Annual Communon obligation

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Can. 920 §1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.
§2. This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.
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(emphasis added)

I received Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil this year, but before Easter Sunday had begun according to the clock (i.e. before midnight).

Have I fulfilled my obligation?

Thanks.
 
Soler said:
(emphasis added)

I received Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil this year, but before Easter Sunday had begun according to the clock (i.e. before midnight).

Have I fulfilled my obligation?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes. The Easter Season certainly also includes the Easter Vigil, which is the first Mass of the Easter season. 🙂

I forget which document it’s in but I have read recently that the “Easter season” actually includes Lent, as well - I’m not sure how that works. 🤷
 
Soler said:
(emphasis added)

I received Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil this year, but before Easter Sunday had begun according to the clock (i.e. before midnight).

Have I fulfilled my obligation?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes!

Easter starts with the celebration of the Easter Vigil, not at midnight.

There is a period during which one can fulfil their Easter duty, i.e. until Trinity Sunday. It doesn’t have to be on Easter Sunday.

Finally, this obligation only applies if you receive once per year anyway. In other words if you are only going to receive once per year it must be at this time.
 
jmcrae said:
Yes. The Easter Season certainly also includes the Easter Vigil, which is the first Mass of the Easter season. 🙂

I forget which document it’s in but I have read recently that the “Easter season” actually includes Lent, as well - I’m not sure how that works. 🤷
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Easter Season: A period of seven weeks beginning with Easter Sunday and ending with the feast of Pentecost.

usccb.org/comm/rcia/glossary.shtml

Of course Easter begins with the Easter Vigil.

CIC (Latin Canon Law)
Can. 920 §1 Once admitted to the blessed Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.
§2 This precept must be fulfilled during paschal time, unless for a good reason it is fulfilled at another time during the year.
 
Vico said:
Easter Season: A period of seven weeks beginning with Easter Sunday and ending with the feast of Pentecost.

usccb.org/comm/rcia/glossary.shtml

Of course Easter begins with the Easter Vigil.
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That part, I know.

I have read somewhere recently that, specificially with regard to the annual reception of Holy Communion, you can receive during Lent and it still “counts”. 🤷
 
Can. 920 §1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.
§2. This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.
Click to expand...
Matthew_Holford said:
Finally, this obligation only applies if you receive once per year anyway. In other words if you are only going to receive once per year it must be at this time.
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Related questions:

  1. *]What is a “just cause” for the purposes of this canon? If I happened to go to confession before mass in August, would receiving then instead of during the Easter season be justified?
    *]Normally I would assume the Church’s liturgical year, rather than the calendar year, is what we are using here. However, Canon 202 seems to accept any 365-day period - is that correct?:
    Can. 202 §1. In law, a day is understood as a period consisting of 24 continuous hours and begins at midnight unless other provision is expressly made; a week is a period of 7 days; a month is a period of 30 days, and a year is a period of 365 days unless a month and a year are said to be taken as they are in the calendar.
    Click to expand...
 
Digitonomy said:
What is a “just cause” for the purposes of this canon? If I happened to go to confession before mass in August, would receiving then instead of during the Easter season be justified?
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I have never directly encountered this situation. I do not know any one who only communicates once per annum. I believe that this is rare. One may presume “just cause” being any valid reason preventing you from receiving at this time.
Digitonomy said:
Normally I would assume the Church’s liturgical year, rather than the calendar year, is what we are using here. However, Canon 202 seems to accept any 365-day period - is that correct?
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I do not know the answer to that question. It seems to me that it would make little difference whether it is the liturgical or calendar year. If you are only going to receive once in any 12 month period it must be at or around Easter (actual period varies slightly from country to country).
 
Matthew_Holford said:
I have never directly encountered this situation. I do not know any one who only communicates once per annum. I believe that this is rare. One may presume “just cause” being any valid reason preventing you from receiving at this time.
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Could the just cause be that the individual simply failed to receive reconciliation during the Easter season? Also, as I read it, the requirement of once-per-year minimum is already met if the person received communion back in January. If that’s the case, he no longer has an obligation to receive in the Easter season.
Matthew Holford:
It seems to me that it would make little difference whether it is the liturgical or calendar year. If you are only going to receive once in any 12 month period it must be at or around Easter (actual period varies slightly from country to country).
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If you receive on the Second Sunday of Easter two years in a row, well more than 365 days may have elapsed.

Some canons are carefully thought out, and the premises and ramifications that surround them have been debated and clarified over decades or even centuries. I’m curious whether this is one of those, and we’ve just lost sight of the legal scholarship in this era of frequent communion that Pius X pushed for. Or, if this is a canon that has simply not been carefully honed. Does your commentary book shed any light on these issues, if it’s handy?
 
jmcrae said:
That part, I know.

I have read somewhere recently that, specificially with regard to the annual reception of Holy Communion, you can receive during Lent and it still “counts”. 🤷
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I have also read that on a number of Catholic Church websites.

Dr. Edward N. Peters states it has been extended in the USA. So, it seems that is it not this way everywhere.

canonlaw.info/precepts_noaudio.htm
  1. Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
    Commentary: This reception of the Eucharist can take place within or outside of Mass. For Catholics in the United States, the period for satisfying this precept has been extended beyond what, liturgically speaking, is the Easter season, to run from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday (after Pentecost). By canon law, though, any just cause allows the precept to be fulfilled at any time of the year (1983 CIC 920).
 
Digitonomy said:
Does your commentary book shed any light on these issues, if it’s handy?
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No, it’s not handy and I’m puzzled as to where it is. My three copies of codes of canon law are on the shelf but not the commentary on the 1983 code. I must ind it.
 
Soler said:
(emphasis added)

I received Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil this year, but before Easter Sunday had begun according to the clock (i.e. before midnight).

Have I fulfilled my obligation?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
yes on 2 counts. the Easter Vigil IS the principal liturgical celebration of Easter, and Easter season begins with Lent and goes until Pentecost.
if you only plan to receive once a year you have bigger problems than counting days
 
Vico said:
They are different, but there was an extension to include Lent in the “Easter Duty” in the USA, for the Latin Church from what I have read . (See post #9.)
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Thank you very much for answering my question Vico. I knew that the person to whom I posed the question would not answer it.
 
puzzleannie said:
yes on 2 counts. the Easter Vigil IS the principal liturgical celebration of Easter, and Easter season begins with Lent and goes until Pentecost.
if you only plan to receive once a year you have bigger problems than counting days
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But, for purposes of the “Easter Duty”, the time runs from the First Sunday of Lent through Trinity Sunday (which, this year, falls on June 19th).
 
Is that for the US? I remember reading somewhere that the Easter Season ends with Pentecost.
 
Vico said:
“Although the Church urges us to receive Communion at each Mass,
there is an obligation for everyone to receive Communion at least once
a year some time during the interval between the First Sunday of Lent
and Trinity Sunday.”
USCCA Part II The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated - p. 222 (USCCA = United States Catholic Catechism for Adults)

usccb.org/lent/uscca_sacraments.pdf

catholicbook.net/products/United-States-Catholic-Catechism-for-Adults.html
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This proves what it is for the US. What about other territories?
 
ConstantineTG said:
This proves what it is for the US.
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I’m still curious when the rule was changed for the US to include Lent. We have several statements that that IS the rule, but no actual reference to an official document that provides for this rule.
 
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