How Mass is applied

177. Conditions of valid application. In order that the application be valid, these three things are required:

1. That it be made by the celebrant himself: for the dispensation of the fruits has been entrusted by Christ to the priest, from whom he also has the power of sacrificing. Nevertheless it is not required that the application be actual or virtual; even habitual and implicit application suffices: for application is made in the manner of a donation; but a donation once made is valid and remains until it is revoked. Yet although an intention once made certainly is not extinguished by the duration of several months, nevertheless it cannot be extended to a time too long (to several years) without losing its value.

a. But application depends so much on the will of the celebrant that if he applies contrary to the will of his superior, it is indeed illicit, but nevertheless not invalid.

b. A celebrant would effect nothing with this intention: I perform the sacred action for him to whom God, or Christ, or the Blessed Virgin applies it.

2. That it be made before consecration: it should indeed be strongly advised that the application be made before Mass; nevertheless an application made in the Mass itself is valid, provided it is made before consecration: for the sacrifice produces the effect intended by the minister when it is completed; but the sacrifice is essentially completed through consecration.

Those who are of this opinion, that the sacrifice before communion is not yet essentially completed, consequently teach that an application avails which is made before holy communion; but since this opinion has scarcely any probability, applications made after the second consecration are very doubtful, not to say invalid. An application made between the two consecrations is valid according to the opinion of many: for since, according to the opinion which is hardly not certain, the sacrifice is completed only by the consecration of the chalice, its fruits can still be applied before the second consecration.

3. That it be determined explicitly or implicitly to a certain person or to a certain end: for it belongs to the priest to apply the fruit of the Mass, which God does not confer except according to the intention of the celebrant. Hence, if the priest has determined no end or no person, there is no reason why the fruit of the Mass should be applied to one rather than to another, and therefore it is applied to no one. Yet it is not required that the priest himself know or explicitly determine the person or end, but it wholly suffices that another do this and that the priest celebrate according to this intention explicitly determined by another.

a. Therefore these applications are valid: according to the intention of the superior; for him who first gave the stipend; according to the intention of the giver or petitioner; according to the intention noted in the booklet; according to the order in which the stipends were given; for him whom the foundation requires; for him for whom I am bound to apply; for the greatest sinner; for the soul most abandoned; for the soul which is nearest to redemption, etc. In all these cases, objectively or before God, who distributes the fruits of the Mass, there is a true and sufficient determination of the application. But he who from ten intentions offered to him should apply according to one of the ten, determining none, would not make a valid application. He, however, who should apply for all ten collectively would both apply validly and, if he had accepted ten stipends, would satisfy his obligation: for in individual Masses each of the petitioners would receive a tenth part, and when the tenth sacred action had been celebrated, each would have received his whole fruit.

b. It is asked whether an application according to the mind of the Blessed Virgin Mary is valid. In order that the application be valid, the priest himself must apply the fruit of the Mass and must determine, at least implicitly, the person or end to which he intends to apply. Therefore this application is not valid: I offer for him to whom God wills to give the fruits; for him to whom God applies or wills to apply, because the priest himself does not determine the person. But this is valid: I apply for him for whom God wills me to apply, because the priest himself determines the person, namely the one for whom, according to the good pleasure of God, he must apply; just as an application is valid for him for whom a superior wills it to be applied, provided the superior has a determinate will. But God always has a determinate will: for He always wills that it be applied for him for whom it is more pleasing to Him. Now to apply according to the mind of the Blessed Virgin signifies to apply for him for whom the Blessed Virgin wills it to be applied; therefore this application is valid, because the priest himself determines the person to whom the fruits of the sacrifice ought to come, namely to him to whom it is more pleasing to the Blessed Virgin that they come.¹

¹ Cf. Pasqualigo, De sacrificio novae legis, I, q. 169; Suarez, De sacramentis, disp. 43, sect. 6.

178. Whether the fruits of the Mass can be divided. It is certain that the diverse fruits of the Mass can be divided and separated from one another. For sometimes it happens that the fruits of the Mass are separated, without the celebrant willing and intending it. If, for example, the sacred action is offered for one who is in the state of mortal sin, the impetratory and propitiatory fruit indeed will come to him, but not the satisfactory. But even by the will of the celebrant the fruits of the Mass are validly, and sometimes also licitly, divided, as if the impetratory fruit alone is applied to one, but the satisfactory to another, or conversely. Indeed the same fruit is divided among several if the same sacrifice of the Mass is applied for several.

Concerning this matter the following rules can be established:

a. He who is bound from justice to apply the Mass for an accepted stipend cannot licitly divide the fruits of the Mass, but must apply to the one giving the stipend the whole fruit of the sacrifice of which he is capable.

b. Even in Masses for the dead which must be celebrated because of an accepted stipend, the whole fruit, both satisfactory and impetratory, must be applied to them; nor is it licit in Masses for the dead owed from justice to apply the impetratory fruit either to himself or to another. It is indeed not established in what way the sacrifice profits the souls of the dead insofar as it is impetratory, but it is certain that the dead can be aided by the impetratory fruit (n. 175); and likewise it is certain that those who give a stipend for the dead have the right that the dead be aided from the Mass in every way in which they can be aided.

183. On the stipend itself. It is licit to require and receive a just stipend for the application of a Mass, not as the price of the sacrifice or of the fruit applied, which would be a most grave sin of simony, but for honest support. This is established from the custom universally received in the Church. And indeed, he who is occupied for another in spiritual ministry by divine law requires temporal support from him.²

Mass stipends draw their origin from the offerings of the faithful.³

a. In the primitive Church, during the solemnities of Masses, the faithful gave their offerings (bread and wine) at the altar. From these was chosen what was necessary for consecration (and communion of the faithful); what remained after consecration went partly to the clerics and partly was distributed to the poor. For those who had offered the offerings (in the beginning all present were such), the sacrifice of the Mass was offered.

b. Gradually the offerings of bread and wine ceased, and in their place the faithful offered coins, not however all as before, but only some. When coins were now being offered, it seemed that the very thing which it was licit to offer during Mass could also be offered before or after Mass. Finally, those who offered coins to the priest outside Mass asked that the sacrifice of the Mass itself be offered specially for them.

c. From the seventh century onward it seems to have happened that coins were offered to the priest outside Mass by those who asked that a Mass be celebrated. At the same time the custom was introduced of sacrificing for particular faithful and according to their special intention. Since the offerings from which the stipend of the Mass arose at first had the character of alms offered to the clerics and the poor, the stipend is sometimes called an alms even in our time.⁴

¹ Link, Messstipendien (Regensburg, Manz, 1901).

² Matt. 10:10; 1 Cor. 9:13. Cf. De praeceptis, 12th ed., n. 198; Cn. 824.

³ Cf. Link, p. 22 ff.; Benedict XIV, De missae sacrificio, l. 3, c. 21, n. 1-5; Gasparri, I, n. 535 s.

⁴ S. C. C., 21 June 1625; 5 July 1664; Benedict XIV, Quanta cura, 30 June 1741.

184. On the obligation arising from a stipend. 1. From an accepted stipend there arises a grave obligation of justice of offering the Mass according to the intention of him who gave the stipend: for there intervenes between the priest and him who gives the stipend an onerous contract, which must be observed from justice. Hence the priest who, having accepted a stipend, does not apply the Mass according to the intention of the one giving the stipend, gravely wounds justice and is bound to restitution of the stipend.¹

a. Recent theologians teach as altogether certain by common consent that he sins gravely who fails to celebrate even one sacred action owed from a stipend, although others, because of the contrary opinion of certain older authors, teach that he sins gravely only more probably, unless the quantity of the stipend is grave. These authors falsely measured the quantity of the sin from the quantity of the stipend. The true reason why this sin is grave must be taken not from the quantity of the stipend (unless it was given by a poor person), nor from the gravity of the spiritual loss which he who gave the stipend suffers (unless he asked in grave necessity), but from the will of the Church manifested by so many decrees, which obliges the priest under grave sin, because of the great importance of the matter, to fulfill this contract. But the priest who has not satisfied his obligation is not bound under grave sin to restitution of the stipend, unless the stipend constitutes a relatively grave sum.

b. The contract which is made between him who gives the stipend and him who accepts the stipend cannot be called a contract of exchange or sale, by which the labor intrinsically joined with celebration is exchanged for the stipend; but with most authors it must be called the unnamed contract, I give that you may do, i.e., I give a stipend for support, that you may apply for me the sacrifice of the Mass.² Hence it follows that once this contract has been entered, ownership of the stipend passes to the priest, together with the obligation of justice of applying the sacrifice of the Mass according to the intention of the giver, which obligation he can satisfy either by himself or through another. Therefore, if the priest, even without fault, by a fortuitous event has lost the stipend received, the obligation of applying does not cease, since the thing perishes for its owner.³

2. Those adjuncts also must be observed from justice which are rightly asked by him who gives the stipend, namely of celebrating at a determinate time and place and a determinate quality of Mass, provided the one accepting the stipend has obligated himself to observe these things. Wherefore a grave defect in this matter must be supplied, if it cannot be done otherwise, by another Mass duly celebrated according to the will of the one giving the stipend.⁴

a. If the time at which the Mass is to be said has been determined either expressly or tacitly, namely by the very quality of the intention (e.g., for a dying person, for a happy childbirth, for the happy outcome of a grave matter), it must be applied at the agreed time.

b. If, in a privileged altar, celebration is to be made from an accepted stipend for a deceased person, the priest who enjoys a personal privilege of the altar satisfies the obligation when celebrating at any altar; but he does not satisfy by applying another plenary indulgence, because the deceased person does not gain this so certainly.⁵

He who, through an error committed in good faith, has not satisfied this obligation, e.g., because without a personal privilege he celebrated at another altar, not privileged, is not indeed bound to restore the stipend, but is bound in compensation to apply another plenary indulgence to the same deceased person.⁶

c. He who by reason of a stipend or foundation is bound to say a votive Mass does not satisfy the obligation by applying the Mass of the day, unless a legitimate impediment excuses. Yet since this defect affects not the substance but only the quality of the Mass, it does not exceed venial sin. But he satisfies the obligation of applying for the dead by saying a Mass of a saint, and likewise he satisfies the obligation of applying for the living by saying a Requiem Mass; nevertheless it is in no way fitting that this be done, unless a just cause excuses. For although by reason of the sacrifice there is no difference between one Mass and another, nevertheless by reason of the prayers which occur in the Mass, one profits the dead more than the other.

If, when a stipend has been offered, a Mass is asked in honor of some mystery, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or of a saint, the obligation is satisfied by this, that the Mass of the current day is applied according to the intention of the one giving the stipend, unless a votive Mass is expressly asked. But it is more advisable that, insofar as it can be done, satisfaction be made to the intention of the one giving the stipend by a votive Mass.⁷

3. It is not licit to accept several stipends for one sacred action, but absolutely as many Masses must be celebrated as have been asked by reason of the stipend given and accepted, even if the stipends are small.⁸

a. That it is not licit to accept several stipends for a single Mass is manifest in the opinion of those who hold that the fruit of the sacrifice is finite; but neither do those who think the fruit of the sacrifice is infinite concede that several stipends are to be accepted for one Mass, both because the title for accepting them is lacking, since daily support is one, and because it has been prohibited by the Church.⁹

b. A stipend can be accepted for one Mass which is celebrated on the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, and for the individual Masses which are celebrated on the feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Likewise, for an extraordinary burden and labor, e.g., for a Mass to be celebrated with chant, in a distant place, at a late hour, for several continuous days, etc., it is licit to require a fee greater than the customary one; but in no way is this licit for a spiritual advantage, e.g., for celebration at a privileged altar, before a miraculous image, etc.

c. It is licit to accept a stipend for the application of a Mass which is celebrated for spouses, if the spouses themselves have not given a stipend for the application of the Mass.¹⁰ The same is licit for the application of a funeral Mass, if a stipend has not been given so that it be applied for the deceased person whose funeral is being held:¹¹ for in both cases only the quality of the Mass, not its application, is prescribed by the Church.

d. Nevertheless it is not licit to accept one stipend for celebration alone and another for application, unless it is certainly established that the stipend was offered for celebration without application, cn. 825, 4.

¹ S. C. C., 21 June 1625; 5 July 1664; Benedict XIV, Quanta cura, 30 June 1741.

² Cf. De praeceptis, 12th ed., n. 198.

³ Cn. 829.

⁴ Cn. 833.

⁵ S. C. Indlg., 2 May 1852.

⁶ S. C. Indlg., 22 Feb. 1847. By this decree the Congregation concedes to priests who were bound to apply the indulgence of a privileged altar, and who, erring in good faith, did not gain it, that compensation be made by the application of another plenary indulgence, as the same Congregation declares, 24 July 1885. Cf. Beringer-Hilgers, Die Ablasse, 14th ed. (Paderborn, Schoningh, 1915), I, 568.

⁷ S. C. R., 13 June 1899, n. 4031.

⁸ Cn. 828.

⁹ This proposition (10) was condemned by Alexander VII: It is not against justice to accept a stipend for several sacrifices and to offer one sacrifice.

¹⁰ Holy Office, 1 Sept. 1841.

¹¹ S. C. C., 27 Apr. 1895.

185. On the quantity of the stipend. 1. A priest can licitly accept for a Mass what the liberality of the faithful freely and spontaneously offers.¹ But it is not licit to require anything except the stipend which is determined either by the law of the bishop or, in its absence, by the custom of the place. "If a priest about to celebrate requires more beyond the alms taxed by the bishop, he not only offends against the law of the Church, but also wounds commutative justice";² nevertheless he does not commit the sin of simony.³

a. If a benefactor has given stipends for Masses, but has not determined the number of Masses, the number must be computed according to the stipend of the place in which the offerer was staying, unless another intention of the same can be presumed (cn. 830), as if perhaps at other times he was accustomed to give a richer stipend.

b. If someone by testament or legacy has prescribed Masses to be celebrated, but has not determined the quantity of the stipend, either recourse must be had to the bishop, so that he may prescribe a suitable stipend, or the stipend must be fixed according to the custom of the place.

2. The bishop can prohibit priests from admitting an alms smaller than the customary tax. But a prohibition of this sort, wherever it exists, must not be understood in such a way that, if a reason of mercy or charity demands it, it is not licit to admit a smaller stipend, provided it is declared that this is done under the title of alms. But he cannot prohibit the faithful from giving an alms greater than the customary one, because the bishop cannot prohibit works of piety.

By common law, indeed, any priest can licitly apply a Mass for an alms below the diocesan tax. But if there exists an episcopal prohibition that alms for Masses below the diocesan tax be received, not only secular clerics, but also regulars, are subject to the statute of the bishop.⁴

¹ S. C. de prop. fid., 30 July 1877.

² Benedict XIV, De synodo, l. 5, c. 9, n. 2.

³ Cf. De praeceptis, 12th ed., n. 198.

⁴ Cf. Council of Trent, sess. 22, decree Quanta cura De sacrif. missae; Benedict XIV, De synodo, l. 5, c. 9, n. 2; Cn. 832.

186. On manual Masses to be duly satisfied. 1. In order that the burdens of Masses and manual Masses owed from a stipend be duly satisfied, and that all commerce concerning Mass stipends be avoided, several decrees have been issued by the Holy See, the principal of which are these:

a. S. C. C. under Urban VIII, 21 June 1625, Cum saepe.

b. S. C. C. under Innocent XII, 23 Nov. 1697, Nuper.

c. Constitution of Benedict XIV, 30 June 1741, Quanta cura.

d. S. C. C., 9 Sept. 1874.

e. S. C. C., 24 Apr. 1875.

f. S. C. C., 25 May 1893, Vigilanti.

g. S. C. C., 28 Aug. 1897.

h. S. C. C., 11 May 1904, Ut debita.

i. S. C. C., 22 May 1907.

With the decree Ut debita the dispositions of the new Code, cn. 837-844, almost agree.

Very many dispositions which in the course of time were issued by the Holy See concerning manual Masses are renewed, confirmed, and more accurately determined by the decree Ut debita. According to the mind of the legislator, this decree obliges those to whom it pertains of itself under grave sin, therefore in grave matter under grave sin, in light matter under light sin (n. 4).¹ The summary of this decree is contained in the following points, with those things noted which are modified in the new Code:

2. Three kinds of Masses are distinguished:

a. Manual Masses, whose stipends are offered by the faithful either from their own devotion, as it were into the hand, or from an obligation even perpetual made by a testator to his own heirs.

To manual Masses also belong those which a family by force of inheritance, even in perpetuity, must see celebrated, and which permanently adhere to a church, monastery, confraternity, or pious places, but are not founded, so that they can be applied by any priest.²

b. Masses after the manner of manual Masses, which are founded, but cannot be applied in their proper place or by those who from the foundation ought to satisfy them, and therefore by law or by indult of the Holy See must be handed over to other priests so that they may be celebrated.

c. Founded Masses, whose stipends are received from the revenues of foundations.³

3. Holy Mother Church is very solicitous that Masses which are requested by the faithful with a stipend offered are certainly and duly satisfied; to obtain this end she prescribes several precautions.

a. Rectors of churches and of other pious places, whether secular or religious, in which stipends of Masses are customarily received, should have a special book in which they accurately note the number of Masses received, the intention, the stipend, and the celebration. Ordinaries are bound to inspect these books at least every year, either by themselves or through others.

b. Ordinaries of places and religious superiors who commit Masses to be celebrated to their own subjects or to others should quickly enter the Masses accepted with their stipends in a book and should see to it, as far as they can, that they are celebrated as soon as possible.

c. All priests, whether secular or religious, must carefully note what intentions they have received and which they have satisfied.

d. The right and duty of watching that the burdens of Masses are fulfilled pertains to the local ordinary, and in the churches of religious to their superiors.⁴

¹ The whole decree consists of a preface and 15 numbers, to which the numbers added here in the text within parentheses refer.

² S. C. C., 19 Dec. 1904.

³ Cn. 826.

⁴ Cn. 842 ss.

187. On the time suitable for celebration.¹ 1. If the time of celebration has been determined by the offerer either explicitly or implicitly, the priest accepting the Masses is bound to celebrate them at the determined time.

a. The time is determined implicitly by this, that the end of the application is indicated, e.g., for a dying person, for a happy childbirth, for new communicants, for the happy outcome of some grave matter, etc.

b. A priest sins gravely if he does not celebrate within the time suited by reason of the end; and when that time has passed, he is bound to restore the stipend, even if he afterward celebrates, namely when the end for which he ought to have celebrated can no longer be obtained.

2. If the time has been determined by the offerer neither explicitly nor implicitly, the Masses must be celebrated within a moderate time according to the greater or lesser number: if one is to be celebrated, within a month; a hundred Masses requested by the same person within a semester; and another longer or shorter space of time more or less according to the greater or lesser number of Masses. According to the judgment of authors, this more exact determination can be made: if 20 Masses are offered by one and the same person without determination of time, they must be satisfied within two months; if 40, within three months; if 60, within four months; if 80, within five months; if 100, within six months, and so on; if 200, within a year, unless the offerer either asks that the celebration be made within a shorter time, or grants a longer time for it (n. 9).

a. Therefore if someone, with a stipend offered, asks for a Mass, it must be applied within a month; if twenty different persons ask the same priest for a Mass, likewise all must be applied within a month. Indeed, if in some solemnity five hundred different persons offer a stipend for one Mass, of themselves they must be applied within a month.² But if the same person asks the same priest for twenty Masses, it suffices if they are applied within two months.

b. For priests who receive Mass stipends not from the faithful but from the ordinary, by concession of the Holy See the time within which the Masses must be applied begins from the day on which they received the stipends from the ordinary, not from the day on which they were offered by the faithful.³

c. This determination of time must be taken not scrupulously and mathematically, but in a human and moral manner. Nevertheless, that which up to now was handed down by authors, namely that Masses for one recently deceased must be applied within a month, but Masses offered for other intentions within two months, unless they are asked for an urgent cause, can no longer safely be taught. Nor must a distinction any longer be made between Masses to be applied for the dead and Masses to be applied for the living; but the time suitable for application is the same in either case.

d. The precept applies to all Masses which by this decree are called manual. Therefore if someone accepts from a pastor Masses founded in his church to be celebrated, they must be celebrated within the time determined above: for for him who accepts them they are Masses after the manner of manual Masses, although the pastor, since they are founded, could have applied them within the year.

e. Therefore he who without just cause notably defers Masses beyond the prescribed time sins gravely; nevertheless he is not bound to restitution of the stipend, because afterward he can still satisfy the obligation of celebrating. A delay is judged notable if a Mass which was to be celebrated within a determined time is deferred for a month beyond the prescribed time.

3. If the offerer has expressly left the time to the judgment of the priest, he can celebrate them at the time which pleases him more; nevertheless, within a year counted from the time at which he accepted them.

¹ Cf. cn. 834 s.

² S. C. C., 27 Feb. 1905.

³ S. C. C., 27 Feb. 1905.

188. 4. Therefore:

a. It is licit for no one to seek or accept more Masses than he can probably celebrate within the stated time, either by himself or through his subjects, if there is question of an ordinary or regular prelate (n. 1). To these must also be reckoned pastors whose chaplains must celebrate according to their intention.

alpha. Nothing prevents a priest who has already accepted stipends from one or another person from accepting several other Masses from other offerers, provided they can be applied within a suitable time. If, for example, 40 Masses are offered to someone by one and the same person, it suffices if he satisfies them within three months; meanwhile he can also satisfy several other obligations owed either from office or from other stipends.

beta. A priest indeed is not licitly able to accept for himself Masses which he cannot apply within the due time; nevertheless he can accept them for others, i.e., he can declare himself ready to the one offering the stipends to see to it, if it pleases him, that they be applied by another priest.

b. It is licit for no one to accept more Masses than he can probably apply within a year from the day of the obligation undertaken, unless someone spontaneously gives a greater number (n. 3).

The sense of this number will be clear from an example. If to a priest who within the year must celebrate 150 Masses from a benefice, 300 stipends are offered by the same donor, he cannot accept more than 200, because besides those owed from the benefice he cannot apply more within the year. Yet if someone spontaneously gives 500 Masses to a priest, by that very fact he does not require that they be applied within the year, but consents that the application of several be deferred beyond the year.

5. All who are obligated to fulfill burdens of Masses must, at the end of the year, hand over to their proper ordinaries the Masses which they have not yet satisfied, unless there is question of a smaller number of Masses (n. 4).

a. All, whether clerics or laypeople, but especially beneficiaries and administrators of pious causes. Therefore heirs who by force of testament or legacy are bound to see to it that Masses are said, during the course of the year can hand them over to any priest to be celebrated; but if they neglect this, after the year they lose the right of seeing to the celebration by themselves, and they are bound to send them to the ordinary.

b. At the end of the year. If there is question of founded Masses or Masses attached to some benefice, the obligation begins from the end of that year within which the Masses ought to have been applied; if there is question of manual Masses of a larger number, the obligation begins after a year from the day of the obligation undertaken.

c. A smaller number: for the priest licitly retains as many Masses as he can apply within the due time. In the same way he licitly retains those whose celebration, by the will of the donors, can be deferred beyond the year.

d. The proper ordinaries of regulars are regular prelates (generals, provincials, local superiors), to whom regulars must hand over at the end of the year the Masses which they have not yet satisfied.¹

6. In churches (e.g., of pious pilgrimages) in which more Masses are requested than can be celebrated there within the due time, the faithful should be advised by a notice placed in an open place that the requested Masses will be celebrated either there, when it can conveniently be done, or elsewhere.

¹ S. C. C., 27 Feb. 1905.

189. On handing superfluous Masses to others. 1. He who has superfluous Masses which he himself cannot apply within the time suitable for celebration must assign them either to the ordinary, or to the Holy See, or to another priest, with the prescribed conditions observed (n. 5).

He who hands over Masses with a stipend to the ordinary or to the Holy See is freed from every obligation by the very handing over; he who hands them over to other priests is not freed from the obligation of celebrating until he has obtained testimony of the accepted obligation and of the received stipend.¹

Testimony of the celebration performed is no longer required.

¹ Cn. 839.

190. 2. The prescribed conditions are these:

a. As to the Masses. That the Masses be celebrated in that place (church, altar) and at that time (day, hour), as the will of the founders or offerers requires.

b. As to persons. alpha. Intentions of Masses accepted from the faithful or from pious places can licitly be handed over to priests (whether staying inside or outside the diocese), who celebrate them either by themselves or through their subjects, namely where they are handed over to ordinaries or regular prelates (or pastors), n. 8.¹

It is not licit to give Mass stipends to booksellers and administrators of periodicals, even if they are religious men, nor to sellers of sacred utensils and vestments, however much they are pious and religious institutions, nor to any others, however much they are ecclesiastical men, who ask for Masses not with the intention that they celebrate them either by themselves or through their subjects (n. 8). It is clear that by this there is not prohibited that Mass intentions be given or procured for priests so that from their stipends they may buy books or things of any kind.

beta. The priests to whom Mass intentions are handed over must either be known as above all exception, i.e., such that they provide moral certainty that they will celebrate the accepted Masses (n. 5), or must be commended by testimony of their proper Ordinary.²

gamma. Testimony of the received stipend must be required.

This testimony must be required so that the one handing over Mass stipends to others may know that he is immune from the obligation of celebrating. And indeed, to obtain this end for the internal forum of conscience, it makes no difference whether the testimony is written or oral; indeed even moral certainty obtained from the circumstances of things and persons prudently considered seems sufficient for the forum of conscience.

Note. If there is question of Masses to be sent to churches of the Oriental rite: a. it is not licit to send them: alpha. to laymen who distribute them to priests; nor beta. directly to Oriental presbyters; nor gamma. directly to superiors of congregations of Oriental religious; nor delta. directly to titular bishops or simple patriarchal vicars. But b. they must be sent either alpha. to the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith; or beta. to apostolic delegates, signifying at the same time the number of Masses and the sum of stipends which must be handed over to Oriental prelates existing within the scope of the delegation; or gamma. to prelates having ordinary jurisdiction for priests subject to themselves.³

¹ Cn. 838.

² Cn. 838.

³ S. C. de prop. fide, 15 July 1908.

191. 3. As to the stipend. 1. In transmitting manual Masses, the whole stipend must be transmitted, unless the offerer expressly permits something to be retained or it is certain that the excess above the diocesan tax was given in view of the person.¹

To these one may add another case, namely if the one receiving the stipend spontaneously remits part of the offered stipend:² for he is not prohibited from making donations. That the expenses of transmission can be deducted is manifest.

a. He commits a grave sin against religion who retains part of the stipend in grave matter, even if he expends the retained money for pious uses. That partial retention of the stipend is prohibited by the Church under grave sin is manifest from the penalties previously issued against this manner of acting. But it has been doubted whether by this manner of acting one sins against commutative justice with the burden of restitution, or only against religion. Certainly the opinion of those who deny a wound of commutative justice is probable:³ for the arguments by which the affirmative opinion is demonstrated do not prove the matter. They argue thus: alpha. From the condemned proposition: a priest who has accepted Mass stipends cannot satisfy through another, with part of the stipend retained for himself;⁴ but he who does not satisfy his obligation wounds justice. - But nothing requires that the words of the condemned proposition be understood thus: he cannot satisfy his obligation without a wound of justice; since they can conveniently be understood thus: he cannot licitly satisfy his obligation. beta. A priest accepting a stipend indeed acquires ownership of it, but according to the will of the giver; but the will of the giver is that the Mass be celebrated for such a stipend; therefore he who retains part of the stipend acts against the will of the giver, which pertains to the substance of the contract, and therefore acts against justice and is bound to restitution, not indeed to him who gave the stipend, but to the celebrating priest. - But it is in no way established that this is the will of him who gives the stipend, which is clear from these things: he who has accepted a Mass stipend can satisfy the obligation of celebrating through another, even if he gives no stipend, provided the one conferring the stipend has not expressly demanded that the one accepting himself celebrate the Mass. For if another in place of the one accepting the stipend celebrates gratis according to the intention of the giver, no one doubts that he who accepted the stipend has satisfied the obligation.

b. To administrators of churches who give stipends to outside priests celebrating in their churches, it is not licit to retain part of the stipend under this title, that the celebrating priests pay something for necessary expenses, even if the church is poor. Nevertheless, it is licit for rectors of churches to require payment of expenses from priests wishing to celebrate in their churches as a condition that they be permitted to celebrate in the church, especially if the church is poor, or many priests, or the same priests frequently, celebrate there.

c. To an executor of a testament who, for a certain sum of money, must see that a determinate number of Masses is celebrated, it is not licit without injustice to retain part of the sum for himself because he sees to it that Masses are celebrated where the stipends are smaller: for since he never acquired ownership of the stipends, there exists no title by which he could retain part of them.⁵

¹ Cn. 840.

² Benedict XIV, const. Quanta cura, 30 June 1741.

³ Ballerini-Palmieri, IV, n. 1017; D'Annibale, III, n. 190, note 17; Genicot, Theol. mor. inst., 231.

⁴ This proposition (9) was condemned by Alexander VII: After the decree of Urban, a priest to whom Masses to be celebrated are handed over can satisfy through another, with a lesser stipend given to him and the other part of the stipend retained for himself.

⁵ St. Alphonsus, n. 322.

192. In Masses to the likeness of manual Masses it is sufficient to transmit the stipend of the diocese in which the Mass is celebrated, if the excess takes the place of part of the endowment of the benefice or of the pious cause, unless the mind of the founder stands in the way.

a. Therefore, if the foundation was made in such a way that the celebration of Masses is entrusted to a certain priest, it is sufficient to transmit the diocesan tax. But if the foundation was made in such a way that the celebration of Masses is annexed to some church, the pastor who sees to it that they are celebrated by another must give him the whole stipend,¹ except in the case in which the foundations constitute part of the parochial congrua.

b. For funeral or nuptial Masses, whose celebration by law and custom belongs to pastors, a greater tax is usually given; the pastor can retain its excess, if he sees to it that the Mass is celebrated by another. But if the greater stipend is given by reason of chant, of a later hour, etc., the excess must be handed over to the celebrant, who must undergo the extraordinary burden.

c. If to a priest who accompanies a funeral 5 crowns are offered with the burden of celebrating a Mass, or if to a pastor 20 crowns are given with the burden that a triduum be instituted and three Masses celebrated, it is sufficient that to him to whom the Masses to be celebrated are entrusted there be given the diocesan stipend. But if the Mass to be said is entrusted to a priest existing outside the diocese, the stipend of the diocese of the celebrant must be given. If a Mass connected with a benefice is entrusted to another priest, the ordinary stipend of that place in which the Mass is celebrated must be given.²

The decree Ut debita further admonishes two things:

a. The stipend of a Mass cannot licitly be separated from the celebration of the Mass (n. 8).

Since by these words this alone is prohibited, namely that Mass stipends be given to those who accept them for another end, not for this end, that they pay off the Masses either by themselves or through their subjects, it is not prohibited that priests be asked to accept Masses to be celebrated and then donate their stipends to a pious work. - Nor is it prohibited that, from a just cause of necessity, a priest exchange the intention of a Mass with another, while retaining his own stipend, even though the stipends of each are not equal, but one is greater than the other. For in this case one is judged spontaneously and freely to donate the excess to the other. - Nor, finally, is it prohibited that pastors, whose vicars must celebrate according to the intention of the pastor, retain the stipends of Masses for their sustenance.

b. The stipend of a Mass cannot licitly be exchanged into other things, but must be returned in its own species (n. 9).

alpha. Although it is not licit by means of Masses to sell or buy any things whatsoever, nevertheless it is licit for him who asks for a Mass or Masses to hand over to the priest, for Masses to be celebrated or already celebrated, a book or another thing in place of money, provided this is not done habitually nor turns to the support of some commerce (n. 10).

beta. Both from declarations of the Holy See and from indults and privileges granted by the same Holy See either to bishops or to priests, it was licit to exchange the stipends of Masses with another thing, e.g., newspapers, religious sheets, and even, for promoting a pious work, to hand over stipends to others with part of them retained. But now all these things are obrogated and must be held as abrogated (n. 9). - In like manner there has been revoked the indult granted to more celebrated sanctuaries, by force of which from Mass stipends offered by the faithful they could deduct a part, so that provision might be made for the decor and ornament of the sanctuary (n. 11).

¹ S. C. C., 25 July 1874.

² S. Office, 11 May 1904, Ut debita, n. 15.

THE application of a Mass is the intention with which the priest who says it wishes that it should accrue to the benefit of a certain person or persons. Such a special act is only required for the application of the ministerial or special fruit, as it is called; for the priest himself derives fruit from his Mass, as likewise do those who assist at it, and the faithful in general, without any special application.

As it belongs to one who prays to choose the intention for which he offers up his prayer, so the application of his Mass belongs to the priest. A superior may indeed prescribe the intention for which a Mass is to be offered, but he who celebrates the Mass must make the actual application. This should be done before the consecration is finished, for, according to the common opinion, the essence of the Mass consists in the consecration, and an action cannot receive its direction from an intention which is only formed after the action is accomplished. Probably, however, it will be sufficient if the intention is formed between the two consecrations.

It is not necessary that the intention by which Mass is applied should be actual or even virtual; it is sufficient if it be habitual, or made once for all and not afterward revoked.

When Mass is said for a stipend it is not necessary for the priest to know precisely what the intention is for which he is desired to say Mass; it is sufficient if he say Mass for the intention of the giver of the stipend. Clement VIII forbade priests to offer Mass for the first who should give a stipend for that purpose, and if no one actually intended to ask for a Mass when a priest celebrated with such an intention the Mass would not be applied.

A priest does not sin if he celebrates without any special intention, but it is always better to have one, as then the Mass will be more fruitful. When a priest celebrates for a stipend he may not divide the fruits of the Mass, applying the satisfactory or other fruit to the intention of the giver, and another The Application fruit to some other intention.

The whole fruit of the sacrifice must go to the giver of the stipend. When, however, a Mass is ordered by a superior in thanksgiving for some blessing, it will not be wrong to apply the other fruits for other intentions which in no way interfere with that prescribed by authority.

356. QUESTION 4. If a priest has accepted stipends from ten persons, does he satisfy his obligation by celebrating with a confused and indeterminate intention?

Reply. Entirely negatively, because an intention determined at least to a certain person is required; otherwise, there is no reason why the Mass should be applied to one rather than to another, and thus it would be applied to no one. - St. Lig., no. 335. Nevertheless, if he were to intend to apply each Mass to those ten persons, applying one tenth of each Mass to each, he would satisfy the obligation, because the fruit of the Sacrifice is divisible and there is allotted to each what is owed to him. For, by receiving a tenth part of the fruit in each of ten Masses, each one, when the tenth Mass has been offered, has already obtained the whole fruit owed to him ². - St. Lig., no. 335, with many others.

² The Author replies thus according to the opinion of those who teach that only a limited fruit is received from the Mass, namely, that which the divine disposition has determined; yet he himself had said above (no. 352) that this opinion rests upon no solid reason. But according to the more probable and most common opinion, of which there was discussion above (no. 352 with the note), each person would receive the whole fruit owed to him from each of the ten Masses. Therefore, when the tenth Mass had been offered in this manner, each would have received a fruit ten times greater than if one Mass had been applied for each individually.

357. QUESTION 5. How must the application be determined when stipends are given by many unknown persons, as commonly happens in pious pilgrimages?

Reply. The intention must be made for those who gave the earlier stipends. This is easily accomplished when the same priest is to satisfy all the obligations; nor does it hinder that he may happen to distribute a portion of the Masses to be celebrated to other priests, because he can distribute them in the same order in which he received them, and thus the application appears sufficiently determined. A greater difficulty seems to be present if a sacristan or another person has collected many stipends from diverse persons and distributes the commingled money to several priests, which is an ordinary and frequent case. For how, then, must the application of the Mass be made? I answer: nothing else must be done, nor can anything else morally be done, except that the application be made according to the temporal order in which the stipends were given by the faithful, in accordance with the axiom sometimes employed in a matter of justice: He who is prior in time is stronger in right. Indeed, it is not even necessary that the priest attend to this explicitly, since he is judged to will to act in this way, because natural equity demands it. Hence, if from a common fund, for example, from a box placed in the church, or from a distributor of Masses, you have received stipends for twenty Masses, no other care ought to rest upon you except that you say Mass twenty times according to the intention of the giver. The distributor himself is judged to have the same implicit intention, namely, successively to assign the stipends according to priority of time. The priest can, however, interrupt the aforesaid order by an express intention for some grave cause, for example, if some other Mass is urgent, or if he has received a larger stipend so that he should not delay the Mass, etc.

245. Notion. The application of the Mass is the intention or will of the priest to determine the ministerial fruit for a special end, for example, for certain deceased persons. Therefore, application, as we now speak of it, does not touch the three other fruits, nor even the Mass insofar as it is a personal good act. These things must indeed be kept before the eyes to avoid confusions. It must especially be noted that it is not the same thing to ask for whom the Mass can be applied and for whom it can be useful. The fruits of the Mass are in some measure useful to the whole world, just as is the sacrifice of the Cross; but the Mass cannot be applied for just anyone in the whole world.

246. The power of applying. It is certain that the Mass can truly be specially applied, and the contrary opinion of the Synod of Pistoia was condemned by Pius VII.³¹⁴ The application of the Mass (that is, its ministerial fruit) belongs to the celebrating priest alone, who is constituted the dispenser of the mysteries of God and in his ordination received the power of offering the sacrifice of the Mass, that is, of applying the ministerial fruit both for the living and for the deceased. The priest must make this application, because otherwise this fruit remains in the treasury of the Church, as the theologians say.

For the rest, every priest is judged to have a habitual intention of applying the Mass either for himself or for those to whom he is obligated from justice or from another title. But when a priest has forgotten to make the application of some Mass, then the ministerial fruit probably returns to the celebrant himself. But when a priest, having accepted a stipend, applied the Mass for some deceased person who is already in heaven or who is in hell, then the fruit of the Mass probably accrues to the one who gave the stipend, since he is judged to have the intention that the offered Mass profit either the deceased person or himself. In practice it is advisable that the priest once and for all make an express intention: of applying the ministerial fruit to himself if perhaps he has forgotten to make an application, or if by a gratuitous title he has applied the Mass to someone incapable of receiving it; but of applying the ministerial fruit to those giving the stipend if, by an onerous title, he was bound to make an application which was ineffective because of the incapacity of the person receiving.

³¹⁴ Prop. 30 (Denz., n. 1530).

247. The manner of applying. 1. The application must be made for a certain end. For the priest must determine at least in some manner to whom the ministerial fruit ought to accrue; otherwise the application is thereby destroyed. Nevertheless, it is not required that this determination be entirely singular and that the priest know the intended end perfectly. Hence it suffices to apply the Mass: according to the intention of the person giving the stipend, or of the superior; according to the intention noted in a booklet; according to the order in which the stipends were given; for fulfilling endowed Masses; for the greatest sinner; for the most abandoned soul; etc. But it is not lawful to apply the Mass according to the intention of one who will request the application after offering an alms, but has not yet requested it, and then to retain the alms afterward given for the Mass previously applied.³¹⁵

When a priest through error celebrated Mass for a deceased man, whereas the stipend was given for a deceased woman, he nevertheless satisfied the obligation. For the error is accidental, since the prevailing intention was to celebrate according to the intention of the person giving the stipend. To avoid difficulties which can easily occur, it is better that a priest celebrating a Mass for a stipend elicit no other principal intention than that of applying the Mass according to the intention of the person giving the stipend.

But if several persons have offered stipends, then the Masses can be celebrated either according to the order in which the stipends were offered, or each Mass can be celebrated according to the intention of all who offered stipends; for then from each Mass each offerer receives a part of the fruits. But when all the Masses have been discharged, each has received all the fruits to which he had a right. This second manner ought to be preferred by those who hold that the limitation of the fruits of the Mass arises not from the will of Christ but from the incapacity of the recipient. For then each of all those who offered stipends receives, each time the Mass is thus applied, the whole fruit of which he is capable.³¹⁶

Here authors pose a curious question: whether it is lawful to apply the Mass according to the intention of the Blessed Virgin Mary? If the Blessed Virgin truly intends that the Mass be celebrated for a determinate end, this application is valid; otherwise it is not. In practice it is much better that the priest add another, more determinate intention besides this intention.

2. The application must be made at least before the second consecration. The reason is that the essence of the Mass consists in both consecrations, as was said above in n. 229. Therefore, as long as both consecrations have not been completed, the fruit of the Mass can be applied. But when the second consecration has been completed, the application also has been completed and accordingly can no longer be changed. An application made between the two consecrations is more probably valid, because the essence of the sacrifice has not yet been completed. In practice, however, it is advisable that the application be made before Mass. Nevertheless, it is not required that it be made immediately before Mass, but it can also be made some time beforehand. Thus, for example, a priest can arrange the Masses to be applied for the whole coming month.

³¹⁵ Code of Canon Law, c. 825, n. 1.

³¹⁶ Thus also Ballerini in the note to Gury II, n. 356.

248. Scholion. On a conflict of two intentions in the application of the Mass. What must be done if a priest, forgetful of a prior intention, has intended a second application of the Mass was already said above in n. 66 in the treatise on the intention of the minister of the sacraments. The general rule is: The stronger intention prevails. But which intention is stronger, whether the first or the second, is often impossible to discern. In practice it is better and safer that the priest once and for all establish for himself a rule according to which, in similar cases, the prevailing intention is to be discerned. But if in a particular case it truly is not established which application was made, nothing remains except that on another day a Mass be celebrated according to that intention which God knows has not yet been satisfied.

Question 3. Must the intention of the celebrant be explicitly determined?

Resp. Negatively, for it suffices that it be determined implicitly. Thus the application is valid if you say: I offer this sacrifice for him who gave the stipend - for whom the superior wills the Sacrifice to be made - for whom the foundation requires it - for the greatest sinner or the soul afflicted by the graver temptation - for the purging soul needing greater help or more pleasing to God - for all the souls of Purgatory - for him to whom I am bound to apply it - for the person or intention written or determined in mind at the beginning of the week, etc. On the contrary, this application is not valid: I offer that God may apply this Sacrifice, because no determination would be present.

Question 4. If a priest has accepted stipends from 10 persons, does he satisfy by celebrating with an altogether confused and indeterminate intention?

Resp. Negatively, because an intention determined at least implicitly to a certain person is required; otherwise there is no reason why the Mass would be applied to one rather than to another, and thus it would be applied to no one. - Nevertheless, if he intended to apply each Mass to those ten persons, applying to each one a tenth part of each Mass, he would satisfy the obligation; because the fruit of the sacrifice is divisible, and there is attributed to each one what is owed to him; for each one, perceiving in each of ten Masses a tenth part of the fruit, when the tenth Sacrifice has been made, has already obtained the whole fruit owed to him. But a fortiori this is lawful according to the opinion of those who deny that the fruit of the Mass is perceived according to some limited measure established by Christ Himself. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 335. - Ballerini, note (b), p. 245.

Question 5. How must the application be determined when stipends are given by many unknown persons?

Resp. The intention must be made for those who gave the earlier stipends. This easily succeeds when the same priest will satisfy all obligations; nor does it stand in the way that he perhaps distributes part of the Masses to be celebrated to other priests, because he can distribute them in the same order in which he received them, and thus the application seems sufficiently determined. A greater difficulty seems present if a sacristan or another has collected many stipends from diverse persons and distributes the confused money to several priests. For how then will the application of the Mass have to be made? I answer: Nothing else must be done, nor can anything else morally be done, than that the application be made according to the order of time in which the stipends were given by the faithful, according to the maxim which is sometimes used in a matter of justice: He who is prior in time is stronger in right. Indeed, it is not even necessary that the priest explicitly attend to this; since he is judged to wish to act thus, when natural equity demands it. In general, when priests receive Masses to be celebrated from the Ordinary, it suffices that they "celebrate according to the mind of the Ordinary, who nevertheless must form the intention for each one offering according to the rules handed down by approved authors of moral theology. Yet it is better if the prescribed intentions are disclosed to the priests." S. C. Conc. 27 Feb. 1905.

Question 8. What is a second intention in Mass?

Resp. "From what has been said," says Lugo (concerning whether the Sacrifice of the Mass has infinite value), "there is inferred first what the second intention in Mass means, which is accustomed to be applied for others; for in truth to apply a second intention for someone is to apply conditionally, if he to whom the first is applied does not need it; or even to extend the impetration to that; which, as we have said, can be extended to several; or finally also to apply satisfaction primarily in the case in which the contrary opinion is true, according to which the priest can extend his application to many and prudently does so by extending it: let it be worth as much as it can be worth." Cf. Lugo, disp. 19, n. 257. A second intention, when Mass is said for a stipend, must be formed "with the right of the giver preserved." It is altogether to be advised, lest the fruit remain in the treasury of the Church, that as often as we celebrate Mass for someone, we always at the same time have another second intention of applying it to another, either in whole or in part conditioned, if he to whom the first intention is given is not capable of its fruit or does not need it. - Cf. Coninck in 3 part, q. 83, nn. 165-166.

XVII. The intention of applying the Mass for the offerers is required. A habitual one does not suffice, whatever some may say; nor is an actual one necessary; but a virtual one suffices. Neither lawful nor valid is the application of a Mass for him whom God knows will first give a stipend; and La Croix says from Bassaeus that Clement VIII forbade this, which decree I have not seen.