Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/870

 REQUIEM

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REQUIEM

diminished by the mourning inherent in the Com- memoration of the Dead. There is the further in- tention to facilitate the ofTerinR of all Masses, even low Ma.-ises, on All .Souls' Day for the rei)ose of the departed. For the same re;vson the Church pre- scribes (S. C. R., deer. 3S64) that, if in any locality a feast of the Second Class should occur on All Souls' Day, it shall be transferred to the following day, in order that the Commemoration of All the Dead may be celebrated. The rite of this commemoration, therefore, is inferior to that of the Funeral Mass, since the commemoration may not be celebrated either on a feast day or on a double of the First Class; wherefore, it may be called a Double of the Second Class.

VIII. Mass Post AccEPTU.v ^foRTls NufrciuM. — The solemn Mass of Requiem which may be ofTered, as soon as news of the death is received, for a person who has died in a distant place, comes in third place. It is the same Mass that is said in die dcposilionis, but has not the same privileges, since it may not be celebrated (a) on any holy daj-, (b) on feasts of the First and Second Class, or (c) on those ferials and octaves upon which Doubles of the First and of the Second Class are forbidden. These are (a) Ash Wednesday and the ferials of Holy Week; (b) the vigils of Christmas and of Pentecost; (c) the days during the octaves of the Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost; (d) the octave day of Corpus Chrifti. AH of this has recently been established bv the Church (S. C. R., deer. 2S .ipr., 1902) to facilitate the suf- frages for the dead; but as the exequial Mass has already been offered for the deceased at the place of his death, the Mass post acceptum has not received all the privileges of the former. It should be re- membered, however, that this Mass may be offered on a feast of the Greater or Lesser Double Rite, when offered immediately post acceptum nuncium; other- WTse, the Mass loses all privileges, and a day of the Semi-Double Rite must be awaited (S. C. R., deer. 2461, ad 6). For this reason it maj- be said that the exequial Mass post acceptum nuncium is of the Greater Double Rite, since Doubles of the Second Class take precedence over it.

IX. M.^SSES OF THE ThIRD, SEVENTH, THIR- TEENTH, ANT) .A.NN-ivER.s.\RY D.\YS. — The Requiem Mass of each of these days is privileged, because, ac- cording to ancient tradition accepted in canon law (Cap. Quia alii, 13, q. 2; Xullus Presbyter, dist. 44), the dead were always commemorated in a special manner on those days. With regard to the third day, as commemorative of the three days which Christ passed in the sepulclvre, and as presaging the Resurrection, there is special prescription in the Apostolic Constitutions (VIII, xlii): "With respect to the dead, let the third day be celebrated in psalms, lessons, and prayers, because of Him who on the third day rose again." It appears also, in this connexion, that in ancient times there was a triduum in behalf of the deceased, according to what Evodius writes in a letter (Ep. S. Augustini, clviii) : " Exequias praebuimus satis honorabiles et dignas tantte aniraae; nam per triduum hymnis Deum coUaudavimus super sepulchrum ejus, et redemptionis Sacramenta tertia die obtulimus" (We performed the due obsequies, worthy of so great a soul, joining in hymns to the praise of God for three days at his sepulchre, and on the third day we offered the Mysteries of Redemp- tion). With regard to the seventh day, we have the testimony of St. .\mbrose (De fide resurr.), which bears witness to the ancient practice, and gives the rea.son for it: "Nunc quoniam die septimo ad se- pulchrum redimus, qui dies symbolum fratemae quietis est" (Now, since on the seventh day, which is sjTnbolical of fraternal repose, we return to the sepulchre. . .). St. Ambrose, again, speaks of the thirtieth day, and also of the fortieth day (De

ob. Theodosii, i): "Quia alii tertium diem et tri- gesimum; alii scptimimi et quadragesimum ob- servare consueveruiit, quid doceat lectio considere- mus" (.Vs some have been wont to keep the third and the thirtieth days; others the seventh and the fortieth; let us consider what the lesson teaches). The annual commemoration of a departed brother was more universal and more solemn; it resembled the feasts of the martjTS and, according to TertuUian, dates from Apostolic times (cf. Magani, "L'antica LiturgiaRomana", Milan, 1S99, III, 389).

The third, seventh, and thirtieth days may be counted from the dav of the death or from the day of the burial (S. C. R.", deer. 2482 and 3112); the day itself of the death or of the burial should not be coimted, because the language of the decree (a& obitu, a deposilioric) excludes those days, either one of them being not the first day. but the day from which the computation should begin. If, therefore, the biu-ial take place on the eleventh day of the month, the first day after it, of course, will be the twelfth day of the month; the second, the thirteenth; the third, the fourteenth. So also for the seventh and the thirtieth days. There is no rule that requires the selection of the same date, either of death or burial, in computing the day for these commemorations; wherefore, one may celebrate the third day, counting from the day of the burial, and celebrate the thirtieth day, counting from the day of the death. On the other hand, anniversaries are usually celebrated on the day of the month upon which the death occiu-red; nevertheless, the Congregation of Rites, which had prescribed this day (Decree of 21 July, 1855), now allows the anniversary to be counted from the day of the burial (Decree of 5 March, 1870), which concession is useful in case the anni\-ersary of the death should fall on a day on which this Mass could not be cele- brated; in this case the annivcrsarj' of the burial may be celebrated, without excluding, in subsequent years, a return to the celebration of the anniversary of the death, according to the ancient tradition. Ac- cording to the present liturgical laws, the high Mass of Requiem may be celebrated on the third, seventh, thirtieth, and anniversary days, even if those days occur on a greater or on a lesser double. Its celebra- tion is proliibited, however, on (a) any holy day of obligation, including Sundays; (b) all doubles of the first or second cla.ss; (c) Ash Wednesday and during Holy Week; (d) the vigils of Christmas and of Pen- tecost; (e) during the privileged octaves of Christ- mas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi; (f) the days on which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed; (g) Rogation Days, when but one Mass is celebrated in the church (cf. Decrees 3049, 3302, and 3753). \Mien, on the other hand, the third, seventh, thirtieth, and anniversary days are impeded, they may be anticipated by one day or postponed to a da}' that is not among those enumerated above, even if it be a greater or a lesser double. In case the da)' before, or the day after, is a day on which these Masses cannot be celebrated, it will be necessary to await a day of the Semi-Double Rite upon which a Requiem Mass may be celebrated, and to tise the formulary of the daily M.i,sses (cf. Deer. 3753, ad 2).

There is another kind of anniversary that is estab- li.shed by the new liturgical law, called late sumplum. It is the anniversan.' that is celebrated each year by chapters, religious communities, or confraternities, on a day that is not the anniversary of the death or of the burial of the deceased. The solemn Mass of the late sumplum anniversary may be celebrated on a day of the Lesser Double Rite, but not of the Greater Double. The solemn Mass that is celebrated on the days of the octave of .\11 Souls' Day enjoys the same privilege (cf. Deer. 3753, .ad 5). As has been said above (V.), the Requiem Mixss is of the Double Rite (that is, it has a single Prayer) whenever it corresponds