Catholic Liturgical Practices in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s: Canonical Norms and Anomalies

Abstract

This paper examines changes in the liturgical and paraliturgical practices of Roman Catholics in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s. Nine documents from different archives outside Russia were first used to show changes made at the request of Russian Catholics. These documents deal with a number of disciplinary issues, such as the time for the celebration of Mass, observation of a natural fast before Mass, permission for lay people to bring Holy communion to the sick or imprisoned people. The Holy See readily relaxed canonical requirements. Consequently, at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, the time for the celebration of Mass became variable, moving more often to the evening hours; the rules of a natural fast before Mass for clergy and laity were relaxed, which paved the way for regular communion at evening Masses; laity were given permission to bring Holy communion to those who could not personally hear the Mass; the practice of stipends for Mass became an instrument of financial support given by the Holy See to impoverished Catholic clergymen in critical situations. The main reason for these dramatic changes was the anti-religious policy of the Soviet government and the disruption of the traditional calendar. The fact of continuing contacts with the Vatican sheds light on those aspects of religious life in Soviet Russia that are not reflected in the official Soviet documentation.