Sunday Precept

SUNDAY PRECEPT. - By p. f. is meant the obligation to sanctify Sundays and holy days of obligation by attending Mass and abstaining from certain works.

I. ORIGIN, FOUNDATION, VALUE AND JUSTIFICATION

The precept is included in the Decalogue: "Remember the day of rest, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20, 8-11; cf. Deut. 5, 12-15).

The obligation has an individual and a social value; it concerns not only individuals and families, but also the community, all Israel as a nation (cf. Ex. 21, 12-17). Observance of the law ensures the return of Israel's political and social prosperity (Is. 58, 12 ff.), and its violation, which brings hardship, famine and misery (Jer. 17, 21-27; cf. Ex. 20, 12-32; 22, 8), is punished with the death penalty (Num. 15, 32-36). On the Sabbath day not only must rest be observed, but sacrifices must also be offered to God (Ex. 46, 4): the Hebrews gathered in the synagogues to pray and to hear the word of God (Acts 15, 21; 13, 27).

In the New Testament the ceremonial part of the Sabbath has been abrogated. Christ in fact places the emphasis on the worship of the Father in spirit and truth (Jn. 4, 23), corrects Pharisaic casuistry, affirming that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mk. 2, 27). St. Paul reproaches the Galatians, converted to Christianity, for observing, according to the Mosaic law, days, months, times and years (Gal. 4, 10) and warns the Colossians that the obligation to observe new moons and sabbaths no longer holds (Col. 2, 16). The Apostles and the first Christians, although for some time they gathered together with the Jews on the Sabbath day for the praise of God (Acts 2, 46; 3, 1; 5, 12; 21, 26), soon held their own assemblies for prayer and for the celebration of the Eucharist (Acts 2, 42), so as to introduce the custom of sanctifying the day following the Sabbath, on which Christ rose in the morning after the Sabbath. The exact date of the substitution of Sunday for the Sabbath cannot be determined. Nevertheless it is undisputed that at the time when the first letter to the Corinthians was written (56) and at the time of the composition of the Acts of the Apostles (ca. 63), Christian liturgical assemblies were held on Sunday (I Cor. 16, 2; Acts 20, 7) and that this practice was constant and universal at the end of the 1st and during the 2nd century (Apoc. 1, 10; Doctrina duodecim Apostolorum, ch. 14; Barnabae Epist., ch. 15; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Magn., ch. 9; St. Justin, Apol., I, 67; PG 6, 429; St. Dionysius of Corinth [d. 180], in the letter to the Romans reported by Eusebius of Caesarea, Hist. eccl., I, IV, ch. 23; PG 20, 390; Tertullian, Apol., ch. 16; PL 1, 371).

The sanctification of Sunday entailed assistance at Mass (cf. Council of Elvira [306], can. 21: Hefele-Leclercq, I, 233; of Sardica [343], can. 11: ibid., 7, 792; of Agde [506], can. 21, 64: ibid., II, 990, 1002; of Orléans [541], can. 3: ibid., II, 1014; of Clermont [535], can. 15: ibid., II, 1141-42; of Orléans [541], can. 3: ibid., II, 1166; Sermons of St. Caesarius of Arles, 280-81, among the works of St. Augustine: PL 39, 2274 ff., etc.) and the observance of rest (cf. Constit. Apost., 8, 33: PG 1, 579 ff.; Tertullian, Apol., ch. 16; Ad Notion. 1, 13: PL 1, 371 and 579; I, 3, C. 11, 12, de feris; Council of Mâcon [585], can. 2: Hefele-Leclercq, ibid., III, 209; of Mayence [813], can. 36: ibid., III, 1141; Meaux [845], can. 77: ibid., III, 125; of Cloveshoe II [747], can. 14: ibid., III, 908; of Aenham [1009], can. 15: Mansi, XIX, 297). Besides Sunday, various other feast days were established over the centuries in the different dioceses. Having become numerous, it was first thought to reduce abstinence from servile works, according to the classification of feasts (cf., e.g., the Council of Oxford of 1222: Mansi, XXII, 1153), until Urban VIII (const. Universa of 13 Sept. 1642) fixed the number of feast days at 36, besides Sundays. Pius X retained only 8 (motu proprio Supremi disciplinae, 2 July 1911; AAS, 3 [1911], p. 305). Today, according to can. 1274 CIC, the feast days, besides Sundays, are 10, namely: Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Assumption, Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph, Sts. Peter and Paul and All Saints. By particular dispositions this number undergoes limitations in some nations; thus, for example, besides Sundays, the feasts of precept are six in the United States of America and four in France.

From what has been said and according to the common doctrine, the obligation of the p. f. is based on natural-positive-divine right, but has its determination (the choice of Sunday in place of the Sabbath and the special manner of sanctification) from ecclesiastical law. Consequently a universal abrogation of this precept is inconceivable; particular dispensations are possible instead. The obligation of the p. f. is grave (cf. Denz-U, 1069) and concerns all the faithful who have reached the use of reason. The purpose and importance of the p. f. is inferred from the fact that by it the internal and external, individual and social worship owed to God by natural-positive-divine right is made easier (cf. Mt. 4, 10; Jn. 4, 23, 24; Sum. Theol., 2°-2°, q. 84) and man gains many physical, economic, moral, cultural and religious advantages (cf. allocution of Pius XII, 7 Sept. 1947: AAS, 39 [1947], p. 427).

II. ASSISTANCE AT MASS

To satisfy the precept of hearing Mass, the following conditions are required:

1. Devout assistance

The intention of assisting at Mass is sufficient; the intention of satisfying the festal precept is not necessary, since the obligation does not depend on one's own will. External attention is sufficient, consisting in the removal of external actions incompatible with internal attention. Thus he fulfills the precept who plays the organ, who sings prayers, who collects alms, who recites the Rosary, who reads a pious book, who goes to confession, etc. It is advisable to follow the Mass with a missal.

2. Bodily presence

Bodily presence entails moral union with the priest in such a way that, whether inside or outside the church, one can see and hear the celebrant, or at least can follow the Mass from the gestures of the participants. He does not satisfy the precept who hears Mass broadcast by radio, even though this is a good work.

3. Assistance at the entire Mass

Mass must be heard in its entirety. Note, in this regard, the difference between the dogmatic aspect and the juridical aspect of the Mass. From the juridical point of view, by Mass is meant the entire liturgical part, which runs from the beginning (from the psalm Iudico) to the blessing imparted at the end, before the Gospel of St. John. Therefore, juridically speaking, whoever omits any liturgical part whatsoever does not perfectly fulfill the festal precept. If only the moralist comes to establish the matter as grave or light. Whoever omits the essential part (Consecration and Communion) or a notable part, does not satisfy the festal precept; whoever omits, instead, a small part, sins lightly, but satisfies the precept.

By notable part is meant the stretch that runs from the beginning to the Offertory inclusive; the essential parts of the Mass (Consecration and Communion) and probably the part of the Canon that precedes the Consecration, or all that precedes the Gospel together with what follows the Communion. Whoever omits a notable part has the grave obligation to supply it in another Mass and on the same day. He does not satisfy the festal precept who hears two or more parts of Masses celebrated by two or more priests simultaneously (Denz-U, 1203); he does satisfy it, instead, who hears them successively, provided that in one and the same Mass there are the Consecration and the Communion, because he hears a Mass complete as to its substantial parts, and supplies the rest.

4. Prescribed place

He satisfies the festal precept who assists at Mass in any Catholic rite, under the open sky, or in a church or public or semi-public oratory (cf. cann. 1188 §§ 1-2, nn. 1-2; 1180; 1189; 1249) or in the private chapels of cemeteries, erected by families or by private persons for their burial. In a private oratory (domestic chapel) they satisfy the precept only those to whom the indult was granted, as well as their blood relatives and relatives to the fourth degree, living together, their guests and the domestic staff, necessary to the master or to the priest celebrating during Mass or who are occupied in the house even on feast days. Moreover, the conditions of the indult specify the limits of time and of persons.

Since this is a law which in its determination is purely ecclesiastical, any grave cause, that is, any notable harm to oneself or to others, can excuse.

In particular, excusing causes are: one's own necessity (illness even light, if by going out one fears its worsening; the loss of an extraordinary profit; the great distance from the church [more than an hour's walk], all the circumstances of persons, roads, time, etc. being taken into account); another's necessity (whoever assists a sick person who cannot remain alone; whoever remains at home so as not to give others an occasion of sinning; whoever lends help in a fire, flood or other grave accident; whoever remains at home to obey the father, the spouse, who are easily irritated in case of disobedience, etc.); professional duties (mothers, nurses, custodians, soldiers, etc. in the actual exercise of their functions; domestic servants, prevented by their masters [however, there would be a duty to seek another position if possible]); custom (in some places those excused are: engaged women with regard to the Mass during which their marriage is published; young wives or young mothers; widows in the first days after the death of their husband, etc.).

III. THE OBSERVANCE OF FESTIVE REST

It is almost the precondition for the fulfillment of the positive aspect of the p. f., that is, of assistance at Mass. When the number of feasts increased considerably, it was seen as opportune to reduce, before the number itself, the scope of prohibited works (cf. Council of Oxford, cited). This discipline had great success and was the middle course adopted after the first reductions made by the Roman pontiffs (cf. Benedict XIV, const. Cum semper, 3 Sept. 1742, const. Inter sollicitos, 11 Apr. 1745; Pius VI, const. Cum sicut, 28 Sept. 1790). The CIC (can. 1248), in reducing the number of feasts, has also preserved the restriction of prohibited works. Therefore, at present, on Sundays and the other feast days, the following are prohibited: 1) servile works, that is, those works that in ancient times used to be done by slaves, which are performed principally with the energies of the body, and which, by their nature, concern the necessities of life (rural works [plowing, sowing, reaping, etc.], mechanical-industrial works [printers, piecework in factories, in mines, in establishments, etc.], manual works [the trade of the tailor, the cobbler, the mason, the blacksmith, etc.]. Such works are prohibited, even if done for free or for relief; the matter is grave and therefore the sin is mortal, when the work is prolonged for two or three hours. 2) Judicial acts (forensic acts), insofar as they involve clamorous display and disturb the public tranquility (such as issuing summonses, arguing the case, hearing witnesses, interrogating the parties, pronouncing sentence). It is not prohibited, however, to consult a lawyer, to dispense, to absolve, etc. To determine the gravity of the sin, one must not take into account so much, in such acts, the duration, as the importance of the deed. 3) Public business of commerce (such as fairs, markets, stock exchange trading, public auction sales, wholesale buying and selling, etc.) because they impede the necessary tranquility and distract the mind from application to divine worship.

Other works are not prohibited, namely: liberal works, those that are performed principally with the energies of the intellect or tend, by their nature, to instruction or recreation, such as reading, writing, transcribing, doing accounts, singing, playing, photographing, etc.; and common works (e.g., traveling, hunting, playing, etc.).

The excusing causes, which in themselves must be grave, are however distinct from those excusing assistance at Mass: one's own necessity (one who otherwise cannot maintain himself and his dependents; or who, by not working, must suffer grave inconvenience or harm; or who performs indispensable household works, cooking, tending to the house, tending the animals, etc.; the mother who cannot manage, on weekdays, to mend or clean her own clothes or those of her children); the necessity of others (the tailor, the blacksmith, etc., would licitly work, if, through sudden necessity, the clothes or tools had to be prepared, of which there is a strict and unpostponable need; one who is occupied in extinguishing a fire or in other work of rescue; one who performs light manual works for charitable purposes, etc.); common necessity (bakers, butchers, innkeepers, railway workers, etc.); piety (by which it is licit to perform those works that have an immediate relation to divine worship, such as, e.g., ringing the bells, carrying banners and standards in procession, sweeping the church, adorning altars, etc.); custom, expressly admitted by the CIC (can. 1248), for markets, fairs, buying and selling, can make other works licit, such as, e.g., the trade of the barber, etc.

Besides the excusing causes, dispensation may also be granted by local Ordinaries, by the religious Superior or by the parish priest; the latter, however, only in favor of individual faithful (his own even outside his territory, outsiders only within his territory) or of individual families and only in individual cases (can. 1245).

Angelo Criscito