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DarkLight
Guest
Just a curiosity question - what’s the procedure if the Mass is interrupted during/after consecration and the priest is unable to continue?
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FrDavid96
Guest
Does this answer your question?
- Defects may occur also in the performance of the rite itself, if any of the required elements is lacking, as in the following cases: if the Mass is celebrated in a place that is not sacred, or not lawfully approved, or on an altar not consecrated, or not covered with three cloths; if there are no wax candles; if it is not the proper time for celebrating Mass, which is from one hour before dawn until one hour after noon under ordinary circumstances, unless some other time is established or permitted for certain Masses; if the priest fails to wear some one of the priestly vestments; if the priestly vestments and the altar cloths have not been blessed; if there is no cleric present nor any other man or boy serving the Mass; if there is not a chalice, with a cup of gold, or of silver with the inside gold-plated; if the paten is not gold-plated; if both chalice and paten are not consecrated by a bishop; if the corporal is not clean (and the corporal should be of linen, not decorated in the middle with silk or gold; and both corporal and pall should be blessed); if the priest celebrates Mass with his head covered, without a dispensation to do so; if there is no missal present, even though the priest may know by heart the Mass he intends to say.
- If, while the priest is celebrating Mass, the church is violated before he has reached the Canon, the Mass is to be discontinued; if after the Canon, it is not to be discontinued. If there is fear of an attack by enemies, or of a flood or of the collapse of the building where the Mass is being celebrated, the Mass is to be discontinued if it is before the Consecration; if this fear arises after the Consecration, however, the priest may omit everything else and go on at once to the reception of the Sacrament.
- If before the Consecration the priest becomes seriously ill, or faints, or dies, the Mass is discontinued. If this happens after the consecration of the Body only and before the consecration of the Blood, or after both have been consecrated, the Mass is to be completed by another priest from the place where the first priest stopped, and in case of necessity even by a priest who is not fasting. If the first priest has not died but has become ill and is still able to receive Communion, and there is no other consecrated host at hand, the priest who is completing the Mass should divide the host, give one part to the sick priest and consume the other part himself. If the priest has died after half-saying the formula for the consecration of the Body, then there is no Consecration and no need for another priest to complete the Mass. If, on the other hand, the priest has died after half- saying the formula for the consecration of the Blood, then another priest is to complete the Mass, repeating the whole formula over the same chalice from the words Simili modo, postquam cenatum est; or he may say the whole formula over another chalice which has been prepared, and consume the first priest’s host and the Blood consecrated by himself, and then the chalice which was left half-consecrated.
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FrDavid96
Guest
- If anyone fails to consume the whole Sacrament aside from cases of necessity of this kind, he is guilty of very grave sin.
- If before the Consecration a fly or spider or anything else falls into the chalice, the priest is to pour out the wine in a suitable place, put other wine into the chalice, add a little water, offer it, as above, and continue the Mass. If after the Consecration a fly or something of the kind falls into the chalice, he is to take it out, wash it with wine, burn it after the Mass is over, and throw the ashes and the wine which was used for washing into the sacrarium.
- If something poisonous falls into the chalice after the Consecration, or something that would cause vomiting, the consecrated wine is to be poured into another chalice, with water added until the chalice is full, so that the species of wine will be dissolved; and this water is to be poured out into the sacrarium. Other wine, together with water, is to be brought and consecrated.
- If anything poisonous touches the consecrated host, the priest is to consecrate another and consume it in the way that has been explained, while the first host is to be put into a chalice full of water and disposed of as was explained regarding the Blood in paragraph 36 above.
- If the particle of the host remains in the chalice when he consumes the Blood, he is to bring it to the edge of the cup with his finger and consume it before the purification, or else he is to pour water in and consume it with the water.
- If before the Consecration the host is found to be broken, it is to be consecrated anyway, unless the people can see plainly that it is broken. But if there may be scandal for the people, another host is to be taken and offered. If the broken host has already been offered, the priest is to consume it after the ablution. If the host is seen to be broken before the offerings however, another complete host is to be taken, if this can be done without scandal and without a long delay.
- If the consecrated host falls into the chalice, nothing is to be repeated on that account, but the priest is to continue the Mass, performing the ceremonies and making the usual signs of the Cross with the part of the host that is not moistened with the Blood, if he can conveniently do so. But if the entire host has become wet, he is not to take it out; he is to say everything as usual, omitting the signs of the Cross that pertain to the host alone, and he is to consume the Body and the Blood together, signing himself with the chalice and saying: Corpus et Sanguis Domini nostri, etc.
- If the Blood freezes in the chalice in winter time, the chalice should be wrapped in cloths that have been warmed. If this is not enough, it should be placed in boiling water near the altar until the Blood melts, but care should be taken that none of the water gets into the chalice.
- If any of the Blood of Christ falls, if it is only a drop or so, nothing need be done except to pour a little water over the spilled drops and dry it afterwards with a purificator. If more has been spilled, the corporal or the altar cloth or other place is to be washed in the best way possible, and the water is then to be poured into the sacrarium.
- If, however, all the Blood is spilled after the Consecration, the little that remains is to be consumed, and the procedure described above is to be followed with the rest which has been spilled. But if none at all remains, the priest is to put wine and water into the chalice again and consecrate from the words Simili modo, postquam cenatum est, etc., after first making an offering of the chalice, as above.
- If anyone vomits the Eucharist, the vomit is to be gathered up and disposed of in some decent place.
- If a consecrated host or any particle of it falls to the ground or floor, it is to be taken up reverently, a little water is to be poured over the place where it fell, and the place is to be dried with a purificator. If it falls on clothing, the clothing need not be washed. If it falls on a woman’s clothing, the woman herself is to take the particle and consume it.
- Defects may occur in the celebration of the rite itself also if the priest does not know the rites and ceremonies to be observed, all of which have been fully described in the above rubrics.
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angell1
Guest
what if you are not able to get a second priest? i.e. crazy killer comes in and kills the only priest in the parish and starts shooting at everyone else? how would communion be able to be distributed? or does only the priest have to consume it?
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
Frankly, in that scenario receiving Communion would be the last thing on my mind.
Less extreme possibilities exist. What I’ve been instructed to do is have a deacon or EMHC distribute. If neither are present, the consecrated hosts are reposed in the tabernacle and there is no Communion for the laity. But again, if a gunman is endangering everyone at Mass the top priority is to keep the Blessed Sacrament and those in attendance as safe as possible. Continuing the Mass would not likely be feasible.
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Tarpeian_Rock
Guest
Paragraph 31 raises certain questions. Does “defect” = “liturgical abuse?” Our altar has a single altar cloth, not three. Our priest wears neither an amice nor a cincture. Nothing in this paragraph appears to contemplate a vigil Mass said at or after 4 PM. “Nor any other man or boy serving the Mass” – this seems to leave no room for female altar servers. So I’m guessing that a Vigil Mass served by an “altar girl” assisting an amice-less and cincture-less priest said at an altar with only a single altar cloth is “defective” in multiple ways?
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PJM
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FrDavid96
Guest
Those are “incidental”* rules that have since been changed by the Church. For example, I wear an alb with a cincture pre-attached, so that acts as an acceptable substitute for a rope-style cincture. Same with the amice, which is only needed if the collar on the alb does not cover the priest’s street clothes. Etc.
I did not feel like spending all kinds of time doing cut-and-paste. And I anticipated all kinds of followup questions about interruptions, so I just pasted the whole relevant section.
- That comment is not intended to belittle the rules, they’re important. It means that they are disciplinary ones which are subject to change by competent authority.
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FrDavid96
Guest
Frankly, yes, it does.
However, keep in mind that if a newer law has replaced the one referenced, then the current law would apply.
Example: current law requires (at least) one altar cloth, not necessarily three*. So failing to use any altar cloth would still be a “defect” = “abuse.”
- At least in the U.S. I’m not sure if the at-least-one rule is universal or particular. Still, I’m sure you get the point.
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FrDavid96
Guest
Only the priest.
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DarkLight
Guest
I presume if necessary they would bring in a priest from another area, even if it resulted in significant delay, to finish mass? A lot of parishes have only one priest assigned to them, so a priest would have to be brought in from a neighboring parish in order to finish mass. And of course there’s the question of what they would do if it were a rural parish and no other priest was available.
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dshix
Guest
Very interesting read. Thank you FrDavid.
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FrDavid96
Guest
Already answered. Read the document.
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Luz_Maria
Guest
Good afternoon Father David and Deacon Jeff ((name removed by moderator))
I read all the rules and what comes to mind is what the Church is called in Spanish, “Holy Mother Church” and as a Mother, the Church has a bit of flexibility. For instance, there could be “internal rules” in places where the Faith is persecuted. A very simple yes or no is enough because I do not want even the possibility of endangering our brothers and sisters in those locations. No details, please. We never ever know the “damage” we may cause.
Thank you.
I read all the rules and what comes to mind is what the Church is called in Spanish, “Holy Mother Church” and as a Mother, the Church has a bit of flexibility. For instance, there could be “internal rules” in places where the Faith is persecuted. A very simple yes or no is enough because I do not want even the possibility of endangering our brothers and sisters in those locations. No details, please. We never ever know the “damage” we may cause.
Thank you.
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FrDavid96
Guest
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PJM
Guest
quote
Originally Posted by angell1 View Post
what if you are not able to get a second priest? i.e. crazy killer comes in and kills the only priest in the parish and starts shooting at everyone else? how would communion be able to be distributed? or does only the priest have to consume it? end quote
GBY
Originally Posted by angell1 View Post
what if you are not able to get a second priest? i.e. crazy killer comes in and kills the only priest in the parish and starts shooting at everyone else? how would communion be able to be distributed? or does only the priest have to consume it? end quote
THEN DO THE NEXT best thing and make a SPIRITUAL Holy Communion; ALSO a source of grace
GBY
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Mintaka
Guest
If a Mass is interrupted, the priest completes the Mass later.
If that priest is killed or removed, another priest completes the Mass later.
If a Mass cannot be completed, God knows and gives credit.
And yes, it is, and has always been, pretty common in persecuted places to have priests sneaking around completing Masses, or to have laypeople make a push to recover consecrated Hosts and eat them, to protect the Hosts from sacrilege. It is a fairly common source of martyrdom, too. As the earliest Christians took Mass as important enough to die for, so do we.
If that priest is killed or removed, another priest completes the Mass later.
If a Mass cannot be completed, God knows and gives credit.
And yes, it is, and has always been, pretty common in persecuted places to have priests sneaking around completing Masses, or to have laypeople make a push to recover consecrated Hosts and eat them, to protect the Hosts from sacrilege. It is a fairly common source of martyrdom, too. As the earliest Christians took Mass as important enough to die for, so do we.
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DarkLight
Guest
Random follow-up question: is it allowed to, say, celebrate mass without a proper altar and other trappings if they aren’t available? I was thinking in cases of either persecution or disaster where a church and altarcloth and such might not be available.
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FrDavid96
Guest
In such times, there is a principle that reminds us “the law does not bind in an impossible situation.”
Two things to note:
- This only applies to ecclesiastical laws, not Divine laws. So the law about candles would not apply, but the fact that the priest must use wheat bread always applies.
- It must be a genuinely impossible situation, not a construed one. So if a parish priest says “I don’t like candles” then proceeds to dispose of them, cannot then say “since we don’t have candles, it’s impossible to use them, therefore I am exempt.”
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Tarpeian_Rock
Guest
Read up on “Mass rocks” in rural Ireland. There are also numerous pictures of WWII battlefield Masses being said on the hoods of Jeeps.
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