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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sat May 19th, 2007 11:14 pm |
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I have done some more research on this topic, and I think I may have given some erroneous information, so let me try to summarize. I think this information is correct. There are a few ambiguities in Church law, so if in doubt, ask a priest.
Everything that I'm going to say is presuming that everyone involved regularly attends mass, is free from mortal sin, and is otherwise eligible to receive communion in the Catholic Church. It also assumes all rules regarding fasting, etc., have been met.
1. Any Catholic may receive communion at any opportunity one time in a day. This includes receiving communion at a communion service, or when communion is brought to a sick person.
2. Any Catholic may receive communion a second time in a day, but only at a mass at which that person participates fully (meaning they attend the entire mass, answer the responses, etc.; #4 below is the only exception). A priest who is celebrating his second or third mass of the day is excused from the Eucharistic fast. A lay person who is attending a second mass must fast from everything except water and medicine unless otherwise excused due to health, age, etc.
3. If communion is brought to a homebound person, a caregiver may receive communion only if that person has not received communion previously in that day. So if the caregiver has been to mass, the caregiver may not receive communion. Both the homebound person and the caregiver are excused from the Eucharistic fast.
4. A person who has received communion earlier in the same day who is in an accident, has a heart attack, etc., may receive communion again as viaticum if they should suddenly be found to be in danger of death. For example, if a person who attended mass in the morning (or even two masses) should have a heart attack or be in an automobile accident and suddenly be in danger of death, they may receive communion again in the form of viaticum. They may then receive communion as viaticum daily, but not more than once a day.
5. A person who is attending multiple masses for a valid reason (for example, giving a presentation on Marriage Encounter or Right to Life issues) should not receive communion more than twice in a day. If that person will be speaking at more than two masses in a single day, he should discuss the situation with his priest to learn whether it is permitted to receive communion at more than two masses.
6. A person who has attended mass and received communion may not receive communion again outside of mass, except as viaticum.
7. The laws are unclear about receiving communion at a Saturday evening vigil mass and again at two Sunday masses. At this point, I assume that the Saturday evening mass would count as a Sunday mass. Therefore, a person could receive communion at a Saturday morning funeral, a Saturday afternoon wedding, and a Saturday evening vigil mass because the vigil mass would count as a Sunday mass. However, it would not be permitted to attend a Saturday daily mass, a funeral, and a wedding all in one day and receive communion each time.
8. "Sunday" mass is determined by the liturgy in use for the day. A Saturday evening mass is a "Sunday" mass if the liturgy is of the Sunday. This is true even if a separate "Vigil" liturgy is used. For example, this coming Saturday evening, the liturgy is of the Vigil of Pentecost. It would still count as a mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost. (I am not absolutely certain of this; I will seek clarification. Meanwhile, ask your priest.)
9. When in doubt, ask your priest. For example, if you attend the Saturday vigil mass and are serving as the caretaker for a homebound person on Sunday, ask your priest if you may receive communion with the homebound person.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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japhy
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| Joined: | Thu Apr 26th, 2007 |
| Location: | Princeton, New Jersey USA |
| Posts: | 180 |
| First Name: | Jeff (you can call me "japhy" | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic (Latin Rite) |
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Posted: Sun May 20th, 2007 08:23 pm |
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cajunrick wrote: 7. The laws are unclear about receiving communion at a Saturday evening vigil mass and again at two Sunday masses. At this point, I assume that the Saturday evening mass would count as a Sunday mass. Therefore, a person could receive communion at a Saturday morning funeral, a Saturday afternoon wedding, and a Saturday evening vigil mass because the vigil mass would count as a Sunday mass. However, it would not be permitted to attend a Saturday daily mass, a funeral, and a wedding all in one day and receive communion each time.
8. "Sunday" mass is determined by the liturgy in use for the day. A Saturday evening mass is a "Sunday" mass if the liturgy is of the Sunday. This is true even if a separate "Vigil" liturgy is used. For example, this coming Saturday evening, the liturgy is of the Vigil of Pentecost. It would still count as a mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost. (I am not absolutely certain of this; I will seek clarification. Meanwhile, ask your priest.) I recently had to answer this question for a new Catholic (one of our RCIA people). I'm unsure about #7 on your list, only because Canon 919 says "A person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the eucharistic celebration in which the person participates", and Canon 202 defines a day as "a period consisting of 24 continuous hours [that] begins at midnight", so Saturday is one day, and Sunday is another day; in other words, Saturday evening Mass, while fulfilling your Sunday obligation to attend Mass, occurs on a different day. However, receiving Communion a third time on a Saturday (the third time being at a vigil Mass) would still be against Canon Law, as far as I can understand it. Attending the Mass, though, fulfills the obligation.
I'm under the impression from Canon 1248 §1 ("A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.") that any evening Mass on the eve of a feast day -- Sundays included -- counts as fulfilling the obligation of attending Mass on the feast day proper. Thus, a vigil Mass, even if it uses different readings, fulfills the obligation of Mass on the day of which it was a vigil.
Last edited on Sun May 20th, 2007 08:25 pm by japhy
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[Mary said,] "Do whatever he tells you." - John 2:5
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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sun May 20th, 2007 09:28 pm |
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japhy wrote: cajunrick wrote: 7. The laws are unclear about receiving communion at a Saturday evening vigil mass and again at two Sunday masses. At this point, I assume that the Saturday evening mass would count as a Sunday mass. Therefore, a person could receive communion at a Saturday morning funeral, a Saturday afternoon wedding, and a Saturday evening vigil mass because the vigil mass would count as a Sunday mass. However, it would not be permitted to attend a Saturday daily mass, a funeral, and a wedding all in one day and receive communion each time.
I recently had to answer this question for a new Catholic (one of our RCIA people). I'm unsure about #7 on your list, only because Canon 919 says "A person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the eucharistic celebration in which the person participates", and Canon 202 defines a day as "a period consisting of 24 continuous hours [that] begins at midnight", so Saturday is one day, and Sunday is another day; in other words, Saturday evening Mass, while fulfilling your Sunday obligation to attend Mass, occurs on a different day. However, receiving Communion a third time on a Saturday (the third time being at a vigil Mass) would still be against Canon Law, as far as I can understand it. Attending the Mass, though, fulfills the obligation.
The obligation is not in question. As I said in my post, I do not believe it would be permitted to receive communion at three different masses on a Saturday, even if they all used different liturgies and one was a Sunday liturgy.
8. "Sunday" mass is determined by the liturgy in use for the day. A Saturday evening mass is a "Sunday" mass if the liturgy is of the Sunday. This is true even if a separate "Vigil" liturgy is used. For example, this coming Saturday evening, the liturgy is of the Vigil of Pentecost. It would still count as a mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost. (I am not absolutely certain of this; I will seek clarification. Meanwhile, ask your priest.)
I'm under the impression from Canon 1248 §1 ("A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.") that any evening Mass on the eve of a feast day -- Sundays included -- counts as fulfilling the obligation of attending Mass on the feast day proper. Thus, a vigil Mass, even if it uses different readings, fulfills the obligation of Mass on the day of which it was a vigil.
Again, fulfilling the obligation is not the question. Clearly the vigil mass fulfills the Sunday obligation, while a Saturday wedding or funeral (even if held in the evening) does not. I do not believe it is acceptable to receive the Eucharist three times during "Sunday" mass even if one of those masses is a Sunday liturgy held on Saturday evening.
My interpretation (which admittedly may be flawed) is that one can receive the Eucharist at two "Sunday" masses (including the vigil) and at two masses held within a calendar day (midnight to midnight). In other words, if one attends a Saturday morning wedding and a Saturday afternoon funeral and receives the Eucharist at both, he may not also receive the Eucharist at a Sunday vigil mass held on Saturday evening. If a person receives communion at a Sunday vigil mass held on Saturday evening, he may receive communion again at a single Sunday mass using the Sunday liturgy.
If a Holy Day falls on a Monday, one may receive communion at the Saturday vigil mass and two times in the calendar day of Sunday if the second Sunday mass is a vigil mass for the Holy Day. The obligation to attend mass may be fulfilled by attending a mass with the Sunday liturgy (either on Saturday evening or Sunday) and a mass with the Holy Day liturgy (either on Sunday evening or Monday).
So if my interpretation is correct (and I admit it may not be, as Canon law is a bit ambiguous in this particular, extremely rare circumstance), it would not be permitted for a lay person to receive Eucharist five times on a Saturday and Sunday even if the masses involved different liturgies, without seeking specific permission from the bishop or (if delegated the authority) the priest.
The only exception seems to be if the lay person receiving communion for the fifth time (or the third time in one calendar day) is receiving the Eucharist in the form of viaticum when he is near death.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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Ali
Member
| Joined: | Sat Jan 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 660 |
| First Name: | Ali | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | JW, finally fully Catholic |
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Posted: Mon May 21st, 2007 08:58 am |
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Rick, Thank you for your clarification in this post. I appriciate the time it must have taken you to research this topic and type it out for us. I also appriciate your humble attitude in admitting you may have made a mistake.
Thanks,
Ali
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Tina in Ashburn
Member
| Joined: | Mon May 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Ashburn, Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 272 |
| First Name: | Tina | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Cradle Roman Catholic, Ukranian Catholic, presently practicing as Roman Latin ... |
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Posted: Tue May 22nd, 2007 12:01 pm |
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Rick this is very useful. I typically attend two Masses on Sunday, early in the morning with my husband and a second one when I sing for Sunday Mass [I'm in a parish choir].
Singing at Mass makes it hard to focus on prayer so I find that attending a quiet Mass beforehand and being able to make a proper recollection after Communion is really beneficial.
I'll reiterate Ali's gratitude for the time this must've taken. Your attention to detail is very refreshing in all your comments on this site.
[when DO you sleep??]
Tina
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Tina
Arlington Diocese
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue May 22nd, 2007 12:19 pm |
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Tina in Ashburn wrote: [when DO you sleep??]
Being unemployed, sleep has not been a problem. Eating, paying bills, etc., are turning into serious problems, but finding time to sleep has been no problem at all.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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