Observing Solemnities on Sundays in Ordinary Time

GerardH

The General Norms of the Liturgical Year include a fairly unknown and underutilised rubric.

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.

For instance, this could allow a church's patronal solemnity or anniversary of dedication to be celebrated on a Sunday for the benefit of those who couldn't attend during the week.
I have a question about interpretation though. Does 'during the week' refer to the week before or after the Sunday? Obviously when one talks about 'X week in ordinary time', that week starts with Sunday, but the Sunday after the solemnity in question falls within the 'octave'.

This rubric has its precedent in the 'external solemnities' of the old rite, like the practice of celebrating Corpus Christi again on the Sunday within the octave.

Thoughts?

Liam

Well, in the absence of any other indication, a "week" refers to the calendar week, a period from Sunday through Saturday, inclusive, rather than any seven consecutive days; the only octaves in the NO are the Easter Octave and the Christmas Octave. Absent any precedent or rulings to the contrary, I would understand that to mean the "Sunday" is referring to the first day of the calendar week in which the solemnity falls. Thus, preceding, not following.

FSSPmusic

Indeed, fairly unknown and underutilized, but I know of a novus ordo parish that observes the solemnity of the Sacred Heart on the following Sunday even though they also celebrate it with solemnity and good attendance on the Friday. Obviously in that case it cannot be observed on the preceding Sunday, which is Corpus Christi.

I can't speak for pre-55 rubrics, but on the 1962 calendar there are two external solemnities "by right" worldwide: Sacred Heart, and Our Lady of the Rosary on the first Sunday in October. In the latter case, the feast itself was originally celebrated on that Sunday and later transferred to the calendar date. Curiously, it is a second-class feast of Our Lady, which would not otherwise take precedence over a Sunday after Pentecost; when October 7 is a Sunday, it's still just an external solemnity with either two Low Masses or one Sung and one Low, but with the office of the Sunday.

In the US, there are two additional external solemnities: Corpus Christi, but only for one Mass followed by the procession, and Ss. Peter & Paul on the Sunday following the feast unless that is a first-class feast itself. A number of optional external solemnities are mentioned under rubric 358:

c) feasts of the 1st or 2nd class which are connected with some special liturgical service, if that liturgical service is transferred to a Sunday with the approval of the Holy See, only for the Mass which is celebrated in connection with the aforesaid liturgical service;
d) the feast of a duly constituted principal patron;
e) the anniversary of the dedication of the church itself in which the Mass is said;
f) the titular feast of the church itself;
g) the titular feast of the order or congregation;
h) the feast of the holy founder of the order or congregation;
i) feast of the 1st and 2nd class which are celebrated with an especially large attendance by the faithful; of this matter, the local ordinary is the judge.

Although rubric 360 specifies that two Low Masses are permitted except in the case of 358c, the very name external solemnity seems to suggest that the Mass should be celebrated with an appropriate degree of solemnity. My parish has two Sung Masses and two Low Masses on Sunday, so we have Low and Sung Masses for both the Sunday at the external solemnity, if that makes sense, and it has become our custom not to have a High Mass on a feast day that gets an external solemnity on Sunday, but I think quite a few TLM communities celebrate with solemnity both days, including two Corpus Christi processions.

I think the Rosary Sunday external solemnity is a special case and that celebrating feasts within their now nonexistent octaves is preferable to anticipating them. With that said, I know that there are pastoral provisions for anticipating Masses with schoolchildren, to record for subsequent broadcast on the Sunday or feast, and in countries where Sunday is a workday.

MatthewRoth

The 1960 rubrics cause some confusion that is carried into the NO: before, an external solemnity had to be the Sunday immediately following the feast. In 1960, the Sunday before was also given the same privileges, provided that external solemnities are otherwise allowed.

If we had two high Masses, we would probably do what you do, which is essentially mimicking the conventual Mass practice. Conventual Mass had to be sung as usual, then after None the solemnity Mass is sung, almost as if it were a violet day, with the bonus on the Sunday in the octave of Corpus Christi that the procession is at a reasonable hour. My pastor’s preference so far is Sunday at the low Mass, the solemnity at the high Mass.

The pre-55 rubrics are the sort of thing that you really have to look at annually and again quarterly to make sure that you do it right (you can also commemorate impeded external solemnities); it’s straightforward with the ceremonial in front of you, I think. (Again, I always refer to Stercky, which is in French and has an answer to almost every question that I could ask.)

But also, the Rosary feast never had an octave.

FSSPmusic

But also, the Rosary feast never had an octave.

Ah, I see how what I wrote can be taken as implying the contrary. My apologies for a clumsily worded sentence! I did not mean to suggest that it would be preferable to postpone the Rosary solemnity a week, but rather to state a general principle about scheduling. I'll revise my previous comment.

MatthewRoth

Oh, yes, gotcha. I agree. Anticipation sort of destroys the cycle, but it’s even more bizarre in the 1960, since June 28 retained a vigil.

smvanroode

Back to the NO, to which the question applies. The Latin text is:

Ad bonum pastorale fidelium procurandum, in dominicis per annum, licet eas celebrationes agere, quae infra hebdomadam occurrunt, quaeque ipsorum fidelium pietati sunt acceptae, dummodo hae in tabula praecedentiae ipsi dominicae praeponantur. De his celebrationibus dici possunt omnes Missae, quae concurrente populo celebrantur.

Does ‘infra’ imply that the celebration must fall in the week before the Sunday or that the celebration can be transferred to the nearest Sunday? In other words, does ‘infra’ say something about the week with respect to the Sunday, or about the Sunday with respect to the week?

FSSPmusic

It's similar wording in the old rubrics:

in dominica quando ipsum festum occurrit infra hebdomadam

MatthewRoth

I don’t think that it matters, and transferring an external solemnity impeded on the nearest Sundays to its occurrence seems OK; his could be done by the bishop or the Apostolic See; the IBP seminary celebrates that of St Vincent de Paul during the academic year in September instead of in July when no one is there.

Kathy

I had a friend who went from Episcopalian to Catholic to Orthodoxy, and one of his many reasons for rejecting Catholicism was he never heard about saints at Mass. SInce I went to Mass during the week, I didn't really understand what he meant, but if you think about it, unless they use the Roman Canon there is very little mention of saints at Sunday Mass.

External celebrations can help mitigate that problem a little.

fcb

one of his many reasons for rejecting Catholicism was he never heard about saints at Mass

I'm glad that wasn't his only reason.

Caleferink

We did this in the first parish I worked in — St. Wendelin, whose feast day is in October and so had no Sundays that would supersede it (we also used it as our opportunity for our annual Forty Hours). The idea of transferring a solemnity might also be beneficial when possible in observing the anniversary of the dedication of your church. I’m not sure I’d do it at the parish level for anything that is already a solemnity, like the Sacred Heart or Corpus Christi or SS. Peter and Paul.

Kathy

I'm glad that wasn't his only reason.

In the part of the US where he and his family lived, parish life, preaching, liturgy, and catechesis were dismal. I lived there for a bit too, and it was just the worst. But the last straw had to do with the leadership of bishops. It was also weak in that part of the country, in places thoroughly corrupt. This was some years back.

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