What's the "40-day fast" of St. Francis?
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Both Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure mention St. Francis’ fast from the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) to the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel (September 29). They speak of it as a fast of 40 days.
If you count off the days on the calendar, that is a period of more than 40 days&mdashno matter on what day you begin or end the count.
All I can surmise is that the authors (and St. Francis himself) meant the expression “a fast of 40 days” to be taken in the moral sense of about 40 days. The feasts were more important as the starting and ending times than the exact number of days. And I cannot personally believe Francis would have advocated fasting on the feasts themselves.
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Friday, November 30, 2012
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