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Commentary from 

THE ANNOTATED

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

Edited by JOHN HENRY BLUNT

Rivingtons, London, 1884

ASH WEDNESDAY.
 
The ancient ecclesiastical name given to the first day of Lent is Caput Jejunii, and the popular name of Ash-Wednesday has been acquired by it from the custom of blessing ashes made from the palms distributed on the Palm Sunday of the preceding year, and signing the cross with them on the heads of those who knelt before the officiating minister for the purpose, while he said, "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return."  The Commination Service is an adaptation of this rite, as is further shown in the notes to that Office. 

The Penitential Psalms are all used in the services of Ash-Wednesday, as they have been time immemorial, the 6th, 32nd, and 38th at Mattins, the 51st at the Commination, the 102nd, 130th, and 143rd at Evensong.  The Collect is partly a translation of one used at the Benediction of the Ashes, and partly a composition of 1549 on the basis of other Collects of the Day.  The Epistle and Gospel are those of the ancient Lectionary of St. Jerome.  In the Durham book a rubric is inserted ordering that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of this day "are to serve until the Sunday following."