1. Is it proper for the president of the choir to wear the alb and cincture during the recitation of the office of the dead—the matins and lauds?
2. Should he wear stole and cope, or either?
3. Is it correct to say the Requiem aeternam after the prayer at lauds when the Mass follows?
4. is it proper for the priest who presides in the choir to perform the absolution after Mass?
1. It is not proper for the president of the choir to wear the alb and cincture at matins and lauds. There is a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites which appears to bear on this subject.
The question proposed was:
“Dubium LXI. Juxta Rituale, dum in officio dicuntur laudes: sacerdos cum ministris paratur ad celebrandam missam solemnem pro defuncto. Exinde autem oriuntur dubia de modo concludendi laudes: nempe 1o Ubi sunt duo vel plures Presbyteri, alius debetne concludere Laudes dum celebrans qui officium inchoavit paratur in sacristia? 2. Ubi unicus est Presbyter debetne iste relinquere officium Laudum sine Praeside et adire sacristiam ut paretur ad missam et deinde opportuno tempore redire in Chorum, vel ante Altare, alba, cingulo, et stola indutus ut concludat Laudes?
“Ad LXI. Affirmative ad primam partem. Quoad secundam debet concludere laudes et postea sacristiam petere ut sese vestiat pro Missae celebratione. Die 12 Augusti, 1864”.
It is evident from this decree that the vestments are not to be worn at the office of the dead, for they are not allowed even in a case which would appear one of necessity, viz.: when there is only one priest present, and when some delay must necessarily occur between the office and the mass, if the celebrant must wait to say the prayer at the end of Lauds before he puts on the vestments. If in such an extreme case, when there arises some delay between the office and mass, which is most objectionable and always to be avoided in ceremonies, the alb and cincture cannot be worn, they cannot surely be used on ordinary occasions when such necessity does not exist.