Summorum Pontificum - A Debate II - Article 5.2

Introduction

After reviewing Summorum Pontificum in part 1, the only issue with Summorum Pontificum that I wanted to explore further was article 5.2:

Art. 5. § 2 Celebration in accordance with the Missal of Bl. John XXIII may take place on working days; while on Sundays and feast days one such celebration may also be held.

Since this appears to be a restriction, I wanted to know how this fit into the law of the Church and why there is an apparent contravening of this law by the FSSP and Canons of St. John Cantius. In other words is this really a restriction on the priest or is it something else within the juridical structure of the Church.

Canon Law

First turning to Canon Law we find the following canons:

Can.  905

§1. A priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except in cases where the law permits him to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day.

§2. If there is a shortage of priests, the local ordinary can allow priests to celebrate twice a day for a just cause, or if pastoral necessity requires it, even three times on Sundays and holy days of obligation. source

So the rule of the Church is one Mass per priest per day.  Exceptions are allowed at the discretion of the Ordinary.

What is unclear is if a local Ordinary can allow more Tridentine Masses to be said in a particular parish at the request of the faithful.

Clarification of Article 5.2

I have made an inquiry about the interpretation of Article 5.2 of Summorum Pontificum, given that we have the FSSP and Canons of St. John Cantius offering more than one Tridentine Mass on a Sunday.

My inquiry:

Dear Latin Mass Society,
I am trying to understand article 5.2 of Summorum Pontificum.
While it appears to restrict the use of the 1962  on a Sunday to only one Mass, I notice that the F.S.S.P. Have multiple Masses on a Sunday using the 1962 Missal.
Can you point out what I am missing and whether or not this article truly limits the use of the 1962 Missal to only once per Sunday.
Many thanks!

 The Latin Mass Society (LMS) response to my query has just been posted on their website. Dr. Shaw has also posted the response on his blog.

Below is an extract from the article that direct addresses the question of article 5.2

What of SP Article 2.5[sic]?
Does this place a restriction on the number of Extraordinary Form Masses which can be said on Sundays? The Vatican Information Service translation, on the EWTN website, gives this:

"Celebration in accordance with the Missal of Bl. John XXIII may take place on working days; while on Sundays and feast days one such celebration may also be held." 

At first glance this appears to place a limit on the frequency of EF Masses which does not exist for OF Masses. But this is not, in fact, accurate. Following the advice of the Latin Mass Society’s National Chaplain and Canonical Advisor, Mgr Gordon Read, we should observe the following.

First, the Latin is: Celebratio secundum Missale B. Ioannis XXIII locum habere potest diebus ferialibus; dominicis autem et festis una etiam celebratio huiusmodi fieri potest.
'Etiam' means 'even'.  The MP does not use the word 'tantum' or 'tantummodo' which would clearly limit it to once only. The point being made here is that the EF can be celebrated on Sunday as well as on weekdays. 

Canon 18 states that “Laws which prescribe a penalty, or restrict the free exercise of rights, or contain an exception to the law, are to be interpreted strictly” simply reproducing the text of canon 19 of the 1917 Code.  This is derived from the basic canonical principle contained in the Regulae Juris of Pope Boniface VIII, “Odia restringi et favores convent ampliari”, R. J. 15.  ‘Strictly’ means in a restrictive way whereas article 2.5 is granting a favour and so should be interpreted in a wide or generous way. 

Second, the context is the provision of the Traditional Mass in response to a request from a group of Faithful (5.1). In the (admittedly unlikely) case that a single Mass on a Sunday is not sufficient to make provision for this group, then it would follow that a second Mass would be not only permissible but necessary. 

Third, this context also separates this clause from the situation of a traditional ‘personal parish’ or chaplaincy set up by a bishop, which is dealt with under Article 10. There is no reason to apply 5.2 to that situation. Source

This last paragraph resolves the apparent contradiction between the the isolated literal interpretation of article 5.2 and the  fact of the FSSP having multiple Tridentine Masses on a Sunday.

The full context of article 5 is a Novus Ordo parish where there the 1962 liturgy is not in use and where a 'group' of faithful have taken the initiative and requested the parish priest to provide the 1962 liturgy regularly.

This not a situation where a priest has decided to use the 1962 Missal of his own initiative, nor the case of the PCED communities (FSSP et al) as they exclusively offer the Tridentine Mass. Neither does it necessarily apply to the situation of the Canons of St. John Cantius (CSJC), as they were formed as a public diocesan association under the 1984 indult. 

Comparison with the SSPX Pre-Condition

The pre-condition as releasedby the SSPX in official communications in January of 2001 was:

'that the Tridentine Mass be granted to all priests of the entire world'

Which is consistent with the statement made by Father de Cacqueray in 2006 (source), and Bishop Fellay again in 2005, 2006.  Even though Bishop Fellay stated in the interview with Fr. Lorans:

We are not asking for half measures, we are asking for complete freedom of the Mass with no condition. And why do we ask for the Mass since we already have it? We are not asking for us but for the others. The Mass is the heart of the Church, just as the heart sends life through the body, the Mass sends graces through the Mystical Body. A Mass, which is fruitful, revitalizes the Church. The New Mass is like a heart after an attack, a failing heart. To reintroduce the Mass is first of all a juridical act. It has been said that this Mass had been forbidden, this is not true, it is an injustice. And Rome acknowledges that this Mass has never been abrogated. This means that the traditional Mass is a law still enforced in the Church. And they forbid the application of this law. This is a juridical monstrosity. (…)

At this point, the Tridentine Mass can be said by any Latin Rite priest in the World, as demonstrated earlier, not withstanding article 5.2 which provides a minimum requirement for the faithful requesting it of their pastor. This minimum is in accord with the statutes of Canon Law and as noted can be increased to a maximum of three with the approval of the local ordinary.

Conclusion

According to Canon Law, a priest has to have permission to say more than one Mass on a particular day, with Sunday being the most obvious day upon which this permission will be sought.

Article 5.2 does not impose a limitation on the number of Sunday Tridentine Masses said by "Communities of Institutes of consecrated life and of Societies of apostolic life, of either pontifical or diocesan right" such as the FSSP, CSJC,

Article 5.2 does not prevent a priest from switching to the Tridentine Mass, as it is focused on the situation where there is no Tridentine Mass available for a group (singular).  In other words it is not limiting the priest to say only one Tridentine Mass, it is forcing him to say at least one Mass for the 'stable group' that requests it. If required, additional Tridentine Masses could be said following the norms of Canon Law.

From this, it is simple to conclude that the SSPX pre-condition was met.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the personnel at the Latin Mass Society for providing the benefit of their knowledge and experience with the implementation of Summorum Pontificum in clarifying Article 5.2.

Appendix A

source


QUATTUOR ABHINC ANNOS
Indult for Use of Roman Missal of 1962
Congregation for Divine Worship
The following is the text of a Circular Letter sent on 3 October 1984 by the Congregation for Divine Worship to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences.
Most Rev. Excellency:

Four years ago, by order of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, the bishops of the whole Church were invited to present a report:

—concerning the way in. which the priests and faithful of their dioceses had received the Missal promulgated in 1970 by authority of Pope Paul VI in accordance with the decisions of the Second Vatican Council

—concerning the difficulties arising in the implementation of the liturgical reform;

—concerning possible resistance that may have arisen.

The result of the consultation was sent to all the bishops (cf. Notitiae, n. 185 December 1981). On the basis of their replies it appeared that the problem of priests and faithful holding to the so-called "Tridentine" rite was almost completely solved.

Since, however, the same problem continues, the Supreme Pontiff, in a desire to meet the wishes of these groups grants to diocesan bishops the possibility of using an indult whereby priests and faithful, who shall be expressly indicated in the letter of request to be presented to their own bishop, may be able to celebrate Mass by using the Roman Missal according to the 1962 edition, but under the following conditions:

a) That it be made publicly clear beyond all ambiguity that such priests and their respective faithful in no way share the positions of those who call in question the legitimacy and doctrinal exactitude of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

b) Such celebration must be made only for the benefit of those groups that request it; in churches and oratories indicated by the bishop (not, however, in parish churches, unless the bishop permits it in extraordinary cases); and on the days and under the conditions fixed by the bishop either habitually or in individual cases.

c) These celebrations must be according to the 1962 Missal and in Latin.

d) There must be no interchanging of texts and rites of the two Missals.

e) Each bishop must inform this Congregation of the concessions granted by him, and at the end of a year from the granting of this indult, he must report on the result of its application.

This concession, indicative of the common Father's solicitude for all his children, must be used in such a way as not to prejudice the faithful observance of the liturgical reform in the life of the respective ecclesial communities.

I am pleased to avail myself of this occasion to express to Your Excellency my sentiments of deep esteem.

Yours devotedly in the Lord

Augustin Mayer, Pro-Prefect
Virgilio Noe Secretary

Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
22 October 1984, page
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