And More on Readings on a Feast of the Lord

ROME, NOV. 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: Is it appropriate to sing the "Gospel Acclamation" before and after the reading of the Gospel? -- A.B., Scarborough, Ontario

A: The general practice regarding the Gospel acclamation is described in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:

"62. After the reading that immediately precedes the Gospel, the Alleluia or another chant indicated by the rubrics is sung, as required by the liturgical season. An acclamation of this kind constitutes a rite or act in itself, by which the assembly of the faithful welcomes and greets the Lord who is about to speak to them in the Gospel and professes their faith by means of the chant. It is sung by all while standing and is led by the choir or a cantor, being repeated if this is appropriate. The verse, however, is sung either by the choir or by the cantor.

"a. The Alleluia is sung in every season other than Lent. The verses are taken from the Lectionary or the Graduale.

"b. During Lent, in place of the Alleluia, the verse before the Gospel is sung, as indicated in the Lectionary. It is also permissible to sing another psalm or tract, as found in the Graduale.

"63. When there is only one reading before the Gospel,

"a. During a season when the Alleluia is to be said, either the Alleluia Psalm or the responsorial Psalm followed by the Alleluia with its verse may be used;

"b. During the season when the Alleluia is not to be said, either the psalm and the verse before the Gospel or the psalm alone may be used;

"c. The Alleluia or verse before the Gospel may be omitted if they are not sung."

There is no mention of the repetition of the acclamation after the Gospel for ordinary Masses in which the Gospel is immediately followed by the homily, prayer of the faithful or procession of the gifts.

When a bishop celebrates, however, the Book of the Gospels is sometimes brought to him after being read, as indicated in GIRM, No, 175: "When the deacon is assisting the Bishop, he carries the book to him to be kissed, or else kisses it himself, saying quietly, 'Per evangelica dicta' (May the words of the gospel). In more solemn celebrations, as the occasion suggests, a Bishop may impart a blessing to the people with the Book of the Gospels."

The brief procession carrying the Book of the Gospels from the ambo to the bishop's cathedra would be the only likely situation in which the Gospel acclamation would be repeated.

There is no official document or rubric in the universal books that specifically suggests this repetition, and certainly nothing that would require it. But there is some precedence from papal Masses on special occasions.

For example, when Pope John Paul II celebrated the vigil Mass of Pentecost that concluded Rome's diocesan Synod in 1993, the alleluia was repeated while the Book of the Gospels was brought to him. The alleluia was also repeated after the Gospel on the occasion of Benedict XVI's solemn inaugural Mass. It is also repeated on a more regular basis for some Masses such as Corpus Christi.

Sometimes, rather than repeating the alleluia, another antiphon is sung after the Gospel. When John Paul II celebrated 25 years as Pope in 2003 the choir sang a polyphonic Latin antiphon. An acclamation was sung in Greek when Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass concluding the 2005 Synod of Bishops; the Eucharistic celebration also coincided with the canonization of four saints.

Therefore we can conclude that while repeating the Gospel acclamation or singing some other acclamation after the Gospel should not be considered a regular practice, it may be done on more solemn occasions, such as at a Mass celebrated by a bishop to accompany the procession with the Book of the Gospels.

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Follow-up: Readings on a Feast of the Lord

With regard to the number of liturgical readings on a feast day (see Nov. 6) some readers asked about All Souls' Day, Nov. 2.

This celebration is a class of its own. It is not a feast as such, since it intercedes for, rather than celebrates, the faithful departed. The Mass has liturgical precedence over Sunday. But unlike a solemnity or feast of the Lord, this precedence does not extend to the Liturgy of the Hours. Whenever the commemoration falls on a Sunday, the Glory and Creed are omitted.

All Souls' Day has three readings even when it falls on a weekday. Some lectionaries provide only one set of readings, indicating that the readings for the other two Masses that a priest may celebrate that day are to taken from the ritual for funeral Masses. Other lectionaries, such as the Italian, helpfully offer three possible schemes of readings, each one with three readings.

In my earlier reply I had mentioned that the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica was considered a feast of the Lord. Several readers replied that the dedication of any church is a feast of the Lord, arguing that the preface of the dedication of a church is placed before the prefaces of Our Lady.

I beg to differ on this point. I do not believe that the location of these prefaces, and the similar fact that the common of a dedication of a church is located before the common of Our Lady in both missal and breviary, necessarily means that it becomes a feast of the Lord. Rather, the dedication of a church is a particular class of celebration.

In the universal calendar, only the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica is classed as a feast. The celebrations of the dedication of the other Roman basilicas are classed as optional memorials.

In all other cases, the anniversary of the dedication of a church is considered as a proper solemnity within the church in question. As such, it has precedence over Sundays of ordinary time and even over feasts of the Lord, but not over other solemnities found in the general calendar.

The anniversary of the dedication of a cathedral is a solemnity in the cathedral itself, but is usually celebrated as a feast in the other churches of the diocese.

One reader asked about the annual calendar provided by the Web site of the U.S. bishops' conference. The reader stated that it "explicitly specifies that two readings are to be used for feasts of the Lord on weekdays. … Are the U.S. bishops following some norm you overlooked, or are they in error? What is the appropriate liturgical document to resolve this question?"

I think that the calendar in question, which is a base text used as a resource for the formation of diocesan or regional versions rather than an exhaustive repository of all the norms, merely indicates the biblical references of the three readings found in the lectionary. The calendar does not explicitly address the question of whether all three are to be used.

However, because of its widespread use I do think that it would be wise to add to this calendar a note similar to the one found in the guidelines used in Rome. When a feast of the Lord falls on a weekday it simply says: "Prima lettura a scelta," which means that either of the two first readings may be chosen.

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Readers may send questions to liturgy@zenit.org. Please put the word "Liturgy" in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and your state, province or country. Father McNamara can only answer a small selection of the great number of questions that arrive.