Chapter V. On the Place Suitable for Celebrating

I say. §1. Mass is to be celebrated upon a consecrated altar and in a church or oratory consecrated or blessed according to the norm of law, with the prescription of can. 1196 being preserved (Can. 822).

§2. If an altar of his own rite is lacking, it is lawful for a priest to celebrate in his own rite on an altar consecrated in another Catholic rite, but not upon the antimensia of the Greeks (Can. 823).

§1. In a violated church, before it is reconciled, it is unlawful to celebrate divine offices, to administer Sacraments, or to bury the dead.

§2. If the violation occurs during the time of divine offices, these are immediately to cease; if before the Canon of the Mass or after Communion, the Mass is to be dismissed; otherwise the priest is to continue the Mass as far as Communion (Can. 1173).

Question 1. Whether by permission of the Bishop it can be celebrated in some other place besides a church? Resp. §4. The local Ordinary or, if there is question of a house of an exempt religion, the major Superior, can grant permission of celebrating outside a church and oratory, upon a sacred stone and in a decent place, but never in a bedroom, only for a just and reasonable cause, in some extraordinary case and by way of an act (Can. 822).

By the name of bedroom is meant a place in which there is a bed. Henceforth any reasonable cause suffices: the utility of the priest, the consolation of a family, for example, whose son, a priest, is present at home, a sick priest, and six hundred other cases. By way of an act does not necessarily signify only once, but excludes habitually. If some transitory reason is present, while it lasts, the faculty can be granted. But this concession is not to be confused with the communication of permission to celebrate in the open air, etc. Ordinaries can permit by way of an act the celebration of Mass at home, in favor of those who enjoy the indult of a domestic Oratory, even on those days which are excepted in the indult obtained, provided that the just causes are other than those for which the indult of the domestic Oratory was granted.¹

The Ordinary, however, provided that just and reasonable causes are present, distinct from those for which the indult was granted, can permit the celebration of Mass by way of an act even on more solemn feasts (Can. 1195, §2.).

§2. The privilege of a portable altar is granted either by law or by indult only of the Apostolic See.

§3. This privilege is to be understood in such a way that it carries with it the faculty of celebrating everywhere, yet in an honorable and decent place and upon a sacred stone, but not at sea (Can. 822).

It is not lawful to celebrate on a ship without a special Apostolic indult, which is not granted except with various restrictions: the sea must be so tranquil that no danger is present of spilling the Sacred Species; another priest is to assist the celebrant, if one is present; celebration in cabins is not absolutely prohibited, when all the circumstances remove the dangers of irreverence. S. C. de Prop. F. 1 Mar. 1902, 13 Aug. 1902. As to Mass, if a Chapel has a fixed place on a ship, it is to be considered as public; otherwise it is neither public nor private, but is regarded as a portable altar. S. C. R. 4 Mar. 1901.

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1093, n. 26; p. 1128, n. 88.

Question 2. In what way is a church violated? Resp. §1. A church is violated only by the acts listed below, provided that they are certain, notorious, and placed in the church itself:

1°. By the crime of homicide;

2°. By an injurious and grave shedding of blood;

3°. By impious or sordid uses, to which the church has been devoted;

4°. By the burial of an infidel or of an excommunicated person after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence.

§2. When a church has been violated, the cemetery, even if contiguous, is not on that account judged to be violated, and vice versa (Can. 1172).

Question 3. In what way must a church already violated be reconciled? Resp. §1. A violated church is to be reconciled as quickly as possible, according to the rites described in approved liturgical books.

§2. If it is doubted whether a church has been violated, it can be reconciled ad cautelam (Can. 1174).

A church violated because of the burial of an excommunicated person or an infidel is not to be reconciled before the corpse has been removed from it, if the removal can be made without grave inconvenience (Can. 1175).

§1. A blessed church can be reconciled by its rector or by any priest with at least the presumed consent of the rector.

§2. The valid reconciliation of a consecrated church belongs to those of whom there is mention in can. 1156.

§3. Yet in a case of grave and urgent necessity, if the Ordinary cannot be approached, it is lawful for the rector of a consecrated church to reconcile the same, with the Ordinary being informed afterward (Can. 1176).

The things which the canons prescribe concerning the interdict, violation, and reconciliation of churches are also applied to cemeteries (Can. 1207).

Question 4. In what way is a church execrated? Resp. A church is execrated when it loses its blessing or consecration. A church does not lose its consecration or blessing unless it has been wholly destroyed, or the greater part of the walls has fallen, or it has been reduced to profane uses by the Ordinary of the place according to the norm of can. 1187 (Can. 1170); that is, if some church can in no way be used for divine worship and all approaches to repairing it are cut off, it can be reduced by the local Ordinary to a profane but not sordid use, and the burdens, with the revenues and titles of the parish, if the church is parochial, are to be transferred by the same Ordinary to another church.¹

§1. An immovable altar loses consecration if the table or mensa is separated from the base, even for a moment of time; in which case the Ordinary can permit a priest to perform the consecration of the altar again with the shorter rite and formula.

§2. Both an immovable altar and a sacred stone lose consecration:

1°. If they are enormously broken, whether by reason of the quantity of the fracture or by reason of the place of anointing;

2°. If the relics are removed or if the cover of the sepulcher is broken or removed, except in the case in which the Bishop himself or his delegate removes the cover in order to strengthen or repair or replace it, or to visit the relics.

§3. A slight fracture of the cover does not induce execration, and any priest can strengthen a small crack with cement.

§4. The execration of a church does not carry with it the execration of altars, whether immovable or movable; and vice versa (Can. 1200).

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1089, n. 13.