Hard question for me, please help! Saturday/Sunday Mass questions [edited]

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What I don’t understand is…How can a Saturday 4Pm, 5PM or 6PM Mass (before sundown) be the Sunday Vigil Mass, but the Vigil Mass for Easter has to be after sundown?

 

[puzzleannie]

What I don’t understand is…How can a Saturday 4Pm, 5PM or 6PM Mass (before sundown) be the Sunday Vigil Mass, but the Vigil Mass for Easter has to be after sundown?

the anticipated Mass on Saturday evening is not a vigil it is Mass in anticipation of the Sunday or holy day.
The Easter Vigil is unique.

 

[The_Prodigal]

What if you find yourself in a country or diocese where the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is itself a holy day of obligation - and that region does not translate the solemnity to the Sunday?

Do you fulfill both obligations by assisting at the Vigil Mass on Sunday evening?

 

[FrDavid96]

What if you find yourself in a country or diocese where the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is itself a holy day of obligation - and that region does not translate the solemnity to the Sunday?

Do you fulfill both obligations by assisting at the Vigil Mass on Sunday evening?

This one pops up quite a bit. The “answer” is found in the canon laws governing travellers and how the law applies to them. It gets kind of tricky because the Solemnity of Ss Peter & Paul is a matter of universal law and the fact that it’s moved to Sunday is a matter of particular (national/regional) law [not a dispensation, but the law, and that makes a difference]. A traveller is still bound by universal law and the exception of moving the feast doesn’t go with the traveller. So canonically, yes, the obligation is there, but at the same time, I think (opinion here, not law) that ignorance of that universal law would excuse the traveller unless something happened to change that. This one is worth its own thread if you’d like to start one.

 

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the anticipated Mass on Saturday evening is not a vigil it is Mass in anticipation of the Sunday or holy day.
The Easter Vigil is unique.

Please explain this. I still do not understand it. Are you saying that the Saturday evening Mass does not satisfy the Sunday obligation? That’s what it sounds like to me.

 

[The_Prodigal]

This one pops up quite a bit.

Hmmm… I wouldn’t have thought so. But then, I don’t travel often.

The “answer” is found in the canon laws governing travellers and how the law applies to them. It gets kind of tricky because the Solemnity of Ss Peter & Paul is a matter of universal law and the fact that it’s moved to Sunday is a matter of particular (national/regional) law [not a dispensation, but the law, and that makes a difference]. A traveller is still bound by universal law and the exception of moving the feast doesn’t go with the traveller. So canonically, yes, the obligation is there, but at the same time, I think (opinion here, not law) that ignorance of that universal law would excuse the traveller unless something happened to change that. This one is worth its own thread if you’d like to start one.

Well… not sure if I want to pursue it any further. Your explanation makes sense.

Give me some time. Maybe I’ll think up a situation involving travel across the international date line and the obligation to assist at three masses in a 24 hr. period…

 

[FrDavid96]

Please explain this. I still do not understand it. Are you saying that the Saturday evening Mass does not satisfy the Sunday obligation? That’s what it sounds like to me.

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The word “vigil” refers to a particular “type” of Mass. For example, there is a special Mass text for the vigil of Pentecost. Not every Saturday evening Mass is a “vigil Mass” even though many Catholics are in the habit of using this word. Every Saturday evening Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation.

Here’s another way of putting it:
If it’s the Saturday before the 14th Sunday of Ordinal Time, the Mass text will be that of the “14th Sunday.” But if it’s the Saturday before Pentecost, the Mass text will not be “Pentecost” but “the Vigil of Pentecost”. Some special feasts have a particular text for a vigil Mass–that’s realy all it means.

 

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The word “vigil” refers to a particular “type” of Mass. For example, there is a special Mass text for the vigil of Pentecost. Not every Saturday evening Mass is a “vigil Mass” even though many Catholics are in the habit of using this word. Every Saturday evening Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation.

Here’s another way of putting it:
If it’s the Saturday before the 14th Sunday of Ordinal Time, the Mass text will be that of the “14th Sunday.” But if it’s the Saturday before Pentecost, the Mass text will not be “Pentecost” but “the Vigil of Pentecost”. Some special feasts have a particular text for a vigil Mass–that’s realy all it means.

Ah-ha! That I do understand.

Mahalo Fr.David