Votive Mass for a Happy Death

by Fr. William Rock, FSSP

“I think tomorrow is a feria, is there a votive Mass you would like?” I asked the server when we returned to the sacristy after Mass.  I was, together with a number of FSSP Priests, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, one of the FSSP’s international houses of formation in Denton, Nebraska, for the 2024 FSSP North American Study Days held this past September.  The topic of study was the liturgy.  We had two outside speakers, Fr. Uwe Michael Lang of the London Oratory, who attended in person, and Mr. Gregory DiPippo of the New Liturgical Movement blog, who attended via zoom.  An FSSP Priest from Germany also presented via zoom.  We visiting Priests would say our daily Masses at the various altars in the seminary chapel, assisted by one of the seminarians as a server.  After a short back and forth, my seminarian-server, answering my question, chose the votive Mass for a happy death (Ad postulandam gratiam bene moriendi).

The next day, when I arrived in the sacristy, the seminarian-server had laid out the violet vestments for this votive Mass and had also prepared the chalice, paten, and other items.  After I had vested, we proceeded to the altar and began.  This was my first time using this particular votive Mass.

As death is brought to the fore in this month dedicated to the Poor Souls, I thought it would be fitting to share the propers of this votive Mass and to glean from them insights on how the Church views death.

The Introit for this votive Mass is taken from Psalm 12 and reads as follows:

Ps. 12:4 Enlighten my eyes that I never sleep in death: lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him.  Ps. 12:1 How long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me unto the end?  How long dost Thou turn away Thy face from me?  ℣. Glory be….Enlighten…

This Psalm is “a prayer in tribulation” and was used by David when he was being persecuted by King Saul.  The Haydock Commentary explains that “death” here spiritually means the death of the soul brought about by mortal sin, and the enemy, historically the person of Saul, spiritually is the devil and his fallen angels.  In context of this votive Mass, the chant is asking that at the moment of death (“the end”), one be protected from the devil and his minions lest they prevail by occasioning the soul to fall into mortal sin and thus be condemned to hell for all eternity as a punishment.

In the Collect, the Priest prays:

Almighty and merciful God, Who bestowest on mankind both the remedies of health and the gifts of life everlasting: look mercifully upon us Thy servants, and refresh the souls which Thou hast made; that at the hour of their going hence they may be found worthy to be presented without stain of sin to Thee, their Maker, by the hands of the holy angels.  Through Our Lord…¹

Here the priest is asking that the souls of the Faithful, refreshed by God’s grace, may be presented at the moment of death without any sin before the seat of God’s judgement by the holy angels, in contradistinction to the devils feared as enemies in the Introit.

The Epistle is taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (14:7-12):

Brethren: For none of us liveth to himself: and no man dieth to himself.  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord: or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.  But thou, why judgest thou thy brother? Or thou, why dost thou despise thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  For it is written: As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.  Therefore every one of us shall render account to God for himself.

In this reading, St. Paul reminds the Faithful that all will be judged at the moment of death.  Therefore, each should live unto the Lord – that is, live a Christian life by the help of God’s grace – so that at death, each may render a good account of himself to God.

The Gradual is that of the Third Saturday in Lent and is also used in the Votive Mass for Pilgrims:

Ps. 22:4 If I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death I will fear no evils; for Thou art with me, O Lord.  ℣. Thy rod and thy staff they have comforted me.

The Alleluia is taken from the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost:

Alleluia, alleluia.  ℣. Ps:30, 2-3 In Thee, Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in Thy justice and save me; bow down Thy ear to me, make haste to deliver me.  Alleluia.

By both of these, the soul expresses her confidence and hope in God.

In Septuagesima, the following Tract, from Ember Wednesday in Lent, is used:

Ps. 24: 17-18, 1-4 Deliver me from my necessities, O Lord: see my abjection and my labor: and forgive me all my sins.  ℣. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed: neither let my enemies laugh at me.  ℣. For none of them that wait on Thee shall be confounded: let all them be confounded that do vain things.

Here again, as in the Introit, the enemies are the fallen angels working to bring about the damnation of the soul.  The soul cries, asking God to forgive her all of her sins.  As this chant is used as the Church is preparing for her primary season of penance, the soul fittingly groans under the weight of her sins and infidelities.

During Paschaltide, the following chants are used:

Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. Ps 113:1 When Isreal went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people. [21st Sunday after Pentecost]

Alleluia.  ℣. Ps. 107:2 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and give praise unto Thee, my glory.  Alleluia. [20th Sunday after Pentecost]

Psalm 113 recounts the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt including their passing dry-shod through the Red Sea.  The passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea is seen as spiritually representing the translation of the soul via Baptism from the death of sin to the life of grace (see 1 Cor 10:1-4).  Grace here below, if kept, is the seed of eternal glory in the world to come.  The verse from Psalm 107 expresses the disposition of soul well-prepared to enter into eternal life there to praise God for all eternity.  As these are used during Eastertime, they are more joyful than the other interlectional chants used during the other times of the year.

The Gospel is taking from St. Luke’s account of Our Lord foretelling the destruction of the Temple (21:34-36):

At that time: Jesus said to His Disciples: Take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life: and that day come upon you suddenly.  For as a snare shall it come upon all that sit upon the face of the whole earth.  Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come and to stand before the Son of man.

The Gospel again warns that all are to give account to the Just Judge, the Son of man, for how they conducted themselves in this life.

The Offertory is taken from the Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost:

Ps. 30: 15-16 In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped: I said, Thou art my God, my times are in Thy hands.

Only God knows the hour of one’s death.  As such, the Faithful should place their hope in God that He will provide for their needs at that time.  This, however, does not mean that one can live a dissolute life and expect a grand conversion at the end, for as the tree leans, so does it fall.

After the oblata are prepared, the following Secret is used:

Receive, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the sacrifice which we offer unto Thee for our last days: and grant that by it, all our sins may be washed away, that we, who by Thine appointment, are stricken by Thy scourges in this life, may obtain eternal rest in the life to come.  Through Our Lord…²

Adam and Eve were created with preternatural gifts, including immortality.³  These gifts would have been passed down to their descendants, but they were lost as a punishment, a scourge, for their sin.  We, their children, still suffer under this scourge, and the others which our sins have brought about, or which God permits for our benefit.  In this oration, the Faithful ask that by the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which may God remember they offered when they are dying, they may be washed from their sins and thus be able to enter into eternal life after bearing in a Christian manner the scourges inflicted during this life.

The Communion is the same as that for the Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost:

Ps. 70:16-17, 18 O Lord, I will be mindful of thy Justice alone: Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth, and unto old age and grey hairs, O God, forsake me not.

Here the soul reminds God that He has been with the soul for her entire life and asks that God forsake her not at the end.

The final oration, the Postcommunion, is as follows:

We beseech Thy clemency, O almighty God, that by the power of this sacrament Thou wouldst vouchsafe to strengthen us Thy servants with Thy grace; so that in the hour of our death the enemy may not prevail against us, but that we may be found worthy to pass, in company with Thine angels, into life everlasting.  Through Our Lord…⁴

A theme throughout this Mass, brought to a conclusion by this final prayer, is that as death approaches, that moment upon which hangs one’s eternal destiny, the soul’s enemies, that is the fallen angels, will seek to draw the soul to perdition.  Here, contrariwise, the Faithful ask God for the strength to overcome these enemies and enter into the life of the blessed with those angels who did not fall, similar to the request made in the Collect.  It is worth noting here that the orations of this Mass, slightly modified, are also used in the votive Mass of the sick for those who are close to death.

May these texts and short reflections aid you, dear reader, to reflect upon how the Church, according to these Mass formulae, understands death and contemplate how you should strive to live so that when the moment of death comes, which must come to us all, you will be disposed to receive God’s grace for the forgiveness of any remaining sins and to combat the enemies of your souls.  Pray regularly for the grace of a good death, and, if possible, see if your Priest would offer up this votive Mass for your benefit and for the benefit of those dear to you.

Fr. William Rock, FSSP was ordained in the fall of 2019 and is currently assigned to St. Stanislaus Parish in Nashua, NH.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

1. Translations are taken from the Saint Andrew Daily Missal, Societe Liturgique Canadienne, Engreg., 1945.  Original Latin: Omnipotens et misericors Deus, qui humano generi et salutis remedia et vitas aeternae miinera contulisti: respice propitius nos famulos tuos, et animas refove, quas creasti; ut, in hora exitus earum, absque peccati macula tibi Creatori suo per manus sanctorum Angelorum repraesentari mereantur. Per Dominum.
2. Original Latin: Suiscipe, quaesumus, Domine, hostiam, quam tibi offerimus pro extremo vitae nostrae, et concede: ut per earn universa nostra purgentur delicta; ut, qui tuae dispositionis flagellis in hac vita atterimur, in futura requiem consequamur aeternam. Per Dominum.
3.  See Ott, Ludwig. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. Trans. Lynch Patrick. Edited by Bastible, James. Updated by Fastiggi, Robert. (Baronius Press, 2018), pp. 113-116, 123.
4. Original Latin: Quaesumus clementiam tuam, omnipotens Deus, ut per huius virtutem sacramenti nos famulos tuos gratia tua confirmare digneris: ut in hora mortis nostrae non praevaleat contra nos adversarius; sed cum Angelis tuis transitum habere mereamur ad vitam. Per Dominum.