Christmas Vigil Mass

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Did I hear Jimmy Akin correctly on CA live that these are not permitted by the GIRM (or whatever document)?
Are they just an abuse that has become so commonplace that we do not recognize it?
Their obvious reason is to keep Christmas morning free for the Festival of Greed.

Chris C.
 
Chris C.:
Did I hear Jimmy Akin correctly on CA live that these are not permitted by the GIRM (or whatever document)?
Are they just an abuse that has become so commonplace that we do not recognize it?
Their obvious reason is to keep Christmas morning free for the Festival of Greed.

Chris C.
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Do you mean Masses before the Midnight Mass… then you’re right. The obligation to go to ChristMass should be on Christmas, not on ChristMass Eve or Vigil.
 
Well, I didn’t hear what might have been said but that sounds strange to me since there are duly approved liturgical prayers for the Mass of Christmas Eve and other prayers for Midnight Mass. If you check a missal or something that has the texts for Mass, you’ll see what i’m refering to.
 
It sounded strange to me, too. i have seen those prayers and readings in the missalette. I must have misheard Jimmy Akin. I don’t like the vigil Masses, but this one does seem to me to be canonically approved.

Chris C.
 
It would also seem odd that Vigil Masses are approved for every other Sunday and Holy Day in the whole liturgical year - but not for Christmas. Something doesn’t seem quite right.
 
Christmas is a Holy Day of Obligation and so it has a vigil. However this year it is on Saturday. How does the USCCB deal with this, this year? Will each diocese make it’s own decision? If handled as other HDO that fall on Saturday or Monday it will be not be a HDO.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
If handled as other HDO that fall on Saturday or Monday it will be not be a HDO.
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The ONLY holy days that are affected by the Sat/Mon rule are:
  • January 1, (Mary, Mother of God)
  • August 15, (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
  • November 1, (All Saints)
 
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Timidity:
The ONLY holy days that are affected by the Sat/Mon rule are:
  • January 1, (Mary, Mother of God)
  • August 15, (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
  • November 1, (All Saints)
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Thanks,

I didn’t have anything to look that up in and it would not have supprised me. I did notice that 12/25 was red in my liturgucal calander and 11/1 was black this year. That should have given me a clue, duh.
 
Br. Dan:
Well,…since there are duly approved liturgical prayers for the Mass of Christmas Eve and other prayers for Midnight Mass. If you check a missal or something that has the texts for Mass, you’ll see what i’m refering to.
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Yes there are masses for Christmas Eve and midnight mass, but the readings are not the same as for Christmas Day.

Same thing for Easter.

A virgil mass should theorectically have the same readings as the Holy Day shouldn’t it?

Maybe Jimmy Akin meant a “Virgil” Christmas Eve mass which has the same readings as Christmas morn? If so, he’s probably right.

My family has been debating this ad naseum. I have not found the answer in the Canon Law which has rulings on virgil masses for Holy Days but is silent for Christmas/Easter.

So what’s the CORRECT ANSWER?
 
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Timidity:
The ONLY holy days that are affected by the Sat/Mon rule are:
  • January 1, (Mary, Mother of God)
  • August 15, (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
  • November 1, (All Saints)
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Are you referring to a specific year/country or universal church ruling?

Could you let me know the source? Have not seen this anywhere.

Thanks
 
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bob:
Are you referring to a specific year/country or universal church ruling?

Could you let me know the source? Have not seen this anywhere.

Thanks
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This decree affects only the United States, and it is in effect every year. From the USCCB website:
On December 13, 1991 the members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America made the following general decree concerning holy days of obligation for Latin rite Catholics:
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In addition to Sunday, the days to be observed as holy days of obligation in the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America, in conformity with canon 1246, are as follows:
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January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension;
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints;
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.
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This decree of the Conference of Bishops was approved and confirmed by the Apostolic See by a decree of the Congregation for Bishops (Prot. N. 296/84), signed by Bernardin Cardinal Gantin, prefect of the Congregation, and dated July 4, 1992.

As President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, I hereby declare that the effective date of this decree for all the Latin rite dioceses of the United States of America will be January 1, 1993, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Given at the offices of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC, November 17, 1992.
  • Daniel E. Pilarczyk
    Archbishop of Cincinnati
    President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops Robert N. Lynch
    General Secretary
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Archdiocese of Singapore
Q: What are the days of obligation in the Archdiocese of Singapore?

A: On top of Sundays, the days of obligation are:
  1. Ascension (40th day after Easter Sunday)
  2. Assumption (15 August)
  3. All Saints (1 November)
  4. Christmas (25 December).
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Dear Bob,

I don’t know what the theory is, to be honest. But, some Solemnities that have vigil Masses have different readings from the Mass of the Day (Easter, Pentecost, Birth of St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul, Assumption, Christmas, for example) Or, for Christmas and Easter, there are different readings depending on what time of day the Mass is. When there are different readings given in the Missal, we *must * use those readings for that time of day.

Canon Law is not meant to be a detailed liturgical guide–for details, we have to depend on the Roman Missal and other specifically liturgical books.

This is my answer and i think it is correct but, as i said, i don’t know the theory behind it. Maybe one would have to go back to Pius XII who allowed the use of vigil Masses, if i remember correctly…
 
Chris C.:
Did I hear Jimmy Akin correctly on CA live that these are not permitted by the GIRM (or whatever document)?
Are they just an abuse that has become so commonplace that we do not recognize it?
Their obvious reason is to keep Christmas morning free for the Festival of Greed.
Click to expand...
People are always so quick to assume the worst. Jimmy’s comments on this from Catholic Answers Live this past Thursday can be heard at about 2 minutes into the recording where he begins to answer a question, and again at about 20 minutes in, where he updates his answer.

The question was not about Christmas vigil mass, which will occur Friday night this year. It was about the vigil mass for Sunday, which would be Christmas night, if it were to occur. Which it should not.

Jimmy’s explanation was identical in logic to the following, though slightly less verbose and complete:

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Respect the Tradition and Liturgical Texts

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the liturgical celebration of Christmas includes four distinct celebrations of the eucharist. The Vigil Mass of Christmas may be celebrated in the evening of December 24, either before or after evening prayer I. On Christmas itself, following the ancient tradition of Rome, three masses may be celebrated: namely, the Mass at Midnight, the Mass at Dawn, and the Mass During the Day.

Each celebration possesses a unique character which is defined by its proper texts and the time of day when it is to take place.

Whenever possible, the full cycle of Christmas Masses should be celebrated with their proper texts. Out of respect for the unique character of each celebration, the Masses are to be celebrated at their proper times.

…

When Christmas Is Celebrated on Saturday

It is important to keep the celebration of Christmas and Sunday distinct, and to be mindful of the extra demands which are placed upon priests and other liturgical ministers when Christmas and Sunday are celebrated on consecutive days.

The following recommendations will be helpful.
  1. If possible, additional celebrations of the Vigil Mass of Christmas are to be avoided.
  2. If necessary, only one anticipated Midnight Mass should be celebrated around 10:00 p.m.
  3. The regularly scheduled Saturday evening Mass in anticipation of Sunday should be omitted altogether.
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bob:
What I meant was did you mean that the Sat/Mon ruling only applied to those specific days you listed?
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The Sat/Mon ruling above only applies to the United States, and only to those days listed. Rules on Holy Days of Obligation are formulated by each national conference of bishops, and then approved by Rome. Which is why the Singapore holy days are different from the US holy days listed earlier.

Since the website does not include any mention of the Sat/Mon rule, my assumption would be that there is no such rule in Singapore. However, it could just as easily be that the website is incomplete. Give the archdiocese a ring, or shoot them an email.

In addition, I think the archbishop can probably make these exceptions as he sees fit. In countries with multiple dioceses, there is more need for this sort of thing to be codified, so that there is not confusion and divergence of practice from one area to another. Not a problem in Singapore, so it may be common practice, just not written down.
 
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bob:
Thanks digitonomy.

btw how is the Sat/Mon rule defined?
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Hi Bob,

See the italicized portion of the quote from my post #11 above. It defines the rule as promulgated by the USCCB. Basically, it just means in the cases described, the obligation to attend Mass is transferred to Sunday.
 
Digitonomy

thanks for clearing up: it weas one of those things where you tune in half way through the conversation. In any case, if the Church got rid of the Christmas vigil Mass, it would not hurt my feelings.

Chris C.
 
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