Scholion II. On Several Masses to Be Offered on the Same Day

I. Except on the day of the Nativity of the Lord and on the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, on which there is the faculty of offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice three times, it is not lawful for a priest to celebrate several Masses in a day, unless by apostolic indult or by power granted by the local Ordinary (canon 806, § 1). Note, however:

1. As regards the day of the Nativity of the Lord: a) One who says only one Mass should take that Mass which corresponds to the hour of celebration, that is, at night the first, at dawn the second, during the day the third.¹ One who - as is lawful² - celebrates only two Masses, if he separates them and does not say both during the day, should proceed in such a way that the Masses correspond to the hour of celebration; if he does not separate them and reads both at night, he should take the first and the other; if at dawn or during the day, he should celebrate the other and the third.

b) One who by apostolic indult can celebrate daily a votive Mass or a Mass of the dead can, even on the day of the Nativity of the Lord, say the same Mass three times,³ that is, either the votive Mass, or, as it seems, one of the three Masses of the Nativity.⁴

2. As regards the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed:

a) One who says three Masses must apply one gratuitously for all the faithful departed, another gratuitously according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff; he can celebrate the third for a stipend. It is also illicit, with the Masses for the departed and according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff transferred to another day, to say three Masses for a stipend on the day of the Commemoration. But it does not matter which of the three Masses is celebrated for the departed, according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff, or for a stipend.⁵

b) One who reads only one Mass should take the first Mass of the day, and he can apply it for a stipend. "Let him use the same Mass, that is, the first Mass, who is going to celebrate Mass with chant, with the power granted him of anticipating the second and third."⁶ One who celebrates only two Masses should take the first two Masses of the day; he can apply one for a stipend, and is bound to say one of the two for the departed.⁷

c) One who by apostolic indult can daily celebrate a votive Mass or a Mass of the dead can, even on the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, say the same Mass three times.⁸

¹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 19 June 1875, n. 3354; 13 February 1892, n. 3767, ad 21.

² Sacred Congregation of Rites, 19 June 1875, n. 3355.

³ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 26 January 1920, n. 4356.

⁴ Sacred Congregation of the Council, 15 October 1915, ad 1, 2, and 3.

⁵ Sacred Congregation of Rites, n. 4331.

⁶ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 28 February 1917, n. 4342.

⁷ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 29 January 1920, n. 4356.

⁸ Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, 28 September 1837.

II. The Ordinary cannot impart the faculty of celebrating several times in a day unless, in his prudent judgment, because of a scarcity of priests, a notable part of the faithful cannot assist at Mass on a feast day of precept; nor is it in his power to permit more than two Masses to the same priest (canon 806, § 2). Thus:

1. The power of the Ordinary regards only feast days of precept, that is, days on which the faithful are in fact bound to hear Mass; therefore suppressed feast days are excluded.¹

2. The power of the Ordinary regards circumstances in which, if bination is excluded, a notable part of the faithful could not hear the sacred rite. The case is present: 1. if a pastor has two parishes so distant from one another that the people of both cannot conveniently come together in the same church, and there is no priest who may celebrate in the other parish; 2. if a pastor has two groups of people in the same parish distant in the aforesaid way, and there is no priest who may celebrate the other Mass; 3. if a notable part of the parishioners - for example twenty persons² - cannot come together to hear one and the same Mass, whether because of domestic circumstances or because of the narrowness of the church, and no other priest is present who may say the other Mass. But the Ordinary cannot grant bination in favor of those who wish to satisfy the precept in their own private oratories;³ nor does mere custom suffice,⁴ unless it is centenary and the Ordinary judges that it cannot prudently be removed (canon 5). Moreover, since the faculty of binating has been granted in order that necessity may be met, it cannot be exercised if by chance another priest arrives who can and wishes to say the other Mass. For the rest, note:

a) A faculty granted that in a determinate church Mass may be celebrated twice by the same priest is local, so that it is communicated to another who takes his place. Otherwise one must speak of a faculty granted to someone that he may use it, because of an occurring case, now here, now there; this faculty is personal and cannot be communicated to another, unless the faculty of subdelegating has been added.

b) In a case of sudden necessity, for example if another priest suddenly falls ill and no other can be summoned, the license of the bishop can be presumed,⁵ unless the statutes require that the judgment of the vicar forane intervene.

¹ Cf. Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, where it is said that the concession is to be interpreted rather benignly.

² Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, 24 May 1870, n. 6 (Collectio, n. 792).

³ Benedict XIV, Constitution Declarasti nobis.

⁴ Cf. Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, 24 May 1870, nn. 13-17 (Collectio, n. 792).

⁵ Cf. Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, 24 May 1870, nn. 13-17 (Collectio, n. 792).

III. Finally, it is sufficiently probable that it is lawful to binate if otherwise a dying person would be deprived of Viaticum.

IV. Whenever someone celebrates several times in a day, if he applies one Mass from a title of justice, the priest, except on the day of the Nativity of the Lord, cannot receive an alms for another Mass, apart from some remuneration from an extrinsic title (canon 824, § 2); see these things explained in n. 217.