§ 2. On the Things Required for the Celebration of Mass

For celebrating Mass rightly and legitimately, many things are required which can be referred: 1. to the altar and its furnishings; 2. to the sacred vessels and their accessories; 3. to the sacred vestments; and 4. to the minister of the priest.

1630. 1. The ALTAR, that is, the stone ordained and consecrated for sacrificing, is required under grave obligation for the celebration of Mass. This is clear from the perpetual discipline of the Church, and it is prescribed in the Rubric of the Missal.¹³ - But a twofold altar is distinguished: the one fixed, which is consecrated as joined to a base; and the other portable, or altar-stone, which is consecrated as separated from a base. - Each must be consecrated by a Bishop, and in it, while it is consecrated, Relics of martyrs are to be placed, and indeed from a grave precept.¹⁴ Yet sometimes, from Indult of the Supreme Pontiff, faculty is conceded of celebrating on a broken altar, or one lacking Relics, if otherwise celebration cannot be made.

The altar remains suited for celebration as long as it is not execrated. Now it is EXECRATED: 1. if, when it is fixed, the consecrated stone is removed from the lower structure, but not if the whole altar is transferred to another place;¹⁵ 2. if it is enormously broken, say if the table has been divided into two or several notable parts, or also if the part divided by fracture is from those parts in which special anointings had been employed;¹⁶ 3. if the sepulcher of the Relics is violated, through fracture or removal of the seal, namely of the cover by which the sepulcher is closed. But if only the seal of the Bishop impressed in wax has been erased, the altar is not execrated.¹⁷

2. "Let the altar be covered with THREE CLOTHS, or clean altar-cloths, blessed by the Bishop or by another having power, the upper one at least oblong, which reaches down to the ground, the other two shorter, or one doubled." Thus the Rubric of the Missal.¹⁸ Wherefore let it be NOTED: 1. The cloths must be made from linen or hemp, but not from another material, although rivaling linen or hemp in cleanliness, whiteness, and tenacity.¹⁹ 2. To celebrate with cloths not blessed does not exceed venial fault, from which any reasonable cause excuses. 3. To celebrate without any cloth is judged a mortal sin, from which grave necessity nevertheless excuses; to celebrate with two cloths, or one doubled, will be venial; and the same seems to be said if celebration is made upon one single cloth and not doubled.²⁰

3. On the altar, in the middle, let there be placed a CROSS WITH AN IMAGE OF THE CRUCIFIED, open, visible, and of such size that it comes at once into the sight of the celebrant and of the people. Thus the Rubric of the Missal.²¹ It is not indeed mortal, as the very common opinion holds, to celebrate without a cross, but it cannot be excused from venial sin.²² Yet a cross is not required if a sculpted or painted image of the crucified Savior holds the principal place in the larger picture of the altar.²³ On an altar where the Most Holy Sacrament is publicly exposed at the time of the Sacrifice, the cross can be placed or removed according to the custom of places.²⁴

4. "Let CANDLESTICKS be placed on the altar, at least two, with candles lit, here and there on each side." Thus the Rubric of the Missal.²⁵ This precept obliges under grave obligation, nor can even the necessity of ministering Viaticum exempt from it. Whence, if the light fails before consecration, one must altogether desist from celebrating; otherwise, if after consecration: in which case it is better, although the candles can be relit, to continue the Mass without delay, because such continuation pertains to the unity of the Sacrifice. To celebrate with one wax candle, according to the more probable and more common opinion, is only venial, from which therefore any reasonable cause excuses. To celebrate with candles of tallow or oil is commonly held as mortal, from which only a grave cause excuses.²⁶ Nevertheless, if the prescribed wax candles are present, it is not prohibited to employ candles of another material, for example stearin, outside the table of the altar, for increasing solemnity. The third wax candle to be lit after the Sanctus can be omitted, since it is prescribed from a merely directive Rubric, and today common usage bears thus.²⁷ - More candles than are prescribed by the Rubric can also be lit in private Mass, on account of the solemnity of some feast, or even on account of devotion; but not on account of the dignity of the celebrant, unless he is a Cardinal, Bishop, or Abbot having the use of Pontificals.²⁸

5. A MISSAL containing at least the Canon is required under grave obligation; but, without Pontifical Indult, it is not licit to use any Missal other than the Roman. - Yet a pilgrim priest, celebrating in a church to which a proper Missal has been conceded, can use it, in the case in which a Roman Missal cannot be had. It is similarly licit, according to the probable and very common opinion, sometimes to celebrate without a Missal, if none can be had, provided from past experience it is morally clear that every danger of erring is absent.²⁹

Note. Some other things, yet of lesser necessity, are prescribed in the Rubric. Among other things these are read: Let the altar "also be adorned with a pallium, or frontal, of a color, as far as can be done, suitable to the feast or Office of the day," unless nevertheless a just cause excuses, for example poverty or contrary custom. "At the foot of the cross let the tablet called of the Secrets be placed. At the Epistle corner, a cushion, or another decent support, is to be placed under the Missal, and on the same Epistle side there is to be prepared... a small bell, glass cruets of wine and water, with a basin and a clean hand-towel in the little window or on a small table prepared for these things. - On the altar let nothing at all be placed which does not pertain to the Sacrifice of the Mass or to the ornament of the altar itself."³⁰

1631. The sacred vessels are these: chalice and paten, pyx and lunette of the monstrance, to which the monstrance itself can also be numbered; the accessories are: corporal, pall, purificator, burse, and veil. Wherefore let the following be noted:

There is required, under grave obligation, for the celebration of Mass: 1. A CHALICE, and say the same of the PATEN, made from due material, and consecrated by the Bishop. Thus from the Rubric of the Missal.³¹ The use of a small spoon for pouring water into the chalice is prohibited by no law.³²

The Chalice with Paten "ought to be either gold, or silver, or at least to have a silver cup, gilded within." On account of poverty, a chalice with a cup of tin is permitted,¹ but not of bronze, copper, or another material.² From a more recent concession, chalices of aluminum mixed with other metals, commonly Bronzo di aluminio, are permitted, provided they receive certain silvering and gilding within, according to the instruction of the S. Rit. C.³

The chalice and paten must necessarily be consecrated by the Bishop; nor do they receive consecration from the fact that someone, even in good faith, has celebrated in them while they were not yet consecrated.⁴ Abbots having the use of Pontificals can consecrate sacred vessels, and similarly bells, for their churches, but not for others.⁵

Both chalice and paten are execrated if they are notably broken; for example if there is a hole in the bottom, even a very tiny one; if the cup is separated from a fixed foot, but not if from a turned one; because in the first case the chalice loses its form, not likewise in the second, since the parts of the chalice can be joined without new artifice. They are also execrated when they are gilded anew; wherefore they need a new consecration.⁶

To the question: "Whether a consecrated chalice remaining whole is to be judged to have lost its consecration from this alone, that it was employed by heretics for profane use, for example for drinking at table?" the Qualifiers of the Holy Office responded in the year 1674: "that it remains execrated."⁷

There are required: 2. A PYX or ciborium, and a Monstrance for preservation and public exposition of the Most Holy Eucharist. These ought to be of solid and decent material, just as the cup of the pyx and the lunette of the monstrance, namely from the same material as that which is prescribed for the chalice, or even from gilded copper.⁸ The pyx indeed and the lunette ought, from the precept of the Church, to be blessed by the Bishop, or by a priest having faculty.⁹ As regards the monstrance, it is not indeed required that it be blessed, yet it is laudably blessed.

There are required: 3. Corporal, pall, and purificator of linen or hemp. Yet for the Indies an Indult was conceded by Clement XIII of celebrating upon a corporal of cotton cloth.¹⁰ These linens ought to be of the greatest cleanliness, first of all the corporal, so that it is held as mortal to celebrate on an enormously unclean corporal, unless necessity excuses, for example if the celebrant or others would otherwise have to omit Mass of precept. - It is necessary that the corporal and pall have been blessed by the Bishop or by another having faculty.¹¹ But for the purificator no blessing is prescribed.¹²

Yet the necessity of the aforesaid things is not the same in all. To celebrate without a corporal or with one not blessed cannot be excused from mortal sin, unless grave necessity urges. With respect to the pall, the matter is controverted; wherefore, if a pall is lacking, or if it must be waited for through a quarter of an hour, another corporal can be used in its place, or, this also lacking, the purificator or burse. But if a purificator cannot easily be had, it is probably licit to celebrate without it, and in its place to use a clean small towel, which afterwards is no longer employed for profane use.¹³

Note. The corporal can be adorned at the extremities with gold or silk, but not likewise in the middle. - It is similarly licit to cover the pall, on the upper part, with silk cloth or woven gold, provided the linen pall attached beneath covers the chalice, and the upper cloth is not of black color, or does not bear some insignia of death.¹⁴

There is required: 4. a veil, and this silk, and a burse, of the color of the vestments. - But these are not to be blessed separately, nor is it any sin to celebrate without them.

1632. It is asked: To whom is it licit TO TOUCH the sacred vessels and linens?

Resp. 1. If they actually contain the Most Holy Sacrament, outside a case of necessity or danger of profanation, it is licit for no one, short of grave fault, to touch them, even mediately, except a priest or deacon. Thus commonly.

Resp. 2. If they are empty, it is permitted to touch them: 1. to subdeacons, also in the ministry of the altar; 2. to acolytes, and from custom to other clerics, outside ministry; likewise to regulars and Nuns who are sacristans, from privilege; 3. to all laymen from a reasonable cause; which lacking, they sin, according to the very common and truer opinion, but not more than venially, scandal and contempt being excluded. "And today," says St. Alphonsus, "it can be said from custom that this is licit... to all who serve churches in clerical habit....; at least I say these are excused from fault, because while they exercise the office of sacristan, there is always some necessity of touching sacred vessels." And the same applies to the touching of corporals after use.¹⁵ From the things said it is inferred that sacred vessels, if they are to be stripped, restored, or gilded, are licitly touched by the artisan, because a just cause is present.

Resp. 3. With respect to the WASHING of sacred linens, a threefold washing is required. - The first of these is to be performed by subdeacons, whose peculiar office it is.¹⁶ Yet there are not lacking those who teach that it can also be made by any tonsured cleric. It would be more fitting if the second and third washing were also done by a consecrated person; nevertheless there is no sin if they are done by laymen. - If a layman performs the first washing, he sins, but only venially; but when a just cause intervenes, the washing lacks every fault. - Moreover it is required, from canon law, that the vessels in which sacred linens are washed serve no other use, and that the water of washing be poured into the sacrarium; nor can derogation be made from this precept by any contrary custom.¹⁷

1633. The SACRED VESTMENTS in which the priest ought to be clothed in the celebration of Mass are the following: amice, alb, cincture, maniple, stole, and chasuble or planeta: the latter three and the alb are called MAJOR by liturgical authors; the amice and cincture, MINOR. Wherefore it must be noted:

1. The priest, for performing the Sacrifice of the Mass, ought to be clothed with all the aforesaid vestments. Thus from the Rubric of the Missal.¹⁸ The precept with respect to the aforesaid vestments, although it obliges the celebrant in conscience, nevertheless does not urge equally in all its parts. For: 1. To celebrate without any sacred vestment is never licit; nor can this ever be made honorable by any cause, not even by danger of death, unless by Pontifical dispensation alone, if perhaps sometimes it is conceded, say in time of persecution.¹⁹ 2. To omit some one from the major vestments is a mortal sin; yet in a case of grave necessity, it is probably licit to celebrate without stole or maniple. - 3. To celebrate without cincture, or without amice, probably is not mortal; indeed, there is no sin if, these being lacking, a reasonable cause of celebrating is present, such as even the devotion of the celebrant alone.²⁰

But vestments "ought not to be torn or rent, but whole, and decently clean and beautiful."²¹ To celebrate with vestments enormously unclean or torn is mortal, unless necessity excuses, namely if the celebrant or others would otherwise have to omit Mass of precept. - If they are not very unclean or torn, it will be venial; indeed no sin, if others cannot be had.²²

2. Vestments ought to be blessed by the Bishop, or by another having faculty. Thus the Rubric of the Missal.²³ This blessing is required by the same necessity as the vestments themselves, since vestments not blessed are esteemed in the same way as non-sacred vestments.²⁴ Moreover, regular Prelates cannot, without special privilege, bless sacred vestments. Such privilege is ordinarily conceded to them only for their own churches. If nevertheless they have blessed for other churches, the blessing, although illicit, is nevertheless valid.²⁵ - Bishops, without Pontifical Indult, cannot delegate to others the faculty of blessing sacred vestments;²⁶ a fortiori, regular Prelates cannot do this.

3. With respect to the material of vestments, these things are to be observed: 1. Amice and alb must be made from linen or hemp;²⁷ 2. the cincture can be woolen or silk, although it is more fitting that it be linen;²⁸ 3. vestments of suitable color can be made from silk or half-silk, or from gold texture; but not from glassy texture, nor from linen cloth or cotton,²⁹ nor finally from wool; yet linen, just as cotton, can be mixed in the texture of the vestments.³⁰

4. "The vestments of the altar, of the celebrant and of the ministers, ought to be of the color suitable to the Office and Mass of the day, according to the use of the Roman Church, which has been accustomed to use five colors: white, red, green, violet, and black."³¹ - Hence, there are excluded vestments both of various colors and of yellow or blue color.³² Nevertheless a certain mixture of other colors is not reprobated, by way of ornament, provided one color is truly predominant. Nor are vestments made from gold cloth reprobated; indeed, rather, the custom of places is to be tolerated by which, for any color whatever except violet and black, they are employed.³³ The aforesaid Rubric, since it treats of a thing which accompanies the Mass, more probably is not only directive, but also preceptive. Nevertheless, scandal excluded, it obliges only venially, and therefore any reasonable cause excuses from every sin, as if at a gathering of priests there were not enough vestments of the due color.³⁴

5. Sacred vestments are execrated when they are notably and indecently torn, or have lost their form; or when, other parts having been added, they are so repaired that in the estimation of the prudent they can no longer be judged the same.³⁵ But torn vestments, or those consumed by age, must be consumed by fire, and not employed for profane uses.³⁶

1634. It must further be noted: 1. "Vestments ought not to be taken from the altar for the celebration of Masses, since this belongs only to Bishops, whether they celebrate solemnly or privately."³⁷ But, if the sacristy is lacking, or a table prepared for this, they can be placed upon the altar, not in the middle, as for Bishops, but at the Gospel corner. Yet this is licit to no one on an altar where the Most Holy Sacrament is exposed.³⁸

2. The celebrant ought to be shod on the feet. Concerning which the S. R. C., August 31, 1872, in Gerunden., responded: "Clerics, especially in sacred functions, ought to employ stockings or shoes which approved Clerics of the place or Diocese are accustomed publicly to use."³⁹ To celebrate without cause, with bare feet, contempt excluded, does not exceed venial sin; if it happens from necessity or reasonable cause, there is no sin.⁴⁰

3. The celebrant, approaching the vestments, ought to be "clothed in garments suitable to himself, of which at least the exterior reaches the heel of the foot."⁴¹ This rubric, scandal and contempt excluded, seems to oblige only under venial sin. Yet various Councils have prescribed its observance under penalty of suspension incurred by the very fact by the delinquent, in the place of his own residence.⁴²

4. "Let no one dare to use a small cap in the celebration of Mass, without express license of the Apostolic See, notwithstanding any contrary custom whatever."⁴³ Hence the Doctors say it is mortal to celebrate the whole Mass with covered head; otherwise, if until the Canon, contempt and scandal excluded.⁴⁴ But in an extraordinary case, if the illness is not long-lasting, it will be licit from presumed license to celebrate with the small cap, provided it is removed from the Preface to the end of Communion.

Similarly, "Innocent XII... ordered the Ordinaries of places to be warned that they should not permit anyone, without privilege of the Apostolic See, to perform the sacrosanct Sacrifice of the Mass with false hair."⁴⁵ But several authors testify that this law has become obsolete in various places.

1635. I. It is licit for no priest to celebrate without a SERVING MINISTER. Thus all from the formal prescription of law,⁴⁶ which obliges under grave obligation. - Yet necessity excuses from this law; whence the Doctors commonly say that it is licit to celebrate without a minister: 1. if the necessity of ministering Viaticum urges; 2. if the people, or the celebrant himself, ought to satisfy the precept of hearing Mass; 3. if, Mass having begun, especially after the oblation has been made, the minister departs, not going to return shortly.

II. The minister serving the celebrant ought to be MALE. For it has been guarded by law "that no woman presume to approach the altar, or minister to the presbyter, or stand or sit within the rails."⁴⁷

This precept obliges under grave obligation, and therefore, when necessity urges, it would be better to celebrate without a minister than with a woman ministering. Yet in a case of necessity, a woman, especially if she is a nun, could respond from afar, provided she does not minister at the altar by offering the cruets, etc.⁴⁸

Note. 1. Although the rubrics concerning the rite to be observed by the minister are preceptive, nevertheless "let the celebrant not make himself scrupulous if the minister pronounces badly, nor easily correct errors, lest he disturb himself or those standing around, or the order of the Mass"; it suffices if he supplies those things which are omitted by the minister. 2. A lesser necessity suffices for celebrating with a minister who does not know how to respond than without a minister.⁴⁹

You will ask whether it is licit for a minister to serve a priest celebrating unworthily. Resp. No, unless he is excused by a grave cause. Thus St. Alphonsus¹ against Suarez and others, who deny that such cooperation is illicit whenever the priest could easily find another minister (cf. n. 1377).