Find below the traditional rules of fasting and abstinence in England in force before the Second Vatican Council. Unlike the Society of Saint Pius X and the various Indult groups, the St. Edmund Mission holds firmly to traditional Catholic discipline and fasting rules, for 'unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.' — St. Luke XIII, 3. 

 

 

All the weekdays of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday, and ending on mid-day of Easter Saturday. 

 

Ember days, four times a year, namely: 

Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (1) the next after the first Sunday in Lent; (2) in Whitsun week; (3) the next after the 14th of September; (4) the next after the third Sunday of Advent. 

 

Should, however, any one of the above days coincide with a Holy Day of obligation, the law of abstinence is abrogated for that day. There is no obligation to fast on such a day. 

 

 

All Fridays, except Fridays on which a Holy Day of Obligation (or, in England, the 26th of December) falls. 

 

The Wednesdays in Lent. 

 

Ember Saturday in Lent. 

 

The Vigils mentioned below (unless their feasts fall on Sunday or Monday). 

 

(1) The Vigil of All Saints, the 31st of October; 

(2) The Vigil of the Immaculate Conception, the 7th of December; 

(3) The Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord, the 24th of December; 

(4) The Vigil of Pentecost. 

 

Note the special permissions conceded to England: 

(1) Boxing Day (26th of December) is never a day of abstinence; 

(2) The Lenten abstinence is transferred from Saturday to Wednesday; 

(3) When two days of abstinence immediately follow each other, the abstinence is dispensed on the second of them, except in Lent.