Code of Canon Law: text (original) (raw)
Can.1249 All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her ownway, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days thefaithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage inworks of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling theirobligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinencewhich the following canons prescribe.
Can.1250 The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can.1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by theEpiscopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity shouldfall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesdayand Good Friday.
Can.1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are toensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law offasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can.1253 The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in whichfasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially worksof charity and exercises of piety.