Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, June 24, ABC, Responsorial Psalm R. (14) I praise you, for I am wonderfully made. Ps. 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made. O LORD, you have probed me, you know me: you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made. Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works. R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made. My soul also you knew full well; nor was my frame unknown to you When I was made in secret, when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth. R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
Since this falls on Monday this year, and as a Solemnity I think it ranks higher than a Sunday in Ordinary time, should a Sunday evening Mass on June 23 be celebrated as the Vigil of John the Baptist rather than the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time?
In a normal parish setting where there is a Sunday Evening mass, this should remain the mass of the Sunday for pastoral reasons. The usual parishioners technically will not have fulfilled their Sunday obligation if a vigil mass of the Solemnity is put on.
Any Mass fulfills the obligation- Canon 1248 1. The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.
Aaron is correct. There is no precept in Canon Law that stipulates precisely what Mass or reading you need to fulfill your obligation, only that you attend on the particular day.
However, Sunday trumps everything. Whatever Mass you celebrate on Sunday trumps anything that happens on the following day.
Except Christmas. You still have the Christmas Vigil Mass on the 4th Sunday of Advent.
I'm paraphrasing the Table of Liturgical Days according to their order of precedence from the Universal Norms on the Calendar. It's in the Missal.
More specifically, Norms # 60:
If several celebrations fall on the same day, the one that holds the highest rank according to the Table of Liturgical Days is observed.
Since the Nativity of the Lord is higher on the Table than Sundays of Advent, you celebrate Christmas in the evening of Sunday, December 24.
I don't mean "Sunday trumps everything," meaning it overrides solemnities that fall on Sunday, by the way. I mean for the purposes of anticipated Masses the evening before the day.
Using your example, a Solemnity such as June 24 Nativity of John the Baptist falls on a Monday, it ranks #3 in the First Class table of liturgical days, above #6-Second class Sundays in Ordinary Time.
The current Ordo here reads the Vigil Mass of the Nativity of John is celebrated either before or after First Vespers of the solemnity. Does this not imply that the Vigil Mass would have to take place on Sunday evening?
I believe you could celebrate either the Vigil Mass or the Sunday in Ordinary Time. It would be unusual to celebrate the vigil in such a case, but I believe allowed.
The only reasons propers of the evening Mass should NOT be for the same commemoration as vespers is a homilist who doesn't want to have to prepare a different homily or an MD who doesn't want to have to prepare different music. Those are not good reasons.
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