One more Deacon question: Does a Deacon kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer?

[Elzee]

I’ve noticed that every Deacon assisting at Mass in our town kneels on the floor in the sanctuary during the Eucharistic Prayer except in my parish. At our parish, the Deacon stands next to the priest behind the altar as the congregation kneels. Does it matter? Our floor in the sanctuary isn’t carpetted, but neither is the floor in several other churches in town and their Deacons still kneel.

fyi - our Deacons are young and in good health, so there’s no physical reason I know of that prohibits them from kneeling.

 

[Windmill]

From the USCCB, Committee on the Liturgy:

*During the Eucharistic Prayer, the deacon stands near but slightly behind the priest, so that when needed he may assist the priest with the chalice or the Roman Missal.
**As a general rule, from the epiclesis until the elevation of the chalice the deacon remains kneeling. If there are several deacons present, one of them goes to place incense in the censer for the consecration and then incenses at the elevation of the host and the chalice (179).
*At the final doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer, the deacon stands next to the priest, and after the priest (or Bishop) hands him the chalice, he elevates the chalice as the priest raises the paten with the Eucharistic bread, until the people have responded with the acclamation Amen (180).

So, the USCCB says that the deacons should kneel at the epiclesis:
**"Bless and approve our offering; ****make it acceptable to you, ****an offering in spirit and in truth. ****Let it become for us ****the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord."
until the elevation of the chalice:
** "Through Him, with Him, in Him,…"

 

[ThuribleGuy45]

The GIRM says basically the same thing:

"179. During the Eucharistic Prayer, the deacon stands near the priest but slightly behind him, so that when needed he may assist the priest with the chalice or the Missal.

From the epiclesis until the priest shows the chalice, the deacon normally remains kneeling. If several deacons are present, one of them may place incense in the thurible for the consecration and incense the host and the chalice as they are shown to the people."

I think the terms “normally” and “As a general rule . . .” can provide some flexibility. Our deacon has had 3 back operations and has arthritic knees. He steps back from the altar but remains standing. A number of our older deacons (as observed in Masses at the Cathedral) seem to stand even at Masses with the Bishop.

 

[Yes]

Both above responses are spot-on correct. Of course in my parish, our band-new deacon does not kneel. He never did when he was a psuedo altar boy/jr-deacon for years either. In fact, at my parish, the “liturgists” desperately tried to get all altar servers to stand, until our new pastor arrived…

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I’ve noticed that every Deacon assisting at Mass in our town kneels on the floor in the sanctuary during the Eucharistic Prayer except in my parish. At our parish, the Deacon stands next to the priest behind the altar as the congregation kneels. Does it matter? Our floor in the sanctuary isn’t carpetted, but neither is the floor in several other churches in town and their Deacons still kneel.

fyi - our Deacons are young and in good health, so there’s no physical reason I know of that prohibits them from kneeling.

He may be young but still have bad knees. If they can they should.

 

[martinporres]

Windmill and ThuribleGuy45 (and Yes): if the “elevation of the chalice” is at the conclusion of the eucharistic prayer (final doxology), what do you call the point after the words of institution in reference to the precious blood – there’s also an elevation of the chalice there (sometimes with bells and censing).

So I’m reading both those sections of the USCCB document and the GIRM as indicating the deacon should kneel until the memorial acclamation (right after the first elevation of the chalice). This would also explain the documents making use of the word stand which wouldn’t be appropriate if the deacon were supposed to kneel during the entire eucharistic prayer until the final doxology.

Am I wrong?

 

[Windmill]

Windmill and ThuribleGuy45 (and Yes): if the “elevation of the chalice” is at the conclusion of the eucharistic prayer (final doxology), what do you call the point after the words of institution in reference to the precious blood – there’s also an elevation of the chalice there (sometimes with bells and censing).

With the institution narrative, this is a major elevation, and the Deacon is to remain kneeling. This is not the minor elevation at the final doxology (“Through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit…”), which is when the GIRM directs the Deacon to stand and help raise the priest by raising the chalice while the priest raises the host & paten.

These are called “major” and “minor” because in the days when all Masses were celebrated ad orientem (with the priest facing teh same direction as the congregation), the people didn’t see the minor elevations because the priest was blocking their view. The major elevations (at the institution narrative) were seen, and therefore, were termed “major”.

So I’m reading both those sections of the USCCB document and the GIRM as indicating the deacon should kneel until the memorial acclamation (right after the first elevation of the chalice). This would also explain the documents making use of the word stand which wouldn’t be appropriate if the deacon were supposed to kneel during the entire eucharistic prayer until the final doxology.

Am I wrong?

Can you post the quote from the GIRM that mentions the memorial acclamation? The quotes above refer to the final doxology.

Just want to make sure.

 

[Windmill]

My bad. You are correct.

At the “major elevation” of the chalice during the institution narrative, the Deacon rises (usually as the priest stands from his genuflection). At the “minor elevation” of the doxology, the Deacon is already standing, he merely approaches the altar to raise the chalice.

These are called “major” and “minor” because back in the day, when all Masses were celebrated ad orientem, you couldn’t see the minor elevations while you could see the major ones.

 

[martinporres]

Thanks for clarifying!

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Our deacon used to kneel, but his knees don’t work so well anymore. Father had to help him up several times, so now he stands as indicated in GIRM.

 

[stbruno]

Our deacon has bad knees and hips and it is difficult for him to kneel on the hard terrazo, but at the epiclesis, he moves to the side kneelers in the sanctuary and then kneels. This way he follows the rite and he also has an aide to arise.

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

My bad. You are correct.

At the “major elevation” of the chalice during the institution narrative, the Deacon rises (usually as the priest stands from his genuflection). At the “minor elevation” of the doxology, the Deacon is already standing, he merely approaches the altar to raise the chalice.

These are called “major” and “minor” because back in the day, when all Masses were celebrated ad orientem, you couldn’t see the minor elevations while you could see the major ones.

The confusing thing about using the traditional terminology, though, is that in the new rite there is technically only one elevation - what used to be the minor elevation. At the consecration of each element the priest is only instructed to “show” the element, something we see in the instructions for Mass with a deacon like:

From the epiclesis until the priest shows the chalice, the deacon normally remains kneeling.