Votive Mass

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A votive mass ( lat. Missa votiva , from lat. Votum vow, wish, concern) is a holy mass in the liturgy of the Catholic Church , which is celebrated for a special occasion with a special mass intention and with its own liturgical texts. The occasions can be derived from the life of individual believers (illness, pilgrimage, day of remembrance), but also from a general concern or an emergency (war, natural disaster), often motivated by a vote , a vow , a wish of an individual, a minor or larger group.

history

The oldest form of votive masses are the funeral masses , in which people pray for the salvation of the deceased. Another typical occasion for a votive mass is the highlighting of a certain religious secret - for example in honor of the Holy Spirit or the Sacred Heart of Jesus . In addition, there are also votive masses of certain saints , bridal masses, holy masses to celebrate the making of perpetual profession or at the reception of the virgin consecration .

Already documented in late antiquity - forms for votive masses can already be found in the Sacramentarium Leonianum from the 7th century - the votive masses gained popularity among the faithful from the early Middle Ages onwards, because these services were ascribed a special "effectiveness". Events of salvation history were assigned to individual days of the week as a theme for a votive mass. At first the concern was only formulated in the prayer Hanc igitur in the Canon Missae , then other parts of the Messordo were increasingly thematically oriented towards it. Since the High Middle Ages it has been the custom to celebrate a votive mass for the Trinity on Monday , on Tuesday by the angels, on Wednesday by Saint Joseph or the apostles , Thursday was under the sign of the Holy Spirit or the Eucharist , Friday under the sign of the cross and the Passion of Jesus Christ , and Saturday was dedicated to Mary , the Mother of God .

After initially greater freedom of design for votive masses, more precise regulations only emerged from the end of the Middle Ages. In order to counteract the threat of a darkening of the church year due to the expansion of votive masses - especially in the form of frequent private masses that overgrown church services - the missal of 1570 made restrictions. It only allowed votive masses for urgent reasons (urgenti de causa ) and knew votive masses for the individual days of the week and on different occasions (pro diversis rebus ). Until the modern era, the requiem's measurement form was “improperly” often used for weekday masses because it corresponded to the intention of the mess grant as a requiem mass for the deceased of the donor families, according to liturgical scholar Josef Andreas Jungmann . Since the beginning of the 20th century, there has been a counter-development, also on the part of the Roman Curia.

Current practice

A distinction is made between:

  • Masses at certain celebrations (ritual masses, Missae rituales ) in connection with the dispensing of sacraments and certain sacramentals
  • Masses and orations for special concerns, for the church, for the state and society, in public and special concerns (supplication services)
  • Votive masses of the Mysteries of the Lord, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels, a saint or all saints
  • Masses for the deceased

The missal for the Roman rite contains votive masses on the Holy Spirit , the holy name of Jesus , the Sacred Heart of Jesus , the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ , the Eucharist , Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, Mary, Mother of the Church, of the name of Mary , of the angels , of all the apostles , of the hll. Joseph , Paul and Peter and of all the saints .

Votive masses cannot take place on solemn feasts , Advent, Lent and Easter Sundays, in the Easter octave, on All Souls' Day , on Ash Wednesday and in Holy Week . This can only be deviated from in a real emergency (gravior necessitas) .

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Votive Mass  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lexicon of Canon Law, p. 530.
  2. ↑ Art. Votive Mass in the glossary of the Missa Mediaevalis sub-project of the project “Cultural History and Theology of the Image in Christianity” of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster (in the SFB 496: “Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution”), accessed on 3 August 2019.
  3. ^ Philipp Harnoncourt : week, days of the week. III. Liturgical . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 10 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001, Sp. 1266/67 .
  4. ^ Rupert Berger: Votive Mass . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 10 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001, Sp. 909 .
  5. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 305, note 127.
  6. ↑ General Introduction to the Roman Missal (2002) No. 368–378; Article Votive Mass , in: Rupert Berger, Pastoralliturgisches Handlexikon, Freiburg 2008, 543–544.