Holy day requirement

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We have a Saturday evening Mass that is a Mass of anticipation(counts as a Sunday Mass). Could I attend this Mass to fulfill the holy day of obligation requirement for December 8th(Immaculate Conception) if I also went to Mass December 9th to fulfill the obligation for Sunday?
 
Going once can’t satisfy both, but I believe if you go on both days you satisfy the obligation even if both Masses were technically being said to celebrate the same day. *You *are celebrating both days by assisting at Mass on both days. Jimmy Akin has been quite adamant on his blog that we don’t have to hear specific readings or prayers to satisfy our obligation.

I am quite willing to be corrected on this, but I think that’s correct.
 
Going once can’t satisfy both, but I believe if you go on both days you satisfy the obligation even if both Masses were technically being said to celebrate the same day. *You *are celebrating both days by assisting at Mass on both days. Jimmy Akin has been quite adamant on his blog that we don’t have to hear specific readings or prayers to satisfy our obligation.

I am quite willing to be corrected on this, but I think that’s correct.
But I’m quite adamant that the celebrant is required to use the proper readings for the specific Mass that he is celebrating. So if he is celebrating a vigil Mass for a Holy Day he is required to use the readings specified for that Holy Day Vigil Mass.

So on a more practical note. How does one attend a Mass for the Immaculate Conception when one does not hear any readings pertaining to the Immaculate Conception or a homily speaking about the Immaculate Conception. Or an introduction or prayers during the Mass having anything to do with the Immaculate Conception?

If I attend a Mass on the evening preceding a Holy Day, for my Holy Day obligation. It only makes sense that I should attend a Mass with the readings and prayers pertaining to the Holy Day.
 
I agree. The OP needs to check his parish’s Mass schedule and the schedules of other nearby parishes. Usually there will be an extra Mass or 2 from those normally scheduled on a Holy Day of Obligation.
For example, we usually only have 1 Saturday Mass (and a vigil Mass for Sunday on Saturday night). For the Holy Day, we will have 2 extra Saturday Masses. That is a total of 3 Masses with the Immaculate Conception readings.
 
But I’m quite adamant that the celebrant is required to use the proper readings for the specific Mass that he is celebrating. So if he is celebrating a vigil Mass for a Holy Day he is required to use the readings specified for that Holy Day Vigil Mass.
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You are quite correct that the celebrant is required to use the correct Readings assigned for the Mass.

But that is a seperate issue to the question on if the Obligation if fulfilled by the laity.

Canon 1248 states that: A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

The requirement for the laity does not depend on the readings in question.

For example. If a Catholic attended a Byzantine Divine Liturgy on Sat Dec 8th, the obligation would certainly be fulfilled, but the readings heard by the person would not correspond to the readings given for the Feast of the Immacualate Conception.

So the case that the OP gave ( attend a Mass on Saturday Dec 8 to fulfill the obligation for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and attend a Mass on Sunday Dec 9th to fulfill the Sunday obligation would be a valid, permissable, (if not ideal) option.

But attending a Saturday evening Mass with the intent to fulfill both Obligations with a single Mass would be incorrect and a substantial chance to be Mortaly sinful.
 
It is my understanding that this year the obligation has been transferred to Sunday in the USA.
 
It is my understanding that this year the obligation has been transferred to Sunday in the USA.
Nope. This is not one of the days that the transfer is permisable. We need to attend a Mass on Saturday for the Immaculate Conception and a separate Mass (Saturday vigil or Sunday) for our Sunday obligation.
 
It is my understanding that this year the obligation has been transferred to Sunday in the USA.
No, this one, cannot be moved.

The only ‘exception’ is if the Feast falls on a Sunday in Advent. In which case the observation of the Feast is moved to the following Monday and the Obligation is dispensed.
 
But I’m quite adamant that the celebrant is required to use the proper readings for the specific Mass that he is celebrating. So if he is celebrating a vigil Mass for a Holy Day he is required to use the readings specified for that Holy Day Vigil Mass.

So on a more practical note. How does one attend a Mass for the Immaculate Conception when one does not hear any readings pertaining to the Immaculate Conception or a homily speaking about the Immaculate Conception. Or an introduction or prayers during the Mass having anything to do with the Immaculate Conception?

If I attend a Mass on the evening preceding a Holy Day, for my Holy Day obligation. It only makes sense that I should attend a Mass with the readings and prayers pertaining to the Holy Day.
Of course the celebrant should use the proper readings, but as others have already pointed out, the question was about fulfilling our obligation. As Brendan pointed out much better than I did, canon law requires us to assist at Mass on the required day. Ideally, one would want to celebrate the Immaculate Conception by attending a Mass specifically celebrating the Immaculate Conception. But, if that is not possible, but it is possible to attend Masses on both days, the requirement is met by doing so.

The only reason I point that out is that I can imagine someone saying, “Darn it, I can’t make the 8:00 Mass on the 8th because I have to work, and the 5:00 Mass is for Sunday, so I guess I’ll just go once.” Not correct. That person should go on Saturday and Sunday.
 
No, this one, cannot be moved.

The only ‘exception’ is if the Feast falls on a Sunday in Advent. In which case the observation of the Feast is moved to the following Monday and the Obligation is dispensed.
I stand corrected. Could it be possible that I was mistaken for the Solemnity of Jan 1 Mary the Mother of GOD.
 
Nope. This is not one of the days that the transfer is permisable. We need to attend a Mass on Saturday for the Immaculate Conception and a separate Mass (Saturday vigil or Sunday) for our Sunday obligation.
How about friday vigil for the Holy Day?
 
Thank you all for your responses! I know attending a Mass with readings intended for Sunday will not be ideal for the Saturday feast but the situation is complicated and this may be the only option.
 
Hi! This is what our Monsignor wrote in the Church paper:
“It is a few weeks away, but the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary will be observed on Saturday, December 8th. Normally Holy Days that fall on Saturday or Monday are not observed as Days of Obligations. However, Mary Immaculate is our nations patroness and because of this it is always observed and celebrated as a day of obligation. So, this year we will offer the Holy Day Mass on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. The Saturday afternoon Masses will be observed as a regular Sunday Advent.”
 
Hi! This is what our Monsignor wrote in the Church paper:
“It is a few weeks away, but the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary will be observed on Saturday, December 8th. Normally Holy Days that fall on Saturday or Monday are not observed as Days of Obligations. However, Mary Immaculate is our nations patroness and because of this it is always observed and celebrated as a day of obligation. So, this year we will offer the Holy Day Mass on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. The Saturday afternoon Masses will be observed as a regular Sunday Advent.”
I will be going to Mass at 7 pm on Friday, Dec. 7 for Immaculate Conception and on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 4 pm for Sunday.
 
I will have to wait until the weekend to look at the bulletin, but as I see now, there will be no Sat. morning mass nor a Fri. evening mass in our parish. Will have to go on Sat. evening and Sun:confused:
 
Vigil at 7:30 pm and Holy Day 6:15, 9:00, Noon, 6:00 and 7:30 pm
that is the usualy Holy Day schedule at my parish.
 
It might have been a misprint, but my Dominican church is very strict and they had the holy day masses as Friday evening, 7:30 on Saturday and 12 and 5pm. The 5 is usually the Sunday vigil.

That,. as I said, might have been a misprint, there has been a few lately, but I’m going to have to call and check this week.
 
It is my understanding that this year the obligation has been transferred to Sunday in the USA.
Our pastor told me that since the Immaculate Conception is the patron of the Catholic Church in the US, it never transfers.

He said other days do transfer, but never this one. —KCT
 
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