Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article Second. On the Causes Excusing from Mass
267. Excusing causes. From hearing Mass, generally, any moderately grave cause excuses, or any notable inconvenience or damage in the goods of one's own soul or body, or of a neighbor;1 for since this precept does not pertain to the graver ones, any truly grave cause excuses from its observance. Four causes of this sort are numbered: a. moral impotence; b. charity; c. office; d. custom.
In judging in concrete cases the excusing causes, whether they are or are not sufficient, one must attend both to the condition of the person about whom the matter is in question, since what is grave for one person is not grave for another, and to the same person's state of conscience: for he who is of a timorous conscience will not easily exaggerate inconveniences nor seek pretexts for declining the obligation.
- By reason of moral impotence, such as any grave inconvenience, the following are excused:
a. Those who are far distant from a church. According to St. Alphonsus, for all, even the healthy, a walking journey of one hour and a quarter excuses, and a lesser distance if the weather is adverse or if the person is weak in strength; but those who can ride are not excused unless the distance is at least twice as great.
Busenbaum rightly adds that in this matter account must be taken of the custom of the place; and indeed in the mountainous regions of our country no one holds himself excused because he is distant from the church by the space of an hour and a quarter, provided he is not of impaired health.
b. Those who fear loss of honor, as those who lack garments suitable to their state and condition, girls pregnant from hidden fornication, unless they can hear Mass very early in the morning.
c. Those who must make a necessary journey or cannot interrupt one already begun.
d. Those who fear loss in goods of fortune: damage arising or profit ceasing. Now the damage which someone must undergo excuses more easily than profit ceasing; but a notable loss of profit certainly excuses. Notable profit differs according to diversity of state and condition.
Therefore, in order that profit ceasing may excuse, it is required that it be extraordinary profit and notable with respect to the determinate man; profit of this sort is judged to be profit which is at least twice greater than the ordinary profit of a day. A greater cause would be required if servile labor also had to be undergone, and a still greater one if the wonder and scandal of the people were to be feared.
e. The sick and convalescents who fear grave damage to health or a notable delay of convalescence.
alpha. When such damage is truly to be feared must be determined by the judgment of prudent persons, nor is it necessary to have recourse to the judgment of a physician or confessor; but the sick person himself can judge of this matter, provided he is capable of forming a prudent judgment. Generally it can be said that he is excused who fears such an inconvenience on account of which he is accustomed to omit other business of equal labor, for example, going out to handle business, to buy necessities, etc.2
beta. According to the opinion of physicians, the corrupt air of a church can truly bring a more or less grave inconvenience and therefore can be a cause excusing from frequenting the church. Therefore those who experience a notable inconvenience in church, such as constrictions or faintings, are excused from hearing Mass. This rarely happens to healthy persons, more frequently to those who are of infirm health and easily suffer irritations of the nerves.3
f. Those laboring in workshops in which they cannot abandon a work already begun or extinguish a burning furnace. But if the necessity of labor does not press, the owner of the workshop is held to permit the workers a suitable time so that they can hear Mass.
g. Wives and children on account of grave indignation of husband or parents; soldiers, who would be exposed either to the vexation of officers or to long-lasting and strongly troublesome mockeries of fellow soldiers.
- By reason of charity, that is, for helping a neighbor in necessity, whether bodily or spiritual, the following are excused:
a. those who assist the sick;
b. those who bring help to a neighbor in a fire or flood, etc.;
c. those who hope that by their presence they can impede sin.
- By reason of office the following are excused:
a. Soldiers on guard posts; guardians of cities, flocks, even of individual houses, where only one Mass is celebrated; nevertheless superiors are held to take care that subjects can hear Mass.
b. Mothers and nurses who can neither leave little ones alone nor take them with them.
c. Servants who are impeded by necessary service; yet if without great trouble, for example by rising earlier, they can hear Mass, they are held to this. But if they are impeded by the master's evil will, they can obey if they fear a grave inconvenience; however, on account of a light inconvenience they are not excused, but ought to bear it patiently. If they are frequently impeded, when a suitable occasion has been obtained, they ought to seek another service.
d. Those who must prepare food or perform necessary things of this kind; yet if several Masses take place, care must be taken that they be present at Mass successively.
- By reason of custom in certain places where custom prevails, the following are excused:
a. Women recently delivered of a child, who for a month or six weeks after birth do not go out of the house.
b. Widows, who after the death of the husband remain at home for a month.
c. Betrothed women, especially noble ones, who do not approach the church when their nuptials are proclaimed.
1 Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 324.
2 Ballerini-Palmieri, II, n. 803.
3 Cf. Capellmann, Medicina pastor., p. 90 s.