TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION Before the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, Advent had a strong penitential tone, reminiscent of Lent. From as long ago as the fourth century, some Christians began a solemn fast on St. Martin’s Day, November 11. This “Saint Martin’s Lent” extended all the way to Christmas, and was widely followed in the dioceses of France and Germany, and in the Middle Ages in England.…