Newly Ordained as Concelebrant
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Newly Ordained as Concelebrant
By Father Edward McNamara, LC
ROME, 04 June 2013 (ZENIT)
Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: Should the newly ordained priest recite the particular parts of the Eucharistic Prayer? Context: During the ordination Mass one of our priests did not allow the newly ordained priest to recite a part of the Eucharistic Prayer proper for the concelebrant. He argued that the newly ordained is not a concelebrant from the beginning of the Mass, since he did not enter the concelebration as a priest but (of course) as a deacon. — A.P., Tagaytay City, Philippines
A: That priest is in error.
The Ceremonial of Bishops, No. 518, suggests the exact opposite criterion to the one proposed. To wit:
"All the presbyters concelebrate with the bishop in their ordination Mass. It is most fitting that the bishop admit other presbyters to the concelebration; in this case and on this day the newly ordained presbyters take the first place ahead of the others who concelebrate."
Later, No. 540 specifies that after the ordination is complete:
"In the liturgy of the eucharist the order for the concelebration of Mass is followed, but the preparation of the chalice is omitted [because it has already been prepared for the complementary rites of ordination]."
Therefore the presence of other concelebrants other than the newly ordained, while recommended, is not a necessity. In the case that there were only the newly ordained, it would be clear that they take their proper place as concelebrants and recite their proper parts.
Likewise, the argument that they are precluded from reciting a part of the Eucharistic Prayer seems illogical when they have to pray the central parts of this prayer, especially the consecration.
This is, after all, their first Mass as priests.
The practice of a newly ordained priest reciting the canon is also present in the extraordinary form, even though this form does not contemplate concelebration.
In this form, the newly ordained priests, kneeling, read the prayers of the Mass along with the bishop from the prayer "Suscipe sancte Pater" onward. They do not, however, carry out the ceremonies done by the bishop. At the moment of Communion they receive the host immediately after the bishop has consumed from the chalice. In the case of newly ordained priests, the bishop administers Communion, omitting the usual formula.
Some theologians suggest that these particularities of the ordination rite in the extraordinary form are remainders of the ancient practice of concelebration surviving in the Latin Church before the restoration brought about by the Second Vatican Council.
The practice of concelebration has continued uninterruptedly in most Eastern Churches. In the Latin Church it appears to have gradually disappeared. The last mention of it is from around 1140 but only for the third Mass of Christmas in Rome. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) knew of the practice but was of the opinion that it no longer took place at his time. The earliest trace of the common recitation of the canon at ordination was for a newly ordained bishop in a 12th-century Roman Pontifical, and that of the newly ordained priest appears for the first time in the Pontifical of the Roman Curia from the 13th century.
Because of this interruption of several centuries in the documentary evidence, it is hard to prove that the common recitation of the canon by newly ordained priests is a direct continuation of the ancient practice of concelebration. Its inclusion in medieval manuscripts of the Roman Pontifical, however, might have been influenced by sources that are no longer extant.
This article has been selected from the ZENIT Daily Dispatch
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