What is the "legitimacy" of vigil Masses?

[kana]

I have some ‘rad trad’ friends who believe that attending vigil Masses (Sat or Sun) equates to nothing more than laziness as we are not keeping the Sabbath holy. They argue that up until Vat II there were never any vigil Masses–therefore, the discipline of vigi Masses boarders on heresy and “minimalistic at best”. I showed them that even in Rome they have vigil Masses. Their responses:

**it’s a poor excuse just to imitate what Rome does or allows… we are personally responsible for our actions… telling God on judgement day that well… uh… Rome did it! isnt going to save anyone…"

**as a matter of fact plenty or real saint popes have warned us against exactly what Rome is doing today.
there is no excuse at all for going along with such nonsense, sins, or errors…

** If Rome is right today… then Rome was wrong in years past… and Catholicism is false…

** the magisterium is only right when they are in conformity to consistent 2000 year old teaching… not when they decide on novelties and innovations which have been repeatedly condemned over the centuries…

**so go ahead… and embrace the novelties and innovations of Rome… Pope St Pius X and Pope Leo XIII have condemned them already…

**the man made protestantized Novus Ordo rite is a travesty that has only helped lead to a great loss of faith…

**well then the church must have been mistaken for 2000 years

**the pope is a heretic… he’s a humanist and a modernist… and the popes allow blasphemy all the time…

** any time a pope like Pope John II can allow a bare breasted woman to read in the sanctuary… dont tell me they wont allow blasphemy…

**papolotry… the popes are human and can err 100 times a day…

Bottom line question is this:

1. When did vigil Masses ‘come into being’?
2. What is the official teaching of the Church regarding vigil Masses?
3. Is there an official papal decree or some such to ‘validate’ vigil Masses?

Thanks.
Katherine
kana77494@yahoo.com

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear Kana,

Your friends really don’t have a clue. Before Vatican II Latin Rite Catholics all around the world celebrated Midnight Mass on the eve of the Solemnity of Christmas. That was and is a vigil Mass.

St. Basil writes of a vigil that was celebrated every week in the Eastern Churches. Rome, however, observed a vigil only at Easter, Pentecost and the Embertides (New Catholic Encyclpedia).

The time of day that the Church allows Mass to be celebrated is not a matter of dogma. The dictionary defines “heresy” as “a religious belief that is at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine of a church.” The time for liturgical observances is a matter of Church discipline; not dogma. Such can never be a matter of heresy. There aren’t correct times and incorrect times: “Seven in the morning is good. Seven thirty in the morning is bad. Mass on Sunday is good. Mass on Saturday night is bad.” It is the Church that decided to hold Sunday as a special day in the first place. Certainly, it has the authority to allow vigil Masses as it decides.

Pope Pius X and Pope Pius XII had no more authority than the popes who followed them. If one does not like the Novus Ordo Mass, that is one’s prerogative. But to make the pronouncements your friends are making betrays a gross ignorance of Church history. By the way, like it or not, the Novus Ordo Mass IS a valid Mass and should be respected as such. To not recognize that evidences a REAL lack of faith!

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.