Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article III. On the Indulgence of a Privileged Altar.
324. On the Privilege of the Altar. 1. A privileged altar is called that altar to which this special privilege is attached, by force of which the priest can apply a plenary indulgence to the soul of that dead person for whom he celebrates at that altar. Therefore the privilege of the altar, or the indulgence of a privileged altar, consists in this: that the supreme pontiff from the treasury of the Church applies to a certain dead person a plenary indulgence, or so many satisfactory merits as are required and suffice for immediately freeing him from the punishments of purgatory.
a. A twofold privilege of the altar is distinguished, local and personal. The local is fixed to a determined place, namely an altar; all who celebrate at that altar can enjoy this privilege. The personal is granted to certain priests requesting this privilege, who therefore can apply the indulgence of a privileged altar wherever they celebrate.
b. He who has obtained a personal privilege of the altar can also use the privilege of the altar which he possesses from another title, e.g., as a member of a congregation or confraternity, unless this is expressly prohibited in the indult.
- The effect of this indulgence is not infallible. For the supreme pontiff indeed offers to God from the treasury of the Church as much as suffices for immediately freeing a soul from all punishments of purgatory; but because God is not bound to accept that price, both the acceptance itself and the measure of acceptance depend on the good pleasure of divine mercy.
Hence anniversaries and perpetual legacies to be discharged at a privileged altar are admitted by the Church, and the practice has become established that several Masses be said at a privileged altar for the same dead person.
- Between this indulgence and others which are applied for the dead there exists no other difference, except that the indulgence of a privileged altar is more certainly applied and obtains its effect. For on the one hand, this indulgence supposes no other condition or disposition besides the offering of the sacrifice; on the other hand, the sacrifice itself offered for the same dead person has the power of placating divine justice and therefore of removing impediments, if any are present, which would prevent the indulgence from being applied perfectly and fully to this soul.
In ancient times the privilege of the altar was granted very rarely and only to more distinguished churches; in the last century the Church at length began to act more benignly in this matter.
Benedict XIII (in 1724) granted to all patriarchal, metropolitan, and cathedral churches of the whole world a daily and perpetual privileged altar to be designated once by the ordinary.
Clement XIII (in 1759) extended this same grant to all parish and collegiate churches of the whole world for seven years, at the end of which the bishop must have recourse for confirmation; then he will communicate the granted confirmation with the pastors. Indeed it can happen that in the same church there are several altars privileged from other titles, e.g., by reason of a confraternity or congregation.
The altar to which the privilege is granted must be fixed; a portable altar or simple stone does not suffice. Therefore by the name of a fixed altar in this question is not understood a fixed altar in the strict liturgical sense, but an altar suffices which cannot be moved from its place, even if it is wooden and not attached to the wall.1
Nevertheless the privilege inheres not in the stone, "which one can substitute for another," but in the altar. Moreover it inheres in the altar so exclusively that it cannot be transferred to another altar without faculty.2
- All altars are privileged a. on the day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed; b. on those days on which the supplication of forty hours is performed in the church.3
1 S. C. Indl., 18 July 1902.
2 S. C. Indl., 27 Sept. 1843, n. 324, and 20 March 1846, n. 334.
3 Cn. 917.
325. Conditions Required for Gaining This Indulgence. 1. Since the indulgence of a privileged altar cannot be separated from the application of the Mass, the indulgence must be applied to the soul of that dead person for whom the sacrifice is offered, not indeed from the nature of the thing, but from the will of the Church.1
Not only he who celebrates for the living, but also he who offers the Mass for the living and at the same time for the dead, cannot apply the indulgence of a privileged altar.2
The indulgence of a privileged altar (even on the day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed) cannot be applied except to one dead person; therefore he who offers for several or for all the faithful departed must determine the soul to whom he intends to apply the indulgence. But if he offers the sacrifice for only one dead person, the indulgence also is applied to the same; nor is the intention of the celebrant necessarily required for this, although it is advisable that he intend to apply not only the Mass but also the indulgence.
On days on which it is permitted by the rubrics, it is indeed fitting, for the sake of piety toward the dead, that a Mass of Requiem be said, or of the feria or vigil with the proper prayer of the dead person (in the penultimate place); but this is no longer required under penalty of nullity.3
Therefore now for gaining the indulgence of a privileged altar it suffices that the Mass of the day be said, or even a votive Mass, if it is allowed by the rubrics, with the intention of applying the indulgence.
The indulgence of a privileged altar applied to the dead does not prevent the priest, through holy communion which he receives in the Mass, from being able to gain one or several other indulgences and apply them to himself or to the dead.
He who enjoys the privilege of the altar from several titles cannot, by one and the same sacrifice of the Mass, apply several plenary indulgences according to the number of titles which he enjoys, but only one.4
1 S. C. Indl., 25 Aug. 1897. By this same decree to the question: How is the inscription to be understood which is found on some altars: A privileged altar for the living and the dead? it is answered: It is to be interpreted in such a way that both for the living, if it is applied at that altar for the living, and for the dead, if it is applied for these, a plenary indulgence is understood to have been granted.
2 S. C. Indl., 23 Jan. 1901.
3 S. Officium, 20 Feb. 1913.
4 Cf. Beringer-Hilgers, p. 550 ff., where you will find communicated an excellent dissertation on this matter and several decrees which refer here.
326. On the Gregorian Altar. The altar of St. Gregory on the Coelian Hill at Rome is truly and properly privileged; but Gregorian altars ad instar are no longer granted.1
Namely, from ancient times even to these times the faithful ask that at the altar of St. Gregory in the church of the same saint on the Coelian Hill the sacrifice of the Mass be offered for the dead, piously trusting that each Mass offered at this altar will be of such efficacy that the soul for whom it is offered is immediately freed from the punishments of purgatory. The S. C. of Indulgences (15 March 1884) declared this trust "pious and approved in the Church." Moreover the same privilege which belongs to the altar of St. Gregory on the Coelian Hill was sometimes granted by the supreme pontiff also to other altars throughout the world, which therefore were called: Gregorian altars ad instar. Therefore a Gregorian altar is a privileged altar in such a way that two things are added which cause the indulgence granted by the supreme pontiff to be applied more certainly and securely, namely, the intercession of St. Gregory and the authority of the Church, by which that altar has been specially deputed for this, that through the sacrifice offered on it souls may be freed from the punishments of purgatory.
1 S. Officium, 11 Dec. 1912, ad 7.
327. On Gregorian Masses. By the same decree the S. C. of Indulgences also approved the Masses which are called Gregorian, or the Gregorian tricenary. By this name are meant thirty Masses which are celebrated for thirty continuous days after the example of St. Gregory at any altar whatever. The faithful, who from ancient times have arranged for Gregorian Masses to be celebrated, are led by this trust: that those Masses, from the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy, through the intercession of St. Gregory, will be so efficacious that the soul for whom they are applied is freed from the punishments of purgatory.
a. It is not necessary that the Masses be said by the same priest, but only that they be celebrated without interruption. Therefore a priest can and must substitute another for himself if he himself is impeded from celebrating the due Mass. If within the thirty days on which the Gregorian Masses are celebrated the last three days of Holy Week occur, it is lawful to interrupt the series of Masses for this triduum and, when it has elapsed, to continue them.1 Nor is it necessary that a Mass of Requiem be said on those days on which it is permitted by the rubrics.2
b. If an interruption of the tricenary has been made, the essential condition is lacking. But if this happens inculpably, the priest is bound to begin the tricenary again if he accepted an extraordinary stipend, because one accepting such a stipend is judged to bind himself to this; if he accepted only an ordinary stipend, he does not seem to be bound to begin the celebration again, because he did not bind himself to undergo so great a burden because of an inculpable defect. It suffices if he completes the number of thirty Masses and celebrates at least one of them at a privileged altar.3
c. What the foundation of this pious trust is, or whence is derived the efficacy which is attributed by the faithful both to the tricenary of St. Gregory and to a Mass celebrated at a Gregorian altar, the Church has nowhere declared. But the opinion of those theologians seems to be approved who judge that St. Gregory obtained this grace from God: that, by his intercession, the soul of him for whom the Masses are offered in the manner explained above be freed from purgatory. Moreover the reason why it is piously believed that this grace was granted by God to St. Gregory is a certain wondrous fact which the saint himself narrates in Dialogues l. 4, c. 55.4
d. In some regions of Austria and Upper Germany there is found the custom of arranging that for a determined dead person six Masses be applied on continuous days, which likewise are called Gregorian. But of this custom, however pious, there is neither explicit approval of the Church, nor is a similar fact concerning six Masses narrated in the life of St. Gregory.5
1 Benedict XIV, Instit. eccl.-instit. 34, n. 22.
2 S. Officium, 11 Dec. 1912, ad 5.
3 Monitore eccl. XIII, p. 40.
4 Cf. C. Eberle, Der Tricenarius des hl. Gregorius (Regensburg: Pustet, 1890).
5 Cf. Schuch, Handbuch der Pastoraltheologie 15 (Innsbruck: Rauch, 1910), p. 568 f.