The Beautiful Lady
In 1858, this 14-year-old peasant girl reported 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary near her hometown in southern France.
Bernadette Soubirous
Sts. Cyril and Methodius are known as the Apostles to these people.
Slavs
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order were seven men of this town, the Tuscan hub of the Renaissance, who became bound to each other in a spiritual friendship.
Florence
The term “Mardi Gras” is French for this, referring to the day before Ash Wednesday.
Fat Tuesday
While the faithful typically receive ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead, the rubrics also allow for them to be sprinkled here.
On top of the head
The apparitions took place at this riverside cave, now one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world.
Grotto of Massabielle
St. Cyril is credited with developing the Glagolitic alphabet, to better teach the faith. It evolved into this alphabet, which is named for him.
Cyrillic
They eventually felt called by this person, towards whom they practiced an intense devotion.
The Blessed Virgin Mary
This liturgical season begins the day after Mardi Gras and is traditionally marked by fasting, penance, and the imposition of ashes.
Lent
Ash Wednesday, along with this day, is one of only two days of the year in the Latin Church on which both fasting and abstinence from meat are required.
Good Friday
During one apparition, the Lady identified herself with these five words, confirming a dogma defined just four years earlier by Pope Pius IX.
"Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou"
Sts. Cyril and Methodius were originally from Thessaloniki, in the northern part of this Mediterranean country.
The seven were canonized by this pope on 15 January 1888.
Leo XIII
The word “carnival” is commonly understood to derive from the Latin carne vale, meaning this.
“Farewell to meat”
Although widely attended, Ash Wednesday is classified liturgically as this kind of day, meaning attendance at Mass is encouraged but not strictly required.
Day of penance
The town where the apparitions occurred, Lourdes, sits near this European mountain range that forms a natural border between France and Spain.
Pyrenees
In the 9th century, Pope Adrian II approved Sts. Cyril and Methodius' translation of the Bible and liturgical texts into this Old Slavic language. ;-)
Old Church Slavonic
The order they founded follows the rule of this north African bishop.
St. Augustine of Hippo
The largest and most famous Mardi Gras celebration in the United States takes place in this Louisiana city.
New Orleans
One of the two formulas used when imposing ashes tells us to “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. The other tells us to repent and believe in this.
The Gospel
The visionary later entered religious life and is now known to the Church as St. Bernadette Soubirous; her incorrupt body is preserved in this French city at the Convent of Saint-Gildard.
Nevers
Sts. Cyril and Methodius celebrate their feast day on the same day as this saint who is invoked against epilepsy.
Saint Valentine
The Servite Order is one of only twelve of this type of religious order, known for a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and service.
Mendicant
In many Anglican-influenced countries, the final day of Carnival is also known by this term, traditionally marked by eating pancakes and the burning of last year’s palms.
Shrove Tuesday
Canon law binds people below the age of 60 but this age or older to fasting.
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