Christmas 2021 Ordo: reminder about liturgical celebrations (if any) celebrated on Christmas evening
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    From the USCCB's CDW's March-April newsletter:

    This year, the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) falls on a Saturday and is immediately followed on Sunday by the Feast of the Holy Family. In cases of consecutive feast days, there are often questions regarding which Mass is to be celebrated on Saturday evening and whether Evening Prayer II of the current day or Evening Prayer I of the following day is prayed at the Liturgy of the Hours. The May-June 2016 Newsletter presents a more thorough examination of these issues in “The Liturgical Celebration of Consecutive Feast Days (and Nights).”

    What day is celebrated is determined by two considerations: the rank of each celebration on the Table of Liturgical Days and whether each celebration is a holy day of obligation. In some cases, e.g., when the Assumption falls on a Saturday, the Mass of the Sunday in Ordinary Time is generally anticipated on Saturday evening because precedence is given to the “feast of precept” – even though the Assumption occupies a higher place on the Table of Liturgical Days.

    In the case of Christmas and Holy Family, both are days of precept (the latter because it falls on a Sunday), but Christmas occupies a higher place on the Table of Liturgical Days. Therefore, on the evening of Saturday, December 25, the Nativity Mass during the Day is celebrated with its accompanying readings from the Lectionary, and Evening Prayer II is prayed.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    Also of interest would be what happens the following week with the Solemnity of Mary and transferred Epiphany.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,080
    On the attached table of liturgical days, Epiphany (#2) is a higher rank than solemnities of the Blessed Virgin Mary (#3).

    Evening Prayer I for Epiphany would be celebrated on Saturday night, January 1 instead of Evening Prayer II for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

    A Saturday evening Mass on January 1, scheduled at a time which is ordinarily an anticipatory Mass for Sunday, should use the Mass texts for Epiphany's vigil Mass since Epiphany outranks the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In this particular case, an evening Mass on Saturday, January 1 wouldn't be an anticipatory Mass for Sunday: it would be the proper vigil Mass for Epiphany.
    Table.pdf
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  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    Yes, I'd expect Epiphany, satisfying the BVM obligation. For our parish Dec. 25 is a 'holiday' or rather, as we say in the theater, a dark night.

    At our Oakland Cathedral though it's:
    11:00 am Solemn Mass of Mary, Mother of God
    5:00 pm no Mass on this Saturday

    and at San Francisco:
    Saturday, January 1 – 8:00 Mass ONLY – Feast of the Mother of God and Holy Day of Obligation; Cathedral closed 9:00 am; Offices and Gift Store Closed.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    And Mary Mother of God is *not* a day of precept this year in the USA, as it falls on a Saturday (pace the notice for SFO's Cathedral - the staffer who wrote that went on autopilot, as so often happens in this kind of thing; there should be oral announcements to correct that error).
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    A little googling hasn't set my mind at rest on whether DoP and HDoO are interchangeble terms: how is 'day of precept' defined?
    I'm aware that Mondays are special cases but am being told that on Saturdays the obligation holds.
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    In the case of Christmas and Holy Family, both are days of precept (the latter because it falls on a Sunday), but Christmas occupies a higher place on the Table of Liturgical Days. Therefore, on the evening of Saturday, December 25, the Nativity Mass during the Day is celebrated with its accompanying readings from the Lectionary, and Evening Prayer II is prayed.
    So, this means that no Mass on Christmas, regardless of the time celebrated, will satisfy Sunday's obligation?
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,080
    If you have already attended a previous Mass to satisfy the obligation to attend Mass for Christmas Day, then attending an additional Christmas Mass on Saturday, December 25 that starts on or after 4:00 p.m. (or that starts on or after 12:00 p.m. according to the probable opinion of some canon lawyers, since evening is the latter half of the day in Roman parlance) will satisfy the additional obligation to attend Mass on Sunday, December 26. The choice of Mass propers/texts has no bearing on whether the Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation: attending any valid Catholic Mass suffices. It could be a funeral Mass or a wedding Mass; it could even be in an Eastern Rite Catholic Church. It just has to be a valid Catholic Mass celebrated in the evening on the day before the Sunday or other day of obligation.
    Thanked by 2Liam chonak
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Correct.
    Thanked by 1a_f_hawkins
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,885
    attending any valid Catholic Mass suffices. It could be a funeral Mass or a wedding Mass

    I do not believe this is correct. A funeral mass would not suffice for HDO obligation. Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, funerals are to be avoided on most feast days and are outright banned for a few of them (Good Friday & Easter Sunday, for instance).
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    No. The relevant canon is broadly worded, not restricted to non-ritual Masses.

    Can. 1248 §1 The obligation of assisting at Mass is satisfied wherever Mass is celebrated in a catholic rite either on a holyday itself or on the evening of the previous day.
    Thanked by 2Andrew_Malton a_f_hawkins
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Liam,

    Not meaning to detract from what you've written, but since a requiem can't be celebrated on a solemnity, it seems a stretch to say that a requiem can meet the obligation/precept.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,080
    Why the nitpicking? A funeral Mass could be celebrated on a Saturday at 4PM in a cemetery chapel and attending it would fulfill the obligation to attend Mass the following Sunday.

    Some canonists would say attending a funeral Mass celebrated any time after noon on a Saturday would fulfill the obligation for the following Sunday.

    Same line of reasoning for weddings on Saturdays.

    It's irrelevant to the canonical question of fulfilling one's obligation to attend Mass on days of precept that funeral Masses are prohibited on certain days of the liturgical year, some of which are days of precept. When funeral Masses are permitted, attending one in the evening prior to a day of precept fulfills the obligation to attend Mass on that day of precept.
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    If I understand the general opinion of canonists rightly, the only real catch about these cases of two Mass obligations on successive days is that one cannot fulfill them both by attending one Mass.
    Thanked by 4tomjaw Liam Andrew_Malton CCooze
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Chris

    If an authorized dispensation allowed for a funeral mass on a solemnity, it would count. Normally, funerals are forbidden, but that's the only reason one normally would not be able to have the question arise. (SS's comment assumed it was factually possible, like wedding masses.) The ritual nature of the Mass - not being of the day's propers, as it were - has zero bearing on fulfilling precept. That was the tie into the conversation tangent here.

    Chonak is correct.
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