Churches, oratories and altars

By ecclesiastical law Mass may regularly be said only in churches and oratories dedicated solely to the service of God, and therein on duly consecrated altars. If, however, there be no church in the place, or if it be in ruins, or if it be too small to hold the number of worshippers, Mass may be said in a tent or in the open air on a portable altar with the leave of the bishop, if time permits of this being asked.

A bishop can erect public oratories in which Mass may be said in religious institutions, in monasteries and convents, in seminaries, hospitals, prisons, and in the bishop’s own residence. bishops also enjoy a personal privilege of saying Mass on a portable altar even in private houses where they happen to be staying. The Council of Trent¹ forbade bishops to allow priests to say Mass in private houses, and in consequence of this law and of repeated answers of the Roman Congregations, it is now settled that bishops have no power to grant leave for purely domestic oratories in private houses (Can. 822).

The power to do this is now reserved to the Holy See.

If there is an oratory duly erected on board ship, Mass may be said there when circumstances permit. The Holy See also grants leave for Mass to be said on board ship on a portable altar even when there is no permanently erected oratory on board. A priest who has obtained and desires to use this privilege is bound to observe the conditions under which it is granted. Those conditions are that the ship is safe and at a distance from shore, that the sea is tranquil, and that another priest or a deacon is at hand to hold the chalice in case of danger when the ship rolls. Mass should not be said in the passengers’ berths unless everything has been arranged so as to show due reverence to the Blessed Sacrament.

¹ Trent, sess. xxii, Decree on things to be observed in Mass.

I. Notion of sacred places. The sacred places which come to be considered here are churches and oratories.

1. By the name of church is understood a sacred building dedicated to divine worship, chiefly for this end: that it may serve all the Christian faithful for publicly exercising divine worship (canon 1161).

2. An oratory is a place destined for divine worship, yet not chiefly for this end: that it may serve the whole faithful people for publicly cultivating religion (canon 1188, § 1). An oratory is distinguished as threefold: public, semi-public, and private.

a) It is public if it has been erected principally for the benefit of some college or even of private persons, yet in such a way that all the faithful have a legitimately established right of approaching it, at least during the time of divine offices (canon 1188, § 2, 1).

b) It is semi-public if it has been erected for the benefit of some community or group of the faithful assembling there, and it is not free for everyone to approach it (canon 1188, § 2, 2).

c) It is private or domestic if it has been erected in private homes for the benefit only of some family or private person (canon 1188, § 2, 3).

II. Consecration and blessing of sacred places. 1. The consecration of a church, although it belongs to regulars, belongs to the Ordinary of the territory in which the place itself is found, provided the Ordinary is marked with the episcopal character, but not to the vicar general without a special mandate, with the right of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church to consecrate the church and altars of their title remaining firm (canon 1155, § 1). Cardinals, even non-bishops, can consecrate churches everywhere with the consent of the Ordinary (canon 239, § 1, 20); abbots and prelates nullius can do the same (canon 323, § 2).

b) The right of blessing a sacred place, if it belongs to the secular clergy or to a non-exempt religious institute, or to a lay institute, belongs to the Ordinary of the territory in which the place is found; if it belongs to an exempt clerical religious institute, to the major superior. Each, however, can delegate another priest for this (canon 1156).

Note. Notwithstanding any privilege whatever, no one can consecrate or bless a sacred place without the consent of the Ordinary, whether territorial or religious, according as the circumstances bear (canon 1157); and this also holds for Cardinals, if there is question of a church other than the church of their own title.

III. Places in which Mass can be celebrated. Mass can be celebrated:

1. In consecrated or solemnly blessed churches and public oratories (canons 822, § 1; 1165, § 1; 1191).

2. In legitimately erected semi-public oratories, all divine offices or ecclesiastical functions can be celebrated, unless the rubrics stand in the way or the Ordinary has excepted something (canon 1193). The oratories of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and of bishops, whether residential or titular, although private, nevertheless enjoy all the rights and privileges by which semi-public oratories rejoice (canon 1189).

3. In legitimately erected private oratories,¹ as follows:

a) If they have been erected from an indult of the Apostolic See, unless something else is expressly provided in the same indult, after the Ordinary has visited the oratory personally or through another and found it decently furnished, one Mass can be celebrated, and that a read Mass, on individual days, except the more solemn feasts; but other ecclesiastical functions are not to be performed there (canon 1195, § 1). The Ordinary, however, provided just and reasonable causes are present, different from those on account of which the indult was granted, can permit the celebration of Mass by way of an act even on the more solemn feasts (canon 1195, § 2).

b) Even if they have not been erected from an indult of the Holy See but by the authority of the Ordinary, the Ordinary can, in some extraordinary case, for a just and reasonable cause, permit one Mass by way of an act, even repeatedly, but not habitually (canon 1194).

c) In private cemetery chapels, of which canon 1190 speaks, the local Ordinary can permit habitually even the celebration of several Masses (canon 1194).

d) Nuncios, internuncios, and apostolic delegates, from the faculties granted to them, can grant to sick priests, during infirm health, and likewise to priests advanced in age, an indult of a private oratory in which they may celebrate Mass, with the canonical rules observed. Several bishops can do the same.

e) Regulars, by force of the communication of privileges, enjoy the privilege which Gregory XIII granted to the Society of Jesus, that Provincials can, personally and without the permission of the bishop, erect oratories in houses and colleges and in other places where some of the Society will reside; in these oratories several Masses can be celebrated on the same day even by outsiders, and those assisting can fulfill the precept.² Finally, Regulars, by force of the communication of privileges, have the faculty granted to several institutes of erecting private oratories in granges or rural houses; everyone who assists at Mass there can satisfy the precept.

4. Outside a church and oratories, it is lawful to celebrate as follows:

a) The privilege of a portable altar imports the faculty of celebrating everywhere upon a sacred stone, yet in an honorable and decent place, but not at sea (canon 822, § 3).

This privilege is conceded either by law or by indult of the Apostolic See alone (canon 822, § 2). By law it has been conceded to Cardinals and bishops, who can also permit another Mass to be celebrated while they are present (canon 239, § 1, 7; 349, § 1, 1).

b) The local Ordinary, or, if there is question of a house of an exempt religious institute, 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 (canon 822, § 4). It is said, however, never in a bedroom, that is, in a bedroom in which someone is actually lying sick.³ For the rest, the said faculty must be interpreted restrictively.⁴

c) In order that Mass can be said at sea or on a river, a special indult of the Holy See is required, so that the privilege of an altar does not suffice (canon 822, § 3). The special indult belongs to Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and to bishops (canon 239, § 1, 8; canon 349, § 1, 1).

The indult is customarily granted under this law: that the sea be so calm that no danger is present of spilling the sacred species from the chalice; that another priest, if present, assist; and that, if on the ship there is not a proper chapel or fixed altar, nevertheless the chosen place bear nothing indecent or unbecoming. Nor is celebration in cabins prohibited when all the circumstances remove dangers of irreverence.⁵

d) If necessity urges, and recourse cannot be had to the Ordinary, it is lawful by epikeia to celebrate anywhere, even in the open air, provided the place has nothing unbecoming. Necessity urges, for example, if a church has collapsed and a Sunday or feast still in force as a day of precept is at hand; if an army is in camp and Mass must be heard from precept; if otherwise Viaticum cannot be administered, etc. (St. Alphonsus, VI, 356, 359).

¹ Oratories, both semi-public and private, must be reserved for divine worship alone and free from all domestic uses (canon 1196, § 2).

² Constitution Decet Romanum Pontificem, 3 May 1575.

³ Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, 23 December 1912.

⁴ Pontifical Commission, 16 October 1919, ad 12 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1919, p. 478). Then the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, in its letters to the Ordinaries of Italy, 26 July 1924, declared that this just and reasonable cause must be taken from the good of divine worship and the spiritual good of souls (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1924, p. 370). From the response of the same Sacred Congregation, 3 May 1926, the Ordinary also cannot permit celebration at home, with the corpse present in a place commonly called camera ardente, except in some extraordinary case, when a just and reasonable cause exists. Such an extraordinary case together with a just and reasonable cause, according to the response of the same Sacred Congregation, is had on the occasion of the death of the local Ordinary or of a person from a princely family, or otherwise distinguished because of merits and good deeds toward the Church or the state, or because of most munificent largesses to the poor and needy. In this case, provided that the due obsequies are always fulfilled in the church, the Ordinary can permit the celebration of one or another Mass, but not more than three Masses, the indult of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 29 April 1894 having been abrogated (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1926, p. 388). Thus Aertnys-Damen, II, n. 232.

⁵ Cf. Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, 1 March 1902, compared with 13 March 1902.

IV. Places in which Mass cannot be celebrated. Mass cannot be celebrated in the temple of heretics or schismatics, even if it was formerly rightly consecrated or blessed (canon 823, § 1); nor in an execrated, violated, or interdicted church or public oratory, until it has again been consecrated or blessed or reconciled, or the interdict has ceased (canons 822; 1170; 1173, § 1; and 2270, § 1, compared with canon 1191, § 1).

1. Execration is had when the holiness of a church or public oratory, inhering in it from dedication, is lost. This, with canon 1170 considered and explained, happens: 1. when the whole building is simultaneously destroyed or collapses; 2. when the greater part of the walls is simultaneously destroyed or collapses; 3. when the building is reduced by the local Ordinary to profane uses. But it does not happen: 1. when the plaster partly or entirely falls from the walls or is removed;¹ 2. when a part which is not the greater part collapses, for example only the roof or only the facade of the church; 3. when walls fall or are destroyed and restored at intervals, even if the whole church becomes new, provided, however, that the greater part does not fall or be destroyed at once (St. Alphonsus, VI, 367, 368).

Note. Once a church has been execrated, the title perishes, as does the recitation of the office and commemoration of the titular patron. An execrated church must again be consecrated or blessed as new.

2. Violation consists in this: that the holiness inhering in a church or public oratory is not indeed lost, but nevertheless is contaminated. This happens through certain criminal or at least very indecent acts. Moreover, "a church is violated only by the acts listed below, provided that they are certain, notorious, and placed in the church itself: 1. the crime of homicide; 2. injurious and grave shedding of blood; 3. impious or sordid uses to which the church has been assigned; 4. the burial of an infidel or of an excommunicated person after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence" (canon 1172, § 1). See these things set forth in vol. I, n. 616. Now:

a) In a violated church, before it is reconciled, it is forbidden to celebrate divine offices (canon 1173, § 1); moreover, a violated church must be reconciled as quickly as possible (canon 1174, § 1).

b) The rector of the same church or any priest with at least the presumed consent of the rector can reconcile a blessed church (canon 1176, § 1). The valid reconciliation of a consecrated church belongs to the bishop or, if it belongs to an exempt clerical religious institute, to the major superior; each can delegate another priest for this (canon 1176, § 2, compared with canon 1156). In a case of grave and urgent necessity, if the Ordinary cannot be approached, it is permitted to the rector of a consecrated church to reconcile the same church, after the Ordinary has afterward been informed (canon 1176, § 3).

c) The reconciliation of a blessed church can be done with common holy water; but the reconciliation of a consecrated church should be done with water blessed for this according to liturgical laws, which nevertheless not only bishops but also the priests who reconcile the church can bless (canon 1177).

3. An interdict of a church, insofar as it prevents the celebration of Mass, is explained in the treatise on ecclesiastical penalties.

¹ Once the plaster has been renewed, the crosses made in testimony of consecration should again be painted or applied (Sacred Congregation of Rites, 4 May 1882, n. 3545).

In the first centuries, before 313, at least at Rome, the interior part of certain houses was deputed for carrying out sacred rites, so that churches existed, in this sense, as domestic churches. Those places, since there was no dedication to saints, borrowed their name from the possessor of the house. Outside the City, however, in cemeteries and above the catacombs, in cells not large, the funeral rites of the dead and the anniversaries of death were celebrated. This gave origin to the cult of the martyrs. Moreover, already in the third century buildings destined for sacred things were deliberately constructed.

After the persecutions, these churches evolved into the form of great buildings, which imitated those spacious buildings where the people, safe from the weather, could transact their mercantile or judicial business, and which, from their very splendor, were called basilicas, royal buildings. Then also, because of the growing cult of the martyrs, churches were built in the place where a martyr had lived or had died; and his name was given to the church itself. Later they began to place beneath the altar, or in the altar itself, part of the body or a linen cloth or oil from the sepulcher of the martyrs, so that by the end of the seventh century in every church there were certain relics of the martyrs. Outside the City great sacred buildings were erected over the sepulchers themselves or in a place as near as possible.

A basilica was of rectangular form and consisted of a great hall divided into several naves by columns.

The name church was given from the very assembly of the faithful, ἐκκλησία, according to that saying of Augustine: "The Church is called the place where the Church is gathered" (Quaestiones in Heptateuchum, 3, 57, P. L. 34, 703). From the form often used they were called basilicas; which name then became proper to the greater churches. It was also called Κυριακή, the Lord's house. The appellation house of the Church also occurs, οἶκος τῆς ἐκκλησίας.

The consecration of a church appears already immediately after the persecutions, and indeed with a solemn rite (cf. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 10, 3).

Already from the fifth century a distinction is shown to have been made between churches, which were the greater sacred buildings, and lesser ones which were called (cf. Council of Chalcedon, year 451, can. 6 and 8, Harduin, II, 603) martyria, ptochia, and which today would be called chapels or oratories. Oratories were chiefly called the chapels of monasteries or those joined to the houses of monks.

Oratories were afterward divided into public and private. The necessity of distinguishing an intermediate genus introduced the word semi-public oratory, which is read in the third doubt proposed in Nivern., and to which a response was given on March 8, 1879 (Decr. authent., n. 3484). But the formal distinction into three species is handed down in a decree of the S. R. C., Jan. 1899 (Decr. authent., n. 4007). Concerning the present juridic notion cf. Summa Novi Iuris, n. 474 and Epitome, II, n. 498.

The prohibition of celebrating in a violated church is urged so severely by canon 1173, §2 of the Code, that if the violation occurs during the time of divine offices, these must cease at once, and the Mass must be dismissed before the Canon or after Communion. If the violation occurs between the Canon and Communion, the Mass must be continued, but only up to Communion.

Nevertheless, in a case of true necessity, for example if on a Sunday the people are already present in the church to hear Mass, and reconciliation cannot be done immediately, approved authors think that it is lawful for the bishop, or, if he cannot be approached, for the rector himself of the church (by which name, for this case, we think that one is here meant who in fact then presides over the church) to permit Mass in the violated church. Cf. Matthaeus a Coronata, n. 29. This will hold by a stronger reason concerning a church simply execrated. Public edification, however, will have to be considered. For the Catholic people could even be offended if they see Mass celebrated in a church not reconciled. How sacred places are violated was stated in the second volume.

678. 1. PUBLIC oratories are those "which, by authority of the Ordinary, dedicated perpetually to the public worship of God, blessed, or even solemnly consecrated, have a door on the road, or from the public road open free entrance to the faithful universally." Therefore it matters nothing whether the oratory has been built in the houses of private persons or in the midst of fields, provided that from the public road an altogether free access lies open to it, through the court of the house or through an area.

2. SEMI-PUBLIC oratories are those "which, although in some manner in a private place, or in one not absolutely public, have been erected by authority of the Ordinary; nevertheless they serve the convenience not of all the faithful nor of only a private person or family, but of some community or group of persons. In these, as by authority of the Ordinary the most holy sacrifice of Mass can be offered, so all who are present at the same can satisfy the precept of hearing the sacred rite. Of this kind are the oratories which pertain to Seminaries and Ecclesiastical Colleges; to pious Institutes and Societies of simple vows, and other Communities under a rule or statutes at least approved by the Ordinary; to Houses devoted to spiritual exercises; to boarding-houses and hospices destined for youth to be instructed in letters, sciences, or arts; to Hospitals, Orphanages, and also to Fortresses and Prisons; and similar oratories, in which by institution some group of the Christian faithful is accustomed to convene for hearing Mass. To these must be joined Chapels duly erected in a Cemetery, provided that in the celebration of Mass access lies open not only to those to whom they pertain, but also to other faithful." A semi-public oratory therefore serves primarily for the uses of the Community, secondarily for the convenience of outsiders.

Noldin (III, n. 198) notes the following: An oratory does not become public precisely from this, that it has a door on the road, but because the faithful possess a strict right that free access not be impeded. That right imposes on the owner the burden of preserving free access. If the owner is not pressed by that burden, the oratory, whatever may be the case about the door, will remain semi-public. Thus also clearly Many, de Locis sacr., tit. 2, n. 65 seqq., where there are old responses of the Sacred Congregations; and Wernz, Jus Decr., III, n. 449, indicates the same.

679. PRIVATE oratories in the strict sense are called those "which in private buildings have been erected for the convenience of some person, or family, from an Indult of the Holy See," for sacrificing there.³ The Ordinary, beforehand, can and must visit it, so that he may inspect whether all things have been duly ordered; not likewise afterward, unless something against the reverence of the place should occur. His license is needed so that baptism, penance, and matrimony can be administered in it. But the reception of the Holy Eucharist, from the declaration of the S. R. C., 8 May 1907 (A. S. S., vol. 40, p. 589), is always included in the concession of a private oratory, saving parochial rights. Therefore Easter communion, as also viaticum, are excepted. For the rest, the privilege of a private oratory is regularly personal, and therefore to be interpreted strictly, as derogating from common law; and when the one to whom it was granted has died, it vanishes by the law itself. For some religious families there is given a privilege of a private oratory which is rather local; whence also secular priests can there celebrate duly, and the faithful can satisfy the precept of Mass (Angelus a SS. Corde Jesu, Man. Reg., II, n. 919).

1. The PRIVILEGE of hearing Mass of precept in private oratories, from the customary tenor of the pontifical Indult, is granted "to the lord, his children and domestics, or blood-relatives and relatives by affinity living with him, servants actually devoted to his service, and noble guests, that is, in whatever way noble and more worthy." - But those who are not of the household, and domestics not actually necessary, are excluded by force of the customary clause: "But we will that domestics of your service who at the said time, namely of Mass, are not actually necessary, being present there at Mass of this kind, are by no means to be judged free from the obligation of hearing Mass in a church on feast days of precept." Nor does the minister satisfy who assists the celebrant, unless he himself is necessary, that is, unless another is lacking who can and wishes to serve (Ferraris, v. Oratory, n. 64).

2. The CONDITIONS and EXCEPTIONS of the Indult must be observed, for example: a) that on individual days only one Mass be celebrated; b) that it not be celebrated except in the presence of the principally privileged person, namely to whom the Brief was directed; c) that the days of Easter, Pentecost, the Nativity of the Lord, and other more solemn feasts be excepted, namely Epiphany, Thursday in the Supper of the Lord, the feasts of the Ascension, Assumption, SS. Peter and Paul, All Saints. See other things below, n. 1627.

Nevertheless the privileged person is not bound by these exceptions if the Indult was granted by reason of infirmity (III, n. 319, claus. 8; ed. G., I, p. 584; VI, n. 359; ed. G., III, p. 349). Cf. Decree of 2 Apr. 1913, S. C. de Sacr. (A. A. S., V, p. 183), in which it is said that on the feasts of St. Joseph (solemn Commemoration), the Annunciation, Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Trinity, St. John the Baptist, and the Patron of the place, Mass can be celebrated in private oratories.

He who has received an ordinary Indult, in which namely the mentioned exceptions are indicated, in the case where difficulties arise, should approach the Bishop so that the private oratory may be erected as semi-public. For the right of erecting semi-public oratories, so that, at least on days of obligation, they may be open to all, has not been diminished for the Ordinary. Ami du Cl., 1910, p. 111.

680. Questions. QUES. 1. Whether secondary oratories, sometimes erected in houses of Regulars, are to be held as private or semi-public?

Resp. 1. We call secondary oratories those which, from an Indult or privilege of the Holy See, are erected besides the principal oratory, whether on account of the number of priests so that Mass can be said by all, or in favor of the sick, who cannot go to the chapel or principal oratory. S. R. C., 8 Mar. 1879, n. 3484, ad 2.

2. It can be disputed; for, strictly speaking, the definition of an oratory strictly private, nor the definition of a semi-public one, agrees with those oratories (Genicot, I, 342). Private letters of a certain Most Reverend Consultor of the S. R. C., sent to us long ago, affirm the mind of the Sacred Congregation to be that they are equated with private ones, and therefore that only Members, but not other faithful, satisfy the precept of Mass in these oratories. The matter needs an authentic declaration. Cf. Ami du Cl., 1914, p. 590, and the things we noted above n. 679.

QUES. 2. Whether an Indultary is held to use the privilege, if he cannot go to a church?

Resp. Affirmatively, more probably, according to St. Alphonsus, III, 324, if he can have a priest gratis or with a light stipend. And both the lord himself and his household are held to this, not indeed by force of the privilege, because no one is held to a privilege as such; but by force of the precept, which obliges all those to hearing Mass who are able to fulfill it without grave inconvenience (cf. also III, 319, dub. 3).

Lehmkuhl, Noldin, and others contradict. But let it be weighed whether the axiom praised by all has more weight: he who is held to the law is held to the easy means by which he can observe the law. Cf. what was said n. 670, fin.

388. On the place of celebration. - Regularly, from common law, "Mass is to be celebrated upon a consecrated altar, and in a church or oratory consecrated or blessed according to the norm of law" (can. 822, § 1), i.e., in a church or public or semi-public oratory. This obligation is grave from the intended end (Council of Trent, sess. 22). St. Thomas assigns the reason of fittingness, a. 3, ad 2: "both for representing the sanctification which the Church has obtained through the passion of Christ; and also for signifying the sanctity which is required in those who ought to receive this sacrament."

Exceptionally it can be celebrated:

1. In a private oratory: and indeed "in private chapels of cemeteries, the Ordinary of the place can habitually permit even the celebration of several Masses; but in other domestic oratories, only of one Mass, by way of an act, in some extraordinary case, from a just and reasonable cause" (can. 1194); but "from an indult of the Apostolic See, i.e., of the S. C. of the Sacraments, it can be celebrated, after the Ordinary, by himself or through another, has visited and approved the oratory, one low Mass on individual days, except the more solemn feasts" (can. 1195), according to the tenor of the indult, and at least excepting the feast of Easter; "provided that the oratory is reserved only for divine worship and free from all domestic uses" (can. 1196).

2. Outside a church and oratory upon a sacred stone and in a decent place (even under the open sky or a tent), but never in a bedroom, the Ordinary of the place can grant license of celebrating, or, if it is a matter of a house of exempt religion, the major superior; but from a just and reasonable cause, in some extraordinary case and by way of an act (can. 822, § 4), i.e., even several times, but not habitually. Nevertheless this faculty of the Ordinary is to be interpreted restrictively (Commission for Interpretation, Oct. 16, 1919, ad 12).

In urgent necessity, if the Ordinary cannot be approached, the license can be presumed, when a great number of the faithful would lack Mass of precept.

3. On a portable altar, which privilege "is granted either by law, as to Cardinals and Bishops, or only by indult of the Apostolic See," and "is to be understood in such a way that it brings with itself the faculty of celebrating everywhere, but in an honorable and decent place and upon a sacred stone, not however on the sea" (can. 822, § 2 and 3).

4. Finally, on the sea, which is granted by law to Cardinals and Bishops, but to others only from an altogether special indult, which is rather often given to missionaries, whom the S. C. P. F., March 1, 1902, warns "that as often as they use the privilege, they should carefully and religiously observe the prescribed rules usually placed in the rescript itself of the apostolic concession: namely, let them see whether the sea is so calm that no danger of spilling the most holy species from the chalice is present; let them take care that another priest, if present, duly assist the celebrant; and, if there is not on the ship a proper chapel or fixed altar, let the missionaries altogether take care that the place chosen for the celebration of Mass show nothing indecent or unbecoming," as if "it were celebrated in cells destined for private uses"; unless "the circumstances remove all dangers of irreverence," as the same Sacred Congregation interpreted on Aug. 13.

It is illicit "to celebrate Mass in a temple of heretics or schismatics, even if formerly duly consecrated or blessed" (can. 823, § 1); likewise in an execrated church, namely, if the whole at once has been destroyed, or the greater part has at once fallen down, or it has been reduced to profane uses by the Ordinary of the place (can. 1170); in a violated church before it has been reconciled (can. 1172 and 1173, § 1); and in an interdicted church, excepting the cases excepted by law (can. 2270, § 1).

It is a grave sin to celebrate in a domestic oratory or profane place without the license of ecclesiastical authority, or in a church not consecrated and not blessed, a fortiori in an execrated, violated, or interdicted church; but if the violation happens before the canon of the Mass or after communion, the Mass must immediately be interrupted; otherwise the priest should proceed up to communion (can. 1173, § 2).

Let can. 804 be noted: "§ 1. A priest foreign to the church in which he asks to celebrate, showing authentic and still valid commendatory letters of his Ordinary, if he is secular, or of his superior, if he is religious, or of the S. Congregation for the Oriental Church, if he is of an oriental rite, is to be admitted to the celebration of Mass, unless in the meantime it is established that he has committed something for which he ought to be repelled from the celebration of Mass.

"§ 2. If he lacks these letters, but his probity is especially well established to the rector of the church, he can be admitted; but if he is unknown to the rector, he can still be admitted once or twice, provided that, clothed in ecclesiastical dress, he receives nothing from the celebration from the church in which he offers, under any title, and signs his name, office, and his diocese in a special book.

"§ 3. Particular norms given by the Ordinary of the place concerning this matter, with due regard for the prescriptions of this canon, must be observed by all, even exempt religious, unless it is a matter of admitting religious to celebrate in a church of their own religion."

These things, surely, are to be understood of accidental celebration, not long-lasting or habitual; for no obligation in itself is given of admitting someone to habitual celebration in a determinate church.