Case LI: Responsibility for Mass Stipends

Mr. M. on his deathbed left Father Joseph $500 to say Masses for the repose of his soul. Half of this sum Father Joseph gave to another priest, a personal friend and a man in every respect above reproach, who, he knew, would say the Masses without fail. The two hundred and fifty Masses that Father Joseph kept himself he found it impossible to say within a year from the time he received them owing to the large number of nuptial and funeral Masses he was obliged to say. At the end of the year Father Joseph has still one hundred Masses to say for the repose of the soul of Mr. M. Father Joseph's particular friend, the priest, to whom he gave the other two hundred and fifty Masses to say, allowed himself to be persuaded to invest all the money he had, including this sum of $250 for Masses for the soul of Mr. M., in some real estate transaction and lost it all. He was taken sick a few months afterward and died, leaving no money and making no provision for the saying of the two hundred and fifty Masses given him by Father Joseph.

Father Joseph has heard something about a special decree regarding Mass stipends, issued last year by the Holy Father Pius X., and which imposes graver obligations in this matter than was formerly imposed by the moralists. He is much worried as to whether this new decree affects his case, and to what extent. And he would like to know what is his duty in regard to these Mass stipends which he received from Mr. M.

Father Joseph's query resolves itself into two points:

1. What must he do with the hundred Masses which he himself has left over at the end of one year from the time of receiving them? May he continue saying them, since it was not his fault that they are still unsaid?

2. Is Father Joseph responsible for the two hundred and fifty Masses which he gave to his friend, together with the stipends? "Videat ipse," he thinks, with regard to his friend. When he handed over the Masses, together with the stipends, to a responsible priest, he acted prudently and reasonably, and he does not see why he should still be held responsible. He has read in many a volume of "Casus Conscientiae," that if a hundred Mass stipends were stolen from a priest through no fault of his, before the Masses were said, the priest would not be bound to say them, because it would be unreasonable on the part of the donor to require this of him. In accepting the stipends for the Masses, either for himself or for others to say, he did not intend to be responsible for the money under all circumstances, but only to a reasonable and just extent.

Answer.—On May 11, 1904, Pope Pius X issued a special decree concerning "Missae manuales," to be binding on all priests throughout the world. These "Missae manuales" are the Masses that a priest receives, from day to day, from the faithful, to say for one intention or another, and for which he receives a stipend. "Who must say these Masses?" "When must they be said?" "To whom may they be given, in case the original recipient can not say them?" "In what sense is the original recipient still responsible for them, in case the priest to whom he gave them does not say them?" These are some of the questions which the Holy Father's instruction answers.

It may be well, therefore, before discussing Father Joseph's case, to give the several articles of the Pope's decree which refer to the matter in hand. The decree emanates from the Sacred Congregation of the Council, and is dated May 11, 1904. It is entitled: "Decretum de observandis et evitandis in Missarum manualium satisfactione."

Manual Masses, according to the decree, are all Masses that the faithful, from day to day, request a priest to say, at the same time offering him a stipend for the Mass, whether the stipend be given out of hand (brevi manu) or be provided for in the last will, or the estate be burdened with the obligation of having a certain number of Masses said from year to year, in perpetuum, provided only they may be said in any church, by any priest, as the head of the family may elect.

1. No priest may ask for or accept Mass stipends unless he is morally certain that he himself will be able to say the Masses within the time hereinafter fixed for acquitting that obligation; he must say such Masses personally, except he be a bishop ruling a diocese, or a prelate of a religious order having jurisdiction; if he be a bishop or a prelate the Masses may be said by the priests subject to such jurisdiction.

2. The ordinary time limit for saying a Mass for which a stipend has been accepted is one month; six months for one hundred Masses, and in similar proportion for larger numbers.

3. No priest is allowed to accept a larger number of stipends than he himself can probably satisfy within one year from the time of accepting them, unless with the explicit consent of the person offering the stipend.

4. After the lapse of a year from the date that the stipends were received, if through unforeseen circumstances there remain a considerable number of Masses unsaid, the obligation is to be placed in the hands of the bishop, together with the honorarium, unless it is clear that the delay is at least not contrary to the intention of the original donor of the Masses. In this matter the Holy Father burdens, "sub gravi" the consciences of those who are responsible for the Masses.

5. Those to whom a number of stipends has been committed, with the understanding that they may be given to other priests to say, may give them to any priests they have a mind to, provided they are certain, from personal knowledge, that these priests can and will say the Masses.

6. Those who have given the surplus stipends, for which they have been unable to say the Masses, to their Ordinary, may consider themselves free from all further obligation before God and the Church. But whoever commits the stipends received by him to other priests is responsible for them before God and the Church until he knows for certain that the Masses have been actually said; and if, through the loss or the miscarriage of the money, or through the death of the priest, or through any other accident, there remain any reasonable doubt as to whether the Masses were said, the original recipient of the Masses is bound in conscience to say them or to have them said.

These are the articles of the decree that bear upon the case of Father Joseph.

It will be seen at once that they render the doctrine regarding Mass stipends much more stringent than the commonly accepted teaching of the moralists.

Without going into further details concerning the decree, we will say briefly that in the light of it:

1. Father Joseph is bound, under pain of mortal sin, to hand over the one hundred Masses, together with the stipends which he has still left after one year from receiving them, to his bishop, who will take care of them. And having handed them over to the bishop, Father Joseph is in no wise responsible for them any longer.

2. Father Joseph must also say the two hundred and fifty Masses that he gave his friend to say. His friend did not say them himself, since he died shortly after receiving them, nor is there any record that he had them said by somebody else. In this transaction Father Joseph is not merely the transmitting agent between Mr. M., who gave the Masses, and his friend the priest, to whom he gave them. Father Joseph himself entered into a contract with Mr. M. to say the Masses.

Nor should Father Joseph have taken the five hundred Masses from Mr. M. without Mr. M.'s explicit consent that he might take several years to say the Masses. According to the Pope's decree, it is expressly forbidden to accept more Masses than one can say oneself within a year.

This decree of the Holy Father is in every way reasonable and timely, and if Father Joseph will only strive to observe its provisions in the future, it will save him from contracting a great deal of responsibility before God, which perhaps he would never be able to satisfy for in this world.