Can a Mass be celebrated outside of a church building?

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ReaderT said:
Also, if the Liturgy isn’t being celebrated on an altar containing the relics of a martyr Saint, then at the very least it must be celebrated on a table with an antimension - a special piece of cloth with the relics of a martyr sewn into it.
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I’m not familiar with the practice of an altar with relics rather than an antimension (though curious).

While on the subject of antimensions, they are personal to the priest, not the parish. So if there are, for example, three priest at the parish, each will have one.

Also, at a bishops death, they are returned, and the new bishop issues new ones to his priests (the relics are recovered for future use. I think the cloth is burned, but I’m not sure.

Also, I’ve heard that during WWII, EC bishops issues a large number of antimensions to RC chaplains–who were otherwise carrying around huge altarstonbes in jeeps!
 
dochawk said:
I’m not familiar with the practice of an altar with relics rather than an antimension (though curious).
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Right, sorry - I should’ve been clearer - the antimension is also used even when the Altar table has relics sealed in it, but if there’s no altar outside, the antimension must at least be present.

Did not know about the altar stones - very interesting!
 
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My father went to Masses outdoors during World War II.
Our parish had to replace the floor in the church, so we had Mass in the school gym
Every year, we have outdoor Mass in the cemetery on Memorial Day and All Souls Day.
 
I have been to a papal mass that was celebrated in a football stadium; there were 13 000 attendants and there simply was no church big enough for that.
 
ReaderT said:
Did not know about the altar stones - very interesting!
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Before Vatican II, RC Masses had to be celebrated either on an altar with a saint’s relic in it, or if a priest planned on celebrating Mass in a lot of places where there weren’t traditional altars (like a military or school chaplain) he would get permission to use an altar stone, which was a large, specifically-sized block of marble with the saint relics in it. Places that expected to have regular Masses but that weren’t churches (Such as Catholic school, nursing home etc.) would have a wooden altar (which couldn’t be consecrated because it was wood) with a space the size of an altar stone in the top so the priest could just put his in.

After Vatican II, priests were allowed to just use a table.
 
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