Case XXII: For What Persons May the Holy Sacrifice of Mass Be Offered?

Applied correction from Woywod's opening insert: CASE XXII is briefly answered by Canons 809 and 2262 of the Code which state that Holy Mass may be applied for any of the living or the dead except for those excommunicated or separated from the union with the Church, as all members of Protestant sects are. But even for these while they are living Holy Mass may be said privately, due care being taken that no scandal is given to the faithful. But for those who are excommunicated by name, through a decree of either the bishop or the Holy See, the Holy Sacrifice can be offered up only for their conversion.

Titius, a parish priest, receives from a pious Catholic lady three Mass stipends, with the request that he say three Masses for the following three intentions: One for her brother, who died without baptism, although he was a man of upright life, who feared God and departed from evil; one for an Episcopalian friend, who died in good faith and to all appearances in the grace of God; and one for the soul of her late husband, who was an "excommunicatus vitandus," who at the moment of death gave unmistakable signs of repentance, although on account of the suddenness of his taking off, there was no time to call a priest.

Titius accepted the stipends and said three Requiem Masses, in serting the names of the dead persons in the orations of the Mass. When taken to task for this by another priest, Titius replied that the sacrifice of the Mass may be offered up for all those for whom the sacrifice of the Cross was offered up. As Christ died for all men, therefore Mass may be said for all men.

1. For whom may the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass be offered?

2. Did Titius do right in this matter, and what is to be said about the reason he gave for saying Mass for everybody?

3. Ought Titius to return the stipends?

I. It is evident from the Council of Trent (s. XXII) that Mass may be said for all the living who are baptized and living in communion with the Church, as well as for the souls in purgatory. There is no difficulty on that point. The difficulty arises when there is question of saying Mass for persons excommunicated, or for heretics and schismatics, or for the unbaptized. May a priest say Mass for any of these latter, whether living or dead?

Considered in itself, and apart from the legislation of the Church, there is no reason why Mass may not be said for any and all persons, since the sacrifice of the Cross was offered for all mankind. But inasmuch as the Mass is an act of public worship, its celebration comes under the laws and discipline of the Church. Hence in regard to saying Mass, the general rule is laid down that Mass may be said for any and all persons, except those for whom the Church by an express and incontrovertible law (for this is materia odiosa) forbids it to be said.

2. The act by which a priest offers up Mass for any particular person may be a public act, or it may be semi-public, or it may be an altogether private act; that is to say, the act by which the priest applies the special fruit of the Mass, or its ministerial fruit, as some theologians call it, to some private individual may be a public, a semi-public, or a private act. It is a public act when the priest announces to the faithful that Mass will be said for such or such a person, or when he inserts the name of the person in the orations of the Mass. It is a semi-public act when the priest accepts the stipend and promises to say Mass for the person named, although he says nothing to the faithful about it. The act is a private act if the priest's intention in offering the Mass be known only to God.

Now with these observations in mind, let us discuss the question of offering Mass for the living.

1. The Church forbids the public offering of Mass for an excommunicatus vitandus (Ita omnes. Bened. XIV).

2. The Church allows Mass to be said for a heretic or a schismatic provided the Mass be said for the express purpose of obtaining for the heretic or the schismatic the grace of conversion to the true faith (dec. Holy Off., April 19, 1837).

3. The Church allows Mass to be said for an unbaptized person, provided the saying of it gives no scandal to the faithful, and that nothing special is added in the Mass, and provided there be nothing bad or false or superstitious in the intention of the person offering the stipend, if such person be unbaptized (dec. July 21, 1865). Thus Mass may be said for an unbaptized sick person that he be restored to health, or for an unbaptized person condemned to death, that he recover his liberty, or escape the death penalty (Holy Off., March 11, 1848).

Regarding Mass for the dead the Holy See was asked the following questions:

1. Is it lawful to say Mass for those who die in open heresy, especially if it be known that you say Mass for them?

2. Is it lawful to say Mass for such persons if no one knows it except the priest and the person offering the stipend?

I. Both of these questions the Holy See answered in the negative. In neither case is it allowed to say Mass. From which we conclude that the Church makes no distinction between the public and the semi-public saying of Mass, but forbids both alike.

II. It is not lawful, under any circumstances, to say Mass for those who have died without baptism, “for the dead who depart from this life in their unbelief” (dec. Sept. 12, 1845).

III. It is not lawful to offer prayer in the name of the Church for an excommunicated person, if such person died while under the ban of excommunication, unless first absolved, no matter how contrite the person may have been at the hour of death, and even though before God he may have been absolved from the excommunication (c. 28 de sent. excomm.). The absolution from the excommunication must be first pronounced over their corpse, before Mass may be said for their soul.

IV. Titius did wrong in accepting the stipends, and saying Mass for the intention of the giver, and above all he did wrong in mentioning the names of the dead person in the orations of the Mass.

V. Titius is not bound to return the stipends he received for the Masses, because he did not sin against commutative justice. He did all that he promised to do, when he took the stipends. He sinned against the laws of the Church, by saying the Masses, but he did not sin against the virtue of commutative justice.