The Mass Intentions Book

What Canon 958 Asks §

When a parishioner at the counter asks for a Mass for her father, the office promises the Mass and writes the promise down.

§1. Parochus necnon rector ecclesiae aliusve pii loci, in quibus stipes Missarum recipi solent, peculiarem habeant librum, in quo accurate adnotent Missarum celebrandarum numerum, intentionem, stipem oblatam, necnon celebrationem peractam.

§2. Ordinarius obligatione tenetur singulis annis huiusmodi libros per se aut per alios recognoscendi.

§1. The pastor, and the rector of a church or other pious place where Mass offerings are customarily received, are to keep a special book in which they accurately record the number of Masses to be celebrated, the intention, the offering given, and the celebration once completed.

§2. The Ordinary is bound to examine these books each year, either himself or through others.

Canon 958. Latin · The Holy See’s English · Our translation.

A shrine, or any other church or pious place where offerings are usually received, keeps one too. The pastor answers for it even when someone else holds the pen. Buffalo’s audit office wrote in 2023 that in its parishes, over the last couple of decades, “this responsibility was given to the bookkeepers and the business managers.”¹

The Ordinary, in a diocese, is the bishop with his vicars general and episcopal vicars (canon 134 §1); in churches of religious institutes and societies of apostolic life, their own Superiors watch over Mass obligations (canon 957). In 2025 the Dicastery for the Clergy restated canon 958 in a decree, telling the Ordinaries to watch over its norms, “taking care that the number of Masses to be celebrated, the intentions, the offerings and the celebration once completed are accurately recorded in the register kept for the purpose, and examining those registers each year, personally or through others” (decree of 13 April 2025, Art. 4 §1, our translation).

The Other Books the Law Asks For §

A parish asked for more Masses than it can say may have them said elsewhere, unless the parishioner has expressly said otherwise (canon 954). Canon 955 then asks for a record of both sides, and a note from every priest:

§3. Qui aliis Missas celebrandas committunt, sine mora in librum referant tum Missas quas acceperunt, tum eas, quas aliis tradiderunt, notatis etiam earundem stipibus.

§4. Quilibet sacerdos accurate notare debet Missas quas celebrandas acceperit, quibusque satisfecerit.

§3. Those who entrust Masses to others are without delay to enter in a book both the Masses they received and those they handed on, noting the offerings as well.

§4. Every priest must accurately note the Masses he accepted to celebrate and those he has satisfied.

Canon 955 §§3 to 4. Latin · The Holy See’s English · Our translation.

Whoever passes Masses on sends the whole offering with them, as a rule, and stays bound to see to them “until he has received word both that the obligation was accepted and that the offering was received” (canon 955 §1, our translation). So each Mass sent away needs three more things beside it: to whom, with how much, and the date that word came back.

The fourth paragraph binds each priest himself. New York’s chancellery reminded its priests in 2023 to keep “a register of announced Masses in the parish office; and a personal Mass stipend book for the unannounced requests you receive.”² A parish that holds founded Masses keeps one more book, described under Founded Masses and Bequests.

A Good Line, Column by Column §

The canon names four things. A line that will satisfy the review, and answer a puzzled phone call three years later, carries a few more. The columns marked with the canon are the law; the rest are practice, from diocesan handbooks and our own advice.

Entry number. Rockford’s and Cincinnati’s guides both say “Number each intention consecutively.”^{3 4} A number with no gaps is the plainest proof that nothing was skipped or torn out.

Received. The year for saying the Mass begins here (canon 955 §2). Without it, nobody can tell what is nearing a year.

Asked by. St. Petersburg’s handbook for office staff says to “Fill in name of person requesting the Mass intention.”⁵

Intention. Write it as the parishioner said it. One offering for “John and Mary” is one intention; two offerings from two people are two Masses, however small each is (canon 948). If the parishioner asked for a Mass at this church only, Cincinnati says “a notation of this restriction must be listed in the record.”⁴

Masses. Usually one. A sum given with no number is counted at the customary offering where the giver lives, unless they plainly meant otherwise (canon 950). Better to agree the number at the desk.

Offering. When nothing was given, write “None” and enter the intention all the same. Priests are earnestly urged to celebrate for the faithful even when no offering has been received (canon 945 §2), and Buffalo’s rule is that such an intention “needs to be fulfilled by someone at the parish if it was accepted.”¹

Said. Celebrationem peractam, the celebration once completed. This column keeps the promise, so write it after the Mass, never when it is scheduled. Canon 958 doesn’t ask for the priest’s name, but canon 951 is hard to keep without it (below); Cincinnati calls it “helpful to record the celebrant of the Mass in this book.”⁴

Given to the priest. Fort Worth’s handbook ends its list with “who celebrated the Mass; and that the stipend was given to the priest,”⁶ and Buffalo’s rule is that “Mass offerings are NEVER paid in advance.”¹

Correcting a Mistake §

Never erase. When a line is wrong:

• Draw one straight line through it, so the old words can still be read.
• Write the correct words beside it or on the next line, never on top.
• Date and initial the change, and say why if it isn’t obvious.
• When a Mass moves, write the new date and leave the old one legible.
• Never use correction fluid or tape, never remove a page, never reuse an entry number.
• Write “None” where there is nothing to record, such as no offering, so a reviewer can tell it from a column forgotten.

That is bookkeeping practice rather than canon law, and it matches the rule some dioceses give for sacramental registers. Youngstown’s archives office says original entries “should never be scratched out, erased, whited out or otherwise destroyed or obliterated,” and that a correction is made “by drawing a straight, simple line through the word, number, or letter to be changed,” with its date and source noted.⁷

Two canons show why a rubbed-out line is dangerous rather than untidy. The Mass is owed even if the offering is lost through no fault of the priest’s (canon 949). And time never cancels it:

Praescriptioni obnoxia non sunt: [...] 5° stipes et onera Missarum; [...]

The following are not subject to prescription: [...] 5° Mass offerings and Mass obligations; [...]

Canon 199, 5°. Latin · The Holy See’s English · Our translation.

Prescription is the way the law lets time create or end a right or a duty (canon 197), and canon 199 puts Mass obligations out of its reach. A Mass promised in 1998 and never said is owed today. St. Petersburg adds two habits for the desk: “do not change any Masses that are already reserved,” and “Changes should only be made by the secretary.”⁵

Paper or Software §

Canon 958 says librum, a book, and the 2025 decree says registro, a register. Neither names a material, and dioceses that have written on it differ:

• Scranton: “The parish must maintain a permanent mass book bound with consecutively numbered pages.”⁸
• Rockford allows electronic records, but “Anyone choosing to stop recording Mass intentions in a paper book is REQUIRED to have an adequate computer data backup procedure in operation.”³
• Omaha’s finance office recommends a spreadsheet over a book and calendar, because a discrepancy can be found faster.⁹

Ask your chancery before you change how you keep yours. For a paper book, Buffalo, Rockford and Cincinnati all say to store it in a fire-resistant cabinet or safe.^{1 3 4} If it lives on a computer, our suggestion is to print the year’s register for the review and keep the printed copy with the parish records.

Concelebrated Masses and One Offering a Day §

When the parochial vicar says the 8:00 AM Mass and then concelebrates a funeral at 10:00 AM, the book should show both, because three rules turn on who said which Mass on which day:

• Any priest who celebrates or concelebrates may accept an offering to apply the Mass for an intention (canon 945 §1).
• A priest who says several Masses in one day may apply each to its own intention, but keeps the offering for one only, Christmas Day excepted; the rest go to the purposes the Ordinary lays down (canon 951 §1). The Holy See repeated the one offering a day in 2025 (decree, Art. 2).
• A priest concelebrating a second Mass on the same day may not receive an offering for it on any title (canon 951 §2).

So a concelebrated Mass can carry more than one line, each naming its priest. Rockford lets a concelebrant accept an intention that carries an offering if he has said or concelebrated no other Mass that day, his intention differs from the main celebrant’s, and he is told it before Mass begins.³ Where the extra offerings go is the Ordinary’s to say (which offerings a priest keeps).

When a Year Passes §

No one may accept more offerings for Masses he is to say himself than he can satisfy within a year (canon 953). The year begins “on the day the priest who is to celebrate them received them, unless it is established otherwise” (canon 955 §2, our translation). What is still unsatisfied after a year goes, still owed, to the Ordinary “in the manner the Ordinary lays down” (canon 956, our translation). The Holy See encourages sending surplus intentions, with their offerings, to mission countries (decree, Art. 5). Our suggestion, once a month:

• List every intention received ten months ago or more and not yet said.
• Schedule it here, or send it on with its whole offering, unless the parishioner expressly asked for this church (canon 954).
• Hand over anything a year old the way your diocese directs. Cincinnati’s parishes send what they can’t say within the year to the chancery “with a letter outlining the intention(s) and the amounts of the offerings.”⁴
• Write where each Mass went, when, and with how much, and later the date word came back.

Dioceses differ over a dated Mass asked for more than a year ahead, such as a fifth anniversary. If the pastor agrees, Rockford and Cincinnati let the secretary “save-the-date” now, but she “should not accept the intention or stipend at this time.”^{3 4} Omaha says some people “might want to schedule a Mass a year or two in advance; this is allowed in moderation.”⁹ Buffalo excepts Masses left in an estate, such as two a year for ten years.¹ The question turns on the canon’s “unless it is established otherwise,” so ask your own diocese (closing the Mass year).

Founded Masses and Bequests §

Now and then a will leaves a parish money so that Mass is said for someone every year, for decades. Property given with a lasting duty of having Masses said from its yearly income is a pious foundation (canon 1303 §1, 2°). The parish may accept one only with the Ordinary’s written permission (canon 1304 §1); it is put in writing, with copies in the diocese’s archive and the parish’s (canon 1306); and a list of its obligations is displayed so that they aren’t forgotten (canon 1307 §1). Then a second book:

Praeter librum de quo in can. 958, § 1, alter liber retineatur et apud parochum vel rectorem servetur, in quo singula onera eorumque adimpletio et eleemosynae adnotentur.

Besides the book spoken of in canon 958 §1, a second book is to be kept, and held by the pastor or rector, in which each obligation, its fulfillment and the offerings are recorded.

Canon 1307 §2. Latin · The Holy See’s English · Our translation.

For a parish, only the diocesan bishop may reduce founded Masses, and then only for a just and necessary cause (canon 1308, as Pope Francis revised it in 2022). Moving them to other days or churches is his to decide too (canon 1309). The office never does either on its own. Some dioceses would rather not take such duties on: Rockford says “Perpetual Mass intentions should never be accepted,”³ and Cincinnati limits any founded Masses it accepts “to a life of twenty-five years.”⁴ A bequest that simply leaves a sum for a number of Masses goes in the ordinary book, as Buffalo reminds its parishes: “Did you set up the correct # of Masses for the bequest?”¹

The Book and the Money §

The book says what the parish owes; the Mass account holds the offerings for Masses not yet said. The two should agree, and how a parish holds the money is for each diocese to decide. Oakland tells its parishes to “reconcile the Mass register” at the end of each month to see which priests are to be paid, and at the year’s end to audit the account against the book, because “these should always balance.”¹⁰ Buffalo asks for the reconciliation every quarter and says what it answers: “Do you have enough money to pay out all the paid intentions the parish is holding?”¹ Cincinnati calls a shortfall “a matter of much greater concern” than a surplus.⁴

In Buffalo’s first example of a surplus, a parish took in All Souls offerings and “said one Novena for All Souls but did not schedule any further intentions to be said and did not send the offerings and intentions out to others.”¹ The remedy was to go back year by year, work out how many Masses were owed, and schedule them or send them on. Its rule is that for those envelopes “the required number of Masses must be recorded in the Mass Intention Book,” one for every $15 received. Write the Masses down the day the money arrives.

What the Review Looks For §

What your diocese asks to see, and when, is its own to say; Cincinnati wants the books shown with the sacramental records when the archbishop or his representative visits.⁴

San Antonio’s dean, on his visitation (form of January 2026), checks that intentions are recorded in a special book, that the entries are complete (the number of Masses, the intention, the offering and the celebration), and that the books have been inspected every year.¹¹ Indianapolis’s audit program (2014) checks each Mass in the journal for its priest and amount, compares a year’s Masses with what the priests received, and confirms that the account holds only offerings waiting for their Masses, that it holds enough for every Mass not yet said or not yet paid, and that the parish reconciles the two at least once a year.¹²

Our suggestion is to have these together before the review:

• the year’s book, or a printout of it;
• the record of Masses sent elsewhere, with the confirmations;
• the latest reconciliation of the account against the book;
• a list of anything older than a year, and what was done about it;
• for founded Masses, their list and their book.

How Long to Keep the Book §

Canon 958 doesn’t say, and diocesan schedules differ. Scranton keeps its Mass books “on file permanently.”⁸ Los Angeles lists Mass intention books at seven years.¹³ San Antonio’s dean checks that no finished book has been kept more than two years past its last entry.¹¹ Charleston keeps the book “Until administrative value ceases.”¹⁴

Follow your diocese’s schedule. Our advice: never destroy a book while a Mass in it is unsaid, or passed on without word back, because the obligation remains (canon 199). And when the pastor changes, the book stays: in Owensboro’s words, “the intentions remain with the parish and become the responsibility of the new pastor.”¹⁵

How Memento Keeps This §

In Memento the register is the book. A canceled intention stays in it, marked canceled, and nothing in it is deleted while the parish keeps its account; every change records who made it and when, and the whole register downloads as a file for the yearly review. The ledger of offerings lets each priest keep one offering a day, Christmas Day excepted, and lists the rest to send where the Ordinary directs (canon 958, and what we do about it).