Does the age of fasting stop when you reach age 59 or 60?
This has always confused me. Some texts say 59 and others say 60. Does anyone have a definitive answer?

The 1917 Code......
Canon 1254
§ 1. The law of abstinence binds all those who have completed seven years of age.
§ 2. All those are bound by the law of fast from the completion of the twenty-first year of age until the beginning of the sixtieth.

I would say the "beginning of the sixtieth" means, does not begin until you hit 60.....because that's when you end your 59th year and begin your sixtieth year. lol

But we begin our first year when we are born (age 0).  Therefore, I see the beginning of the 60th year as soon as we reach age 59.

Ya, this issue is old, and funny to me - always gives me a chuckle. I don't know if there's a right or wrong way to understand it really.

When a baby is 1 month old, that's what we say, when he's 60 months old, we say he's 5 years old because that's how long he's been alive. If he died at 66 months we would say he died at 5 1/2 years old, not died after he had begun his 6th year, or was 6 months into his 6th year.     

My dad died at 86 and followed the rules of fasting his whole life.

That’s what I was thinking…will march on, thanks

"All the faithful are bound to fast, unless dispensed or exempted....to their fifty-ninth year completed."  - H. Davis, SJ.  Moral and Pastoral Theology, Vol II.

I think if you are healthy and not limited by any conditions, fasting can only be a benefit at any age. Prudence always but don't throw way a good thing if you can help it.

This may be a more "official" or "canonical" way of phrasing it, but it's confusing.  He just needed to say "from ages 21 through 58".

I think that would be more confusing.  Though 58 inclusive or exclusive?

See, in many parts of the world, when you ask someone how old they are, there are different ways of counting vis-a-vis that 0 year.

My Dad, Hungarian, when someone asked his age, would always "add one" when compared to the US way of thinking about it.  When he was, say, 59 by US standards, he would say he's 60 when asked.  I asked him about it, and he would respond, "I'm in my 60th year."  For them, they counted 0-1 as Year 1 of life.

So Canon Law saying "not yet begun their 60th year" according to the same mindset as my Dad.  You COMPLETE your first year when you're 1 year old.  You BEGIN your 2nd year when you're 1 (by our standards).  So you always have to +1 from US standards.

So someone who is (by US standards) 59 is no longer obliged to fast.

This actually causes some confusion among computer programmers, by the way.  Some programmers count collections beginning with #1, and others 0.  In most computer languages, the first element of a collection starts with 0.  So if you have a list of 10 items, they would have the index or number from 0 to 9.

Canon Law, as per usual, tries to be very precise.  They couldn't just say, "you have to fast until you're 59."  Until 59 inclusive or exclusive?  What does it mean to be "59"?  So Canon Law defines it as having completed your 59th year, which would happen on your 59th birthday.