Ash Wednesday
What it commemorates
On Ash Wednesday the faithful receive ashes as a sign of penance.
Place in the liturgical year
It is the Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday and the first day of the Lenten fast.
In the 1962 Latin Mass Calendar
In the 1962 calendar it is kept as a day of the first class: Feria quarta cinerum.
Modern Roman Calendar
The Modern Roman Calendar ranks it as a celebration with precedence over solemnities; its ranks differ from the four classes of 1962.