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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 4981 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sat Feb 16th, 2008 08:15 pm |
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The feast of All Saints' Day, November 1, falls on a Saturday in 2008. For this reason, it is not a holyday of obligation in the United States.
All Souls Day, November 2, falls on a Sunday. There are three masses proscribed in the Liturgy for All Souls' Day, but no vigil mass.
All Saints' Day is a higher ranking feast than All Souls' Day, even though All Souls Day falls on a Sunday.
So the conundrum is: What mass will be celebrated at the Saturday evening vigil mass on November 1, 2008?
Ordinarily, obviously, the Saturday vigil mass uses the Sunday liturgy, or a special liturgy for the vigil (Christmas, Easter, etc.). However, in this case, the normal ranking of feasts would have the All Saints' Day liturgy as the ranking feast on November 1. Ordinarily, a mass which does not use the Sunday liturgy, such as a wedding or funeral, does not fulfill the obligation to attend mass.
So the options are to have an inappropriate All Souls' Day vigil mass; to have an All Saints' Day mass which fulfills the Sunday obligation; or to make the Saturday vigil mass not satisfy the Sunday obligation.
An astute priest, anticipating the problem, has written to Zenit for a clarification. It appears below.
The priest asked: "In 2008, All Saints' Day is a Saturday. In the United States, it is not a holy day of obligation that year. All Souls' is Sunday. The All Souls' commemoration replaces the regular Sunday Mass. What Mass is then celebrated on Saturday evening, November 1, 2008, the vigil Mass for Sunday? There is no vigil Mass for All Souls."
While All Saints' may not be a holy day of obligation, it is still a solemnity listed in the general calendar. It thus has precedence over the commemoration of the Faithful Departed, which is a celebration in a class of its own.
The Liturgy of the Hours is taken from All Saints', although where the custom exists of celebrating public vespers for the dead after the vespers of All Saints', this custom may be maintained. Likewise, when Nov. 2 falls on a Sunday, the Liturgy of the Hours is that of the current Sunday although it may be substituted by the office for the dead in public recitation.
If we may be guided by the indications offered in Rome's liturgical calendar, then all Masses offered on Nov. 1 would be those of All Saints'.
The usual indication of the Saturday evening Mass is missing, and the celebration of the commemoration of the Faithful Departed is celebrated only on Sunday, Nov. 2.
The calendar also suggests that even though this commemoration falls on a Sunday, in virtue of its unique character, the Glory and Creed are omitted.
Since All Saints' is not a day of obligation, and has all the characteristics of a Sunday, I believe that a diocese could decide that those who attend evening Mass on Saturday, Nov. 1, have fulfilled their Sunday obligation even though the Mass formulas are those of All Saints'.
The above article is reposted with permission from Zenit.
So it appears, barring an announcement from the Vatican, that it will be left to individual diocesan bishops to determine whether there will be a vigil mass on November 1, 2008; what liturgy will be used; and whether it will fulfill the Sunday mass obligation.
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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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