In the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, the Rev. Edward Yuhas of St. James and St. Katharine Drexel parishes in Washington County, begins collecting palm branches from parishioners.
The palms are burned over an open fire, creating the black and gray powdered ash that will be put on foreheads of the faithful in the form of a cross, as they hear the words from the Book of Genesis, “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.”
Rev. Yuhas’ parish is one of those in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh that burns its own palms ahead of Ash Wednesday, a holy day of fasting and prayer marking the start of the Lenten season for Catholics across the world.
Others order ashes through local religious goods stores.
But for Rev. Yuhas, the practice of burning ashes is a reflective one.
“From a spiritual perspective, for me, it’s really to look back over the course of the past year and think of last Palm Sunday … as I engage in the process of burning the palms, I really pray for our people,” he said.
The Catholic church has used ashes as an outward sign of penance to begin the 40 days of Lent for at least 1,500 years. Pope Urban II recommended the practice for universal use at the Synod of Benevento in 1091.
Rev. Yuhas said his method for creating the ashes has evolved throughout his 27 years as a priest.
Once he burns down the palms, he sandwiches the coarse ashes that remain between two sheets of nonstick aluminum foil. He then uses a rolling pin to painstakingly crush the ashes down further to make them fine enough to administer on the foreheads of his parishioners without leaving cuts or scratches.
“In my first year as a priest, we ran into that,” he said. “There were very large chunks [of ash] and as I’m standing next to a priest in line, I’m showing him my bowl of ashes and he’s looking at me like, ‘How are we supposed to smash these up with our fingers and place them on the foreheads?’ I’m a practical guy and I thought afterward, ‘We’re going to have to refine the process.’ ”
Some parishes, like Saint Luke the Evangelist, which oversees Good Samaritan Church in Ambridge and Saints John and Paul Church in Franklin Park, opt to order their ashes through local suppliers as a precaution because remnants from burnt palms can be too sharp without careful sifting.
The Rev. James Wehner, pastor of Divine Grace Parish, with churches in Cranberry and Zelienople in Butler County and Ellwood City in Lawrence County, said because the parish has more than 18,000 congregants, it’s more efficient to order ashes through a vendor.
Blessed Trinity Parish, with four churches in Pittsburgh’s southern neighborhoods and suburbs, adds the ashes from burned palms to a supply maintained from a previous year, said Deacon Andy White. The parish will order from a supplier if it is running low, he said, but that hasn’t been the case since six of its churches were merged into four in July 2020 amid a diocese-wide consolidation effort spearheaded by Bishop David Zubik.
A small pile of ashes goes a long way.
Holly Stehura, the buyer for JMJ Church Supply in Bethel Park, said a packet of ashes that can be used to bless up to 200 people is generally only about a tablespoon or two in total volume.
The store, which sells items including candles, statuary and First Holy Communion gifts, gets ashes from a supplier in Texas that farms and burns its own palms.
JMJ Church Supply then sells the ashes to about a dozen parishes annually in increments that can be used for 200, 500, or 1,000 people.
“They’re actually very small packages,” Ms. Stehura told the Post-Gazette. “We have a couple parishes that get maybe two or three bags of ashes for 1,000, but it varies greatly.”
Business at JMJ Church Supply and other local Catholic suppliers generally peaks in the spring, Ms. Stehura said.
“This is one of the busiest times of the year for suppliers,” she said. “Most [First Holy Communions] happen right at the end of Lent around the Easter season, so all of that kind of combines together to make this probably our busiest time of year.”
