Question — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Question V. On the place of celebration.
The place of celebration is a church and an oratory; but sometimes a license of celebrating also outside a church or oratory is granted.
198. On church and oratory. 1. A church is a building constructed for divine worship with this end, that it may be for the use of all the faithful for publicly exercising divine worship.
- An oratory is a place destined for divine worship, yet not with this end, that it may be for the use of all the faithful for publicly exercising religion. An oratory is called public if it serves for the use of some person or family or community in such a way that nevertheless the right belongs to all the faithful of assisting at the divine offices which are celebrated there; and it is called private if it serves for the use of some person, family, or community in such a way that others have no right of assisting at the divine offices which are celebrated there.
Therefore a public oratory ought to have a door which opens from a street or from a public place, so that the faithful can freely approach it. Sometimes authors define a public oratory by this mark, which rather is a necessary consequence and an indication of publicity; but the proper mark of a public oratory is the right of the faithful to come to the functions celebrated there, so that without this right an oratory is private, even if its door opens onto a public road; and with this right granted, an oratory is public, even if it is situated within the walls of a private house. But if one cannot reach the oratory from the street except through the atrium of the house or through a meadow, it is required that the owner be bound not to impede the free access of the faithful; otherwise the oratory is not public.
- A private oratory is strictly private or domestic if it serves the use of some person or particular family; and it is semiprivate or semipublic if it serves the use of some community or group of the faithful and it is not free for anyone at all to approach it.
a. Therefore private oratories are all oratories erected in a private house, namely in the house of some individual or particular family, even of a magnate, a prince, or the king himself. Although the oratories of Cardinals and Bishops, whether residential or titular, are private oratories, nevertheless they enjoy the rights and privileges of a semiduplicate oratory. Cn. 1189. - Chapels in a cemetery erected by families or private persons for their own burial are private oratories. Cn. 1190.
b. Semipublic oratories are oratories erected in a public house, namely in the house of some community, of which kind are: seminaries of clerics, monasteries of men and of women, even of simple vows and without enclosure, colleges destined for the education of boys or girls, although erected without the authority of the ordinary, hospitals, orphanages, public prisons, universities, the house of a confraternity or of a pious association approved by the bishop, houses assigned for making exercises, and houses assigned for exercising works of mercy.2
1 Gasparri, l.c., 3: De loco celebrationis missarum, nn. 121-358. J. B. Gattico, De oratoriis domesticis. Van Gameren, De oratoriis publicis et privatis. Ephemerides liturgicae, De oratoriis, vol. X (1896), p. 41. Cn. 1161 sq., 1188 sq.
2 S. C. R., 23 Jan. 1899, n. 4007.
199. On the license of celebrating in them. 1. By common law Mass can be celebrated only in a church or in a public oratory, provided that this place is consecrated or at least blessed.1
Public oratories are governed by the same law as churches (cn. 1191). Therefore there Mass can be celebrated and ecclesiastical functions can be performed on all days of the year, even the more solemn ones, unless the rubrics stand in the way.
- The bishop can grant the faculty of erecting a semipublic oratory, but a. in any community only one, except that in boarding schools, gymnasia, lyceums, prisons, hospices, etc., besides the principal oratory, other smaller ones can be erected if in the judgment of the ordinary necessity or great utility demands it; and b. on this condition, that he has visited the oratory either by himself or through another ecclesiastical man and has found it decently furnished.2
a. A semipublic oratory legitimately erected cannot be converted to profane uses without the license of the bishop. Cn. 1192, 3.
b. In monasteries of nuns with papal enclosure the bishop cannot, on account of the enclosure itself, permit that Mass be celebrated within the enclosure; nevertheless there are not lacking, although rare, examples of this faculty granted by apostolic indult.
c. Also in semipublic oratories all ecclesiastical functions can be performed, unless the rubrics stand in the way or the bishop has excepted some. (Cn. 1193.) For in the concession of the faculty the bishop can add various limitations, e.g., that only one Mass be celebrated, that it not be celebrated on certain days or at certain hours.3
d. By force of a privilege granted to the Society of Jesus,4 provincials can, by themselves and without the license of the bishop, erect oratories in regular houses and also in colleges directed by regulars and in other houses where some regulars reside; in these oratories several Masses can be celebrated on the same day, even by outsiders, and those assisting can satisfy the precept. By force of the same privilege, oratories can also be erected in farms of regulars (economic houses), which enjoy the privileges of a semipublic oratory.
- Today the Roman pontiff alone grants the faculty of celebrating in a strictly private oratory.
a. In an oratory of this kind, after the bishop has visited and approved it, celebration can take place, but only one Mass, and that read, on individual days, except the more solemn feasts.
b. Nevertheless the bishop, provided just and reasonable causes are present, diverse from those for which the indult was granted, can permit celebration even on the more solemn feasts by way of an act. Cn. 1195.
- The bishop can grant the faculty of celebrating outside a church and oratory, e.g., in the open air, only in a case of necessity.
A case of this kind would be present: a. If churches had been made unfit for celebration, e.g., by fire or earthquake. In this case this can be done even by presumed license, if express license cannot be had so quickly. b. If a great multitude of the faithful would lack the sacred precept where it could be celebrated only in the open air.
- In order that one may celebrate on a ship, today a peculiar apostolic indult is required, so that neither apostolic missionaries by force of this title nor priests having the privilege of celebrating everywhere by force of this privilege can celebrate on a ship without a special apostolic indult.5
a. The conditions under which this faculty is granted are: alpha. that the sea be calm; beta. that no danger of irreverence be present; gamma. that another priest or deacon assist, who after the consecration holds the chalice; nevertheless this condition is sometimes omitted, in which case the danger of spilling the most precious blood must be guarded against in another way; delta. that it not be celebrated in private cabins, unless from the circumstances the danger of irreverence is remote.6
b. An indult has been granted to the bishops of all America, Oceania, and Australia, that whenever they are going to Rome, during the maritime journey and also on the return, they can perform the sacred rite on a ship on individual days, provided alpha. the place chosen for this presents nothing indecent; beta. the sea is so tranquil that there is no danger of spilling the most precious blood; gamma. and, if he is present, another priest, vested in surplice, assists the celebrating prelate.7
1 Council of Trent, sess. 22, decree Quanta cura, De observand. et evitand. in celebrat. missae.
2 Cn. 1192.
3 Semipublic oratories are also equated with public ones to this extent, insofar as the Masses which are celebrated in them ought to correspond to the calendar of the place, not of the celebrant, at least if the principal oratory is in question. S. C. R., 22 May 1896, n. 3910.
4 Gregory XIII, const. Decet rom. pontificem, 3 May 1575.
5 S. C. R., 4 Mar. 1901. S. C. de prop. fide, 20 Jan. 1667. Benedict XIV, De sacrif. miss., l. 3, c. 6, n. 11.
6 S. C. de prop. fide, 7 Mar. 1902, by which celebration in private cabins is absolutely prohibited; 13 Aug. 1902, by which celebration is permitted under the condition indicated in the text.
7 S. C. R., 30 June 1908.