By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Catholic New Yorkers lined up around the block to receive their ashes at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
During the morning hours a steady stream of people stopped by the church, some to attend Mass, most to receive the traditional ashen cross on their foreheads. By the afternoon, the steady stream had become a huge crowd.
"Once lunchtime hits, it's madness," said East Harlem resident Lissette Joubert, 31, as she left the cathedral about 11 a.m. "I know around [2 p.m.] the line is around the block."
By 1 p.m., the crowd of parishioners already stretched down East 50th Street and around the corner onto Madison Avenue.
"It's a way to renew your faith…it keeps you honest and reflective," Upper West Sider Al D'Onofrio, 39, said of the experience. "It's a day when all of us can stand up and say, 'I'm Catholic'."
Keelin Kavanagh, 46, a Midtown lawyer, stopped by St. Patrick's to receive ashes on her way to the office.
"It reminds you that you're only here for a fleeting moment," she said.
When asked how her co-workers reacted to the symbolic mark, Kavanagh, who said she observes Ash Wednesday every year, said, "Nobody bats an eye."
"This is New York," the Manhattan native added, noting that most city-dwellers are familiar with the holiday.
But some Ash Wednesday observers said they sometimes received strange looks.
"Everybody's confused in the morning," said Midtown resident Rick Wellman, 47, who owns the Patrick Melville Salon & Spa in Rockefeller Plaza. "By the afternoon, they get it."
Although Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, one St. Patrick's Cathedral attendee who will give up chocolate during the period of penance said she was already looking forward to the end.
"April 24th," TriBeCa financier Kate S., 25, said. "I'm getting the biggest Easter Bunny I can find."
