Indeed, through the following documents:*
Inter oecumenici, n. 60: “The faithful who receive communion at the Mass of the Easter Vigil or the Midnight Mass of Christmas may receive again at the second Mass of Easter and at one of the Day Masses of Christmas.”*
Tres abhinc annos, n. 14: “The faithful receiving communion at the chrism Mass on Holy Thursday may receive again at the evening Mass on the same day.”*
Eucharisticum Mysterium, n. 28: “The faithful who begin to celebrate the Sunday or holyday of obligation on the evening of the preceding day may go to holy communion even if they have already done so that morning.”
- Immensae Caritatis, section 2
These four were in between 1964 and 1973.
Here’s what
Immensae Caritatis, section 2 says; the “listed” situations are those I excerpted above:
Over and above those listed, there are other situations of the same type that favor a second communion. The reasons for granting a new faculty therefore must here be set out in detail.
Like a provident mother, the Church has established from centuries-old practice and has received into its canon law a norm according to which it is lawful for the faithful to receive communion only once a day. That norm remains unchanged and is not to be disregarded simply for reasons of devotion. Any ill-advised desire to repeat communion must be countered by the truth that the more devoutly a person approaches the holy table the greater the power of that sacrament which feeds, strengthens, and expresses faith, charity, and the rest of the virtues. {Cf.
Summa Theologica 3a, 79.7 ad3; 8 ad 1} For the faithful are to go forth from the liturgical celebration to do works of charity, religion, and the apostolate “so that what they have received by faith and sacrament in the celebration of the Eucharist they will hold to by the way they live.” {
Eucharisticum Mysterium, n. 13}
There may however be special circumstances in which the faithful who have already received communion on the same day or in which priests who have celebrated Mass attend some community’s celebration. It will be lawful for these faithful and these priests to receive communion a second time in the following situations:
- at ritual Masses in which the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick, orders, and marriage are administered, as well as at Masses in which there is a first communion;
- at Masses for the consecration of a church or an altar, for a religious profession, for the conferral of a “canonical mission”;
- at the Masses for the dead on the occasion of the funeral, news of the death, the final burial, or the first anniversary;
- at the principal Mass celebrated in a cathedral or parish church on the solemnity of Corpus Christi and on the day of a pastoral visitation; at a Mass celebrated on the occasion of a major religious superior’s canonical visitation to a particular religious house or chapter;
- at the principal Mass at a Eucharistic or Marian congress, whether international or national, regional or diocesan;
- at the principal Mass of any kind of meeting, pilgrimage, or people’s mission;
- at the administration of viaticum, when communion may be given to the members of the household and the friends of the sick person who are present.
- Over and above the cases already mentioned, the local Ordinary is allowed to grant for a single occasion the faculty to receive communion twice on the same day whenever, because of truly special circumstances. a second reception is warranted on the basis of this Instruction.
