There Is Hardly Anything Crueler That a Priest Can Do Than To Leave People in Doubt About the Validity of Their Sacraments.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised. I lived in the Archdiocese of Kansas City for many years and I saw some pretty dodgy Masses there. Dr Stine addresses this in today's video.

From Fr Z's Blog

It is extremely VEXING to learn of priests who are so thick… so arrogant… that they can’t or won’t be exacting about the VALIDITY of sacraments.   It isn’t hard.  You “Say The Black and Do The Red” and you use valid matter.

At the Pillar there is a note about how the Archdiocese of Kansas City has laid down the law about what wine can be used for Mass.  It seems that at “parishes” (plural) invalid matter for the Eucharist was used, invalid wine.  Therefore, for years, none of the Masses were valid.  None of the intentions for Masses were fulfilled.  Hence, redress from Rome must be sought to deal with the intentions, etc.

For STUPID!

Priests CANNOT CLAIM IGNORACE about these things because it is fundamental to their tool set.  If they are ignorant about the issue of valid matter for Mass it is culpable ignorance.    It is like running into a doctor who doesn’t know about blood types.

We read in Redemptionis Sacramentum:

wine that is used in the most sacred celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice must be natural, from the fruit of the grape, pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances…It is altogether forbidden to use wine of doubtful authenticity or provenance, for the Church requires certainty regarding the conditions necessary for the validity of the sacraments. Nor are other drinks of any kind to be admitted for any reason, as they do not constitute valid matter.

There can be some additives as preservatives.

It is of divine institution that the only valid substances for transubstantiation are, for the Host, bread made from wheat and, for the Precious Blood, wine made from grapes or raisins (desiccated grapes).

The grapes used must be ripe, which rules out “wine” such as verjus.

The wine for Mass can be red, white, dry, sweet, whatever.

Some prefer red because it resembles blood.  Some prefer white because it is easier to clean the linens afterward.

Sometimes questions come up about the use of wine which has very low alcohol content, called mustum, a wine which had the fermentation process halted by rapid freezing.  That is a valid substance because it is from grapes and the natural fermentation process began, making it wine.  It has an artificially low alcohol content, but mustum is considered valid wine.

However, there is the other end of spectrum to consider: wine which has an artificially high alcohol content.  Sometimes alcohol distilled from wine is added to wine in order to preserve it against spoiling or changing to vinegar.  This addition of wine alcohol produces “fortified wine”.  The usual types of “fortified wine” we encounter are port, sherry, madeira, marsala, and vermouth.

Fortified wines are valid matter so long as the wine-spirit added was distilled from grapes, that the quantity of alcohol added, together natural content from the fermentation, does not exceed 18% and that the additional alcohol is added during the process of fermentation.  You can read a good, brief article on altar wine in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Also, because we are Unreconstructed Ossified Manualists, we check our old theology manuals, such as Tanqueray’s Theologia Dogmatica.

We find in Tanqueray that wine for Mass has to be from ripe grapes, it can be of any color, not corrupted, and not frozen at the time of consecration.  Citing the Missale Romanum we are warned against wine that is turning bad.  As a matter of fact, it was (probably is still) illicit to say Mass with doubtful, soured wine.  And if the priest is not doubtful about it, and it is truly bad, he sins gravely by consecrating it.  “Si fuerit aliquantulum acre… conficiens graviter peccat“, says the Missal.  He would – knowingly – be attempting to consecrate something that is not wine and is therefore invalid matter.

That is not just bad, that is very bad.

By the way, the coffee mug which appears here is great for Mystic Monk Coffee!  It’s swell!

I would rule out vermouth, because herbs and so forth are added.

I would not use sherry because, if I am not mistaken, the addition of the spirits takes place after fermentation.

Marsala seems to be okay, so long as it is 18% or less.

Vin Santo, from desiccated grapes, is fine.  As the name implies, it is wine for the altar!

Port is valid, 18% or under.

All this information provides ample motive to stick with altar wines made by ecclesiastically approved vintners (unless you can’t for some reason).  However, a decent bottle of wine from a sound vintner, even if it is not from an ecclesiastically approved source, will be valid matter.   For example, if I were to open up that bottle of Tignanello that I don’t have, and I were to use it for Mass, it would be valid.  And it would be tasty.

If you have a doubt, Fathers, don’t use it.  Don’t screw around with validity of sacraments.

There is hardly anything crueler that a priest can do than to leave people in doubt about the validity of their sacraments.