1 Celebrating Mass Alone an Introductory Note This Is Exactly

Celebrating Mass Alone An Introductory Note This is exactly NOT how the Mass should be celebrated. From its inception at the Last Supper (not taking its Old Testament background into consideration), it has always been a communal act. At present, with the Covid-19 Pandemic which has sent ripples of fear around; especially that of deadly contagion, the solemn community celebration of the Liturgy of the Roman Rite has to face a number of challenges. Touch has become taboo. Proximity is dreaded now. Distance, Isolation and total insulation has become the order of the day. Churches are closed in many places and community celebrations are a luxury. People are getting used to the liturgical anomalies and they are slowly becoming the norm. In the long run, these can lead to deformities, remedying which, would be an uphill task. From a purely Ministerial Priesthood perspective, priests are left with a serious spiritual concern. When community Mass is not possible, and when one is all by oneself, what would be the option? Celebrate Mass alone, or not celebrate at all, because Mass is essentially an act of the whole Mystical Body of Christ. An Outline of its History In the apostolic communities and thereafter, Mass was the Breaking of Bread by the community. Even after the 4th century it remained so for a long time. The first signs of isolation appeared with the transition of the language of the liturgy from Greek to Latin. The original quality of the Latin language used in the Roman Rite was more poetic and scholarly; and it required some effort to participate actively. The consequence was the gradual assimilation of liturgical roles by the clergy hitherto performed by the laity. This and many other reasons, some of which are political, lead to the gradual decadence of the Liturgy in Rome. Partially due to political reasons, Emperor Pepin and his son Charles the Great stepped in and became messiahs for the declining Roman Liturgy. For some time the Roman Liturgy was a priority of the Charlemagne empire. This resulted in many Gallican elements mixing into the Roman Rite and eventually what reappeared in Rome by the 10th century was a hybrid rite. These reasons also alienated the laity farther and by the early middle ages the celebration of the Roman Liturgy was highly clericalized. Besides, there were some other aberrations which had crept in, and those who pioneered the Reformation thrived during this time. Even before the Council of Trent the so-called Private Masses began to appear. As anyone would expect, the Reformists became quite vocal and protested against this practice. Contrary to expectation, the Council of Trent defended ‘Private Mass’. This is what chapter VI of session 22 of the Council had to say about this subject: CHAPTER VI. On Mass wherein the priest alone communicates. The sacred and holy Synod would fain indeed that, at each mass, the faithful who are present should communicate, not only in spiritual desire, but also by the sacramental participation of the Eucharist, that thereby a more abundant fruit might be derived to them from this most holy sacrifice: but not 1 therefore, if this be not always done, does It condemn, as private and unlawful, but approves of and therefore commends, those masses in which the priest alone communicates sacramentally; since those masses also ought to be considered as truly common; partly because the people communicate spiritually thereat; partly also because they are celebrated by a public minister of the Church, not for himself only, but for all the faithful, who belong to the body of Christ. By the 17th century in many European monasteries monks began to celebrate Mass by themselves. Consequently, the monasteries being quite populated places, the so-called Side Altars began to appear in them, and at each, a priest could be seen celebrating Mass by himself. However, the motives of such Masses became somewhat controversial over the years as many began to see such Private Masses as having no spiritual connection with the theology of the Mystical Body of Christ. Josef Jungmann, in his detailed scholarly work about the history of the Roman Rite defined such Masses in the following manner: “…a Mass celebrated for its own sake, with no thought of anyone participating, a Mass where only prescribed server is in attendance or even where no one is present, as was the case with Missa Solitaria” (The Mass of the Roman Rite, Westminster Christian Classics, 1986, Vol. 1, p. 215). What we infer from above is that there was only one server present, and at times even that did not happen; that it was done for the sake of mere celebrating a Mass and that it had no community sense at all. The celebrant disregarded the presence of the faithful even when they were in the vicinity, and continued to say the Mass in sub voce. No wonder that this came to be known as the Missa Solitaria or Missa Privata. To remedy this situation, by the time of the 1917 Code of Canon Law the following regulation was enforced. Canon 813 read in the following manner: “A priest is not to celebrate Mass without a server a server to assist him and make the responses” Can. 813. § 1. Sacerdos Missam ne celebret sine ministro qui eidem inserviat et respondeat. The second part of this Canon is interesting to note. It is about the role of women around the altar. Of course, this is not history, but worth noting the phases of development that we have passed. § 2. Minister Missae inserviens ne sit mulier, nisi, deficiente viro, iusta de causa, eaque lege ut mulier ex longinquorespondeat nec ullo pa cto ad altare accedat. Canon 813, § 2. “The mass server should not be a woman, unless no man can be found and there is a good reason, and then on this understanding that the woman responds from a distance and does in no way approach the altar.” Re-endorsement. “How far the liturgical task of women, to which baptism gives them a right and duty will go, still needs to be studied further; but, in the actual organization of the liturgy, women do not fulfil a ministry around the altar, that is certain. For their ministry depends on the will of the Church and the Catholic Church has not ever entrusted liturgical ministry to women. Therefore, every arbitrary innovation in this matter shall be considered a 2 grave infringement of ecclesiastical discipline and will need to be suppressed with firmness.” (Liturgical Commission, 25 January 1966). “According to the liturgical norms handed on in the Church, women, whether young girls, married women or nuns, are forbidden to serve the priest at the altar, whether in church, in a home, a convent, a college or an institute for women” (Third Instruction on the implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 62 (1970) p. 700). (Source: Codex Iuris Canonici, ed. Herder, Freiburg 1918. Translation from the Latin by John Wijngaards). Pope John XXIII removed the word private from the title due its theological discrepancy against the Mass with a community of the faithful. In 1960 he promulgated the Code of Rubrics which is a liturgical document with three parts. It was legal in nature and comprised liturgical and sacramental laws governing the celebration of the Eucharist and the Divine Office of the Roman Rite. In Number 269 the following is found: Sacrosanctum Missae Sacrificium, iuxta canones et rubricas celebratum, est actus cultus publici, nomie Christi et Ecclesiae Deo redditi. Denomination proinde “Missae private’ vitetur”. “The holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated according to the canons and rubrics, is an act of public worship, rendered to God in the name of Christ and the Church. The expression ‘Private Masses’ is therefore to be avoided”. Then there appeared the all-important Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Dogmatic Constitution of the Vatican II Council on Sacred Liturgy, which laid down the general principle which governs the celebration of the Liturgical Actions. As far as possible the Liturgy should be celebrated as an ecclesial action, and any tendency which makes it look like a private act should be always avoided. In number 27 it says: "It is to be stressed that whenever rites, according to their specific nature, make provision for communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful, this way of celebrating them is to be preferred, so far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and quasi-private. Almost simultaneously with the conclusion of the Vatican II Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Encyclical Mysterium Fidei on the Mystery of Faith, that is the Eucharist, and in No 32 said the following: “It is also only fitting for us to recall the conclusion that can be drawn from this about "the public and social nature of each and every Mass." For each and every Mass is not something private, even if a priest celebrates it privately; instead, it is an act of Christ and of the Church. In offering this sacrifice, the Church learns to offer herself as a sacrifice for all and she applies the unique and infinite redemptive power of the sacrifice of the Cross to the salvation of the whole world. For every Mass that is celebrated is being offered not just for the salvation of certain people, but also for the salvation of the whole world. The conclusion from this is that even though active participation by many faithful is of its very nature particularly fitting when Mass is celebrated, still there is no reason to criticize but rather only to approve a Mass that a priest celebrates privately for a good reason in accordance with the regulations and legitimate traditions of the Church, even when only a server to make the 3 responses is present.

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