Transfiguration on a Saturday

[Spirithound]

According to the Table of Liturgical Days catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/documentText/Index/2/SubIndex/38/ContentIndex/104/Start/97, Feasts of the Lord in the General Calendar (eg, the Transfiguration) outrank Sundays in Ordinary Time (eg, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time).

At Mass this evening, we celebrated the 19th Sunday in OT. Shouldn’t we have celebrated the Transfiguration all day today? And by extension, is this evening’s Evening Prayer that of the Transfiguration, or Evening Prayer 1 of the 19th Sunday?

 

[GordonBOPS]

Good question…iwas co fused by this too. Our priest read the transfiguration gospel instead of the gospel for the nineteenth Sunday even though the readings were for the nineteenth Sunday. All his prayers were transfiguration as well. I think it was a mistake though as surely it would have been noted in the missal and our missals had no readings for the transfiguration. Wondering if mass was valid

 

[Phemie]

Good question…iwas co fused by this too. Our priest read the transfiguration gospel instead of the gospel for the nineteenth Sunday even though the readings were for the nineteenth Sunday. All his prayers were transfiguration as well. I think it was a mistake though as surely it would have been noted in the missal and our missals had no readings for the transfiguration. Wondering if mass was valid

The readings have no impact on the validity of the Mass so you can rest easy there.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

And by extension, is this evening’s Evening Prayer that of the Transfiguration, or Evening Prayer 1 of the 19th Sunday?

If you trust Ibreviary as a source, they had evening prayer for the Transfiguration rather than EPI for Sunday. That goes along with the idea that the feast trumps a Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Wondering if mass was valid

The readings don’t make a Mass valid or invalid. And if your question is whether or not you fulfilled your obligation, the answer is yes as long as you attend Mass on the day itself or the evening before.

 

[MarkThompson]

I have wondered (and I think asked) the very related question of what happens when Christmas falls on a Saturday, since some parishes seem to go ahead and just celebrate the anticipated Sunday Mass on Christmas evening. I don’t think anybody was aware of anything official that would answer this specific question. Personally, I hold with the theory that the lesser feast gives way to the greater, just as it ought.

 

[corsair]

I think that if you had gone to a Saturday morning Mass you would have found the “Transfiguration” being celebrated. However, the evening Mass is the Mass of Anticipation for Sunday, Hence, the ordinary time celebration.

BTW, that term “Ordinary” time has always bugged me. Guess thats why I prefer the 1962 Mass.

 

[AJV]

I have wondered (and I think asked) the very related question of what happens when Christmas falls on a Saturday, since some parishes seem to go ahead and just celebrate the anticipated Sunday Mass on Christmas evening. I don’t think anybody was aware of anything official that would answer this specific question. Personally, I hold with the theory that the lesser feast gives way to the greater, just as it ought.

I don’t have the books with me right now, but there is a clarification from the CDW from way back either in the late 60s or early 70s. IIRC, the answer was that either one could be celebrated taking into account pastoral reasons, and the diocesan bishop/Ordinary should formulate uniform guidelines to be observed.

Evening Prayer should have been of the Transfiguration.

 

[Bbigam]

I think that if you had gone to a Saturday morning Mass you would have found the “Transfiguration” being celebrated. However, the evening Mass is the Mass of Anticipation for Sunday, Hence, the ordinary time celebration.

BTW, that term “Ordinary” time has always bugged me. Guess thats why I prefer the 1962 Mass.

It’s called Tempus Per Annum in the Latin - simply Time of/through the Year. I think “Ordinary Time” is a silly name too.

 

[Titus]

Yesterday, Evening Prayer of the Feast of the Transfiguration should have been said, since in cases where feasts have equal rank (Sundays per annum & feasts of the Lord in the Universal Calendar are in the same section of the table of liturgical days), EP2 of the day is preferred to EP1 of the next day. However in the case of an anticipated mass on the evening of either the Transfiguration or Christmas Day, I would imagine that ‘pastoral reasons’ permit the celebration with the Sunday texts, because that is why people have gone to mass (although IMHO they ought to have gone in the morning for the Transfiguration if they could, it’s an amazing feast!).

By the way, next year the Transfiguration will trump the Sunday, as the Assumption is doing next weekend.

In relation to Christmas, the problem generally doesn’t arise in my experience on account of most parishes not celebrating any mass in the evening of Christmas Day as everyone is relaxing. In the case of the Divine Office when Christmas falls on Saturday, Christmas Day is in the 1st section of the Table of Liturgical Days and so its EP2 outranks EP1 of the Sunday.

 

[Bbigam]

By the way, next year the Transfiguration will trump the Sunday, as the Assumption is doing next weekend.

I wish Transfiguration was on Sunday next year, but it won’t be because of the leap year…