Case IV: Giving Holy Communion on Holy Saturday

Applied correction from Woywod’s opening insert: Case IV, page 34.—The New Code in Canon 867 settles this question concerning the giving of Holy Communion on Holy Saturday. This Canon states that Holy Communion may not be given on Holy Saturday except during the Holy Mass or immediately after it but at no other time.

In a certain parish church in a large city it has been the practise for many years to distribute holy Communion to the faithful during the solemn Mass on holy Saturday. Some priests maintain that this practise is forbidden by the Church, while others contend that it is lawful. Both sides appeal to authorities in support of their contention. What seems to you to be the truth of the matter? Is it lawful to give holy Communion to the faithful on holy Saturday?. Answer: It may be asked whether it be lawful to give holy Communion to any and all of the faithful who present themselves during the Mass on holy Saturday, and whether it be lawful to give holy Communion to the faithful after the Mass on that day. And finally, in case the Mass were postponed until a late hour on holy Saturday, would it be permitted to give holy Communion before the Mass, even very early, holy Saturday morning?

First, as to the lawfulness of giving holy Communion during the Mass or after the Mass on holy Saturday. It is impossible to say with absolute certainty whether it be lawful or not. Pope Benedict XIV maintained that it was not lawful (cf. De sacrificio Missae, l, sé, ch. 18). In our own day Cardinal Gasparri, one of the greatest living canonists, maintains that it is not lawful, except where there exists an immemorial custom. On the other hand, there are eminent authors who claim that it is lawful to give holy Communion to any and all of the faithful on holy Saturday. Let us examine a little more minutely these conflicting opinions. It is certainly forbidden to distribute holy Communion on Good

Friday, except as viaticum, because Good Friday is a non-liturgical day (dies aliturgicus), on which it is forbidden to say Mass or to give holy Communion. Now, some authors, as Cardinal Gasparri, extend the prohibition to holy Saturday also. “A similar prohibition (as on Good Friday), but less grave, exists for Holy Saturday; namely, according to the ancient discipline, Holy Communion was not distributed to the faithful on Holy Saturday, since this day was aliturgical and the faithful were accustomed to communicate only during Mass. This discipline must be observed even today” (Gasparri, De s. Euch., n. 1090).

That is to say, according to Cardinal Gasparri, the faithful did not communicate until the Mass on holy Saturday, which was not celebrated until the night between holy Saturday and Easter Sunday; because holy Saturday, like Good Friday, being a non-liturgical day, it was forbidden to say Mass or to give holy Communion on that day. The Mass that is now celebrated holy Saturday morning, really belongs to Easter Sunday morning, but has been gradually advanced, until now it is celebrated holy Saturday morning. Now it is maintained that when the Mass that originally was celebrated in the night between holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, was advanced to holy Saturday morning, the character of the day, which is non-liturgical, was not changed, and therefore the faithful may not receive holy Communion on holy Saturday. Although the Mass was advanced, the holy Communion was not advanced, and its distribution therefore on that day is not permitted. An exception, of course, is made for those places where a custom has grown up of giving holy Communion. But where the custom does not exist from time immemorial, the practise is forbidden. Gasparri cites the reply of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, September 22, 1837, to prove that while holy Communion is allowed in such places where the custom exists of distributing it on holy Saturday, still as a rule it is forbidden:

“The doubt having been proposed, 2, since the prayers both preceding and following the Communion of the Mass of Holy Saturday speak in the plural, it is therefore asked whether it is lawful in the same Mass, after the celebrant’s Communion, to administer the Eucharist to the faithful, and especially with particles consecrated in the same Mass”; the Sacred Congregation of Rites replied: “To 2: No, unless a custom exists.” But to this it must be answered that in the latest edition of the authentic decrees of the Congregation of Rites, this particular decree is omitted.

On March 22, 1806, the Congregation of Rites being asked: “Whether it is lawful on Holy Saturday during the solemnities of Mass to distribute the Holy Eucharist to the faithful, and whether by that reception of Holy Communion the Easter precept is fulfilled”; the Sacred Congregation of Rites replied: “Yes to both.” While this answer of the Congregation of Rites would seem to decide the question in favor of Communion on holy Saturday, in reality it does not, because an immemorial custom of distributing holy Communion to the faithful on holy Saturday existed in the diocese to which this decree was issued. However, the decree does seem to favor the opinion that it is lawful to give holy Communion to the faithful on holy Saturday, because, although issued in reply to a request for information from a place where the custom existed of giving holy Communion on holy Saturday, nevertheless the decree abscinds altogether from the fact that such a custom existed.

In former times, when the Mass that is now said on holy Saturday morning was said in the night between holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, it is certain that the faithful received holy Communion in it. The Roman ordo I, which gives the rites followed in or about the time of Pope Gregory the Great, A. D. 600, says: “Regarding little children it is provided that after they have been baptized (on holy Saturday) they shall take no food nor shall they be nursed until they have received the Sacrament of the body of Christ, and every day during Easter week, they shall go to Mass and their parents shall make the offering for them, and they shall all communicate.” “But concerning little children it must be provided that, after they have been baptized, they receive no food and are not nursed before they receive the Sacrament of the Body of Christ; and on every day of Easter week they are to go to Mass, and their parents are to make the offering for them, and all are to communicate” (Mabillon, Musaeum italicum, tom. ii, p. 28).

As the Mass was gradually advanced until it is now said on holy Saturday morning, it seems but reasonable to conclude that the Communion of the faithful, which took place in it, was advanced also and that at present it is lawful to give holy Communion to the faithful in the Mass or after it on holy Saturday, since it is lawful to say Mass at all on that day, and since the holy Communion is not forbidden by any positive law or decree of the Sacred Congregation.

As we have just stated, Gasparri and others deny that the Communion of the faithful was advanced with the Mass on holy Saturday, and maintain that holy Saturday is still a non-liturgical day, dies aliturgicus, as far as holy Communion is concerned, but there seems to be no positive evidence available in support of their contention.,

In the sacramentary of Pope Gelasius, which dates back to the end of the fifth century, the Rite of the Mass for holy Saturday is explained. The prayers of the Mass of holy Saturday, as therein contained, presuppose that hosts were offered by the neophytes and that the faithful communicated. The secreta of the Mass explicitly supposes that hosts had been offered by the reborn and that the faithful had communicated. And the post-communio of the Mass says: “Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that, filled with the divine gift, we may be renewed both by the sacred mysteries and in our conduct.”

In the Mass for holy Saturday, as contained in the Roman Missal, the secreta supposes that offerings of hosts have been made by the faithful; and it must reasonably be supposed that these hosts were offered in order that they might be consecrated and received in holy Communion. The post-communio of this Mass supposes others besides the celebrant of the Mass had been filled with the paschal Sacraments.

Against Benedict XIV, who says that the custom of not receiving holy Communion on holy Saturday is common throughout the Church, it is maintained that the custom is not general. There are many cities and dioceses where the custom of receiving holy Communion on holy Saturday has been established from time immemorial, “as every year I see it done here in the city of Paris,” says Father Many, S.S., Professor of Canon Law at S. Sulpice, Paris (Praelectiones de Missa, p. 315).

Many authors, as Merati, Cavalieri, St. Alfonsus, etc., say that where there is question of acts within the discretion of the agent, that is to say of acts that may be performed or omitted as one pleases, the omission of the act, even if continued for a long time, does not establish a custom against the act, unless the act was discontinued expressly for the purpose and with the intention of creating an obligation to discontinue the act. Such an intention is never taken for granted, but must be proven to have existed. To prove it, however, is extremely difficult.

“When there is question of merely optional acts, that is, acts which may be performed or omitted at will, as is Communion on Holy Saturday, the omission of the acts, even when prolonged for a long time, does not establish a custom unless they are omitted with the intention of introducing an obligation, which is difficult to prove and is never presumed” (ibid., p. 316. Reiffenstuhl, in tit. De consuetudine, n. 129-130).

Therefore, although it may be true that there exists in many places a custom of not receiving holy Communion on holy Saturday, nevertheless we are not warranted in attaching to such a custom a binding force, neither in the places where the custom does not exist, nor even for the districts where it does exist.

O’Kane, in his treatise on the rubrics, p. 290, considering the various decrees of the Congregation of Rites on this matter, endeavors to reconcile their apparent contradictions by saying that holy Communion may be freely administered on holy Saturday after Mass, but not during Mass, unless there be a custom in favor of it. It can not, however, he continues, be administered before Mass, as the permission does not extend to this, and the rubrics of the missal clearly suppose that before Mass there are no particles consecrated, except those reserved for the sick. Nor is the ciborium brought back to the tabernacle until after the Mass.

With this latter statement, that holy Communion should not be given before the Mass on holy Saturday, we fully agree. No authority justifies such a practise, and, furthermore, it is not in keeping with the rubrics of the Mass for the day.

Father Noldin, S.J., says:

“It is lawful, however, on this day to distribute Holy Communion to the faithful, even to satisfy the Easter precept, both during the solemn Mass and outside it, but not before the ringing of the bells; for after the Gloria has been sung, the prohibition against distributing Holy Communion to the faithful ceases” (De Euch., n. 202).

This is not altogether correct, because the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of March 22, 1806, to which he appeals for his assertion that Communion may be given during the Mass and after it, on holy Saturday, was issued to a parish where the custom existed for a long time, and the second decree of the Congregation of Rites, July 28, 1821, which he cites says nothing about holy Communion on holy Saturday.

To sum up, therefore, we think that it is not permitted to give holy Communion to the faithful before the Mass on holy Saturday. There is no doubt but that holy Saturday was formerly a nonliturgical day on which it was forbidden to say Mass or to communicate the faithful. The Mass, however, of holy Saturday night, being advanced to holy Saturday morning, is the only reason for advancing the Communion of the faithful that was given in it. It would seem to follow, therefore, that the Communion should not be advanced to an earlier hour than the Mass itself. This is also in keeping with the rubrics of the Mass of holy Saturday, and there is no decree of the Congregation of Rites authorizing it.

But the same cannot be said against distributing holy Communion to the faithful during the Mass, or after it. No decree of the Sacred Congregation positively forbids it. It is clearly permitted wherever the custom prevails of giving it. In fact the decree of March 22, 1806, may be construed, and by some is construed, so as to permit it, whether the custom exist or not. Therefore, in practise we consider it lawful to give holy Communion during the Mass, and after the Mass, on holy Saturday, but not before it.