when did lent begin?

Answer 1

On Ash Wednesday. Feb 21st this year.

Answer 2

February 21

Answer 3

The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days' fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season.

Some of the Fathers as early as the fifth century supported the view that this forty days' fast was of Apostolic institution.

Answer 4

The forty-day period is symbolic of the forty days spent by Jesus in the wilderness and possibly the forty hours he spent entombed. The number forty has many other Biblical significances: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God; the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mt. Horeb; God makes it rain for forty days and forty nights in the story of Noah; the Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land; Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days grace in which to repent.

Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil. Jesus overcame all of the temptations of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life by citing scripture to the devil, at which point the devil left him, angels ministered to Jesus, and he began his Galilean ministry.

The Lenten period of forty days owes its origin to the Latin word quadragesima, referring to the forty hours of total fast that preceded the Easter celebration in the early Church.[2] The main ceremony was the baptism of the initiates on Easter Eve. The fast was in preparation to receive this sacrament. Later, the period from Good Friday until Easter Day was extended to six days, to correspond with the six weeks of training, necessary to instruct the converts who were to be baptized.

Initially lent simply meant spring, and later became associated with the fast. The English word lent derives from the Germanic root for spring (specifically Old English lencten; also the Anglo-Saxon name for March—lenct—as the main part of Lent, before Easter, usually occurred in March).

Converts to Christianity followed a strict instruction schedule. In Jerusalem near the close of the fourth century, classes were held throughout seven weeks of Lent for three hours each day. With the imposition of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, its character was endangered by the great influx of new members. In response, the Lenten fast and practices of self-renunciation were required of all Christians. The less zealous of the converts were thus brought more securely into the Christian fold.

Answer 5

It's an ancient practice, dating back to the early church.

A better question would be why. If christians claim that Jesus was the one and perfect sacrifice there should be no reason for them to pretend to be a pale imitation of Jesus in the wilderness. Just another crazy interpretation of a convoluted theology.

Answer 6

three weeks ago approx...im not Catholic

Answer 7

Catholic tradition! ask them.