How did the season of Lent come about?
Pope Benedict XIV, in a letter addressed to the world’s bishops, dated May 30, 1741, expressed his grief at the spirit of relaxation and excessive dispensation which had taken hold within the Church with regard to the discipline of Lent. “The observance of Lent,” he wrote, “is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the Cross of Christ. By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God’s glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity and of private woe.” Though the scholarly pontiff expressed an ancient sentiment of the Church, the current discipline with regard to Lent is, perhaps, even more mitigated today than when he wro
