§ 4. On The Privileged Altar For The Dead

In these words the S. C. OF INDULGENCES, July 28, 1840,¹⁰ declares the efficacy of this privilege:

1743. "By the Indulgence annexed to a PRIVILEGED ALTAR, if the mind of the one granting and the use of the power of the keys are considered, there is to be understood a plenary indulgence, which immediately frees the soul from all punishments of Purgatory; but if the effect of the application is considered, there is to be understood an indulgence whose measure corresponds to the good pleasure and acceptance of the divine mercy." - But if celebration is made for several deceased persons, the indulgence of the altar is limited to one of them, except on the day of the Commemoration of All the Dead, from the decision of the S. C. of Indulgences, June 19, 1880, in Romana, to the 2nd,¹¹ and February 29, 1864, in Andegaven.¹²

The Privilege can be LOCAL or real, when namely it is attached to the altar itself; or PERSONAL, when it is granted to the priest himself, wherever he is going to celebrate.

I. The LOCAL Privilege is generally subject to these rules:

1. The altar must be fixed, unless a portable one is permitted in the Indult. But fixed is here understood not in the liturgical sense, but as that which is stable and immovable, although not consecrated, and in the middle of which a consecrated stone, even removable, has been placed. Thus the S. C. of Indulgences, March 20, 1846, in Mechlinien.¹³

2. The privilege inheres in the altar erected in honor of some Saint or Mystery, but not in the stone. - Hence, the privilege remains: if, in a fixed altar, another likewise consecrated stone is substituted for the consecrated stone (S. C. Indulg., December 15, 1841, in Mechlinien., to the 3rd);¹⁴ likewise, if the privileged altar under the same title is built again in another place of the church, or in a destroyed church, but rebuilt in the same place (S. C. Indulg., September 16, 1723, in Murana).¹⁵

3. Perpetual burdens and foundations cannot be received for privileged altars. S. C. Indulg., November 16, 1711, in Panormitana.¹⁶

Note. On the day of the Commemoration of all the dead, all altars are privileged (S. C. Indulg., May 19, 1761).¹⁷ The same must be said of the day of exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament for the Forty Hours (Thus Pius VII, through a special Rescript given on May 12, 1807).¹⁸ Yet this must be understood of the prayer of the Forty Hours properly so called, and instituted in all things according to the Instruction of Clement XI, January 21, 1705, and according to the Constitution Accepimus of Benedict XIV, April 16, 1746.

II. The PERSONAL Privilege is granted for a time, or in perpetuity; for all days, or for some days in the week. - Such an Indult does not necessarily have to be exhibited to the Ordinary, unless otherwise disposed in the concession (S. C. Ind., February 5, 1851).¹⁹

But the time of the Privilege begins to run, not from the day of publication or use, but from the day of concession (May 18, 1711).²⁰ "The time (however) set for confirmation of the privilege, in remote regions, is to be computed not from the day of the Date, but from the day of presentation of the Brief to the Ordinary" (February 4, 1736).²¹ - A priest who enjoys the personal privilege of an altar, if he has been aggregated to some Congregation which also enjoys the said privilege, can use this other privilege, provided that in the Indult it is not expressly disposed otherwise.²² It must also be noted that a priest who has made the heroic act, that is, the cession of all satisfactions for the dead, daily enjoys a personal privilege (Pius IX, September 3, 1852).²³

IT IS ASKED. What things must be OBSERVED in the celebration of Mass, so that someone may enjoy the privilege, whether LOCAL or PERSONAL?

Resp. 1. The Mass of Requiem must be said (and indeed in black vestments, or for a reasonable cause violet), as often as it is permitted by the Rubrics; otherwise, the indulgence is not conceded. - Except if another Mass, for example of the Feria, of a semidouble Feast, or even a votive Mass, is celebrated by reason of the exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament, the Station of the church, or some solemnity. Thus the S. C. of Indulgences, April 11, 1864.²⁴ But on impeded days, it suffices to celebrate the Mass of the current Feast.

2. He who has a PERSONAL privilege for three or four Masses in individual weeks must celebrate on non-impeded days, or defer to non-impeded days, insofar as they occur in the same week (S. C. Indulg., April 11, 1840, and February 22, 1847).²⁵

3. A Mass celebrated at a PRIVILEGED ALTAR is privileged, even if neither the one offering the alms nor the priest celebrating intended to apply the privilege. S. C. Indulg., March 12, 1855, in Veronen.²⁶ Nor does the state of grace seem to be required in the celebrant, because the efficacy of the privilege does not rest on the personal dispositions of the priest, but arises from the suffrage of the Church.²⁷

4. He who, on permitted days, did not celebrate in vestments of black color, at a privileged altar, for acquiring the plenary Indulgence, and did this in good faith, to what is he bound? - Resp. "If he was bound by agreement to celebrate Mass at a privileged altar, he must gain the plenary indulgence for those deceased persons to whom he applied the fruit of the Mass, as often as on non-impeded days he did not use vestments of black color."²⁸ S. C. OF INDULGENCES, February 22, 1847 (cf. n. 1616).

Note. The Sacrifice and the indulgence of the privileged altar cannot be DIVIDED, but each must be applied for the same deceased person: 1. when in the Indult it is read: "he who shall have said Mass for a deceased person at such an altar, frees his soul" (or for deceased persons); 2. when the founder, or one expending the stipend, imposes the burden of celebrating at a privileged altar. - Otherwise, in other cases.²⁹