This article now presents an outdated picture of the Latin Mass, now that the present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has published the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. This recent Apostolic Letter has declared that the Traditional Latin Mass (or extraordinary form of the Roman Rite) was never abrogated, i.e. was always permitted. Therefore, priests wishing to use this form of the Roman Rite do not need any permission from their Bishop. However, we retain this article as it contains useful information on the traditional rite of Mass and also the struggle for Tradition in the years following the publication of the previous Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei.

Whatever Happened
to the Traditional
Latin Roman Rite?

Did you know ..... ?

THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS

• has for centuries been celebrated in this way throughout the world

• is both approved and encouraged by Pope John Paul II

• can be legitimately requested from your Bishop

Do you wish to claim your own heritage?

• PRESERVATION of the ancient Roman rite of Mass in the form in which it has been celebrated for centuries throughout the world.

• RESPECT for the Church's sacred traditions as a vital link with the traditional Faith regarding the nature of the Mass, and as a secure anchor and guarantee that we do not drift away from that Faith.

• NO COMPROMISE with the spirit of the world or adaptation of the Mass to the lifestyle of our desacralised age.

• RESTORATION of a sacred atmosphere where God comes first and in which we give Him the worship that is due to Him.

• APPRECIATION of the Church's treasury of sacred music especially Gregorian Chant and Sacred Polyphony.

• PROMOTION of the use of Latin, the Church's own language, in her worship, teaching and administration.

• PROTECTION of our altars from destruction and our sanctuaries from being re-ordered, none of which was authorised by the Second Vatican Council.

"Holy things must be treated in a holy way"

(The Council of Trent)

Do you yearn for

• beauty, dignity, silence, reverence in the Mass?

• a chance to participate in the Holy Sacrifice in the way of our ancestors in the Faith?

• a sense of awe and mystery in worship?

• ample room for recollection and private prayer?

The traditional Latin Mass is now the only form of Mass available to us in which all these qualities abound, and where every word spoken, every gesture performed by the priest as he offers the Divine Victim to the Heavenly Father is perfectly attuned to this supreme act of worship.

According to Christian Tradition, reverence is fundamental to worship as it increases a sense of the sacred and allows us to 'see' the eternal and the supernatural. Cardinal Newman said that anyone who does not fear and revere has not known the reality of God.

It is also true that reverence for the traditional form of worship and fear of abandoning it are fundamental to the continuity of the Faith. "Lex orandi, lex credendi" (As we pray, so we come to believe) sums up the Church's centuries-old wisdom.

This is the tried and tested method which has inspired countless saints and martyrs, fostered devotion to the Mass among successive generations of the faithful, increased vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and attracted converts in unrivalled numbers.

From the moment the priest enters the sanctuary, correctly vested to celebrate Mass, and declares his intention to offer sacrifice with the immortal words Introibo ad altare Dei ('I will go unto the altar of God'), you know you are present at one of the oldest and most venerable rites of Mass in the Catholic Church.

In the old rite the Church sets forth in a fully explicit way her doctrine of the Communion of Saints by which we are united in a bond of fellowship with all the faithful living and dead. The doctrine of the intercession of Our Lady and the Saints whose merits can win grace for our souls is given frequent prominence in the Ordinary and the Propers of the traditional Latin Mass.

The Offertory prayers are now unique in the Church for their doctrinal richness and the outstanding beauty of their composition. They speak with immense veneration of the bread and wine even before Consecration, using expressly sacrificial terminology of great rhetorical beauty. This is an important spiritual preparation for the moment of Consecration and has been handed on to us as a precious heritage of Catholic piety through the centuries.

The Consecration is the culminating point of the Mass towards which everything converges. The Church teaches that the words 'Mystery of Faith' in the Consecration formula are meant in the traditional sense that the bread and wine have become truly, really, substantially the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and that this change is brought about by the power of God only through the intermediary of a priest when he pronounces the words of Consecration. The rubrics of the old rite, reflecting the Catholic instinct towards the Real Presence, require that the priest genuflect immediately after bringing about this unique miracle.

It is because of the supremely sacred nature of this Sacrifice that it is celebrated with solemnity and devout veneration. All the words and gestures of the priest are meticulously regulated by the rubrics, which include multiple genuflections, to ensure the greatest possible reverence in worship.

The old rite omits nothing that may serve to remind us that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice on Calvary mystically re-enacted on the altar. Hence the many Sings of the Cross made over the Sacred Species and the orientation of the priest towards the altar of Sacrifice. The essence of the Mass is the offering of the Divine Victim to God through the intermediary of a priest acting in the person of Christ. It is a fitting and very powerful symbol of Sacrifice that all participants in the Mass face the same way, that is towards the Lord, as was the practice of the Universal Church from earliest times.

The priest recites the Canon (the central part of the Mass) in a low voice. The Church has taught for centuries that the silent Canon is the most fitting way in which to encounter what is most holy and mysterious.

The essence of the Mass is the Sacrifice of the Cross made present each day upon our altars and offered to God as a Sacrifice of propitiation for the souls of the living and the dead. For this purpose Christ gave His Apostles and their successors in the priesthood the power to bring about the change of bread and wine into His Body and Blood and offer this Sacrifice to the Heavenly Father.

This was the Faith of the Apostolic Church which received it from Christ Himself and, in steadfast adherence to divine Revelation, passed it on in a chain of Tradition which constantly mirrors the mind of Christ. This, therefore, is the essence of our Faith, the touchstone of orthodoxy regarding the true nature of the Mass.

It is precisely because the Mass is a supremely sacred action of infinite value, being the offering of the Divine Victim to the Heavenly Father, outweighing in merit all other actions and prayers, that the celebration of the traditional Roman Mass has always been invested with the greatest possible reverence, order and dignity.

...there is your heart also." These words of Jesus remind us that we are shaped and fashioned by what we love the most. Those who treasure the traditional way of celebrating Mass can appreciate its impact on our spiritual lives. By increasing fervour and setting our hearts on fire with love for the Holy Sacrifice, the traditional prayers, rituals and music induce the proper dispositions for us to benefit from the infinite graces bestowed by Almighty God through devout participation in the Mass.

It has been the consistent teaching of many Popes that Latin has special qualities as a language of worship in the Roman Rite.

• hallowed by a tradition of 16 centuries, it is a token of the timeless nature of the liturgy, as it links us in a common identity with our ancestors in the Faith who prayed in the self-same words.

• a single language of worship, uniting many nations, is a symbol of the visible universality and unity of the Church. The use of Latin unites us all in a bond of unity with our common centre, Rome, 'the Mother and Teacher of all nations'.

• set apart from worldy associations, it is capable of enhancing spirituality, and is therefore a most suitable medium of adoration, devotion and mystery.

• it is a language which, unlike the vernacular, does not continue to evolve, and so it preserves the orthodox and meaning of the Mass from the danger of corruption through perpetual change.

That is not a barrier either to our understanding of the Mass or to our full participation in it, as shown in the experience of countless millions of Catholics in every country of the world where the Roman rite has been celebrated since the 4th century. The few responses required can be understood and easily memorised with practice and familiarity. We can also follow the Mass in every detail with the use of a bi-lingual Missal or by privately saying other prayers related to the action of the Mass as it unfolds at the altar.

The traditional Roman Mass is our heritage from great antiquity, a sublime gift of God and the fruit of centuries of inspired Catholic thinking. It goes back without significant change to the 6th century when Pope St. Gregory the Great left the old rite in all its essentials just as we have it today.

This was the Mass which Pope St. Pius V in 1570 decreed should remain unchanged in perpetuity. Thus he did not promulgate a new Order of Mass, but simply gave new legal force to a rite of Mass that had already existed for centuries and had been protected by the Church's Law of Immemorial Custom.

In 1984 the Holy Father issued an Indult for the traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated world-wide. In a motu proprio entitled Ecclesia Dei (1988) he mentioned its 'lawfulness' and manifested his will that permission for its celebration be granted on a 'wide and generous' basis. This can be obtained by application to the local Bishop who has executive powers to carry out the Pope's will.

The Latin Mass Society holds and will always hold firmly to its belief in the value of the Church's traditional ritual as the most perfect and effective means of reaching the innermost depths of our being, of lifting us out of the finite and worldy sphere and into the world of Christ - and therefore of fulfilling the fundamental purpose of the Second Vatican Council 'to restore all things in Christ'.

• By attending the traditional Mass in your area whenever possible.

• By asking your Bishop to authorise its celebration if it is not already available.

• By joining the LATIN MASS SOCIETY which works for its preservation in union with the Holy See.

  Please fill in a Membership form (PDF, 118KB, including optional direct debit section) and send it to the address below:

  THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY, 11-13 Macklin Street, London. WC2B 5NH.

If you do not support us, it will be all too readily assumed by those in authority in the church today that you are happy to lose your heritage.