The annual burning of last year’s palms for this year’s ashes took place a couple of weeks ago, in preparation for Ash Wednesday this week.  Assisted by guest Jonathan Piette, Brother Benedict directed the incineration of the palms in the fireplace in the calefactory. Brother Sixtus notes that “in the old days, the calefactory was the only room in a monastery which had heat.” It remains to this day a place of “warmth” - providing both physical heat and warm fellowship, as the main gathering place for monastic recreation. Sixtus also notes that “Incinerate is probably from the same root as cinders, or ashes, and the Italian for Ash Wednesday is mercoledi delle Ceneri.” From his time at Sant’Anselmo in Rome, Brother Sixtus remembers the importance of that Benedictine center to traditional papal practice for Ash Wednesday. “The stational church in Rome for that day is Santa Sabina atop the Aventine Hill, near Sant’ Anselmo, the international Benedictine college where many of us have lived and studied. The Pope vests in the grand sacristy of Sant’ Anselmo and then processes through the narrow streets to Santa Sabina where he celebrates Mass at the beginning of Lent.”

And in yet another example of the modifications prompted by the pandemic, ashes will be imposed differently this year. Rather than through the physical touch of signing the cross on the forehead, The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has directed that ashes are to be sprinkled on the heads of recipients: "The priest then cleanses his hands, puts on a face mask and distributes the ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places… The priest takes the ashes and sprinkles them on the head of each one without saying anything." The sprinkling, it is noted, has already been the customary practice at the Vatican and in Italy. Further, the formulae repeated at distribution - "Repent and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" - are to be said generally to the congregation, rather than to each penitent as they approach.