Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church to help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. Made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year, the ashes are incensed and sprinkled with holy water, and four ancient prayers are said in their blessing.

The custom of distributing ashes comes from an imitation of the rite observed by public penitents. Christians who had committed grave faults were obligated to do public penance that lasted forty days. On Ash Wednesday the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear and sprinkled ashes over their heads. Then, while the Seven Penitential Psalms were being recited, the penitents were turned out of the holy place because of their sins. They did not enter the Church again until Holy Thursday, after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days penance and sacramental absolution. This tradition has evolved into the Ash Wednesday that Catholics know today, attending mass and then receiving the blessing of sacramental ashes, on the first day of our Lenten journey.