Masses for souls
  • CatherineS
    Posts: 690
    Can someone explain to me why sometimes a Mass is celebrated for a soul of a deceased, and it is the daily liturgy; and other times the same happens, but the liturgy for the deceased (formerly Requiem Mass) is used?
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    The intention of almost any Mass can be applied to the benefit of a deceased person, whatever the feast being celebrated. (A pastor has to apply one Mass for the people entrusted to him each Sunday or Day of Obligation.) However the specific formulae of a Requiem Mass are regulated as follows:
    380. Among the Masses for the Dead, the Funeral Mass holds first place. It may be celebrated on any day except for solemnities that are holy days of obligation, Holy Thursday, the Easter Triduum, and the Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Easter, with due regard also for all the other requirements of the norm of the law.

    381. A Mass for the Dead may be celebrated on receiving the news of a death, for the final burial, or the first anniversary, even on days within the Octave of Christmas, on obligatory memorials, and on weekdays, except for Ash Wednesday or weekdays during Holy Week.

    Other Masses for the Dead, that is, “daily” Masses, may be celebrated on weekdays in Ordinary Time on which optional memorials occur or when the Office is of the weekday, provided such Masses are actually applied for the dead.
    Thanked by 2CatherineS CHGiffen
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