Private and Public Masses

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What is the difference between Public and Private Masses?

According to Summorum Pontificum, the faithful are allowed to attend private Masses. Also, from what I remember, according to Sacrosanctum Concilium, there is really no such thing a “Private Mass” since all forms of worship are inherently communal. One does not worship in a vacuum.

So while a priest is saying a “Private Mass” he is lifting up his voice along with everyone else to God.

So what is the technical terms for a Public and Private Mass? Are Daily Masses said in a parish public or private?
 
PaulfromIowa said:
Do you have a quote for that? The term private Mass is generally not used today.
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Article 4: The celebrations of Holy Mass mentioned above in Art. 2 [Masses without a congregation] may be attended also by members of the lay faithful who spontaneously request to do so, with respect for the requirements of law.
 
As we read Summorum Pontificum, we see that Benedict is trying to grant maximum freedom to use the 1962 missal without forcing it on anyone.

Note, however, that he adds:
§ 4 Priests who use the Missal of Bl. John XXIII must be qualified to do so and not juridically impeded.
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Benedict is thus not granting priestly faculties to any independent, suspended, or SSPX priests.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
Benedict is thus not granting priestly faculties to any independent, suspended, or SSPX priests.
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No, I’m not trying to start an argument about the SSPX. I’m mainly concerned with OF priests and EF priests such as the FSSP. 😎
 
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The meaning of the term “Private Mass” has changed. As I understand it, since the time of Pope John XXIII, a “Private Mass” has meant any Mass said without a congregation, such as one a priest would say on a day when he was alone by himself traveling or off in a cave in a desert or something.

“Private Mass” before the changes of Pope John XXIII was another term for Low Mass (aka “Missa privata”). It referred to any Low Mass, even one with a big congregation in attendance. “Privata” meant “deprived” (as in the Low Mass was missing some elements of the High Mass) rather than “private”. Pope John XXIII didn’t like the term “private Mass” and said it should be avoided because Mass was always an act of public worship.
 
When I was taking Koine Greek classes from a Canonist, we met at his rectory.
Often, prior to class, he would have Mass for the 4 of us and his housekeeper in the little chapel in the house.
That would constitute a private Mass. Not on the rotation of weekly Masses.
Also priests say Mass in their hotel rooms on vacation. A previous pastor who had loads of frat brothers from Ga Tech go the beach in Florida every October to swim, fish, play poker and smoke fancy cigars. He says Mass for the couple of Catholics in the group in his hotel room. He says Mass every day, no matter what, even if he’s the only one there.
 
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pianistclare said:
When I was taking Koine Greek classes from a Canonist, we met at his rectory.
Often, prior to class, he would have Mass for the 4 of us and his housekeeper in the little chapel in the house.
That would constitute a private Mass. Not on the rotation of weekly Masses.
Also priests say Mass in their hotel rooms on vacation. A previous pastor who had loads of frat brothers from Ga Tech go the beach in Florida every October to swim, fish, play poker and smoke fancy cigars. He says Mass for the couple of Catholics in the group in his hotel room. He says Mass every day, no matter what, even if he’s the only one there.
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Yes, this would be the type of a “private Mass” that is most common today (when lay faithful attend).

I also knew of a priest who used to do the EF Mass on Saturday nights, after the OF Mass on Saturday night.

Even though he placed the scheduled time on the bulletin, etc & he did his best to celebrate it weekly, he technically treated the EF Mass as a “private mass” so it could easily canceled if he had a scheduling conflict (because he didn’t have a backup priest).

Also, when priests take lay faithful on pilgrimage, the masses celebrated by the pilgrim priest at the shrines, basilicas, etc are typically “private masses” too.

God Bless
 
When I was preparing to be received into the Catholic church I met with one priest for spiritual direction and we were talking about the Mass and the Eucharist. He said he had been a priest for 50 years and that there were only two days that he hadn’t celebrated Mass as he was in hospital and not allowed to eat or drink. He then asked me to bring him the little black case that was by the door and he showed me the Mass kit that he brings with him when he travels.
 
As an aside, layman use of the term ‘private’ and ‘public’ mass is just that.

A public mass is mass in the church or chapel which is opened to everybody. It can be Sunday or daily mass.

Private mass, on the other hand, is mass celebrated for private purpose for certain group of people or priest alone, example - mass done during a retreat, seminar, conference at hotel or retreat centre, home mass (mass at private home), Charismatic mass and Healing mass if they are done outside of the normal mass schedule of the parish, etc.
 
I always found the terms rather loose. Obviously the Sunday Masses are public but Masses during the week could be private or public. It all depends.
 
Reuben_J said:
Private mass, on the other hand, is mass celebrated for private purpose for certain group of people or priest alone, example - mass done during a retreat, seminar, conference at hotel or retreat centre, home mass (mass at private home), Charismatic mass and Healing mass if they are done outside of the normal mass schedule of the parish, etc.
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The caveat being that almost always, if some person happens to walk in off the street at the time of this Mass, they are allowed to join in the celebration of the Mass. It’s really frowned upon to say no, sorry, you cannot join in this Mass, unless there is some reason like its being a ticketed Mass and all the tickets were given out.

I’ve walked in on a few “private Masses” and been allowed to join, and had people walk in on ones that our priest was celebrating for our particular group and they were allowed to join us.
 
There was a retired priest who lived in a rectory. He celebrated the public Masses at the church next door. But once, he invited my family over to attend a private Mass that he held at his altar in his living room. That was a private Mass-- because not just anyone could drop in to his living room and attend his Mass.

I attended a series of lectures about the Tridentine Mass that was held at a FSSP priest’s residence. We sat at the dining room table as he lectured. I noticed over by the window was a portable altar— and I have no doubt that it was a frequently-used item, as his only “official, public” Masses were two on Sunday-- one at my church in Diocese A, one at a convent in Diocese B-- and perhaps some weekday Masses in the city that he lived in in Diocese B.

So I think the difference (speaking nowadays, not historically) between a Public and Private Mass would be that a Private Mass isn’t published/advertised… you stumble into it, or are invited to it.

Historically speaking, though, a Private Mass was going to be a Low Mass, where the priest doesn’t chant the rubrics-- something is deprived of the fullness of the ceremony. But that’s going to be pre-Vatican II terminology.
In 1960 Pope John XXIII, who in 1962 removed from the Roman Missal the section headed Rubricae generales Missalis, replacing it with his Code of Rubrics, decried use of the term “Missa privata”: “The most sacred Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated according to the rites and regulations is an act of public worship offered to God in the name of Christ and the Church. Therefore, the term ‘private Mass’ should be avoided.” When applied to Low Mass in general, the word privata indicated that that form of Mass was deprived of certain ceremonies.
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Yes, in principle anybody can join in and receive Communion as in public mass.

From my experience, is that the rubrics are more flexible in the private mass, as we may not have all the facilities of the church/chapel. And that can range into many things as long as the celebrant allows it. Of course, in this situation you would be with a priest whom you know, so the mass atmosphere is probably more friendly and casual. It’s easier too, to receive both specie during Communion, which is not done at our public mass here.
 
When we were staying in a seminary residence during summer school we became are that one of the priests who lived in residence celebrated Mass at 7 am each day in one of the small chapels. Anyone could attend if they knew about it but it was a private Mass. He could have celebrated the EF had he wished.
 
It’s not something that is specifically defined as a matter of law. Instead, it’s a term that appears occasionally in the law.

Basically, it means that the Mass is not announced as a parish (or community) Mass. I know that sound like a rather “loose” definition, but that’s what it is.

A pastor is obligated to provide Sunday and Holy Day Masses for the parish, in sufficient number to accommodate the parish (a small parish might have 1 Sunday Mass, a huge parish might have 6). These must be announced so that the parishioners can attend (obviously). He’s also obligated to provide daily Masses according to parish need.

Whatever he does that goes beyond what the parish-as-a-whole needs and beyond what is publicly announced is considered a “private” Mass. Come to think of it, that might be the best way to define it.
 
Phemie said:
When we were staying in a seminary residence during summer school we became are that one of the priests who lived in residence celebrated Mass at 7 am each day in one of the small chapels. Anyone could attend if they knew about it but it was a private Mass. He could have celebrated the EF had he wished.
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Good example.
 
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