Patron Feast Sprinkling Rite
  • Claire H
    Posts: 370
    Hello! Our parochial vicar mentioned this morning that it is customary to replace the Kyrie with a Sprinkling Rite for the parish feast day. I was curious if maybe that's a custom from his [South American] country, or if there's an official note somewhere in the rubrics?
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,467
    The OF rubric is GIRM 51
    ...
    From time to time on Sundays, especially in Easter Time, instead of the customary Penitential Act, the blessing and sprinkling of water may take place as a reminder of Baptism.

    That does not explicitly say that the Sprinkling cannot be used on other days. The US Missal describes the rite in an appendix, and mentions Sunday again, the English CTS Daily Missal I have to hand describes it among the Introductory Rites to take the place of the Penitential Act, immediately before the Gloria, and just says If this rite is celebrated ....
  • GerardH
    Posts: 460
    Claire H - The rubric a_f_hawkins has mentioned above is about all you'll find. There is always the option on a Sunday in the OF to replace the Kyrie with the Sprinkling Rite (inc. Asperges or Vidi Aquam). Different places may have different customs for when they choose to do this. At my parish we used it on the First Sunday of Lent this year, and, pandemic-permitting, I hope we can use it in the future to delineate the seasons of the liturgical year.

    I'm not so sure about the Sunday vs. weekday usage. If I'm not mistaken, the Sprinkling Rite has a long association with Sundays, and isn't used in the EF even on great solemnities if they fall on a weekday.

    It sounds like your parochial vicar is actually referring to a local custom to which he is accustomed. He may not realise that it isn't universal.

    Any doubt about the rubrics could be avoided by celebrating the parish feast day as an external solemnity on a Sunday. This is provided for in the General Norms of the Liturgical Year, no. 58:
    58. For the pastoral good of the faithful, it is permitted to observe on Sundays in Ordinary Time those celebrations that fall during the week and that are agreeable to the devotion of the faithful, provided the celebrations rank above that Sunday in the Table of Liturgical Days. The Mass of such celebrations may be used at all the celebrations of Mass at which the people are present.

    The downside of all this is the omission of the Kyrie, a particular loss if you were planning a to use a special Mass Ordinary for the occasion.
    Thanked by 2JL chonak
  • GerardH
    Posts: 460
    Adding weight to the Sunday-only interpretation, the introduction to the Ordo Cantus Missae says the following (according to @chonak's translation)
    4. When the rite of blessing and sprinkling holy water is done in place of the penitential act in Sunday Masses, the antiphon Asperges me is sung, or in Paschaltide, Vidi aquam.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,467
    I have spotted that there was a papal bull in 1573, allowing the sprinkling on other major feasts (which would include the patronal feast) in
    Dioecesium Quitensis,Conchensis,Guayaquilen.

    So that's Quito and Guayaquil, the two largest cities in Ecuador, if the other is Cuenca that's the third largest city in Ecuador.
    See S.R.C. decree #21113111 of March 1862
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    So much is on-line now, including historic decrees of the SCR:

    Apparently a privilege about sprinkling was extended to these dioceses by a papal bull (decree) in 1573 by Gregory XIII; this book has an 1862 decree (#3111) on the subject.

    These decrees start with a question someone submitted to Rome. If I'm reading this one correctly (?), it seems to say that the 1573 decree allows the bishop or "principal" clergy to have another priest conduct the sprinkling rite in the cathedral at the conventual Mass, and to do so even without a procession of ministers, but just an acolyte.

    Then the questioner asks if it may also be extended in the cathedral to solemn days as well as Sundays, and -- if the bishop doesn't happen to be the one celebrating Mass -- just which clergy qualify as "principal": canons or only officeholders at the Cathedral?

    https://archive.org/details/decretaauthentic02sacr/page/436/mode/2up
    (page 437)

    And I think (not sure) the answer was yes, it could be extended; and only officeholders.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    [I've cleaned up this thread to take out the side debates.]
    Thanked by 1GerardH
  • PLTT
    Posts: 150
    The association of the Asperges with Sunday is easily seen from the fact that it is a memorial of baptism, and Sunday is linked with Easter. Thus, it is not a generic rite for solemnity. It's worth noting that one of the prayers makes a reference to Sunday ("....on this your day, O Lord").

    While it may indeed be a custom in his country, I think it is also equally likely that (close rubrical reading not being a specialty of the revised rites) that since it is used on Sundays (especially big feasts like Easter), it was assumed to be a more solemn rite that could be done on any solemnity.
    Thanked by 1chonak
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,467
    Looking back 100 years to Fortescue, Ceremonies ... describes two uses of the Asperges Rite.
    1/ Before the principal Mass of Sundays. Canon Law only requires this in Cathedrals and collegiate churches, but local rules laid down by bishops in England (I imagine in other English speaking countries) extends this to all parishes, whether this Mass was sung or not. The Rite is not part of the Mass and is only the sprinkling, the water is blessed beforehand in the sacristy.
    2/ At the start of a sick call, "exactly as at the Asperges before High Mass, with the same versicles and prayer," again the water is blessed beforehand.
    The OF Rite at Mass is different "Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling of Water".
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