Event details
ASH WEDNESDAY
Wednesday 22 February 2012 | All day
The English word “Lent” derives from the Anglo-Saxon word for “spring”, which coincides with the time of forty days leading up to Easter. It thus calls to mind the new life, growth, hope and change that characterises this time of prayer, penance and conversion.
The first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, takes its name from the ashes which are placed on our foreheads during the liturgy on that day. This ceremony symoblises our conversion, penance and human mortality. The ashes are made from palms blessed on the previous Palm Sunday.
There are three Masses on Ash Wednesday - two said Masses at 8am and at 12.20pm at the University Chaplaincy, and sung High Mass at 7.30pm. Music at High Mass includes the haunting setting of psalm 51, the Miserere mei, Deus, written for the Sistine Chapel and attributed to the 17th century musician Gregorio Allegri, which is sung during the Giving of Ashes.
.