How many Masses may a priest in the U.S. say each day?

[Linusthe2nd]

I have head that a priest in the U.S. is restricted to saying one Mass a day except on Sundays and Holidays for which he may say three. Is this true? Does this vary from Diocease to Diocease or is it a matter of Canon Law?

Linus2nd

 

[Corki]

I have head that a priest in the U.S. is restricted to saying one Mass a day except on Sundays and Holidays for which he may say three. Is this true? Does this vary from Diocease to Diocease or is it a matter of Canon Law?

Linus2nd

Both,

Can. 905 §1. A priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except in cases where the law permits him to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day.

§2. If there is a shortage of priests, the local ordinary can allow priests to celebrate twice a day for a just cause, or if pastoral necessity requires it, even three times on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

So, yes, it’s in canon law, but there are provisions for the Bishop to allow more.

 

[Angel_Bradford]

Generally, they are restricted to 3 Masses on a Holy day of Obligation or Sunday unless the local ordinary gives them a dispensation (which is not uncommon).

 

[PaulfromIowa]

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P38.HTM

Can. 905 §1. A priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except in cases where the law permits him to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day.

§2. If there is a shortage of priests, the local ordinary can allow priests to celebrate twice a day for a just cause, or if pastoral necessity requires it, even three times on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

 

[Martin_Pastore]

Hey Linusthe2nd,

Wow that was a really interesting question.

I had figured for years now, that these poor guys ,(with the shortages), were running from one side of town to the other, all day long, doing as many as time would allow.

I was really surprised at the official answer.

Good one !! …Martin.

God Bless.
Pray the Rosary.

 

[sirach2v4]

I think celebrating Mass once a day would be plenty of work for a priest, to preach a good sermon, too.

The devil on my other shoulder says that they should be able to say three Masses a day, given some time to rest inbetween.

When I used to serve mass back in the old Latin days, each priest would say three Masses on All Souls Day, without leaving the altar. In those days the beginning of Mass was “the prayers at the foot of the altar.”

I served for one of these Marathons, too. I don’t remember if we received communion three times. This was NORMAL. This was the PROTOCOL for the day. Certainly, these were turbo-Masses, about 20 minutes each.

Note that when the Church ended that, nobody complained about bringing it back.

Speaking of which, I attended Mass early some morning in my parish which had a lot of commuters that went into Chicago for work. So, the 6 a.m. Mass took about 25 minutes at most, with all the optional stuff out and the shortest possible prayers.

 

[Angel_Bradford]

Hey Linusthe2nd,

Wow that was a really interesting question.

I had figured for years now, that these poor guys ,(with the shortages), were running from one side of town to the other, all day long, doing as many as time would allow.

I was really surprised at the official answer.

Good one !! …Martin.

God Bless.
Pray the Rosary.

Some are.

 

[felsguy]

When I used to serve mass back in the old Latin days, each priest would say three Masses on All Souls Day, without leaving the altar. In those days the beginning of Mass was “the prayers at the foot of the altar.”

I served for one of these Marathons, too. I don’t remember if we received communion three times. This was NORMAL. This was the PROTOCOL for the day. Certainly, these were turbo-Masses, about 20 minutes each.

Been there, done that too. (Looking back, it seems a little strange) Anyhow, we were permitted to receive communion on once.

 

[maryjk]

Generally, they are restricted to 3 Masses on a Holy day of Obligation or Sunday unless the local ordinary gives them a dispensation (which is not uncommon).

For a few years our priest said 4 Masses every Sunday. Now that we have a second priest, he is down to two on Sunday. Of course if our second priest isn’t in town or is sick, the remaining priest says 4. (That doesn’t include our Saturday night, Sunday Mass.)

 

[Muzhik]

Speaking of which, I attended Mass early some morning in my parish which had a lot of commuters that went into Chicago for work. So, the 6 a.m. Mass took about 25 minutes at most, with all the optional stuff out and the shortest possible prayers.

HA! When I went to the University of Iowa, mumble-mumble years ago, there was a priest at St. Pat’s a couple of blocks from the campus. On Holy Days of Obligation, the 7AM mass was the one all the students went to. It was known locally as “The St. Pat’s Mini-Mass”; offered by a priest who could have made a career as an auctioneer. Always at least 15 minutes but never more than 20, you could go to Mass and be out in time to grab something to eat on your way to your 7:30 class.

(St. Pat’s was destroyed a few years back, in a truly miraculous event. All the other churches in town were starting their Holy Thursday services at 7:30; for some reason no one can explain, St. Pat’s scheduled its service to start at 7. The church was packed that evening, and everyone left as soon as the service was over because the weather looked bad. There were 120 people still hanging around 10 minutes later, cleaning up and chatting, when someone ran in yelling about getting to shelter because a tornado was coming. Everyone scrambled for the basement, and they all made it JUST before the tornado hit.

The front of the church was demolished. The choir loft collapsed (been pushed, actually) into the back rows of the church, and beams from the church roof were driven into the reinforced concrete walls of the building next door. No one was injured, because there were ONLY 120 people crammed into the basement that they knew from past experience that could hold only 120 people. Had the service started at 7:30 like every other church in town, the part of the church that collapsed would have been packed, and it would have been like it was in New York after 9/11 – weeks of near constant funerals. God be praised for whoever scheduled the services for 7PM.

The land the church had been on was sold and a new St. Pats was built on the other side of town, and it was the end of the St. Pat’s Mini-Mass.)

 

[Corki]

Some are.

When I lived overseas for a year, we had a truly wonderful priest but he was the only priest for three well attended parishes. He said seven Masses every weekend - two on Saturday evening and five on Sunday - between the three locations. Needless to say, vocations was a frequent theme of his homilies.

 

[FrDavid96]

I have head that a priest in the U.S. is restricted to saying one Mass a day except on Sundays and Holidays for which he may say three. Is this true? Does this vary from Diocease to Diocease or is it a matter of Canon Law?

Linus2nd

The law is that he may say:

1 Mass on weekdays
2 Masses on Sundays and Holy days.

The bishop may give permission (per canon 905) to add one more Mass every day (2 on weekdays and/or 3 on Sundays). Most U.S. bishops do this—it’s practically a “given.”

In addition, the bishop may dispense from canon 905 for one more Mass each day (3 on weekdays and/or 4 on Sundays).

The difference there is that the 3rd Sunday Mass is a matter of permission which is already provided in the law, while the 4th is a dispensation from the law.

On Christmas and All Souls, every priest is permitted to say 3 Masses, by liturgical law.

 

[Sonny89]

I think celebrating Mass once a day would be plenty of work for a priest, to preach a good sermon, too.

The devil on my other shoulder says that they should be able to say three Masses a day, given some time to rest inbetween.

When I used to serve mass back in the old Latin days, each priest would say three Masses on All Souls Day, without leaving the altar. In those days the beginning of Mass was “the prayers at the foot of the altar.”

I served for one of these Marathons, too. I don’t remember if we received communion three times. This was NORMAL. This was the PROTOCOL for the day. Certainly, these were turbo-Masses, about 20 minutes each.

Note that when the Church ended that, nobody complained about bringing it back.

Speaking of which, I attended Mass early some morning in my parish which had a lot of commuters that went into Chicago for work. So, the 6 a.m. Mass took about 25 minutes at most, with all the optional stuff out and the shortest possible prayers.

Peace and All good to you!!

Wow, Serving at that Marathon must have been an experience! Do you know why the Protocol was to do 3 back to back like that?

One of the Priests here also does a Traditional Latin Mass early for Commuters, like that also-I live in a commuter heavy area here. It’s a smallish town but its near 2 major cities so a lot of people commute.

 

[Sonny89]

When I lived overseas for a year, we had a truly wonderful priest but he was the only priest for three well attended parishes. He said seven Masses every weekend - two on Saturday evening and five on Sunday - between the three locations. Needless to say, vocations was a frequent theme of his homilies.

Peace and all Good to you!!

A Priest I knew who spent some time in India was saying 5 or 6 Masses each weekend as well, because he was living in quite a remote part (I’ll have to check the name with him, it’s gone out of my head ). When he moved back here, he always used to tell other Priests not to complain at having to Say 2 or 3 Masses in various locations!

 

[larsont7]

When I used to serve mass back in the old Latin days, each priest would say three Masses on All Souls Day, without leaving the altar. In those days the beginning of Mass was “the prayers at the foot of the altar.”

I served for one of these Marathons, too. I don’t remember if we received communion three times. This was NORMAL. This was the PROTOCOL for the day. Certainly, these were turbo-Masses, about 20 minutes each.

Note that when the Church ended that, nobody complained about bringing it back.

The Church never “ended” this practice, and our parish still does it, as do most churches who celebrate the EF. My 11 and 9 year old boys just served this past All Souls Day for all 3 Masses. The Masses are about 25-30 minutes each, and my boys only received Communion once (though technically twice would be permitted).

I wish the Church would make this the norm again as God only knows how much the poor souls in Purgatory need our prayers.

 

[Sonny89]

The Church never “ended” this practice, and our parish still does it, as do most churches who celebrate the EF. My 11 and 9 year old boys just served this past All Souls Day for all 3 Masses. The Masses are about 25-30 minutes each, and my boys only received Communion once (though technically twice would be permitted).

I wish the Church would make this the norm again as God only knows how much the poor souls in Purgatory need our prayers.

Peace and all Good to you!

That’s very interesting, my EF Parish doesn’t continue this practice (at least they haven’t since I’ve been attending the past few years), I’ll talk to Father to find out more about the possibility of taking up the practice

 

[larsont7]

Peace and all Good to you!

That’s very interesting, my EF Parish doesn’t continue this practice (at least they haven’t since I’ve been attending the past few years), I’ll talk to Father to find out more about the possibility of taking up the practice

Hmm, I stand corrected. I guess I’ve just never heard of an EF parish that doesn’t do it. If you don’t mind me asking, is your parish affiliated with any group (FSSP, ICKSP, SSPX, etc.) or is it a diocesan EF? It could vary by group or by pastor.

 

[Sonny89]

Hmm, I stand corrected. I guess I’ve just never heard of an EF parish that doesn’t do it. If you don’t mind me asking, is your parish affiliated with any group (FSSP, ICKSP, SSPX, etc.) or is it a diocesan EF? It could vary by group or by pastor.

Peace and all Good, Larson!!

By all means, ask away

That’s a good point, it’s an EF Mass celebrated by a member of the Congregation of the Oratory/Oratorian Fathers here so that may be why. I also sometimes attend an FSSP Parish if I can’t make it to the EF at the Oratory but I’ve never been there on All Souls so they may well do the 3 Masses there, I don’t know. Judging by what you’ve said, and knowing the 2 FSSP Priests there I imagine they do the 3 but I can’t say for sure.

God Bless

 

[CHCL]

I know that my great-uncle got a dispensation to say mass more than three times on Sunday. He was given 2 churches to take care of, both in the middle of really urban country. He used to say 5 masses on Sunday when he was younger (He drove back and forth between each church), but now that he has gotten older he only says three now.

 

[thistle]

Generally, they are restricted to 3 Masses on a Holy day of Obligation or Sunday unless the local ordinary gives them a dispensation (which is not uncommon).

Every Sunday we have 10 Masses but only 3 priests.