I am sure our readers remember that last year, the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation, was transferred off the Second Sunday of Advent in the post-Conciliar Rite. The USCCB had previously instituted a rule that when this happens, the obligation did not transfer with it, but more recently, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts had issued a general ruling that the obligation does transfer along with the feast. Of course, bishops are still free to dispense from the previsions of such a ruling, and I heard of some that did so. To make matters a little more complicated, in the current rubrics of the Roman Rite, the Immaculate Conception takes precedence over the Sunday, which means that some faithful who regularly attend a Sunday TLM were ad litteram required to attend Mass on Monday to fulfill an obligation for a feast which they had already fulfilled. I also heard of at least one bishop who officially ruled that the faithful in his diocese who attended the Mass of the Immaculate Conception in the traditional rite on Sunday, Dec. 8, did not have any obligation to attend it again on Monday, Dec. 9.
Last week, the Dicastery for Divine Worship issued a new ruling on the subject, which should in theory clarify the matter; it establishes as a universal liturgical law that when a holy day of obligation is transferred, the obligation does not transfer with it. I say “in theory”, however, because I have seen at least one canonist claim that DDW cannot override a decree from DLT. I am (Deo gratias) not a canonist myself, so I have no further comment to make on the topic, but I suspect that further comments will not be lacking. (Click image to enlarge. The Pillar published an article about the matter yesterday.)
