Chrism Mass

[Anne]

I have been asked to give a talk to a parish group about the Chrism Mass. I had a look in our new Missal (the middle sized one from the CTS). There is the renewal of the priesthood which is fine, but I can't find the prayers of blessing for the oils. I would have thought they would be in the missal - perhaps I am looking in the wrong place. I did read that the blessing for the oil for the Sacrament of the Sick should be done during the Eucharistic Prayer and the other two oils blessed towards the end of Mass. Does anyone know the reason for having the oil for the sick seperate from the other two??? - perhaps it is one of the mysteries of our liturgy.

[Southern Comfort]

The blessings of the Oils of the Sick and Catechumens and the consecration of the Chrism come from the Roman Pontifical, and thus have not been included in the Missal. They have been retranslated, but the revised translation has not been accepted by several episcopal conferences, including England and Wales. The previous prayers therefore continue to be used.

Pressure was applied to include them in the new Missal, but Rome resisted.

The oils are brought up in procession after the renewal to priestly commitment. Thereafter there are two options for blessing:

(a) The Oil of the Sick is blessed immediately before the final doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer, and the Oil of the Catechumens and Chrism are done after Communion (this appears to be the preferred option);

(b) All three are blessed in one go after they have been brought up in procession. This is a more recent usage, I believe I am correct in saying. The order of blessing is different: catechumens, sick, chrism.

In (a), I think the reason behind blessing the Oil of the Sick separately and earlier may go back to the time when this was not the Oil of the Sick but the Oil of Extreme Unction (last anointing of the dying), and thus could be required more urgently than the other two. Up to the 7th-8th century the Oil of the Sick could be blessed by a priest or even a layman or woman, but from then onwards was reserved to the bishop in the West (in the East, priests still bless the oil of the sick).

The Chrism Mass itself only dates from the 1955 Holy Week revision. Before that, the blessing of oils was included in the Bishop's Maundy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper.

[HallamPhil]

I inherited option (b) and stuck with it for a while but having discovered option (a) would not change back (if it were within my power to decide).

Thanks for the info SC

[mcb]

We've had option B in Salford for at least the last 21 years, and many more, I expect. There's a long hymn (O Redeemer) to accompany the procession of the oils, and we break it up by bringing up each oil in turn and having the prayer of blessing said over it, and then going back to some more of the hymn while the next of the oils is brought forward. Seems to work well for us.