From Ash Wednesday, 10 February, to Easter Sunday, 28 March 2027

Lent 2027: fasting, abstinence, calendar and prayers

Lent is the season in which the Church prepares for Easter. In 2027 it begins on Ash Wednesday, 10 February, and leads into the Easter Triduum, 25 to 27 March, with Easter Sunday on 28 March.

This page gathers the essentials: what Lent is, the 2027 dates, the rules of fasting and abstinence as canon law sets them out, with notes for English-speaking countries, the indulgences attached to the Stations of the Cross and the Passion, and the prayers of the season, each with its full text on this site.

What Lent is

The word comes from the Latin quadragesima, the fortieth day before Easter. The forty days recall the forty days Jesus spent fasting and praying in the desert before His public ministry (Mt 4:1-11). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that by the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert (no. 540).

It is a season of conversion. The Catechism names Lent, together with each Friday in memory of the Lord's death, as an intense moment of the Church's penitential practice, particularly suited to retreats, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (no. 1438).

Why forty days, if the count does not add up?

Under the current norms of the liturgical year, Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord's Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday, which is no longer part of it. The traditional count of forty is different: from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday there are 46 days, and leaving out the six Sundays, which are never fast days, there are exactly forty. That is why Lent begins on a Wednesday.

The Lent 2027 calendar

Ash Wednesday: 10 February 2027 (fast and abstinence).

First Sunday of Lent: 14 February. Second Sunday: 21 February. Third Sunday: 28 February.

Fourth Sunday, called Laetare ("Rejoice", the first word of the entrance antiphon): 7 March. On this Sunday, as on the Third Sunday of Advent, rose-coloured vestments may be worn.

Fifth Sunday of Lent: 14 March.

Solemnity of St Joseph: Friday, 19 March. Because it is a solemnity, the Friday abstinence does not bind that day (can. 1251). St Patrick's Day, 17 March, falls on a Wednesday.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord: 21 March, the start of Holy Week.

Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, 25 March (evening Mass of the Lord's Supper); Good Friday, 26 March (fast and abstinence); Holy Saturday, 27 March, with the Easter Vigil in the night.

Easter Sunday: 28 March 2027. Divine Mercy Sunday: 4 April.

In 2027, 25 March falls on Holy Thursday. When that happens, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is transferred to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter, which in 2027 is 5 April.

Fasting and abstinence: what canon law says

All the faithful are bound by divine law to do penance, each in their own way (can. 1249). The penitential days and times in the whole Church are every Friday of the year and the season of Lent (can. 1250).

Abstinence

Abstinence means not eating meat. It is kept on every Friday of the year unless a solemnity falls on it, and on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (can. 1251). It binds from the completed fourteenth year of age (can. 1252). According to St Paul VI's apostolic constitution Paenitemini (1966), the law of abstinence forbids meat but not eggs, milk products or condiments made from animal fat. Fish is therefore allowed.

Fasting

Fasting is required on only two days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (can. 1251). It binds those who have reached their majority, that is, from their eighteenth birthday, until the beginning of their sixtieth year (can. 1252), usually summed up as "ages 18 to 59". Paenitemini explains that the fast allows only one full meal a day, while not forbidding some food in the morning and evening, according to approved local custom. In practice: one full meal and two smaller ones that together do not equal a full meal.

Pastors and parents are to see that those not yet bound because of their age are also formed in a genuine sense of penance (can. 1252). The sick, pregnant or nursing women and others whose condition prevents fasting are not bound by it; when in doubt, ask your parish priest or confessor, who may also dispense or commute the obligation for a just cause (can. 1245).

The rules in English-speaking countries

Canon law allows each bishops' conference to determine more precisely how fasting and abstinence are kept, and to substitute other forms of penance for them, in whole or in part, especially works of charity and exercises of piety (can. 1253). So the details vary.

United States: abstinence from meat is required on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays of Lent, and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

England and Wales: since September 2011 the bishops have again asked Catholics to abstain from meat on every Friday of the year; those who cannot eat meat abstain from some other food they normally eat.

Ireland: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. On other Fridays a penance is chosen from several forms, of which abstaining from meat is one.

Brazil: the bishops' conference (CNBB) allows the faithful to substitute another work of penance, charity or piety for Friday abstinence, while keeping Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of fast and abstinence.

If you are unsure, follow the norms of the diocese where you are.

The three pillars: prayer, fasting and almsgiving

In the Gospel of Ash Wednesday (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18), Jesus speaks of almsgiving, prayer and fasting, and asks that they be done in secret, before the Father, and not to be seen by others. The Catechism teaches that Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on these three forms of penance, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God and to others (no. 1434). Paenitemini calls this triad the fundamental means of fulfilling the divine precept of penance.

Prayer: more time given to God, weekday Mass, the Gospel of the day, the Stations of the Cross on Fridays, the Rosary.

Fasting: beyond the required fast and abstinence, freely chosen sacrifices, taken up with prudence and kept with constancy, that make room for God and for others.

Almsgiving: giving to the poor, above all what has been saved through those sacrifices, and the works of mercy.

Lenten practices

The Stations of the Cross

Praying the Stations of the Cross on Fridays is one of the most widespread customs of Lent. They follow fourteen stations, from Jesus' condemnation by Pilate to His burial, and can be made in church, before the stations, or at home, meditating on the Passion.

Confession and Easter Communion

Lent is the natural time for confession. Every member of the faithful, after reaching the age of discretion, is bound to confess serious sins faithfully at least once a year (can. 989), and to receive Communion at least once a year, which is to be done during the Easter season unless for a just cause it is fulfilled at another time (can. 920). Many parishes hold extra hours of confession in the weeks before Holy Week.

Plenary indulgences in Lent and Holy Week

The Manual of Indulgences (Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th edition, 1999) grants a plenary indulgence, among others, for these works tied to the season:

1. The Way of the Cross, made personally before legitimately erected stations, moving from one station to the next (grant 13, § 2). It is not necessary to meditate on each station in particular: devout meditation on the Lord's Passion and Death is enough. In a group, if not everyone can move without inconvenience, it is enough for the leader to move from station to station. Those legitimately impeded can gain the same indulgence by spending some time, for example at least a quarter of an hour, reading and meditating on the Passion. Devoutly joining the Way of the Cross led by the Pope and broadcast live on television or radio also counts.

2. On any Friday of Lent, devoutly reciting after Communion, before a crucifix, the prayer En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu ("Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus") (grant 8, § 1, 2°). On other days the indulgence is partial.

3. Devoutly taking part in the adoration of the Cross in the solemn liturgical action of Good Friday (grant 13, § 1).

4. Renewing one's baptismal promises in the celebration of the Easter Vigil (grant 28, § 1).

There is also a partial indulgence for those who, especially in preparation for confession, examine their conscience with a purpose of amendment and recite an act of contrition, for example the Confiteor, Psalm De profundis or Psalm Miserere (grant 9).

The usual conditions

For the indulgence to be plenary, besides the prescribed work, sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the Pope's intentions are required (one Our Father and one Hail Mary suffice), together with detachment from all sin, even venial. The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the work, though it is fitting to receive Communion and pray for the Pope on the same day. One confession suffices for several plenary indulgences; Communion and the prayer for the Pope do not. If any condition is lacking, the indulgence is partial.

Prayers for Lent

Over the centuries the liturgy and popular devotion have kept prayers and chants proper to this season. The Miserere, Psalm 51, is the great psalm of repentance. The prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian is said in the Christian East on the weekdays of Lent. Attende Domine and Parce Domine are traditional penitential chants. The Stabat Mater keeps Our Lady company at the foot of the Cross, and the Anima Christi is one of the best-known prayers after Communion.

St Joseph, St Patrick and other feasts in Lent

In 2027 the Solemnity of St Joseph falls on a Friday, 19 March. The traditional novena runs from 10 to 18 March. The devotion of the Seven Sundays of St Joseph is made on the seven Sundays before the feast; in 2027, from 31 January to 14 March.

St Patrick's Day, 17 March, falls on a Wednesday. It is an optional memorial in the General Roman Calendar and a solemnity in Ireland, whose principal patron he is.

Holy Week 2027

Palm Sunday, 21 March: the blessing of palms and the procession recall Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, and the Mass includes the reading of the Passion. The hymn Vexilla Regis, "The royal banners forward go", is sung at Vespers in the Liturgy of the Hours this week.

Holy Thursday, 25 March: in the morning, in many dioceses, the Chrism Mass (which the bishop may move to an earlier day); in the evening, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, with the washing of feet, opens the Easter Triduum.

Good Friday, 26 March: a day of fast and abstinence, with no Mass. The Celebration of the Lord's Passion includes the Passion according to St John, the Solemn Intercessions, the adoration of the Cross, during which the Reproaches (Popule meus) and the hymn Crux fidelis are customarily sung, and Holy Communion. The Second Vatican Council asks that the paschal fast be kept everywhere on Good Friday and, where possible, prolonged through Holy Saturday (Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 110).

Holy Saturday, 27 March: a day of silence at the tomb. In the night, the Easter Vigil, the mother of all vigils.

Easter Sunday, 28 March. A week later, on 4 April, Divine Mercy Sunday closes the Easter octave.

Frequently asked questions

What can you eat on Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. Have one full meal and two smaller ones, without meat. Fish, eggs, milk and dairy products are allowed, because the law of abstinence forbids only meat. Liquids may be taken during the day.

Who has to fast during Lent?

Catholics from their eighteenth birthday until the beginning of their sixtieth year (can. 1252), usually summed up as ages 18 to 59. The required fast is only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The sick, pregnant or nursing women and others who cannot fast are not bound.

Can Catholics eat meat during Lent?

On ordinary days of Lent, yes. Under canon law, abstinence from meat binds those aged 14 and over on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and every Friday, but bishops' conferences may allow other penances on Fridays: in the United States and in England and Wales meat is not eaten on the Fridays of Lent, while in Ireland other Fridays allow a choice of penance. A Friday that is a solemnity, such as St Joseph on 19 March 2027, is exempt.

Do Sundays count in the forty days of Lent?

In the traditional count, no: from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday there are 46 days, and without the six Sundays there are forty. Sunday is always the day of the Resurrection and is never a fast day under Church law. Whether to keep personal Lenten sacrifices on Sundays is left to each person.

When does Lent 2027 begin and end?

It begins on Ash Wednesday, 10 February 2027, and ends on Holy Thursday, 25 March, before the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, which opens the Easter Triduum. Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027.

Liturgical season

Lent and Holy Week

End of the year, Advent and Christmas

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