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Views from the Choir Loft

Should Priests Trinate on All Souls’ Day?

Fr. David Friel · November 1, 2015

OR GOOD REASON, Holy Mother Church limits the frequency with which priests may offer Holy Mass. Celebrating Mass too often runs the risk of reducing the sacred liturgy to routine action. It also encourages the abuse of stipends, the abuse of concelebration, and misunderstanding of the nature of the Holy Sacrifice.

Ordinarily, a priest is not to celebrate Mass more than once per day. There are exceptions, however, to this norm, which allow for bination or trination. One such exception is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (“All Souls’ Day”), whereon priests are permitted to offer up to three Masses. Should this permission be understood as an encouragement to offer three Masses on All Souls’ Day? Certainly, one could not argue that it is a requirement. But should the norms be seen as simply permission, or also as invitation?

I am posing this question to our readers, both clergy & laity. I do have my own opinion, which I will withhold for now. Your insights and perspectives would be most welcome (please contribute via Facebook comments).

Allow me to share some of the relevant liturgical documentation to inform your thinking. The opportunities when it is permissible to offer Mass more than once per day are stipulated in GIRM #204. This section states:

For a particular reason, having to do either with the significance of the rite or of the festivity, the faculty is given to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day in the following cases:

a. A priest who has celebrated or concelebrated the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday may also celebrate or concelebrate the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper;

b. A priest who has celebrated or concelebrated the Mass of the Easter Vigil may celebrate or concelebrate Mass during the day on Easter Sunday;

c. On the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas Day), all priests may celebrate or concelebrate three Masses, provided the Masses are celebrated at their proper times of day;

d. On the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day), all priests may celebrate or concelebrate three Masses, provided that the celebrations take place at different times, and that the norms established regarding the application of second and third Masses are observed;

e. A priest who concelebrates with the Bishop or his delegate at a Synod or pastoral visitation, or concelebrates on the occasion of a meeting of priests, may celebrate Mass again for the benefit of the faithful. This holds also, with due regard for the prescriptions of law, for groups of religious.

The specific GIRM rubric that refers to All Souls’ Day (above) actually originates from Incruentum altaris sacrificium, a 1915 bull of Pope Benedict XV (available HERE). This document states:

All priests are permitted to celebrate three Masses on All Souls’ Day, provided these take place at different times and on condition, moreover, that while they may at their preference apply one of the Masses in favor of any person and accept for that Mass a stipend, they may not accept a stipend for the second or for the third Mass, the second of which they are bound to apply respectively for all the faithful departed and the third for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

Is this permission to be understood as an encouragement? What do you think?


A discussion about this post is underway.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: All Souls Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

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“I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me shall find me.”

— Proverbs 8

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