Down yonder, a reader says:
In 2002 I went to confession on Saturday, December 8. I casually asked
the priest what time Masses were being celebrated that day, keeping in
mind that I had not yet fulfilled my obligation for that feast and that
evening Masses were common on Holy Days of Obligation. He told me that
the Mass to be celebrated that evening was the vigil Mass for the
following Sunday and couldn’t be used to fulfill the Immaculate
Conception obligation. I remember thinking that his statement didn’t
sound quite right, but I would like to know for certain. (I did assist
at Mass later that evening at another parish and it was the Mass of the
Immaculate Conception.)
What the priest told you is wrong.
He is one of a great many priests who has absorbed the idea that the theme of a particular Mass (or the readings it uses) are some how relevant to the Mass’s ability to fulfill you holy day obligation.
Thing to do in such a situation would be to go to the evening Mass and then go to another Mass the next day (in an eastern rite parish if you don’t want to hear the same readings again).
I have a smart-a– answer to this problem: LET”S GET RID OF “VIGIL MASSES”!!! Especially the one before Christmas, which to many seems to serve one purpose: CLEAR THE DECKS FOR THE FESTIVAL OF GREED THE NEXT MORNING!!!
What about going to an afternoon mass on Saturday (Christmas) this year — would that satisfy *both* the Holy Day obligation and the Sunday obligation?
So this would mean that Christmas eve mid-night Mass this year will also fulfill our Sunday obligation this year. Right?
Oh dear.
From what I’m understanding, two obligations require to Masses, period. However, a vigil Mass on Saturday evening (good luck finding one) would suffice for fulfilling either the Christmas or the Sunday obligation, but not both.
That about right, Jimmy?
Let us hear it for reading the archives!
I found this a little while ago.
http://www.jimmyakin.org/sunday_obligation/index.html
If two obligations require two masses, than would you have to go to mass twice if Christmas falls on a Sunday?
Oh see, there’s the confusion. I was thinking the 25th was Sunday. Silly me. It’s not like I had a calendar or anything right there to look at. I hope I made a good impression on my first comment post on Jimmy’s blog. 😉
The impression was just fine. 🙂
Greetings,
Being a priest, we received a note from our diocesan offices stating that on Christmas(a Saturday) All masses before 4:00 must be mass for Christmas day, and all Masses after 4:00 would have to be vigil for the feast of the Holy Family. It also stated that parishioners have an obligation to attend Christmas mass, and the Sunday mass. It seemed to clearly imply that going to our 4:30 Saturday mass would not satisfy Both obligations. A person cannot get a Two-for-One Mass obligation. If that is what the diocese says, then that is what I will say.
peace
As I understand it, feast days run from “sundown” to “sundown”, that is from Evening Prayer (Vespers) to Evening Prayer. The practice is derived from Jewish practice where the Sabbath runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
Thus any Mass celebrated after Evening Prayer is a Mass for the following day. Since Evening Prayer is not celebrated in most parishes, most bishops have determined that 4:30 pm is the cut off. Any Mass before 4:30 pm is, for example, Saturday. Any Mass after 4:30 pm is Sunday. In the case in question, the vigil Mass for Sunday (after 4:30 pm) does not count for Christmas, which has ended.
This also extends this year to Christmas. Any Mass from 4:30 pm on December 24 to 4:30 pm on December 25 is a Christmas Mass. Anything after 4:30 pm on December 25 is a Mass for the Holy Family.
There is no way that a person can satisfy both the Christmas obligation and the Sunday obligation with a single Mass. This is why, in most dioceses in the US, Holy Days that fall on a Saturday or a Monday are not Holy Days of Obligation so that people don’t have consecutive obligations. Christmas and All Saints are generally exceptions.
Fr John R Blaker
Bishop’s MC
Diocese of Oakland
Fr. Blaker,
Thank you for writing. I am agreed that a single Mass does not fulfill the obligations of two juxtaposed holy days (e.g., Christmas and Sunday)–which was the question that originally started this discussion several days back.
A point I’ve noted before, though, is that the Code of Canon Law leaves the term “evening” undefined, and different people interpret it differently. The Canon Law Society of America in its commentary on the Code, for example, understands it differently than the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland in its commentary.
I’d love to be able to pin this down further, though. Would you have any documentation from a source that is currently in force that either sheds further light on the use of the term or that authorizes bishops to make this determination? I am aware of some such documentation from before the revision of the liturgy, but none now.
One point I should clarify, though. The Code states that “A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass” (Can. 1248 §1).
This canon envisions the obligation being satisfied in one of two time periods: (a) “the feast day itself” or (b) “the evening of the preceding day.” It thus doesn’t envision the obligation being fulfilled on a single day that runs from evening to evening but in a period that includes all of one day and part of another.
The term “day” is elsewhere defined as “a period consisting of 24 continuous hours and begins at midnight unless other provision is expressly made” (Can. 202 §1).
This is why going to an evening Mass on Sunday fulfills the Sunday obligation. If one had to fulfill the obligation on an evening-to-evening day beginning on Saturday then one would have missed one’s Sunday obligation as the liturgical day of Monday would have started with the beginning of evening on Sunday.
This weekend the ranking of days might prevent a Saturday evening Mass from being themed as a Christmas Mass, but it would still fulfill the Christmas obligation, per canon 1248. It also could be used to fulfill the Sunday obligation, but if you want to use it that way then you will need to have already fulfilled the Christmas obligation, either earlier in the day or on a Friday evening Mass.
Hope this helps!
While canon law may not define “evening,” wouldn’t the bishop have the authority to lay down specific requirements for the faithful in his diocese, such as requiring the faithful to attend Mass before 4:30 p.m. on holy days of obligation?
Yes if the Vatican says he does.
No if it says he doesn’t.
Bishops are allowed to regulate the liturgy in their dicoese “within their competence” but not outside of it.
Some matters are on the level of the diocesan bishop to decide, some on the level of the national conference to decide, and some on the level of the Vatican to decide.
Thus the question of whether there is anything currently in force that gives bishops the power to regulate this.
In the absence of such a document, the question remains ambiguous.
Thus the question of whether there is anything currently in force that gives bishops the power to regulate this.
In the absence of such a document, the question remains ambiguous.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Roman law generally tell us what we’re allowed to do (as opposed to Anglo-Saxon common law that generally tells us what we’re not allowed to do)? If so, then the fact that there’s nothing that says that bishops have this authority would seem to imply that they do not.
dcs: you have understandably repeated a permicious misunderstanding. Roman law likes to claim the theory you express, but even it does not in fact act that way. To make a long story short, there is no canon law that allows kneelers or windows in churches, none that permits congregational seating, and so on. yet these things happen. there are a million things we do in church circles that no law permits. the universal principle is: liberty is presumed. that is only way a system built on God’s respect for free will can function.
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