Catholic Church early 1900's

kernowmaid

kernowmaid

Our very own Cornish Maid
My gran & siblings were born late 1890's, early 1900's, brought up as devout (Irish descended) Catholics in Sherburn in Elmet, Yorkshire.

Until her death in 2016, I used to phone my aunt weekly - she would rattle on about the family and I scribbled in my notebook. She told me that her mother (my gran) & siblings walked the 2 miles to church twice a day for Mass.

Having just finished writing up the chapter (I'm doing a history for the next generation) on these gt-grandparents I sent it to my cousins for comment/correction ... one cousin (did History at Uni, knows everything ... but thought an uncle was called Manuel 'cos she only referred to transcripts - he was Manus :eek:) has poo-pooed the idea that Mass would be held twice a day during the week.

Now I bow to her superior knowledge - she was brought up as Catholic, I was sort of C of E/Methodist - but I'd like to know for sure:

Would Mass have been held twice daily in the early 1900's?

Thanks in advance!
Jane
 
Good old Wikipedia says:
...the Local Ordinary may, for a good reason, permit priests to celebrate twice (they are then said to "binate") on weekdays, and three times ("trinate" or "trination") on Sundays and Holy Days
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From this, I would surmise that yes, it would be possible for Mass to be held twice a day.

I see that St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Sherburn in Elmet was not built until the 1980s - have you identified which church it would be that they walked to? If so, perhaps contacting the church and asking them direct might be the answer. :)
 
Oh yes - it was the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Scarthingwell.
Huge name. Huge building (Mr Google has photos).
Built on the instruction of the Maxwell-Stuart family of Scarthingwell Hall, for whom several of my ancestors worked.

Jane

That's it! You found it while I was typing, DB :)
 
kernowmaid said:
Would Mass have been held twice daily in the early 1900's?
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1 Priest equals one Mass per day except Sunday when two can be said. However during that time period there would more than likely be more than one Priest in the Parish so however many Priests is the total number of Masses possible per day. The exception being as Daft Bat as already said if there was only one Priest and the local population warranted two Masses a day then the Local Bishop could grant permission for two.

During the 60's and early seventies the Church I attended had 6 Masses on Sunday and 3 Masses Monday to Saturday, there were 3 Priests in the Parish
 
My understanding is that you cannot take Holy Communion twice in a day which as devout Catholics they would if attending Mass. Perhaps the second service would be for Evensong or some such?
 
WelchRegLost said:
At that time you would be correct but that wouldn't mean they would not attend twice a day, as they would just not receive the second time.
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Yes you are right. I was just throwing another thought into the mix. As a child I was taken to church twice on Sundays (three times if you counted afternoon Sunday school!) but only the morning was Mass.
 
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