Case 14. Masses for the Dead

Caius, a priest of a certain religious Order, hears that Julius, a companion of the same Order, has recently died and is to be buried on that very day. The following day is of the double rite; if it is lawful by ecclesiastical laws, Caius and the other priest-companions who serve the same church would like to celebrate a Requiem Mass for the soul of Julius. Caius therefore asks whether this is lawful either by the decree of May 19, 1896, or by the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of Dec. 11, 1897, by which the Rubric of the Missal On Masses of the Dead, no. 2, is changed in this manner: in place of the words—“except on double feasts and Sundays”—the following are read: “Private Masses for the Dead, as on the day of death or burial, may be celebrated even on doubles when the body is present and unburied, or even when it has been buried for not more than two days; except on doubles of the first class, days excluding doubles of the first class, and feasts of precept.” Hence it is asked:

1. When is a funeral Mass permitted and prohibited?

2. When is a private Mass for the Dead permitted and prohibited?

3. What is to be said of the case?

1. On what days may a solemn or sung Mass for the dead be said?

In the presence of the body it can be celebrated on any day, provided that the conventual Mass, where it binds, or the parish Mass, if it is a Sunday or feast day, and the divine offices are not impeded, and a great solemnity of the day does not prevent it.¹

1 De Herdt, Sacra lit. Praxis, n. 56.

A list of the days on which according to this rule solemn or sung Mass for the dead is forbidden is usually given in the Ordo.

2. When may a private Mass for the dead be said?

It is prohibited on all Sundays and double feasts;

on days within the octaves of the Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, the Most Holy Body of Christ, and the Nativity of the Lord; on Ash Wednesday; throughout Holy Week; on the vigils of the Epiphany, Pentecost, and the Nativity of the Lord; during exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament for a private cause, at the altar of exposition only; but when it is exposed for a public cause, at all the altars of the church; and on days of the station of the church or of another solemnity. On all remaining days a private Requiem Mass is permitted.²

2 De Herdt, n. 63.

Moreover, According to the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of May 19, 1896, in any cemetery chapel duly erected or to be erected, the Masses which are permitted to be celebrated there can be Requiem Masses on days not impeded by a double feast of the first or second class, by Sundays and other feasts of precept to be observed, nor by privileged ferias, vigils, and octaves. Ibid. n. 64. And, “For a poor deceased person whose family is unable to pay the expenses of a sung funeral Mass, this Mass can be read under the same clauses and conditions under which a sung Mass is granted, provided that on Sundays and other feasts of precept the Mass corresponding to the office of the current day is not omitted.

“In a church or oratory, whether public or private, and in chapels belonging to seminaries, colleges, and religious or pious communities of either sex, on the day on which a funeral is held there with a solemn funeral Mass, throughout the time in which the body of the deceased is physically or morally present, private Requiem Masses are permitted, provided that they are applied for the deceased himself; except on the following days: all Sundays; all double feasts of the first class; the privileged ferias of Ash Wednesday and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week; the vigils of the Nativity of the Lord and Pentecost; and the octave days of the Nativity of the Lord and the Epiphany.”¹

1 De Herdt, n. 57.

3. The case. Caius may have one solemn or sung Mass de Requie on the day mentioned, as De Herdt says, n. 58. Private Masses de Requie are forbidden, as the body of Julius is not present either physically or morally. If the body of Julius were present all the priests might say a private Mass de Requie for the repose of his soul, but if they were said in a church or public oratory they should be said on the day when a solemn or sung Mass was said for the funeral.