Easter Season. Franco-Americans are traditionally very observant about Lenten religious practices that have been defined by the Catholic Church. Officially, Lent lasts for 40 weekdays, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday, before Easter Sunday.

Lenten symbols on the alter at Saint Charles Borromeo Church in Brunswick Maine

During a special ceremony during the Mass, the priest and lay leaders greet the parishioners who advance to the alter, giving them a benediction, while putting blessed ashes on each of their foreheads. This is the blessing: En francais: Carême bénédiction – “Souviens-toi, ô homme, que tu es poussière et que tu retourneras dans la poussière.” (“Remember, O man, that you are dust and that to dust you will return.”) Ashes used in this ceremony are actually the burned palm leaves that were used in the previous year’s celebrations of Palm Sunday, celebrated a week before Easter.

BRUNSWICK, Me– A standing room only sanctuary, including parents with young families, filled the Saint Charles Borromeo Church on Ash Wednesday. They came in the middle of the day to worship at the 12:15 PM Mass, on the first of the 40 days of Lent. This level of parish participation from those who came to receive the annual administration of Blessed Ashes was very common in past years. Yet, the numbers who participated in recent years had seemed to taper off. Nevertheless, the number of faithful in Brunswick who received their Ashes at noon and attended Mass on Wednesday, February 26, was reminiscent of the Pre-Vatican II years. At that time, Catholic churches were often so packed with parishioners on Ash Wednesday services that the faithful often lined up outside the sanctuary to patiently wait until the crowds moved on, before they could get inside and receive Ashes on their foreheads. One of the new young families who attended in Brunswick had very recently relocated to the area from Georgia. Certainly, there is optimism among the congregation to see and meet the new parishioners.