The hours for Mass

According to the present discipline of the Church, Mass may not be begun before one hour before daybreak nor after one hour after midday (Can. 821, sec. 1). The necessity of the people or of the priest is a sufficient reason for celebrating somewhat earlier and later than the ordinary times, and regulars have privileges by which they may for just cause begin Mass much earlier and much later than the legal time.

His Holiness Pius X, by a decree of the Holy Office dated August 1, 1907, graciously permitted a priest in future to say three Masses or only one according to the rubrics on the night of the Nativity in all convents of nuns who have enclosure, and in other religious institutions, pious houses, and clerical seminaries, in which the Blessed Sacrament is habitually reserved. Holy Communion may be administered to all who ask for it at these Masses, and anyone who hears one or more of them satisfies the precept of hearing Mass on that day.¹

¹ Acta Sanctae Sedis, xl, p. 478; Can. 821, sec. 3.

I. Days of oblation. The sacrifice of the Mass can be celebrated on all days, except those which are excluded by the priest's own rite (canon 820). Now, with the Latin rite considered:

1. On Thursday in the Supper of the Lord and on Holy Saturday, one Mass is permitted, and indeed only a solemn one. But:

a) If some feast of precept falls on Thursday in the Supper of the Lord, "it must be accurately provided by the local Ordinaries that on that day some private Masses, to be celebrated before the celebration of the customary conventual Mass, are not lacking for the fulfillment of the precept; but nevertheless for this reason the ancient custom of the Communion of the clergy in the solemn Mass of that day, on which the Church recalls the institution and memorial of the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, retained until now with the greatest religious care, is in no way omitted."¹ If the feast is no longer of precept, it is not lawful to celebrate several Masses.²

b) Cardinals and, provided they are not bound to celebrate in the cathedral, bishops enjoy the privilege of celebrating, or of permitting another to celebrate before them, one Mass on Thursday of the greater week (canons 239, § 1, 4; 349, § 1, 1).

c) Among Regulars, if the solemn functions of the Greater Week are not performed, the superior can personally or through another celebrate a solemn or private Mass to administer Communion to the subjects, but in a domestic chapel or in a church with closed doors.³ "Indeed," says Vermeersch, "although the solemn functions are held, writers concede that on the same day one Mass may be read in the oratory or in the church with closed doors, for the convenience of the sick. And it is clear from the privilege which Gregory XVI granted to the Province of the Society of Jesus which was then called Upper Germany, 4 December 1841."⁴

d) It is fitting that on Thursday of the greater week all clerics, even priests who abstain from offering the sacred rite on that day, be refreshed with the Most Holy Body of Christ in the solemn or conventual Mass (canon 862).

2. On the day of Parasceve, Mass cannot be celebrated unless it would be necessary for confecting Viaticum; in that case the Mass of the Passion of the Lord should be taken. But the Mass which is called the Mass of the Presanctified is not a sacrifice.

¹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 13 September 1692, n. 1883; 10 January 1693, ad VI, n. 1890.

² Sacred Congregation of Rites, 26 September 1868, n. 3179.

³ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 31 August 1839, n. 2799.

⁴ De religiosis institutis et personis, vol. I, n. 467.

II. Hour of oblation. 1. Object of the precept. The beginning of a Mass to be celebrated should not take place earlier than one hour before dawn or later than one hour after noon (canon 821, § 1). Dawn, or morning twilight, begins generally when the sun enters the eighteenth degree below the horizon. It differs according to different regions, insofar as they approach the pole more or less; generally it begins two hours before sunrise, but more than two hours before sunrise in northern regions, for there dawn is prolonged for a longer time. For the rest, tables inserted into calendars are accustomed to indicate the hour of dawn. Where dawn does not appear through some time of the year, it is lawful during that time to begin Mass from the beginning of civil, moral, and usual life, that is, at the time when people are accustomed to rise in the morning for work.¹ The same seems to be applicable to the time when dawn is very late in some regions. Finally, where dawn endures through the whole night during some part of the year, it seems lawful to begin at midnight. Nevertheless, it is not becoming to begin before the second morning hour, because the Church scarcely ever grants the faculty of beginning earlier. Exceptions from the ordinary rule are:

a) On the night of the Nativity of the Lord, only the conventual or parochial Mass can be begun at midnight, but not another without apostolic indult (canon 821, § 2).

b) Nevertheless, in all religious or pious houses having an oratory with the faculty of habitually reserving the Most Holy Eucharist, on the night of the Nativity of the Lord, one priest can celebrate the three ritual Masses, or, with the things to be observed being observed, only one Mass which may also avail for satisfaction of the precept for all those present, and can administer Holy Communion to those requesting it (canon 821, § 3). Moreover, the Holy Office, 26 November 1908, declared that the said Masses cannot be celebrated with the doors of the oratories open, nor in churches which serve the public use of the faithful people.

c) Cardinals and, provided they are not bound to celebrate in the cathedral, bishops enjoy the privilege of celebrating, or of permitting another to celebrate before them, three Masses on the night of the Nativity of the Lord (canons 239, § 1, n. 4; 349, § 1, n. 1).

d) It is disputed whether privileges granted to Regulars before the Council of Trent have been revoked. But the dispute is merely theoretical, since "today, from a privilege granted to the Congregation of the Purity erected at Naples, Regulars can always and everywhere celebrate two hours before dawn and after noon."² Likewise Gregory XVI, by his rescript of 13 May 1838, granted that the Superior General of the Society of Jesus could give the faculty to missionaries that, whether for the sake of a journey or for the sake of devotion, "for themselves or for the people, or for the sake of giving Communion to the faithful waiting, they may celebrate at the second hour after midnight."³

2. Gravity of the precept. The obligation of the precept is grave from its genus, as is gathered both from the Council of Trent⁴ and from the Constitution of St. Pius V In Christo Pater.⁵ Moreover, it would be a grave sin, without proportionate reason, to begin Mass one hour earlier or later than is lawful by law or privilege.

3. Causes for anticipating or deferring Mass are:

a) That Viaticum may be given to a dying person; in this case no hour is excepted.

b) An existing reasonable custom, for example that workers and servants may be able to hear the sacred rite very early in the morning; likewise, if on a feast day a solemn Mass is extended an hour and more beyond noon, it is lawful, if there is a custom, to celebrate a private Mass after the solemn sacred rite, lest a part of the people be without Mass.

c) A reasonable cause, for example a journey to be made, excuses if there is question of anticipating or deferring Mass briefly, for example by half an hour.

d) Finally, a bishop and the major superior of exempt clerical religious can dispense themselves and their subjects in an urgent case (canon 81; St. Alphonsus, VI, 343 and 344), indeed, as it seems, also from a just cause.⁶

¹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 2 November 1634, n. 614.

² Compendium Privilegiorum Piorum Operariorum, part 2, chapter 5, § 7.

³ Thus Gaude, Opera Moralia S. Alphonsi, book VI, n. 342, note.

⁴ Session 22, Decree concerning the things to be observed and avoided.

⁵ 29 March 1566.

⁶ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 7 July 1899, n. 4044, ad IV.

176. • 1º Regulars can celebrate Mass one hour before dawn, that is, three hours before sunrise, but only in their own Churches, in which secular Priests also can do this from the same privilege, Gregory XIII; but after midday only one hour. For although from the privilege conceded by Eugene IV they formerly could celebrate even three hours after midday had elapsed, yet that privilege was revoked by St. Pius V.

2º They can administer the Eucharist in their Churches to all the faithful, except on the day of Easter ¹¹.

¹¹ ** At Rome Thursday in the Lord's Supper is also excepted.

3º They can administer paschal Communion, Extreme Unction, and Viaticum to their subjects, novices, and familiars ¹². - St. Ligorius, nn. 121, 122. - Nevertheless secular Congregations, excluding a special Apostolic Indult, such as for example was recently conceded to the Sulpicians, Marists, and Oratorians.

¹² ** Understand familiars here as those who are perpetual table companions and live within the cloister. And hence the reason why Regulars can administer to them the sacraments about which there is speech. For as was said above, n. 173, by law these are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop, and therefore of the pastor.

1º They can dispense, with cause, in ecclesiastical laws for their own subjects, as Bishops can, for example concerning the divine Office, fasting, abstinence, etc.; because they have quasi-episcopal jurisdiction.

2º Regular Superiors can permit subjects who are simply tonsured to preach in Churches (Gregory XIII).

3º Mendicant religious generally communicate among themselves ¹³ in their privileges, both as to persons and as to places. But they do not communicate them when they are wholly special, or odious, or contrary to their own state, so that they prejudice the common good or the observance of Religion.

¹³ ** Indeed Mendicants also participate in the privileges of Orders that are not Mendicant.

But it must be carefully observed that these privileges conceded to Religious families by Canon Law, or by the Holy See, belong only to Superiors, who communicate them to subjects according to their wisdom; and furthermore that the same are not extended to Orders not strictly religious, which are called secular Congregations ¹⁴.

¹⁴ ** Understand: unless by a special indult of the Apostolic See this also has been conceded to them.

290. By common law, the celebration of Mass can begin from one hour before dawn until one hour after noon.⁴⁵⁶

By dawn is understood here twilight, which customarily arrives about two hours before sunrise. All theologians say that this time is to be taken morally and not mathematically, so that he who says Mass a little before or after it has no fault. Dawn varies greatly according to different times and places. In central Europe during the month of June dawn begins almost at midnight. Therefore, according to strict law, Mass can be said then even from midnight; yet it is unbecoming for this to be done without a grave cause. In polar regions, however, where dawn does not appear on some days, the Sacred Congregation of Rites granted on September 18, 1634, that Mass could begin from the beginning of civil life, that is, at the time when men customarily rise in the morning for their labors according to the approved customs of the regions.

The precept not to celebrate outside the hours established by the rubric binds of itself under grave sin; accordingly, he who without any legitimate cause anticipates or postpones the time considerably, that is, by one hour, sins gravely.⁴⁵⁷ The reasons for which it is lawful to say Mass earlier or later are the following:

a) The necessity of confecting the Eucharist for administering Viaticum. This is evident of itself; for if it is lawful for this reason to repeat Mass or to say it while not fasting, a fortiori it is lawful to pass beyond the time of celebration.

b) On the night of the Nativity of the Lord, as was said above.

c) A reasonable custom approved by the Ordinary. Thus, for example, it is lawful to say Mass very early in the morning in order that servants and workmen may be furnished an opportunity of hearing Mass.

d) A dispensation given by the bishop or regular superior for a reasonable cause.⁴⁵⁸ Thus, for example, because of a journey to be made or already made, it is lawful to say Mass before dawn or after noon.

e) A privilege granted by the Holy See. Certain religious possess such a privilege. Pius VI⁴⁵⁹ granted to the Congregation of Purity that Mass could be said two hours before dawn and two hours after noon. Génicot⁴⁶⁰ teaches that this privilege is shared by other religious. Indeed, Redemptorists can celebrate Mass in their churches two hours after midnight and three hours after noon.⁴⁶¹

⁴⁵⁶ Code of Canon Law, c. 821, § 1.

⁴⁵⁷ Cf. St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor. l. 6, n. 346.

⁴⁵⁸ Cf. ibid., n. 344.

⁴⁵⁹ January 24, 1783, and May 10, 1785.

⁴⁶⁰ Theol. mor. II, n. 237.

⁴⁶¹ Cf. Marc, Inst. mor. II, n. 1625.

291. Scholion 1. On reciting Matins before Mass. Since the rubric of the Missal says: "The priest ... who is to celebrate Mass ... at least after Matins with Lauds have been completed, etc.," several older authors, for example, St. Antoninus, Antoine, and Gavantus, thought that there was a grave obligation of reciting Matins and Lauds before Mass. This opinion is indeed certain if there is question of choral recitation before the conventual Mass. For those, however, who recite the Divine Office privately, it is also practically certain that this obligation is not grave but only light, and any moderate cause excuses from it altogether, for example, convenience of study, labor to be completed, etc.⁴⁶²

⁴⁶² Cf. above, II, n. 373; St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor. l. 6, n. 347 ff.

292. Scholion 2. On the time to be employed for the celebration of Mass. With the time and hour of celebration there is in some measure connected the time itself necessary for celebrating, concerning which St. Alphonsus⁴⁶³ rightly teaches "that a priest who completed Mass in less than a quarter of an hour could with difficulty be excused from mortal sin, even if the Mass were one of the shorter ones or the Mass of St. Mary on Saturday; because in so brief a space he must commit two grave defects: one, grave irreverence toward the sacrament; the other, grave scandal toward the people." Therefore the priest is to take care that he employ at least twenty minutes in the celebration of an ordinary private Mass and not exceed half an hour.

⁴⁶³ Ibid., n. 400.

S. Th. III, q. 83, a. 2-6.

387. On the time of celebration. - A. Days. - For a priest well disposed, speaking in itself and with the prohibition of the Church set aside, it is licit to celebrate daily, indeed also laudable. For, as the Book of the Imitation of Christ says, IV, c. 5: "When a priest celebrates, he honors God, gladdens the angels, builds up the Church, helps the living, gives rest to the dead, and makes himself a participant in all goods." And St. Bonaventure, de praep. ad mis., c. 5: "The priest who does not celebrate, as much as is in him, deprives the Trinity of praise and glory; those existing in purgatory of refreshment; the Church of Christ of a special benefit; himself of medicine or remedy against daily sins and infirmities." "For because we daily need the fruit of the Lord's passion on account of daily defects," St. Thomas notes, a. 2, "daily in the Church this sacrament is regularly offered." Hence can. 820: "The sacrifice of the Mass can be celebrated on all days, except those which are excluded by the proper rite of the priest."

In the Latin rite:

1. The day of Parasceve is entirely excluded, because on that day the passion of the Lord is recalled insofar as it was really, i.e., bloodily, accomplished, and therefore is not represented mystically or bloodlessly (a. 2, ad 2). Nevertheless all the faithful are permitted to communicate, as will be said below, n. 392.

2. On Thursday in the Supper of the Lord, the Mass of Chrism is to be celebrated in cathedral churches after Terce. But the Mass in Coena Domini is to be celebrated solemnly in the evening, at the more opportune hour, not however before the fifth hour nor later than the eighth. But where the salvation of souls suggests it, the Ordinary of the place can permit that in any church or public oratory one or two low Masses be celebrated; in a semi-public oratory, however, only one, so that all the faithful may be able to assist at the Holy Sacrifice and also be refreshed by Holy Communion. Private Masses are forbidden. The low Masses which are permitted by the Ordinary are to be said at the same hours as the solemn one.

On Holy Saturday no Mass is permitted, except the solemn one at night (Decree Maxima Redemptionis, S. C. Rit., Nov. 16, 1955, with the annexed Instruction).

B. Hour. - According to present-day discipline, "the beginning of the Mass to be celebrated should not take place earlier than one hour before dawn or later than one hour after midday," can. 821, § 1.

Dawn is the beginning of the daylight of the day, or the irradiation of the first light, which precedes sunrise more or less according to the variety of times and places; where dawn is not had, it is to be taken from the beginning of civil, moral, and usual life, when men rise for work (S. C. R., Nov. 2, 1634). This time is to be taken not mathematically but morally, and indeed for a public Mass according to the common usage of the place; but for private Masses according to time whether true, mean, or legal (can. 33, § 1).

The prescription obliges under grave sin (Council of Trent, sess. 22; Pius V, March 29, 1566), so that a notable transgression of it is a mortal sin, such as is customarily judged to be one which exceeds a whole hour before or after the established time. Nevertheless exceptions are admitted:

1. From privilege, at least if it has been granted after the Council of Trent, as was done for certain religious orders.

2. From dispensation of the Ordinary in a particular case (S. C. R., July 7, 1899, ad 4).

3. From reasonable custom, for example that workers and servants may be able to hear Mass very early.

4. From a just cause occurring, for example a journey, public supplication, funerals, nuptials, administering Viaticum: a lighter cause suffices for a moderate departure from the time permitted by law, and the graver the anticipation or postponement becomes, the graver cause is required.

5. As is established by the decree of the S. C. Rit., of Nov. 16, 1955:

a) On Thursday in the Supper of the Lord, the solemn Mass, and also the low Masses which are permitted by the Ordinary of the place, must be celebrated in the evening, not however before the fifth hour nor later than the eighth.

b) On Friday in Parasceve the solemn liturgical rites are to be celebrated after midday, around the third hour. If, however, an opportune reason suggests it, they can be celebrated later, but not beyond the sixth hour.

c) The solemnities of the Paschal Vigil are to be held in such a way that the solemn Mass of the vigil begins around the middle of the night between Holy Saturday and the Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord.

If, however, in the judgment of the Ordinary of the place it is expedient to begin the celebration of the Vigil earlier, this is permitted, but in no way before sunset.

6. On the night of the Nativity of the Lord, at midnight, but not before, the conventual or parish Mass can be begun, but not another without an apostolic indult (can. 821, § 2); but in all religious and pious houses having an oratory with the faculty of habitually reserving the most holy Sacrament, one priest can celebrate three ritual Masses, or, with the things to be observed being observed, only one (ibid., § 3); likewise holy communion can be ministered to those asking (ibid., and can. 867, § 4; cf. n. 392 A, c. 1). Nevertheless this does not import the faculty of celebrating with open doors: for in this matter even regulars should conform themselves to the prohibitions of bishops (S. Off., Nov. 26, 1908).

7. The Apostolic Constitution Christus Dominus and the Instruction of the C. S. Office on the sixth day of January 1953 gives faculties to Ordinaries of places as to evening Masses. Namely, they enjoy the faculty of permitting the celebration of evening Mass in their own territory, if circumstances necessarily require this, notwithstanding the prescription of can. 821, § 1. The common good sometimes demands the celebration of the sacred mysteries after midday: for example, for workers of certain industries, who even on feast days succeed one another in shifts of labor; for those classes of workers who are occupied in the morning hours of feasts, as those assigned to the duties of ports; likewise for those who from distant regions come together in very great number into one place, to celebrate a certain religious or social festivity, etc.

The Motu Proprio Sacram Communionem of March 19, 1957, gives to Ordinaries of places, vicars general without a special mandate excepted, the faculty of permitting celebration of Mass in the afternoon hours, and this indeed daily, if the spiritual good of a notable part of the Christian faithful requires it. Masses of this kind cannot be celebrated before the fourth hour after midday.

C. How many times in a day. - According to can. 806, § 1, except on the day of the Nativity of the Lord and the day of the Commemoration of all the faithful departed, on which there is the faculty of offering the sacrifice three times, it is not licit for a priest to celebrate several Masses in a day, unless from an apostolic indult or from a power granted by the Ordinary of the place. This obliges under grave sin, so that a priest who presumes to act otherwise is to be punished (can. 2321). Accordingly:

1. In the Latin Church priests can celebrate three times on the Nativity of the Lord, in honor of the threefold nativity of Christ: temporal, spiritual, and eternal; likewise on the commemoration of all the departed; and he who from an indult always says a votive Mass, for example of the Blessed Virgin, or some Mass for the departed, can say the same respectively three times (S. C. R., Jan. 26, 1920).

2. The Ordinary of the place can grant the faculty of binating, but only "when, in his prudent judgment, on account of a scarcity of priests, on a feast day of precept a notable part of the faithful cannot be present at Mass (such as a multitude of at least 20 or 30 persons is judged to be); - but it is not in his power to permit more than two Masses to the same priest" (can. 806, § 2). Thus bination can be permitted, indeed commanded, if one priest rules two parishes or two churches sufficiently distant, or if there is only one church to which the whole people cannot come together at the same time for the same Mass because of the narrowness of the place or a less fitting time; provided, however, in either case that no other priest is present. But to say three Masses is not licit except from a special apostolic indult.

The faculty of binating, not indeed one had personally from an indult, but one granted by the Ordinary, is not merely personal, but real; whence, when the pastor is absent or impeded, the one supplying his place can use it. But in a case of sudden necessity the license of the bishop, if he cannot be approached, can be presumed; unless diocesan or provincial statutes require that the judgment of the vicar forane or dean intervene.

Priests who celebrate twice or three times can in the prior Masses take the prescribed ablutions, but with water alone being used, unless it is a matter of the three Masses on the day of the Nativity of the Lord or on the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed celebrated without interruption, in which they are bound to observe the special rubrics of these Masses.

3. Priests who celebrate the solemn Mass at night in the Paschal Vigil can on the day of the Resurrection also offer the festive Mass of the day, or even several Masses if they have the faculty for this.

Ordinaries of places who, on Thursday in the Supper of the Lord, celebrate the Mass of Chrism after Terce, can also celebrate the Solemn Mass in the evening. It is permitted to the same Ordinaries, if on Holy Saturday they have celebrated the Mass of the Paschal Vigil, also to celebrate the solemn Mass on Sunday in the Resurrection, without being bound to this (cf. Decree of the S. C. Rit. of Nov. 16, 1955, with the Instruction added by the same Sacred Congregation).

D. Time to be spent. - For a private Mass, the space of time to be spent should approach about a half hour; and, Benedict XIV warning, de sacrif. mis., sect. 2, n. 217, "it ought to reach at least the third part of an hour, and not exceed half an hour." He will not easily be excused from mortal sin who completes Mass within a quarter hour, at least habitually, since this of itself is apt to import grave irreverence toward the sacrament and grave scandal of the people: thus St. Alphonsus, Th. M., l. VI, n. 400.