How Often May a Priest Offer Mass on the Same Day?
Generally speaking, a priest is permitted only to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass once a day.[i] There are of course exceptions for pastoral necessity, and there are also two other notable exceptions connected with the liturgical year:
“During the First World War, Pope Benedict XV on August 10, 1915, allowed all priests everywhere to say three Masses on All Souls’ Day. The two extra Masses were in no way to benefit the priest himself: one was to be offered for all the faithful departed, the other for the Pope’s intentions, which at that time were presumed to be for all the victims of that war. The permission remains.
“On Christmas Day, priests may offer the three distinct Masses: Midnight Mass, the Mass at Dawn, and the Mass during the Day.”
1917 Code of Canon Law
Yet in practice we know that priests often say Mass more than once a day on Sundays throughout the year while using the same Mass Propers. This was permitted in the 1917 Code of Canon Law in Canon 806 in cases of pastoral necessity:
Ҥ 1. Except on the day of the Nativity of the Lord and the day of commemoration of all the faithful departed, for which there is the faculty of offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice three times, it is not licit that priests celebrate Mass several times a day except by apostolic indult or power granted by the local Ordinary (emphasis added).
“§ 2. The Ordinary is not to grant this faculty except when, in his own prudent judgment, because of a shortage of priests a notable part of the faithful will be without Mass on a day of precept; it is not within his power to permit the same priest to say more than two Masses.”
In the 1917 Code, which reflected the Catholic liturgical tradition of hundreds of years, it was normative for a priest to only offer one daily Mass. A practical reason was to preclude abuse with regard to Mass stipends. Yet a more important reason stemming from faith was so that the priest would not fall into the poor habit of ‘simply going through the motions.’ Note that a priest could only receive an exception if (1) it was a holy day of obligation and the faithful were obliged to go to Mass, such as every Sunday; (2) there was a shortage of priests; and (3) the priest was granted this permission. Note as well that even when these strongly limiting conditions were mere, it was not within the bishop’s power to permit a priest to say more than two Masses.
Post-Vatican II Code of Canon Law
The 1983 Code of Canon Law in Canon 905 mentions the following:
“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. 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.”
These changes are significant. First and most obviously, a priest is allowed to offer two Masses on any day and even three on days of precept. The conditions are also vague allowing for a wide latitude of interpretation. Like the traditional code, it allows for the reason of shortage of priests, but in addition it adds “or if pastoral necessity requires it.” This clause is so open-ended that just about anything can be deemed as pastorally necessary. This ambiguity and wide possibility of interpretation is characteristic of the new Code and can be highly problematic. Such loose laws easily become, in actual practice, no law at all.
With ‘proper permission,’ a priest may celebrate Mass much more often according to the new Code. In any event, a priest must maintain the reverence and piety befitting the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in all Masses. Sadly, this very important requirement is rarely sufficiently addressed. And Canon 951.1 adds that a priest may not collect more than one stipend per day even if he says multiple Masses. Hence, he may not offer more Masses simply to add to his income. If more than one stipend is provided on a given day, the priest is supposed to donate those, e.g. to authentic and Catholic efforts which further the corporal and/or spiritual works of mercy.
Priests should be familiar with the rules for celebrating Mass more than once the same day. For those interested, this is covered in detail in The Celebration of Mass – A Study of the Rubrics of the Roman Missal by Rev. O’Connell, on pages 371 – 373.
How Many Times a Year Must a Priest Offer Mass?
While a priest should daily offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the salvation of souls there is no requirement for a priest to do so. A priest is bound to pray daily the Canonical Hours in the Breviary (or some portion of them) but a priest is not actually required to daily offer the Holy Sacrifice.
Taken from the 1938 book, Moral and Pastoral Theology: The sacraments in general, baptism, confirmation, Holy Eucharist, penance, indulgences, censures by Henry Davis, we read:
“All priests are bound to celebrate Mass several times (three or four times at least and on any days) each year. There is no clear reason for assigning any particular days. This obligation is a grave one, and probably based on divine precept. It is, of course, highly becoming that every priest should, if possible, celebrate daily, and this is the more important if the faithful wish to receive Holy Communion…”
Father John Laux, in Mass and the Sacraments, adds:
“Priests who are not pastors are bound to say Mass several times a year. If they do not say Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, they are obliged to assist at Mass just like the faithful.”
Even the 1983 Code does not mandate the daily celebration of the Mass by priests but instead states in Canon 904:
“Remembering always that in the mystery of the eucharistic Sacrifice the work of redemption is continually being carried out, priests are to celebrate frequently. Indeed, daily celebration is earnestly recommended, because, even if it should not be possible to have the faithful present, it is an action of Christ and of the Church in which priests fulfil their principal role.”
The Mass Is Essential to the Priesthood
When did Our Lord institute Holy Orders? The Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X explains:
“Jesus Christ instituted the Sacerdotal Order at the Last Supper when He conferred on the Apostles and their successors the power of consecrating the Blessed Eucharist. Then on the day of His resurrection He conferred on them the power of remitting and retaining sin, thus constituting them the first Priests of the New Law in all the fullness of their power.”
At the Last Supper, Our Savior’s words, “Take and eat, this is My body… take and drink this is My blood” (Matthew 26:26-28) truly transformed the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. In yet another act of humility, Christ gave Himself to us through this Sacrament – the Holy Eucharist. The apostles alone were given this power which they have passed down through apostolic succession.
Our priests today have this same power to stand at the altar on account of their ordination. Our same priests have the power to forgive sins (cf. John 20:21-23) and baptize (cf. Matthew 28:19) as well as to bless and preach by virtue of this unbroken chain back to the Last Supper. A priest is necessary for our salvation and even a priest needs a priest for his own salvation since priests also must go to Confession. Without the priesthood, our religion would essentially end.
Yet we must not despair of such a future day. Continuing on, The Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X assures us that despite all the threats that will assail the priesthood, the sad day when the priesthood is abolished will never occur:
“In spite of the war that hell wages against it, the Catholic Priesthood will last until the end of time, because Jesus Christ has promised that the powers of hell shall never prevail against His Church.”
O Lord, grant us many holy priests and religious vocations!
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ENDNOTES:
[i] “Bination” is the term referring to the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass twice in a day, whereas “trination” refers to saying three Masses in a single day.