Ash Wednesday History I recently read a blog that stated: > Ash Wednesday is a relatively late addition to the Christian liturgical calendar, first surfacing in the tenth century according to accounts written in the eleventh. On the surface this seems a reasonable fact, and I initially accepted it. However, upon further research and reflection, in the context of the blog, I am having doubts. I am not much of a 10th Century history person, and I was wondering if anyone can verify or debunk this bit of info from that blog.

The Roman Catholic Church has the start date as 1091. Historical sources in English are a bit sketchy but this one seemed to agree with most.....

> ....[T]he custom of distributing the ashes to all the faithful...is mentioned as of general observance for both clerics and faithful in the Synod of Beneventum, 1091 (Mansi, XX, 739), but nearly a hundred years earlier than this the Anglo-Saxon homilist Ælfric assumes that it applies to all classes of men.

Makes the 10th century seem a good time frame.