Bination

BINATION. - It is the celebration of two Masses on the same day by the same priest.

I. HISTORICAL NOTES

In instituting the Holy Sacrifice, Jesus did not establish the number of Masses that a priest may celebrate each day; that determination remained entrusted to ecclesiastical authority, which, in this regard, did not intervene with a true and proper universal law until quite late. Previously, as can be gathered from certain provincial councils and from allusions by the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, the practice of saying several Masses a day by the same priest had gradually become quite widespread (cf., for example, St. Leo the Great, Epist. 9, 2: PL 54, 626). Its origin was attributed by most to Rome, derived from the necessity, on certain more solemn feasts (Christmas, Holy Thursday, Easter, Pentecost, St. John the Baptist), when the basilica was not large enough to hold all the faithful together, or a single priest had charge of two churches. Now, what at first was done only on certain days began to be repeated more frequently. These were solemn or sung Masses; but this gave occasion for bination also in the case of private or read Masses, when, beginning in the 6th century, these became ever more frequent. Little by little, to the motive of necessity was added that of devotion, and also (when stipends were fixed) that of interest. Hence inevitable abuses, which ended by provoking the official intervention of the Church. Nevertheless there were already some who sought to remedy the evil by word and example, asserting that just as Jesus Christ suffered for us only once, and thereby saved us all, so it was enough for each priest to celebrate only once a day. Others, on the other hand, from the fact that several Masses a day were said, even if by distinct celebrants, deduced that the same priest too could celebrate several times, thinking that the more often the passion of Jesus is commemorated, the more readily God is inclined to mercy. Walafrid Strabo, reporting these different customs, cites on the one hand the example of St. Boniface, who celebrated only once, and on the other that of Leo III, who is said to have celebrated sometimes as many as seven or nine times in the same day (cf. Walafrid Strabo, De rebus ecclesiasticis, I, ch. 21: PL. 114, 945).

The official intervention of the Church began first with lower ecclesiastical authorities, but to differing degrees. While reforming bishops of the 10th century, such as Dunstan of Canterbury and Oswald of York, did not permit three Masses a day (P. Batiffol, Leçons sur la Messe, 7th ed., Paris 1920, p. 58), just as the canons published under Edward, king of England (d. 1975; cf. Mansi, XVIII, 516) and canon 5 of the Council of Seligenstadt of 1022 (ibid., XIV, 397), the Council of London of 1200 and that of Lambeth of 1206 did not permit bination except rarely and for an urgent necessity: Christmas, Easter, or for a funeral or a marriage or to supply for an absent parish priest (L. Thomassin, op. cit., III, l. 1, chaps. 72 and 73). In this span of time the Popes too begin to react: Alexander II (d. 1073) declares that it is sufficient for the priest to celebrate only once a day, while not disapproving a second Mass, if necessary, especially ex devotione pro defunctis (Grat., Dist. I, De consecrat., chap. 3); Innocent III in 1212 (Decr., I, III, tit. 41, chap. 3); and Honorius III (ibid., chap. 12) establish the principle of only one Mass a day, recognizing the exception of three Masses for Christmas and of an urgent necessity. Nevertheless in the churches of Aragon the custom of celebrating three Masses even on the day of the dead remained, Benedict XIV expressly granted it to all Latin priests subject to the crown of Spain and of Portugal (1748, P. Gasparri, CIC fontes, II, n. 391, p. 169), a privilege that was maintained in South America, even after the disappearance of the Spanish and Portuguese regimes; and which Leo XIII confirmed (1897; ibid., III, n. 633, p. 512). And finally Benedict XV extended it to the whole Latin Church (10 Aug. 1915; ibid., III, n. 706, p. 852).

II. THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CIC

The current ecclesiastical legislation of the Latin Church is regulated by can. 806, according to these principles: 1) Save for an apostolic indult or the authorization of the local Ordinary, each priest may celebrate only one Mass a day; an exception is however admitted for Christmas and All Souls' Day, on which three may be celebrated (§ 1); also by those priests who by privilege say only the Mass of the Madonna or of the dead (Sacred Congregation of Rites, 26 Jan. 1920). 2) The Ordinaries of dioceses may permit bination only on days of precept, when in their prudence they judge that because of the absence or scarcity of priests a notable part of the faithful would be unable to assist at Mass (§ 2). "Scarcity of priests" exists when in the place there is no one who can or will celebrate at the hour fixed for the convenience of the faithful; a "notable part" is reckoned at the figure of 20-30 faithful (or even fewer, when it is a question of prisoners or of cloistered nuns, who otherwise could not avail themselves of Mass); as "feasts of precept" are to be understood those in force, and not the "suppressed" ones, except in the case of a hundred-year or ab immemorabili custom. 3) Bination may be granted by the Ordinary either in a parish church, distant from the other by at least a quarter of an hour's walk, or in a public oratory, situated about 1.5 km. from the church; or in a semi-public oratory, even if close to the church, in favor of cloistered nuns or of important groups or communities that have their own oratory and cannot easily move to the church; but not in favor of a private oratory. 4) Permission to binate cannot be presumed except in a case of extreme necessity and when it is not possible to have recourse to the Ordinary. 5) The indult of the Holy See is necessary for bination on days that are not of precept and for trination (v.). 6) It is admitted that a priest may binate, without need of a special license, when it is a question of completing the Holy Sacrifice, begun by another and accidentally interrupted, or of procuring Viaticum for a dying person. 7) The priest who binates, if he is not otherwise dispensed, must keep himself fasting for the second Mass; therefore at the first he is not to take the ablutions. 8) One who binates may not take two stipends for himself; but if the second Mass has a stipend, this must be applied to the work indicated in the indult; he may however accept for himself an indemnity or remuneration for something that is "extrinsic" to the Mass (singing, late hour, travel). 9) The priest who has presumed to celebrate two Masses on the same day, in violation of can. 806, exposes himself to being suspended by the Ordinary from celebration for a determined time (can. 2229, § 2).

Celestino Testore