REQXnEM
778
REQUIEM
IV. Conditions for the Celebration of Re-
quiem Masses. — The Mass of Requiem is by its
very nature extra ordinem officii, according to the
Rubric (Rubr. Miss.); that is, it has no relation to
the Office of the day. From this point of \-iew, the
Mass of Requiem may be rightly considered a votive
Mass. Now, according to the laws of the Church
(Rubr. Miss, ante Mis. Vot.), votive Masses may
not be celebrated "except for some reasonable cause"
(nisi rationabili de causa), since "the Mass should,
as far as possible, accord with the Office" (quoad
fieri potest Missa cum Officio conveniat); and there-
fore neither may Requiem Masses be celebrated
without reasonable motive; and this reasonable
motive does not exist when the Mass is not to be
oiTered for one, or several, dead, in particular, or
for all the dead in general. For that reason, the
custom that has grown up in our days, even in some
of the Roman churches, of providing only black
vestments in the sacristies on days of Semi-double,
Non-festive, or Non-privileged, Rite, is not to be
approved. It may be said, however, in justification
of this practice, that at present alms for Masses are
given, for the greater part, in behalf of the dead;
yet it is true that many stipends are paid with the
intention of obtaining special graces in behalf of the
living, particularly at the sanctuaries to which the
faithful resort to venerate the saints or the Blessed
Virgin. The priest, however, who knows that he
should offer the Mass in behalf of living persons,
and not for the departed, has no reasonable cause
to celebrate the Mass of Requiem, and therefore
may not hcitly celebrate it. This seems to be a rule
without exception. That Masses which are said
according to the Office of the day may be applied
to the dead, is easily understood, since the formulary
of the Mass is separable from the application of the
Sacrifice itself. So, also, there is no doubt about
the application of the merits of the Sacrifice to the
living, even though the formulary be that of Requiem
(cf. Bucceroni, "Enchir. Mor.", 3rd ed., p. 282);
but it is not licit, since the liturgical rules clearly
and justly allow the reading of the Mass of Requiem
only for the reason of its application to one or more
of the dead.
There are other conditions for the celebration of the Requiem Mass; one is that the rite of the day should allow of the celebration; another that the celebrant be not obliged, by reason of his official position, to celebrate a Mass of the living. More will be said in regard to this impediment of the rite or of the solemnity of the day, when w-e come to speak of the various masses of Requiem. As to the impediment that arises from the celebrant's official charge, we may say at once that it can be either the obligation of saying the conventual Mass or that of saying the parochial Mass on a feast day. It is known that the conventual Mass, which should be celebrated by chapters, in cathedrals and in collegiate churches, is never to be omitted, since it is the chief and noblest part of the whole office (Benedict XIV, Constit., 19 Aug., 1744, n. 11); for which reason, if there should be but one priest at a collegiate cliurch, it would be his duty to say the conventual Mass, even if the solemn obsequies of one deceased were to be celebrated, as the Ritual ex- pressly provides (VII, i, 5). The same is to be said of the parochial Mass, which the parish priest is to celebrate pro populo on each feast day; for which reason, if there should be but one parish priest at a parish church on a feast day, and he should not be privileged to say more than one Mass, he may not celebrate the Mass of Requiem, even if it be a ques- tion of the obsequies of one deceased, prcesente cadavere. The reason for this prohibition is the rigorous obligation that binds each parish priest to offer the Mass on feast days for his people, an obliga-
tion which, according to the Council of Trent (Sess.
XXIII, I, de ref.), arises from the Divine precept,
for him who has the care of souls "to offer sacrifices
for the people" {offerre sacrificia pro populo).
Benedict XIV (op. cit., n. 2) declares: "Eos, quibus
animarum cura demandata est, non modum sacri-
ficium Missae celebrare, sed illius etiam fructum
medium pro populo sibi commisso applicare debere",
so that this is a common doctrine among canonists
that has been confirmed at different times by the
Congregation of the Council. Now if, in order to
celebrate the Mass of Requiem, the Mass must be
offered for the dead, and if there is only one Mass
in a parochial church on a feast day which must be
offered pro populo, it is manifest that this Mass may
never be one of Requiem, but, on the contrary, as
the Congregation of Rites has frequently declared,
it must always be according to the Office of the feast.
Also the Congregation of the Council (16 June, 1770,
in Fesulana), being asked "An parochi in Dominicia
aliisque festis diebus prae.sente cadavere, possint
celebrare missam pro defuncto, et in aliam diem
transferre missam pro populo applicandam", an-
swered : Negative.
The Monday Privilege. — In the United States there is a faculty ("Fac. Ord.", Form I, 20) ordinarily communicated to priests through the bishops, which grants permission to celebrate a Requiem Mass on ^londays non impeditis officio novem lectionum. The phrase officio novem leclionum gave rise to a doubt as to whether semi-doubles only were referred to, or if doubles also were understood. The Congre- gation of Rites answered (4 Sept., 1875, n. 3370, ad. 1) that this Mass was allowed on all Mondays during the year, except (a) on the vigils of Christmas and the Epiphany; (b) in Holy Week; (c) during the oc- taves of Christmas, the Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi; (d) holy days of obligation; (e) greater doubles and doubles of the first and second class. If the enumerated cases hinder this Mass on Monday, the privilege is transferred to Tuesday, under the same conditions, but it lapses after that day.
V. Rite. — The Office and the Mass for the Dead, in their construction, as in their varied rite, are modelled on the offices and the masses of the litur- gical feasts; and, as these are divided by Double Rite, and Semi-Double Rite, with their various classes, so, also, are the Masses of Requiem divided. As is well known, it is characteristic of the Double Rite to double the antiphon in the Office (Rubr. Brev., I, 4) and to have only one prayer in the Mass (Rubr. Mis., I, 1); while in the Semi-Double Office, the antiphons are not doubled, and the Mass has several prayers. Now the same law governs the Office and the Mass for the Dead; the Mass of Requiem will be of the Double Rite (a single prayer), whenever the office to which it may be related is recited with Double Rite (doubling the antiphons); it will be of the Semi-Double Rite (with several prayers), when it corresponds to an office that is recited with the Semi-Double Rite. The Decree of the Congregation of Rites of 30 June, 1896, and the reformed Rubric of the Missal (V, 3) are inter- preted in that sense. Upon the basis of these prin- ciples, it is easy to establish the division of the masses of Requiem according to the various rites. As the Rubrics of the Breviary (ante Matut in. Def.) and of the Ritual (VI, iv) prescribe the duplication of the antiphons, in the offices for the dead (a) on All Souls Day, (b) on the day of the obsequies, and (c) on the 3rd, 7th, 30th, and anniversary days, the masses corresponding to tho.se offices will be of the Double Rite. It should be observed, however, that the days just named all have the Double Rite, but not all with the same privileges; wherefore, the masses also on those days will be of the Double Rite, more or less
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