Case LIII: The Obligations to Hear Stipend Masses

Father Paulus received a large sum of money from a lady whom he visited frequently during her illness, and to whom he supplied all consolations of religion. She asked him to see that the money was spent for Masses after her death. He put the money in the savings bank of the town, and when the lady died, two years later, he took out part of it in order to have Masses offered by befriended priests, but the rest he intended to appropriate for the Masses that he would say himself. As he had other similar duties to perform, nearly two years elapsed before he had said all the Masses. Did he act rightly?

In taking the money to a savings bank, Paulus did as he was bound to do. As long as the giver lived he was in the position of custodian of money not his own, the interest of which belonged to the owner. He had to deal with it as a sensible owner would do, and a sensible man nowadays invests his money where it will bring in interest. He might of course deduct car fare, and any other incidental expenses. The owner was free to appropriate the interest or to apply it to some definite use. As she did neither of these things, it was added to the capital and increased the number of Masses. It is plain that the lady before her death might have asked for the money to be returned, and have put it to some other use. In order to fulfil the obligations of a careful custodian, Paulus ought to have made a note of the source whence he obtained the money and the object for which it was given, so that if he should die suddenly, the money entrusted to him would be put to its proper use.

As soon as the owner died, her instructions had to be carried out, and Paulus was bound either to say the Masses himself, or to arrange for them to be said by others, and in return he acquired a right to dispose of the money. Hitherto he had only been its custodian, so that if it had been lost through no fault of his (e. g., if it had been stolen), he would have been under no obligations with regard to it, but now he was its owner, and had all the duties and responsibilities of ownership. If it were now lost, it would be his duty to have the Masses said at his own expense.

Noldin, de sacramentis, no. 184, writes: "When this contract (I give that you may do) has been entered upon, ownership of the stipend passes to the priest together with the obligation in justice of applying the sacrifice of the Mass for the intention of the giver; he can satisfy this obligation either personally or through another. Therefore, if through any fortuitous event whatsoever the priest loses the stipend received, the obligation of applying the Mass does not cease, since a thing perishes to its owner." A contrary opinion is, however, held by some authorities; Génicot, for instance, says (Th. mor. inst., II. 230): "Manual Masses could be omitted wholly or in part if the money accepted as a stipend perished wholly or in part, for example by being stolen." Since the issue of the decree " Ut debita" by the S. C. C. May 11, 1904, it has not been permissible to hold this latter opinion, for there is in the decree an explicit statement (no. 6) to the effect that if any one has in anyway undertaken to say Masses he is bound by his obligation until he receives from those to whom he has transferred the stipendia definite information that the Masses have been said, "so that if, through the loss of the alms, the death of the priest, or any other cause whatsoever, even a fortuitous one, the matter should come to nothing, the person commissioning the Masses must make good the loss from his own resources and is bound to satisfy the Masses." Paulus is therefore fully responsible for the Masses that have to be said.

The will of the giver of the money decides the number of the Masses and the amount of the stipendia. It is a very commendable custom to ask the necessary questions on this subject when the stipendium is given, in order that there may be no obscurity as to the obligation incurred and the manner of its fulfilment. The wish of the giver is, according to the rules of the Church (" Ut debita," no. 2, 4), decisive also in regulating the time within which the Masses are said, and the transference of the intentions. In this particular case the lady gave no special instructions, and therefore the ordinary rules of the Church ought to be observed. The number of Masses depends upon the amount of the money given, and the stipendium usually paid, or required, in the diocese. This is the standard for Masses provided for by a legacy, and the same standard is applicable to the stipendia for Masses entrusted to other priests. "The alms can never be separated from the celebration of the Mass, nor exchanged for other things or diminished, but must be handed over in full and in its own kind to the celebrant." These words are quoted from the decree " Ut debita," no. 9, which now is the chief authority on these subjects. In no. 11 it is laid down that in pilgrimage churches, where the faithful offer large stipendia, nothing may be deducted for the good of the church. A rector may not deduct anything to cover the expenses for wine, candles, etc. from the stipendium of the priest who says the Masses, but something may be asked for the sacristan and servers.

Special decisions dated February 25 and 27, 1905, sanction a custom prevailing in many places, according to which a curate says Mass for the parish priest's intention, or hands over the stipendium to him, receiving in return the ordinary maintenance, but only "provided and for so long as no abuse of this or another kind arises, over which it will be the Ordinary’s duty to keep watch." The Church desires strictly to forbid every kind of bargaining in connection with the acceptance and r transference of stipendia for Masses. (As an exception and pro gratia ad quinquennium, in the archdiocese of Tarragona in Spain, the episcopal administrator is allowed to keep back three per cent of the stipendia for Masses, in return for his work and expenses, and in the same way the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer may make a small deduction from stipendia given, but not collected, for the benefit of their missions, if they are transferred.) Paulus gave the intentions and stipendia for them to other priests; it did not even occur to him to see (e. g. Noldin, de sacr., 192) whether he could find a reason for diminishing the amount for his own advantage; as a matter of fact he would have found none that applied to him.

He gave the intentions to priests whom he knew and asked them to say the Masses, and he acted quite correctly. The rule laid down by the Church (no. 5) runs as follows: "that Masses may be entrusted ... to priests of his good will, provided they are certainly and personally known to him and above every objection." The rules of the Church are therefore very stringent;—the priest to whom any one gives stipendia must be personally known, and must be a conscientious priest, who affords full security that he will faithfully perform the duty undertaken for the giver of the stipendia. It is simpler if they are sent to the Apostolic See, to the Propaganda, or to papal delegates (for priests in the east), or to the Ordinary (in the case of seculars, the Bishop of the diocese; in that of regulars, the General of the Order). If this is done, all responsibility is at an end, for it is transferred absolutely to the Ordinary, who is equally bound to fulfil the obligations (nos. 6, 7). If stipendia for Masses in any form whatever are transferred to another priest, the person transferring them is not free from responsibility until he is definitely informed that the Masses have been said (no. 6). This information may be given either in writing, or verbally if there seems no need to write.

Since priests as well as Bishops are required to notify the fact that the Masses have been said, and since the S. C. C. in three decrees (" Vigilanti," May 25, 1893, " Ut debita" May 11, 1904, " Recenti," May 22, 1907) has stringently laid down that the wishes of the faithful with regard to Masses are to be carried out exactly and conscientiously, it is the duty of every priest to conform to these regulations. If therefore Paulus receives no notification from the priests concerned, to the effect that the Masses have been duly said, he must make inquiries, when he has opportunity, so as to obtain the necessary information and quiet his own conscience.

Paulus reserved for himself the chief part of the intentions and stipendia. He took from time to time the money for twenty or thirty Masses out of the savings bank, and then said the Masses; and he continued to do this until the whole sum of money, and the interest on it, were exhausted. He might, strictly speaking, have spent the interest on himself; for as soon as he became owner of the money, and had undertaken the obligations attached to it, he could act on the principle " Res fructificat domino." The interest was fructus industrialis. It was praiseworthy of him to apply the interest also to Masses for the deceased lady, but he was not bound to do so. As to the time within which the Masses ought to be said, besides the wishes of the lady giving the stipendia, the decision in the decree " Ut debita," nos. 2, 3, 4, must be taken into consideration. The decree states: "A suitable time for fulfilling obligations of manual Masses is one month for one Mass, six months for one hundred Masses, and another longer or shorter span of time in proportion to the greater or smaller number of Masses." Therefore one Mass, irrespective of its particular intention (apart from a possible decision expressly or tacitly stated in the intention by the giver), must be said within a month. This applies to each single Mass, and also to cases in which several people each desire a Mass to be said. For instance, if on All Souls' Day, thirty people should come to a priest, each wishing to have one Mass said, he must either decline to receive more intentions, or must point out that the Masses can only be said later. If they agree, there will beno further difficulty. If any one asks for one hundred Masses, they must be said within six months. The remark added to the regulation fixing the period within which Masses must be said shows that it is not to be interpreted too strictly. The expression utile and not necessarium tempus is also characteristic. The rule is given in accordance with what appears useful and expedient, but a certain freedom is left. In comparison with six months, a period of three, four or five weeks is described by some authors as tempus breve. No. 3 contains a definite limitation: "No one is permitted to undertake so many Masses that he probably cannot himself satisfy them within a year from the day they were accepted." No. 4 requires that foundation Masses not said at the end of the calendar year, and manual Masses not said post annum a die suscepti oneris, si agatur de magno missarum numero, must be given over to the Ordinary. The Church requires that in the case where the giver of the stipendium has not in anyway fixed the time when the Masses are to be said, they must be said within a reasonable period, and that any accumulation of intentions (numerus maximus, ingens copia, as it is called in the decree " Recenti"), and the risks inseparable from it, shall be avoided. Hitherto no more detailed instructions have been issued by the Church, and it would be a mistake to think that the statements made by certain writers have ecclesiastical authority. Such writers are Schüch-Polz, Pastoraltheologie, 15, p. 416, and Noldin, de sacr., no. 187. ("Thus, if from one and the same person, without a determination of time, from one up to ten Masses are offered, they must be discharged within a month; if twenty are offered, within two months; if forty, within three months; if sixty, within four months; if eighty, within five months; if one hundred, within six months; and so on; if two hundred, within a year.") These detailed statements originated in a question asked by the Ruthenian Archbishop of Lemberg ("Whether, according to article 2, terms for discharge may be established"); the answer of the S. C. C. (there is no suggestion of a decree, although Polz speaks of one) on February 27, 1905, is as follows: "The matter is to be left to the prudent judgment and conscience of priests according to the decree and the rules handed down by approved doctors."

The Archbishop's proposal was therefore neither accepted nor rejected by the Sacred Congregation; it certainly was not recognized as an official regulation, but was set aside, and the Congregation directed adherence to the decree and the rules of eminent authorities in a reasonable and conscientious way. " Ubi lex non distinguit, neque nos distinguere debemus " is an old rule still in force.

The wishes of the person giving the stipendia have more weight than anything else, with regard to the fulfilment of the obligation to say certain Masses and to the time at which they are said. The decree " Ut provida " was issued to protect the interests of the giver of stipendia, and in it there are several statements to this effect. For instance, in no. 3, "Always preserving the contrary will of those offering the stipends, who either explicitly or implicitly request a shorter time for the celebration of Masses because of some urgent cause, or grant a longer time, or of their own accord entrust a greater number of Masses"; and in no. 4, " salva diversa voluntate offerentium." If therefore the person who has the Mass offered wishes it to be said on some particular day, it must be said then. Exact instructions on this point are very desirable, if not actually necessary, and it is also advisable to tell the person asking for Masses whether or no they can be said on the days appointed. In many cases it is -plainly the wish of the person having the Mass said that they should be said as soon as possible; for instance, a Mass of thanksgiving for a safe delivery, or a Mass for some one who has just died, should be said without delay; but when the Mass is in honor of some Saint or for the Holy Souls, the day is left more or less to the priest. This is particularly the case when, as the decree states explicitly, any one voluntarily asks some special priest to say a number of Masses. If a considerable sum for Masses is given to a priest on one occasion, the giver must of course be aware that it will take some time to say all the Masses. He agrees, in such a case as this, to their not being said within a year, but during a longer period. This consent can safely betaken for granted when the request for Masses is made to an individual priest or confessor, and not at the presbytery. This is what took place in the case under discussion. As Paulus was the confessor of the lady in question, she commissioned him to provide for the repose of her soul after her death; he may and must say the Masses, as far as he can and when he can; and he is at liberty of course to share the task with other priests by asking them to say Masses for the same intention. This was no doubt the wish of the lady who gave him the stipendia, and therefore he has acted quite rightly in the matter.—Prof. Asenstorfer.