11 - Lenten Indult for the Diocese of Cork

11

Lenten Indult for the Diocese of Cork

4 pp; printed

A pastoral booklet outlining Lenten regulations, dispensations, and moral instructions issued by Thomas Alphonosus O’Callaghan, Bishop of Cork. Organized into seventeen numbered clauses, the document utilizes a papal indult from 22 November 1898 to codify dietary fasting protocols, limiting the faithful to one meal per day while detailing specific weekday and Sunday permissions for meat, dairy, and eggs, alongside clear exemptions for minors, the sick, and labourers. Spiritually, the text expounds upon the theology of mortification, details local participation in the Universal Jubilee of the Holy Year 1900 and sets strict deadlines for Easter Communion under threat of ecclesiastical censure. Socially, the Bishop issues urgent moral mandates condemning ‘Infidel and immoral books’, urging parental censorship, warning against marriages with non-Catholics, and advocating for the direct delivery of deceased bodies to the church to curb secular abuses at wakes. The decree addresses contemporary political issues by ordering dedicated prayers and Masses for soldiers fighting in the disastrous South African War.

ISAD(G) 2nd edition