When to approach the Communion rail?

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Accepted answer

Rev. J. B. O'Connell, The Celebration of Mass: A Study of the Rubrics of the Roman Missal (1962), p. 315:

  1. If there is anyone to receive Holy Communion, the server rings the bell (once) shortly before the time for Communion, say during the prayers that follow Agnus Dei. As Confiteor — which used to be [in the 1958 or earlier missals] the signal to the celebrant that there were persons for Communion — is no longer said [?], and as the new rubric of R. X, 6* directs the server "to warn" the communicants by ringing the bell "a little before" Communion:
  • the bell should no longer be rung at the priest's Domine, non sum dignus (this was never ordered by any rubric, it was merely a usage);
  • when there are communicants it should be rung as a warning to them to approach the altar. Since people should not, if possible, be moving about during the celebrant's Communion, it would seem that the bell should be rung shortly after Agnus Dei; the people must now be trained to approach for Communion sooner than they usually do;
  • shortly after having rung the warning bell for the people, the server should go to the Epistle corner of the altar and kneel on the lowest step, if there is anyone for Communion; if not, he takes the cruets and waits at the foot of the altar until after the celebrant's Communion. This is an indication to the celebrant that there is no one to communicate.

*Ritus Servandus in Celebratione Missæ (found at beginning of the [1962] Missal) X, 6:

  1. Si qui sum communicandi in Missa, paulo antea ministrans campanulas signo eos moneat. […]

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