Vestments at Mass

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justme

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I have a question about the vestments a priest wears at Mass.

Sometimes, usually at a daily Mass, the presiding priest is only vested in an alb and stole. At most Sunday Masses I see the priest vested in the alb, stole, and chasuble.

Yet this past Sunday, I went was volunteering at a soup kitchen and the Mass celebrated there the priest was only vested in the alb and stole.

What dictates when the chasuble is worn?
 
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justme:
I have a question about the vestments a priest wears at Mass.

Sometimes, usually at a daily Mass, the presiding priest is only vested in an alb and stole. At most Sunday Masses I see the priest vested in the alb, stole, and chasuble.

Yet this past Sunday, I went was volunteering at a soup kitchen and the Mass celebrated there the priest was only vested in the alb and stole.

What dictates when the chasuble is worn?
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The chasuble should always be worn by at least the principal celebrant whenever possible. So while nothing more than a “pocket-ribbon” stole may be worn by the priest say on the battlefield, it would be wrong for a parish priest to omit the chasuble during the week in order to “make things less formal.”
 
Yes, any Mass celebrated in a Church, Chalple or Oratory should have the priest wearing the chasuble.

As for the one in the soup kitchen, that depends a lot on the circumstance. Generally speaking, if a priest is celebrating Mass using is ‘Mass Kit’ (the travel box with the minimal materials to say Mass) an alb and stole only is permitted by most bishops.

But if the soup kitchen had a chapel on site, then chasuble should have been worn.
 
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Brendan:
Yes, any Mass celebrated in a Church, Chalple or Oratory should have the priest wearing the chasuble.

As for the one in the soup kitchen, that depends a lot on the circumstance. Generally speaking, if a priest is celebrating Mass using is ‘Mass Kit’ (the travel box with the minimal materials to say Mass) an alb and stole only is permitted by most bishops.

But if the soup kitchen had a chapel on site, then chasuble should have been worn.
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If the priest can don an alb, he can don a chasuble. The stole is mandatory on the other hand.

It is common however for some concelebrating priests just to wear a stole/alb because there aren’t enough chasubles to go around.
 
Thanks for the replies, as these daily Masses are not in a parish setting nor is there a chapel at the soup kitchen I now know the answer.
 
Just for completeness, you can find the instructions on vestments from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Chapter VI, here

Blessings,

Gerry
 
Gerry Hunter:
Just for completeness, you can find the instructions on vestments from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Chapter VI, here

Blessings,

Gerry
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Gerry,
Thanks for pointing this out but I should have been a bit clearer.

These daily Masses are not really daily Masses in the sense that they are a Mass.

They are either Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer with Mass.
 
A chasuble is only worn for Mass. A cope may be worn for Morning Prayer, Vespers, Benediction, Marriage outside of Mass… If Mass follows the Liturgy of the Hours, a chasuble should be put on when Mass begins. The GIRM sees a dalmatic at Mass normative for the deacon but it may be omitted for the purpose of less solemnity. This is not so for the primary celebrant and the chasuble.
 
G&S:
A chasuble is only worn for Mass. A cope may be worn for Morning Prayer, Vespers, Benediction, Marriage outside of Mass… If Mass follows the Liturgy of the Hours, a chasuble should be put on when Mass begins. .
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However, in my experience, when we have the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass it is - the Liturgy of the Hours within the Mass. In other words, the Penitential part of the Mass is replaced with the Psalms. Then follows the Opening Prayer, and the Mass procedes. The Benedictus comes after Holy Communion and before the last prayer and the dismissal. In this case, I believe that the priest should be vested for Mass from the start.
 
Joan M:
However, in my experience, when we have the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass it is - the Liturgy of the Hours within the Mass. In other words, the Penitential part of the Mass is replaced with the Psalms. Then follows the Opening Prayer, and the Mass procedes. The Benedictus comes after Holy Communion and before the last prayer and the dismissal. In this case, I believe that the priest should be vested for Mass from the start.
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This is rarely done in a parish setting but you are correct he must be vested in the chasible from start to finish.
 
At mass an ALB, STOLE, and CHASUBLE ARE REQUIRED… unless there are extenuating circumstances e.i. the battlefield. If the preist can put on an alb and stole, he can most certainly put on an appropriate chasuble. Now, for concelebrating priest an alb and stole are sufficient.
 
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mosher:
This is rarely done in a parish setting but you are correct he must be vested in the chasible from start to finish.
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Actually, I have experienced this for years - my current parish does it Monday through Friday at the earliest Mass. My previous parish did it for years until the present parish priest stopped it. I also know of two other parishs that have had it for a long time.

I just wish our priest would wear the chasuble on weekdays! He only wears it for Sunday Masses.
 
Joan M:
Actually, I have experienced this for years - my current parish does it Monday through Friday at the earliest Mass. My previous parish did it for years until the present parish priest stopped it. I also know of two other parishs that have had it for a long time.

I just wish our priest would wear the chasuble on weekdays! He only wears it for Sunday Masses.
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Interesting. It is not a bad thing that they are combined because there is provision for it but the rubrics themselves say that it should not be done on a regular basis. But truly your priest should be wearing the proper vestments.
 
In our parish, Morning Prayer is said before Mass but is concluded about 5-7 minutes before Mass begins. An alb and stole is worn for Morning Prayer and alb, stole, and chasuble for Mass.
 
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justme:
Thanks for the replies, as these daily Masses are not in a parish setting nor is there a chapel at the soup kitchen I now know the answer.
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Just thought I would quote myself with emphasis.

This is not in a parish setting. It is on a regular basis but the normal rules do not apply as there is a set of rules regarding this sort of celebration.

Just to clarify. This celebration is in a religious house, in the Chapel. It is not open to the public.
 
The GIRM sees a dalmatic at Mass normative for the deacon but it may be omitted for the purpose of less solemnity.

Just curious; Why do deacons never vest with a dalmatic? And why would there be a “purpose of less somlemnity?” I had never seen a dalmatic until attending a solemn Tridentine Mass recently.
 
Monty61 said:
Why do deacons never vest with a dalmatic? And why would there be a “purpose of less somlemnity?” I had never seen a dalmatic until attending a solemn Tridentine Mass recently.
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The GIRM says the dalmatic may be omitted “out of necessity or on account of a lesser degree of solemnity.” (GIRM 338) The concept of “degree of solemnity” is found throughout the GIRM. (cf. GIRM 38, 53, 68, 167, 175, 203, 346g-h) For example, it is preferable that six candles be used on Sundays (cf. GIRM 117), but not necessarily for ferial days; so perhaps a deacon would not vest with the dalmatic on a ferial day, but would wear it on Sundays and solemnities.

I have only rarely seen a dalmatic worn in the Ordinary Form. Once was at Vespers with Eucharistic Adoration (with special prayers for vocations). Another was this past Sunday – in Ordinary Time – at a parish in northeast Pennsylvania. (That PA parish had some rather peculiar liturgical practices, by the way… “full” vestments is no insurance against liturgical oddities or abuses.)
 
Monty61 said:
Just curious; Why do deacons never vest with a dalmatic? And why would there be a “purpose of less somlemnity?” I had never seen a dalmatic until attending a solemn Tridentine Mass recently.
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Perhaps because you are not well-travelled enough? I have often seen deacons vested in dalmatic.

Similarly: I have often seen people to be shocked – shocked – to learn that white wine can be used at Mass, because they had only ever been familiar with red.

tee
 
Monty61 said:
The GIRM sees a dalmatic at Mass normative for the deacon but it may be omitted for the purpose of less solemnity.
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By the way, there is a world of difference between “omitted for the purpose of less solemnity” (your words) and “omitted on account of a lesser degree of solemnity” (the GIRM’s words).

The former (“omitted for the purpose of”) means that something is being done to cause less solemnity; for example, suggesting that people come to Mass in jeans and t-shirts. The latter (“omitted on account of”) means that something is being done as a result of a pre-existing condition of less solemnity; for example, not including the Gloria and Credo on a ferial day.
 
I was quoting G&S’s quote of the GIRM.

I have only seen 1 Ordinary form Mass since I have graduated from college in '83 that I would describe as solemn. (Incense used.) That was by Bishop Vann of Fort Worth in the cathedral on the occasion of last year’s anniversary of Roe v. Wade. On that occasion, the deacons present only wore albs and stoles.

How is the decision made as to whether a particular occasion or Mass is sufficiently “solemn” to warrant the use of incense and/or the vesting of the deacon in a dalmatic? As I said before, solemnity seems very rare these days.
 
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