Brooklyn bishop to mark Ash Wednesday at cathedral

February 17, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio will be distributing ashes for Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint James in downtown Brooklyn. The bishop is shown celebrating a mass last year. Eagle photo by Francesca Norsen Tate

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Wednesday, Feb. 18, is Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent for Catholics.

The Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, will celebrate Ash Wednesday with a mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint James, at 250 Cathedral Place in downtown Brooklyn, at noon.

DiMarzio will bless and distribute ashes on the foreheads of congregants during the mass.

“The season of Lent is the time when we are asked to firm up our faith, when we are to give special attention to training our will so that we can love God all the more,” DiMarzio said in a statement.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day Christian observance in the liturgical year that ends with the celebration of the Sacred Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil – the three holy days that lead up to Easter Sunday.

The ashes to be used on Ash Wednesday will come from the burning of the blessed branches used on Palm Sunday of the previous year, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn. Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, is the Sunday before Easter. It commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday also marks the beginning of Holy Week.

This year, Easter Sunday will be celebrated on April 5.