Does vigil mass fulfill the Sunday morning requirement

[phil19034]

I don’t think that was the question though. A poster made the claim that, for Holy Days, the Mass the evening before would only count toward the obligation if it used the readings for the Holy Day.

The readings don’t matter.

If a Holy Day of Obligation is on a Monday and I attend a Sunday Mass at 10am and then another Sunday Mass at 6PM (exact same readings) then the 2nd Sunday would count for the Holy Day.

But if I only attended at 6PM and did not attend Saturday night or Sunday morning, the Sunday Mass would only count for Sunday (regardless of which readings they use at the 6PM Mass).

 

[JulianN]

The readings don’t matter.

If a Holy Day of Obligation is on a Monday and I attend a Sunday Mass at 10am and then another Sunday Mass at 6PM (exact same readings) then the 2nd Sunday would count for the Holy Day.

But if I only attended at 6PM and did not attend Saturday night or Sunday morning, the Sunday Mass would only count for Sunday (regardless of which readings they use at the 6PM Mass).

Exactly. But @CRM_Brother was stating the opposite, which I believe caused the confusion and the question.

 

[phil19034]

phil19034:

The readings don’t matter.

If a Holy Day of Obligation is on a Monday and I attend a Sunday Mass at 10am and then another Sunday Mass at 6PM (exact same readings) then the 2nd Sunday would count for the Holy Day.

But if I only attended at 6PM and did not attend Saturday night or Sunday morning, the Sunday Mass would only count for Sunday (regardless of which readings they use at the 6PM Mass).

Exactly. But @CRM_Brother was stating the opposite, which I believe caused the confusion and the question.

@CRM_Brother is correct IF the person ONLY went to mass on Sunday evening and didn’t also go to mass on Saturday Evening or Sunday morning.

Far too many people try to double dip by attending Sunday evening… They are looking for a “2 for 1 deal” which doesn’t exist.

So some priests (and perhaps even some bishops) mistakenly explain it by saying if the mass is for Sunday, it doesn’t count. In other words, they dumb it down instead of properly explaining all the options.

 

[JulianN]

Correct, but this was the claim:

For example, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of obligation in the United States. When the feast falls on a Monday, masses celebrated on the evening before still using the Sunday liturgy (like the evening Spanish liturgies in some Churches) do not fulfill the Obligation for the Holy Day.

That is where the confusion arose, since that’s not correct.

 

[OldCAFMember]

OldCAFMember:

Um, no, I was asking for evidence that various bishops have decreed that a Sunday evening Mass would not fulfill the obligation for a Monday holy day.

Year after year, when Christmas falls on a Monday or Saturday, we have an obgligation to attend mass on BOTH Sunday & the holy day.

However, for some HolyDays (at least in the United States) the bishops will dispense the obligation from a HolyDay when it falls on a Saturday or Monday.

Regardless, the only way a mass on Sunday evening counts for a Holy Day obligation for a Monday Holy Day is if it is the 2nd time you attended Mass since 1st Vespers.

In other words, for a Sunday evening Mass to count as the Obligation for a Monday Holy Day of Obligation, one must have attended Sunday Mass on Saturday night or Sunday morning/afternoon.

In other words, you cannot double dip. If you have two Obligations, you must attend Mass twice.

I’m aware of that. But that wasn’t the question.

 

[TomH1]

I attend Saturday night vigil mass every week. I do not attend Sunday morning mass. Does Saturday night fulfill my duty as a Catholic to attend Sunday morning services?

I shall, in answering your post, infer that you are a Latin Catholic.

Your obligation is not ‘to attend Sunday morning services.’ Your obligation is to attend a Eucharistic liturgy. This may be in any rite; in any form or use of a rite; in any of the 24 Catholic churches. You can fuflil the obligation at any time on Sunday or on Saturday evening.

Therefore, going to Mass on Saturday evening fulfils your Sunday obligation.

 

[TomH1]

Not always. That only works for Sundays in Ordinary time without a dispensation from the local bishop. The other Sundays fall within a higher rank of Solemnity and as such, follow slightly different rules when it comes to liturgical fulfillment of obligation.

So too, when it comes to fulfilling the obligation for a holy day of obligation and the requirements for the plenary indulgence from attending the feast of the patron Saint of a Church, the mass to fulfill that obligation must use the liturgy specified by the holy day or indulgence requirements. For example, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of obligation in the United States. When the feast falls on a Monday, masses celebrated on the evening before still using the Sunday liturgy (like the evening Spanish liturgies in some Churches) do not fulfill the Obligation for the Holy Day.

This is not correct. The obligation is to go to Mass. It is not to go to a specific Mass.

The obligation can be fulfilled on the holy day of obligation (Sunday or solemnity of precept) or on the evening of the previous day. You can fulfil the obligation by any Eucharistic celebration: Holy Mass, Divine Liturgy, Holy Qurbono. The obligation can be fufilled in any Catholic church sui iuris, e.g. Latin Catholic Church, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, etc. It can be fulfilled in any rite, e.g. Roman, Dominican, Byzantine, Armenian, etc. Within a rite it can be fulfilled in any use or form, such as Ordinary Form, Extraordinary Form, Ordinariate Divine Worship. Nor does it matter what liturgical colour the vestments are, what proper orations, lections or chants are used. Any authorised celebration of the Holy Eucharist in any Catholic church fulfils the obligation and for Sunday that can be done on Saturday evening.

 

[TomH1]

The bishops are the final judiciary and legislators of canon law

No, they are not. The pope is the sole legislator for the Code of Canon Law.

every bishop of a diocese in which I have lived in have specifically stated that all evening masses on a Sunday, celebrating the Sunday liturgy, cannot fulfill the obligation.

If this is so those bishops have been acting contrary to the law of the Church.