Section — Bucceroni, Institutions of Moral Theology
Obligation of Handing Over Masses Not Celebrated in Due Time to the Ordinary
- All, however bound to fulfill burdens of Masses, whether ecclesiastics or laymen, at the end of any year must hand over to their own Ordinaries the burdens of Masses which they have not yet satisfied. For founded Masses or Masses annexed to some benefice, the obligation of depositing them runs from the end of that year within which the burdens ought to have been fulfilled. But for manual Masses the obligation of depositing them begins after a year from the day of the burden undertaken, if it is a question of a large number of Masses; for these certainly the obligation is to hand over those remaining Masses, not yet celebrated, at the end of the year, to their own Ordinaries.
For if it is a question of a smaller number of Masses, or of a diverse will of the offerers, the prescriptions of the preceding article 3 remain preserved. Cf. n. 10. For they must be celebrated within the time established by law: within a month, within six months, or within the shorter or longer time established by the offerer, without the Priest being able to retain them for an entire year. Hence, if he himself cannot celebrate them, he must take care that they be celebrated by others in due time, although the obligation of handing them over to the Bishop before the elapsed year is not had. Paragraph 4.
Therefore all those who have not satisfied the obligations undertaken after the elapsed year established by this article 4 are held by the obligation of handing over uncelebrated Masses to the Ordinary, that is, to their own Ordinary: Regulars to the Regular Superior, seculars to the Bishop. If a Priest handing over these Masses to the Ordinary would be left without Masses, authors teach that he can retain some Masses for himself, for example fifteen or twenty; but it is better to warn the Ordinary concerning this matter.
The preceding prescription obliges of itself under grave sin. For concerning the observance of all these things, the conscience of all whom it concerns is gravely burdened. Paragraph Super. Against transgressors of the preceding article 4, the Bishop can proceed in particular, all things to be observed having been observed, with censures.