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Commentary from
THE ANNOTATED
BOOK OF
COMMON
PRAYER
Edited by JOHN HENRY BLUNT
Rivingtons, London, 1884
ASH WEDNESDAY.
The ancient ecclesiastical name given to the first day of Lent is Caput
Jejunii, and the popular name of Ash-Wednesday has been acquired by
it from the custom of blessing ashes made from the palms distributed on
the Palm Sunday of the preceding year, and signing the cross with them
on the heads of those who knelt before the officiating minister for the
purpose, while he said, "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust
shalt thou return." The Commination Service is an adaptation of this
rite, as is further shown in the notes to that Office.
The Penitential Psalms are all used in the services of Ash-Wednesday,
as they have been time immemorial, the 6th, 32nd, and 38th at Mattins,
the 51st at the Commination, the 102nd, 130th, and 143rd at Evensong.
The Collect is partly a translation of one used at the Benediction of the
Ashes, and partly a composition of 1549 on the basis of other Collects
of the Day. The Epistle and Gospel are those of the ancient Lectionary
of St. Jerome. In the Durham book a rubric is inserted ordering that
the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of this day "are to serve until the Sunday
following."
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