What is the minimum required for a valid sacrament (particularly the sacrifice of the mass)?

[TIK]

I’m wondering what is the bare minimum required for a valid sacrifice of the mass + sacrament of communion. For arguments sake lets do a (slightly ridiculous) hypothetical situation, lets say it’s a battle and there is a “battlefield priest” on scene.

1. A bunch of soldiers get shot and wounded and dragged to cover.
2. The priest comes over with some bread and wine.
3. The priest says the words “This is my body” to the bread, and then says “This is my blood” to the wine. (These are the words of institution, which are supposed to cause the transubstantiation)
4. The priest consumes part of the bread (Sacramentally speaking, this is supposed to be the exact moment where Christ is sacrificed). He then drinks the wine.
5. The priest divides up and distributes the remainder of the bread to the wounded soldiers

My questions:

1. in the situation I’ve described above, has there actually been a valid sacrifice of the mass? I understand that in this situation there is almost no liturgy to speak of, so I’m wondering if a liturgy is “strictly essential” in order for the mass/sacrifice to be valid.
2. I’m also wondering if the situation described above would be sacramentally valid? Would the soldiers receive an increase of sanctifying/justifying grace in this situation? (assuming they are in a state of grace of course)

I’m also curious about the other sacraments. For example I understand that, in a pinch, you can perform a baptism simply by tossing water on someones head once and saying “I baptise you in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit” and it will be considered valid. The person doing the baptising doesn’t even have to be Christian or a priest.
I think I heard somewhere that for confession, all that is required is that the priest says “I absolve you of your sins”. You don’t even have to actually confess anything specific (although presumably you have to indicate that you recognise you are a sinner).

I find this topic interesting because it sorta shows how there is a core requirement for valid sacraments, and that core requirement can be found across all the different rites in the church and even outside the church sometimes. So even though the rituals of the different rites are all very different and unique, there is still this fundamental minimum which is always present. I’d just like to know what that minimum is

 

[Anthony_Perlas]

I’m not sure if you’re asking for communion, but incase this may add or help out yoru question. If you had specific questions let me know as well.

Quoted from my 1962 Roman Missal:

Read here:
lmsociety.com/2016/12/08/what-is-the-minimum-required-for-a-valid-sacrament-particularly-the-sacrifice-of-the-mass/

 

[FrDavid96]

For most of the Sacraments, there is indeed a “short form for emergencies.” So, the answer to the second part of your post is “yes.”

In the books published for use by priests, these emergency forms are printed so that he knows what to do.

This does not apply to the Mass. On the one hand, it’s possible to shorten the Mass by omitting certain parts (like Gloria, homily, Creed, petitions, etc.) but this is very limited. Also, if a part is omitted by mistake, that usually doesn’t affect validity.

If a priest merely says the Words of Institution, the validity is at best questionable. The Church does not define what is minimum for the Consecration; for several reasons, one of those reasons being that it is strictly forbidden for a priest to attempt this, no matter what the circumstances.

So, in an emergency, the priest can celebrate a Mass in the shortest possible way, omitting some parts, and even saying the parts as quickly as he is able. But he cannot say only the Words of Institution over bread and wine. The Church absolutely forbids that, with no possible exceptions.

 

[jcrichton]

I’m wondering what is the bare minimum required for a valid sacrifice of the mass + sacrament of communion. For arguments sake lets do a (slightly ridiculous) hypothetical situation, lets say it’s a battle and there is a “battlefield priest” on scene.

1. A bunch of soldiers get shot and wounded and dragged to cover.
2. The priest comes over with some bread and wine.
3. The priest says the words “This is my body” to the bread, and then says “This is my blood” to the wine. (These are the words of institution, which are supposed to cause the transubstantiation)
4. The priest consumes part of the bread (Sacramentally speaking, this is supposed to be the exact moment where Christ is sacrificed). He then drinks the wine.
5. The priest divides up and distributes the remainder of the bread to the wounded soldiers

My questions:

1. in the situation I’ve described above, has there actually been a valid sacrifice of the mass? I understand that in this situation there is almost no liturgy to speak of, so I’m wondering if a liturgy is “strictly essential” in order for the mass/sacrifice to be valid.
2. I’m also wondering if the situation described above would be sacramentally valid? Would the soldiers receive an increase of sanctifying/justifying grace in this situation? (assuming they are in a state of grace of course)

I’m also curious about the other sacraments. For example I understand that, in a pinch, you can perform a baptism simply by tossing water on someones head once and saying “I baptise you in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit” and it will be considered valid. The person doing the baptising doesn’t even have to be Christian or a priest.
I think I heard somewhere that for confession, all that is required is that the priest says “I absolve you of your sins”. You don’t even have to actually confess anything specific (although presumably you have to indicate that you recognise you are a sinner).

I find this topic interesting because it sorta shows how there is a core requirement for valid sacraments, and that core requirement can be found across all the different rites in the church and even outside the church sometimes. So even though the rituals of the different rites are all very different and unique, there is still this fundamental minimum which is always present. I’d just like to know what that minimum is

Hi!

…sorry to shoot you down…

The Mass is not Extreme Unction… this Sacrament is given to those who are on their death-bed, injured or ill and it is the Sacrament that facilitates their final state of Grace, in case that they do not recuperate from the illness/injury.

While there have been many instances where the Mass is Celebrated under difficult conditions where the state/anti-Catholics, unwarrantedly, invade the parish and assault or kill both the Celebrant Priest/Bishop and the Celebrant parishioners, there’s no short-cuts to the Celebration of the Mass.

Maran atha!

Angel