| 8 Wednesday | |
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| violet | Ash Wednesday | |
| 59th International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking (est. 2015) | |
| | Mass of Ash Wednesday; after the sign of the cross and greeting, the penitential act is omitted.
Preface of Lent III or IV. |
| | [219] Joel 2: 12-18; Ps 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14+17; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Matt 6:1-6, 16-18 |
| | (Switch to Vol. II of the Lit. of the Hours.)
Hours of Ash Wednesday; Psalter Week 4 today and until Saturday.
Today at Morning Prayer, the psalms of Friday, Week 3 may be used. |
| | The celebrant blesses and distributes ashes after the homily.
Other persons may be associated with the bishop or priest in the imposition of ashes, e.g., deacons, special ministers of communion and other lay persons, when there is true pastoral need. |
| Special ministers of communion and deacons may bring blessed ashes to the sick and those confined to their homes. If a minister is not available, a member of the family or another person may bring the blessed ashes to a shut-in, using one of the formulas in the Roman Missal to impose ashes. |
| For pastoral reasons the blessing and distribution of ashes may take place outside Mass. In this case, the entire liturgy of the word should be celebrated: entrance song, opening prayer, readings and chants, homily, blessing and distribution of ashes, and general intercessions. See the Book of Blessings, nos. 1656ff. |
| | Lunar New Year (Year of the Snake). |
| Anniversary: | 56th anniversary of the death of P. Thomas Jackson (ZIM) (92) d. 2017 at Harare, Zimbabwe.  |
On this day in our Jesuit history...
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| 1550 | Julius III (Cardinal del Monte) ascended the Papal Chair. To him the Society owes the Confirmation of its Institute. |
| 1885 | Isidore Boudreaux dies in Chicago. He was a Master of Novices at Florissant, from 1857-80, and was the first to enter the Society from our college in Missouri. |
| 1890 | At Rome in the Palazzo Barberini, the death of Cardinal Joseph Pecci, the brother of Pope Leo XIII. He left the Society in 1847, but some forty years later was readmitted by the Pope's desire. |
| 1957 | Pierre Scheuer, S.J. dies Louvain, philosopher. |
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