Votive Mass

History#

The principle of the votive Mass is older than its name. Almost at the very origin of the Western liturgies (with their principle of change according to the Calendar) Mass was occasionally offered, apparently with special prayers and lessons, for some particular intention, irrespective of the normal Office of the day. Among the miracles quoted by Augustine of Hippo in his seminal “”, XXII, 8, is the story of one Hesperius cured of an evil spirit by a private Mass said in his house with special prayers for him—essentially, a votive Mass for his cure. The first sacramentaries contain many examples of what would now be called votive Masses. So the Leonine book has Masses "" (ed. Feltoe, pp. 123–26), "" (ed. Feltoe, 142), "" (ed. Feltoe, 27), and so on throughout. Indeed, the Masses for ordination and for the dead, which occur in this book and throughout the Roman Rite and Gallican Rite, are examples of votive Masses for all kinds of occasions, for ordinations (ed. Wilson, pp. 22–30, etc.), for those about to be baptized (ed. Wilson 34), anniversaries of ordinations (153–54), nuns (156), for the sick (282), for marriages (265), kings (276), travellers (283), the dead (301 sq.), and a large collection of Masses of general character to be said on any Sunday (224–44). In this book the name first occurs, "" (p. 367; Rheinau and S. Gallen MSS.). The Gregorian Sacramentary, too, has a large collection of such Masses and the name "" (e.g., , LXXVIII, 256). Throughout the Middle Ages the votive Mass was a regular institution. The principle came to be that, whereas one official (capitular) high Mass was said corresponding to the Office, a priest who said a private Mass for a special intention said a votive Mass corresponding to his intention. The great number of forms provided in medieval Missals furnished one for any possible intention. Indeed, it seems that at one time a priest normally said a votive Mass whenever he celebrated. John Beleth in the thirteenth century describes a series of votive Masses once said () each day in the week: on Sunday, of the Holy Trinity; Monday, for charity; Tuesday, for wisdom; Wednesday, of the Holy Ghost; Thursday, of the Angels; Friday, of the Cross; Saturday, of the Blessed Virgin (Explic. div. offic., 51). This completely ignores the ecclesiastical year. But there was a general sentiment that, at least on the chief feasts, even private Masses should conform to the Office of the day. The Feast of the Holy Trinity began as a votive Mass to be said on any Sunday after Pentecost, when there was no feast.

Suffrage Mass#

The Suffrage Mass is a particular type of Votive Mass in which one or more Catholic baptized believers ask the celebrating priest to offer a Mass to God in favour of the salvation of one or more souls temporarily living in Purgatory. While the Holy Mass is always only offered to God, it can also be dedicated to one or more Catholic saint in order to ask their intercessory prayer to God. The Council of Trent stated the belief in the intercession of saints as a canon every Catholic is obliged to believe. For the Catholic doctrine, any saint may pray God to intercede with his divine grace in favour of any living human soul, but within a hierarchical order of intercessory power: first Jesus Christ, by way of Mass (worship), secondly the Blessed Virgin Mary (hyperdulia), the other saints, and lastly, the hierarchy of angels. The pious practice of the Suffrage Mass is also founded on the belief in the existence of Purgatory. For the Catholic faith, at the time of death there is a separation of the soul form the earthly body. The soul endures the particular judgment of God Who is Omniscient and therefore cannot fail in His judgement. The judgement is based on the balance of personal sins to merits toward salvation acquired during the earthly life of the individual soul. The soul cannot do anything to improve its afterlife condition after death. There are three possible judgements of God on destination for the soul upon death of the body: Paradise, Purgatory and Hell. Only souls who die in sanctity, which is to say with no stain of personal or original sin, are admitted to Paradise immediately after their particular judgements. Otherwise, if they have died with unrepented venial but not mortal sin on their soul which thus still needs purification, the soul must first enter Purgatory before entering Paradise to ensure nothing impure with sin comes into God’s presence. (Accumulated) unrepented and therefore unshriven (unforgiven) sin that is not just venial but mortal, for which no expiation is possible to be made (due to the body’s death,) leads to Hell, the tormented condition of being in which at minimum there is eternal separation from God with no possibility of becoming close. ("" “Abandon All Hope, Soul” are traditionally the four words that mark the entrance gate to Hell.) The soul is believed to stay in Purgatory for a finite period of time in order to repair its sins and have them forgiven by God. The expiation must satisfy God’s infinite justice before the soul can be admitted to Paradise. The number of months or years in Purgatory is believed to be proportional to the gravity of the sins committed during the earthly journey. The Suffrage Mass is believed to have the power to shorten the expiation sentence if God in infinite justice deigns to exercise mercy and grant the grace of a lesser penalty to the soul for whom the Mass is offered by surviving relatives and other benefactors. The prayer of saints to God can also contribute to reach the same conclusion. When the expiation sentence has satisfied God’s justice, St Michael the Archangel is believed to be deployed to Purgatory to liberate these expiated souls and bring them to Paradise. Paradise is dedicated to the vision of the truth and contemplation of the Face of God, which is the highest and last purpose of the human soul. In Paradise a hierarchy of angels and souls pray to and worship God, and live forever in the communion while waiting for the expiating souls remaining in Purgatory to be definitely saved and be rewarded with resurrected flesh in the General Judgement at the end of (earthly) time.

Rulings#

Ordinary Form The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) allows for the celebration of votive masses on certain days. The GIRM states that these days are weekdays of Ordinary Time, including days on which there is an optional memorial. However, the GIRM allows for votive masses to be celebrated on weekdays of Advent (up to and including 16 December, but not after), weekdays within Eastertide (excluding the octave), weekdays of Christmas before 2 January, or on obligatory memorials in cases in which the celebrant considers it to be of pastoral benefit to the people. Votive Masses are also allowed on Sundays of Ordinary Time with the permission or direction of the Diocesan Bishop or Ordinary. of Mary (such as Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and the Immaculate Conception), of any given Saint, of an Apostle, of the Holy Angels, or of all saints. Importantly, votive Masses cannot be about events in the life of Jesus or Mary (with the exception of the Immaculate Conception), as those form an integral part of the Church’s liturgical year. Extraordinary Form (Tridentine Form) The idea of allowing votive Masses to be said only when no special feast occurs finally produced the rules contained in later missals (1570). According to these, there is a distinction between votive Masses strictly so called and votive Masses in a wider sense. The first are those commanded to be said on certain days; the second kind, those a priest may say or not, at his discretion.

See also#

• Communion of saints
• Gregorian Masses
• Privileged altar