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Question

Dear Father Angelo,

I would like to ask you about Gregorian Masses.

For some time, I have been thinking of having them celebrated for the souls of my departed and for the most forsaken souls in purgatory; what do you think about it?

Regards.

Answer from the priest

Dear Son,

1. Masses celebrated for thirty consecutive days in suffrage for a departed soul are called “Gregorian”.

The pious practice began with Pope St. Gregory the Great, who in his dialogues (IV, 55) relates about the order that, as the Abbot of a Monastery, he had given to Prior Prezioso: Mass was to be celebrated for thirty consecutive days in suffrage for the soul of monk Giusto, about whom improprieties were found regarding monastic poverty, to the point that he was buried outside the monks’ cemetery.

After the celebration of the Thirty Masses for thirty consecutive days, St. Gregory saw the soul of monk Giusto enter Paradise.

The authority of St. Gregory the Great, who was Pope and one of the four great doctors of the Western Church, gave credence to this practice, which soon spread to monasteries and also to the Christian people under the name of Gregorian Masses.

2. Here is the exact narration of St. Gregory: “Thirty days after [Justus’] departure, I began to take compassion upon him (…) and what means there was to help him: whereupon I called again for Pretiosus, Prior of my Monastery, and with an heavy heart spake thus unto him: “It is now a good while since that our brother which is departed remaineth in the torments of fire, and therefore we must shew him some charity, (…) wherefore go your way, and see that for thirty days following sacrifice be offered for him” (Dialogues IV, 57, 14)”.

3. The Thirty Gregorian Masses must be celebrated for thirty consecutive days in suffrage of only one single departed soul (Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 25 August 1888).

The last three days of the Holy Week (in which Mass cannot be celebrated for a single departed soul) do not constitute an interruption.

It need not always be celebrated by the same priest. But if one misses a few days due to negligence, one must start over or otherwise return the offer, which generally is greater, since it involves a special burden for the celebrant.

A document of the Church entitled “Tricenario Gregoriano” of 24 February 1967 established that “the series of thirty Gregorian masses, even if it is interrupted for a sudden impediment (for example an illness) or for other reasonable cause (for example, the celebration of a funeral mass or a wedding), by order of the Church keeps intact its fruits of suffrage, which the practice of the Church and the piety of the faithful have so far recognized.

However, the celebrating priest remains obliged to complete the celebration of the thirty masses as soon as possible”.

4. Since the celebration for a single faithful involves a particular burden for the celebrant, the alms required are also more substantial.

And by this more substantial offering, with a greater sacrifice one is united to the sacrifice of Christ.

St. Thomas also considers that the poor cannot afford to have Masses celebrated as much as the rich do. But he observes that their offering, although quantitatively less than that given by the rich, has a greater value because it joins the sacrifice of Christ with a greater personal sacrifice.

5. I also like to say with St. Thomas that “[suffrage] may be considered as meriting eternal life, and this it has as proceeding from its root, which is charity: and in this way it profits not only the person for whom it is done, but also and still more the doer” (Summa Theologiae, Supplement 71, 5).

6. Therefore you too, if you have Masses celebrated for the departed, can also have great hope for yourself.

I wish you well, I remember you in prayer, and I bless you.

Father Angelo