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The Tridentine Mass is a term used to denote the liturgy of the Catholic Mass of the Roman Rite as it existed, through successive editions, from 1570 to 1970. It is celebrated entirely in Latin, except for a small number of words and phrases in Greek and Hebrew.

The term "Tridentine" means "relating to the Council of Trent", and the 1570 edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated by Pope Pius V in order to implement a decision of that council. (For the forms of the Roman-Rite Mass liturgy in the preceding centuries, see Pre-Tridentine Mass.) Pope Pius V made this Missal mandatory throughout the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, except where a Mass liturgy dating from before 1370 was in use. Later Popes revised it - for example, in 1604, 1634, 1888, 1920, 1955 and 1962.

Since 1970, the Tridentine Mass has been almost entirely superseded by the Mass of Paul VI. However, some groups, parishes and individual priests have received permission from Rome or from their local bishops to continue to use the 1962 edition of the Missal. Many Traditionalist Catholics, moreover, regard the Tridentine form as the only legitimate Mass liturgy, use it exclusively without official permission, and assert that every priest has the right to celebrate it without having to obtain authorisation from the Church authorities.

On October 11, 2006 an unidentified Vatican source told The Times (UK) that Pope Benedict XVI would likely sign a universal indult (permission) for all priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass.

Terminology

Though the term "Tridentine Mass" is widely used, some Catholics reject it. Many of these are Traditionalist Catholics who believe that the term incorrectly implies that Pope Pius V created a new rite rather than merely "codifying" the existing liturgy, the origins of which predated the Council of Trent (see Pre-Tridentine Mass). Such people prefer to use the term "Traditional Mass", along with more rhetorical expressions such as "Mass of All Time" and "Mass of Ages".

Many Catholics refer to the Tridentine rite as the "Latin Mass", though the Mass of Paul VI is also sometimes celebrated in Latin (and Latin was used in the successive pre-Tridentine forms of the Mass, and continues to be used in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites).

Pope St. Pius V's revision of the liturgy

At the time of the Council of Trent, the traditions preserved in printed and manuscript missals varied considerably, and standardization was sought both within individual dioceses and throughout the Latin West. Standardization was also required in order to prevent the introduction into the liturgy of Protestant ideas in the wake of the Protestant Reformation.

Pope St. Pius V accordingly imposed uniformity by law, allowing only rites older than 200 years to survive the promulgation of the 1570 Missal. Several of the rites that remained in existence were progressively abandoned, though the Ambrosian rite survives strongly in Milan, Italy and neighbouring areas, stretching even into Switzerland, and the Mozarabic rite remains in use to a much more limited extent in Toledo and Madrid, Spain. The Carmelite, Carthusian and Dominican religious orders kept their rites until the second half of the twentieth century, when they chose to adopt the Mass of Paul VI. The rite of Braga, Portugal also seems to have been abandoned.

Pius V's revision of the liturgy had as one of its declared aims the restoration of the Roman Missal "to the original form and rite of the holy Fathers". Due to the relatively limited resources available to his scholars, this aim was in fact not realised: see Pre-Tridentine Mass.

Liturgy of the Tridentine Mass

The following is a description in outline of the Tridentine Mass as celebrated in the mid-twentieth century. The wordings given are those found in typical missals used by English-speaking Catholics who wanted to follow the prayers that the priest said in Latin and to which a response was usually given only by the altar servers.

The Mass is divided into two parts, the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful. Catechumens, i.e. those being instructed in the faith, were once dismissed after the first half, not having yet professed the faith. Profession of faith was considered essential for participation in the Eucharistic sacrifice, cf. Didache, ca. A.D. 140: "Let no one eat or drink of the Eucharist with you except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord..." (Jurgens §6).

This rule of the Didache still holds. It is only one of the three conditions (baptism, right faith and right living) for admission to receiving Holy Communion that the Catholic Church has always applied and that were already mentioned in the early second century by Saint Justin Martyr: "And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined" (First Apology, Chapter LXVI).

Mass of the Catechumens

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar

• Asperges (Sprinkling with holy water, Psalm 51:9, 3). To the accompaniment of chanted verses from Psalm 50/51 (or during Eastertide, from the Book of Ezekiel and Psalm 117/118) the priest, wearing a cope, sprinkled the altar and all in the church with holy water. This optional rite was only permitted on Sundays.
• Sign of the Cross
  • The priest, after processing in with the servers and, at Low Mass, placing the veiled chalice on the centre of the altar, makes the sign of the Cross at the foot of the altar. At Solemn Mass, the chalice is placed beforehand on the credence table.
• Psalm 43|42 ("Judica me, Deus"), preceded and followed by the antiphon "Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam", is recited by the priest, alternating with the servers, who symbolically represent the people. Then the priest makes again the sign of the Cross, saying: "Our help is in the name of the Lord", to which the servers add: "Who made heaven and earth."
• Confession (Confiteor)
  • First the priest says: "I confess to almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, brethren, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault (in Latin, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa). Therefore I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin ... and you, brethren, to pray to the Lord our God for me." The servers pray for the priest: "May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life everlasting." Then it is the servers' turn to confess sinfulness and to ask for prayers. They use the same words as those used by the priest, except that they say "you, Father," in place of "you, brethren", and the priest responds with the same prayer that the servers have used for him.
• Some verses are then said by priest and servers, ending with the priest saying: "Let us pray." After this he goes to the altar, praying silently "that with pure minds we may worthily enter into the holy of holies", a reference to Ex 26:33-34, 1 Kgs (or 3 Kgs) 6:16, 1 Kgs (or 3 Kgs) 8:6, 2 Chr (or 2 Para) 3:8, Ezek 41:4, and others. He places his joined hands on the altar and silently prays that by the merits of the Saints whose relics are in the altar God may pardon all his sins.

The Priest at the Altar

• Introit
  • The priest again makes the sign of the Cross and reads the Introit, which is usually taken from a Psalm. Exceptions occur: e.g. the Introit for Easter Sunday is adapted from Wis 10:20-21, and the antiphon in Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary was from the poet Sedulius. This evolved from the practice of singing a full Psalm during the entrance of the clergy, before the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar were added to the Mass in medieval times. This is indicated by the very name of "Introit".
• Kyrie
  • This part of Mass is a linguistic marker of the origins of the Roman liturgy in Greek. "Kyrie, eleison; Christe, eleison; Kyrie, eleison." means "Lord, have mercy; Christ have mercy;..." Each phrase is said (or sung) three times.
• Gloria in excelsis Deo
  • The first line of the Gloria is taken from Lk 2:14. The Gloria is omitted during liturgical seasons calling for penitence, such as Advent and Lent, both generally having the liturgical color violet, but is used on feasts falling during such seasons, as well as on Holy Thursday.
• The Collect
  • The priest turns toward the people: "Dominus vobiscum." "Et cum spiritu tuo." ("The Lord be with you." "And with thy spirit", an idiomatic phrase meaning "and with you too"). The Collect follows, a prayer not drawn directly from Scripture. It tends to reflect the season.

Instruction; Acts of Faith

• The priest reads in Latin the Epistle, primarily an extract from the letters of St. Paul to various churches.
• The Gradual followed by either the Alleluia or the Tract
  • The Gradual is partly composed of a portion of a Psalm.
• The Gospel or the words of our Lord
  • Before reading the Gospel in Latin, the priest prays: "Cleanse my heart and my lips, O almighty God, who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaias...", a reference to Isaiah 6:6. In this passage, after being cleansed by the angel, Isaiah was instructed to prophesy.
• The Sermon
  • Before the sermon, the priest makes announcements, especially of marriages, requirements of the liturgical season such as fasting, events for the week, and requests to pray for the ill or deceased. It was customary also for the priest to read a vernacular translation of the Gospel passage that he had read in Latin.
• The Creed
  • This is the Nicene Creed, professing faith in God the Father, in God the Son, the Word made flesh, in God the Holy Ghost, and in the Holy Church. At the mention of the Incarnation, the celebrant and the congregation genuflect.
• The priest then turns to the people, greets them and says: "Let us pray." No particular prayer follows immediately, since the Prayer of the Faithful to which this invitation once served as an introduction was not preserved in the Tridentine Mass. (It has been restored in the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal.)

Mass of the Faithful

Offertory

• Offertory antiphon
  • An antiphon is a musical response, such as a verse. The offertory antiphon is often taken from a Psalm, or from other Scripture.
• Offering of Bread and Wine
  • The priest offers the host, holding it at breast level and praying that, although he is unworthy, God may accept "this spotless host (or victim, the basic meaning of hostia in Latin) for his own innumerable sins, offences and neglects, for all those present, and for all faithful Christians living and dead, that it may avail unto salvation of himself and those mentioned. He then mixes a few drops of water with the wine, which will later become the Blood of Jesus, and offers "the chalice of salvation", asking that it may "ascend with a sweet fragrance." He then prays a prayer of contrition adapted from Dan 3:39-40.
• Incensing of the offerings and of the faithful (if done)
  • The priest prays Psalm 141:2-4: "Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight;..."
• Washing the hands
  • The priest prays Psalm 26:6-12: "I will wash my hands among the innocent..."
• Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity
  • This prayer asks that the Divine Trinity may receive the oblation being made in remembrance of the passion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and in honor of blessed Mary ever Virgin and the other saints, "that it may avail to their honour and our salvation: and that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven..."
• Orate fratres and Secret; Amen concludes Offertory
  • Here the priest turns to the congregation and prays that "my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father almighty."

Consecration; Acts of Gratitude and Hope

• Preface of the Canon
  • "The Roman Canon dates in essentials from St. Gregory the Great and earlier. It contains the main elements found in almost all rites, but in an unusual arrangement.
  • Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Sursum corda. Habemus ad Dominum. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro. Dignum et justum est. The first part can be seen above at the Collect; the rest means: Lift up your hearts. We lift them up unto the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is meet and right.
  • Next a preface is prayed, indicating specific reasons for giving thanks to God. This leads to the Sanctus.
• Canon or Rule of Consecration
  • Intercession (corresponding to the Reading of the Diptychs in the Byzantine Rite - a diptych is a two-leaf painting, carving or writing tablet.)
    • Here the priest prays for the living; that the Church may be united and that God may govern it together with the Pope and "all true believers and professors of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith". Then specific living people are mentioned, as are those present, and all those known to God as faithful. Then Mary ever Virgin, the Apostles, and Popes and other Martyrs are mentioned, for they live in Heaven as members of the Church Triumphant.
  • Prayers preparatory to the Consecration
    • A prayer that God may graciously accept the offering and deliver "from eternal damnation".
  • Consecration (Transubstantiation) and major Elevation
    • The passage Lk 22:19-20 is key in this section. In Summa Theologiae III 78 3 Thomas Aquinas addresses the interspersed phrase The Mystery of Faith.
  • Oblation of the Victim to God
    • An oblation is an offering; the pure, holy Victim is now offered, with a prayer that God may accept the offering and command His holy angel to carry the offering up, and that those who will receive the Body and Blood "may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing."
  • Remembrance of the Dead
    • The priest now prays for the dead ("those who have gone before us with the sign of faith and sleep the sleep of peace") and asks that they may be granted a place of refreshment, light and peace. This is followed by a prayer that we may be granted fellowship with the apostles and martyrs. Some martyrs, men and women, are then mentioned by name.
  • End of the Canon and minor Elevation; Amen ratifying the Canon prayer
    • The concluding doxology is: "Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, be unto Thee, O God the Father almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory, world without end."

Communion

• The Lord's Prayer and Libera nos
  • The "Libera nos" is an extension of the Lord's Prayer developing the line "sed libera nos a malo" ("but deliver us from evil"). The priest prays that we may be delivered from all evils and that the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, together with the apostles and saints, may intercede to obtain for us peace in our day.
• Fraction of the Host
  • During the preceding prayer, the priest breaks the consecrated Host into three parts, and after concluding the prayer drops the smallest part into the Chalice while praying that this commingling and consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ may "be to us who receive it effectual to life everlasting."
• Agnus Dei
  • "Agnus Dei" means "Lamb of God." The priest then prays: "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us." He repeats this, and then adds: "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace." The Mass of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday has "have mercy on us" all three times. In Requiem Masses, the petitions are "grant them rest" (twice), followed by "grant them eternal rest."
• The Pax
  • The priest asks God to look not to sins but to faith. He prays for peace and unity within the Church, and then, if a High Mass is being celebrated, gives the sign of peace, saying: "Peace be with you."
• Prayers preparatory to the Communion
  • In the first of these two prayers for himself, the priests asks that by Holy Communion he may be freed from all his iniquities and evils, be made to adhere to the commandments of Jesus and never be separated from him. In the second he asks: "Let not the partaking of Thy Body, O Lord Jesus Christ...turn to my judgment and condemnation: but through Thy goodness may it be unto me a safeguard...."
• Receiving of the Body and Blood of our Lord
  • Several prayers are made here. One of these, prior to communion, is based on Mt 8:8: "Lord, I am not worthy...." If anyone other than the priest will communicate at the Mass, i.e. receive the Eucharist – something not envisaged in the text of the Ordo Missae of the pre-1970 Roman Missal – then a member of the clergy or the altar server again says the Confiteor (cf. above), as in the rite of giving Communion outside of Mass.

Thanksgiving; Acts of Gratitude

• Prayers during the Ablutions
  • The prayers now focus on what has been received, that "we may receive with a pure mind", "that no stain of sin may remain in me, whom these pure and holy sacraments have refreshed."
• Communion Antiphon and Postcommunion
  • The communion antiphon is normally a portion of a Psalm. The Postcommunion Prayer is akin to the Collect in being an appropriate prayer not directly drawn from Scripture.
• Ite Missa est; Blessing
  • "Go, you are dismissed." Thanks be to God." The word "Mass" derives from this phrase.
• The last Gospel (usually Jn 1:1-14)
• Leonine Prayers
  • Pope Leo XIII prescribed that three Ave Marias, a Salve Regina followed by a versicle and response and a prayer for the conversion of sinners and the freedom and exaltation of Holy Mother the Church, and a prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel should then be recited, kneeling. Pope Pius X added a thrice-repeated "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us." Pope Pius XI ordered that these prayers be said for the conversion of Russia. They were not printed in the Roman Missal itself, and were recited in English in English-speaking countries.

Private prayers after Mass (not part of the liturgy)

Tridentine editions of the Roman Missal also contained prayers recommended, but not imposed, for recitation by the priest privately after Mass. The Canticle of the Three Youths (Dan 3) is one of these prayers.

Participation by the people

The priest, assisted by the server or servers, carried out these actions and recited, largely inaudibly, these prayers in Latin in exactly the same way whether people were present or not. If there were people, they participated essentially simply by being present. Most quietly recited the rosary or said other prayers, while a minority had small hand missals that contained translations of at least some of the prayers that the priest said. All joined in doing certain gestures, such as making the large sign of the cross at the beginning and at the final blessing, and the small signs of the cross at the start of the Gospel reading. They respectfully adored Christ present in the Eucharist at what were called the elevations of the host and the chalice after each was consecrated.

Dialogue Mass, the twentieth-century practice whereby the people recited the prayers that the servers said and also some parts that the choir sang at a Missa cantata, such as the Gloria, the Creed and the Sanctus, and even the entrance, offertory and communion antiphons that the choir sang at Solemn Mass never became prevalent.

Different levels of celebration

There are various forms of celebration of the Tridentine Mass:

• Pontifical High Mass: celebrated by a bishop accompanied by a deacon, subdeacon, thurifer, acolytes and other ministers, under the guidance of a priest acting as Master of Ceremonies. Most often the specific parts assigned to deacon and subdeacon are performed by priests. The parts that are said aloud are all chanted, except that the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, which before the reform of Pope Pius V were said in the sacristy, are said quietly by the bishop with the deacon and the subdeacon, while the choir sings the Introit. The main difference between a pontifical and an ordinary High Mass is that the bishop remains at his throne almost all the time until the offertory.
• Solemn or High Mass (Latin: Missa solemnis): offered by a priest accompanied by a deacon and subdeacon and the other ministers mentioned above.
• Missa Cantata (Latin for "sung mass"): celebrated by a priest without deacon and subdeacon, and thus a form of Low Mass, but with some parts (the three variable prayers, the Scripture readings, Preface, Pater Noster, and Ite Missa Est) sung by the priest, and other parts (Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual, Tract or Alleluia, Credo, Offertory Antiphon, Sanctus and Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Communion Antiphon) sung by the choir.
• Low Mass: recited entirely by the priest, sometimes to the accompaniment of hymns, not always directly related to the Mass, sung by a choir or the congregation.

In its article The Liturgy of the Mass, the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia describes how, when concelebration ceased to be practised in Western Europe, Low Mass became distinguished from High Mass:

The separate celebrations then involved the building of many altars in one church and the reduction of the ritual to the simplest possible form. The deacon and subdeacon were in this case dispensed with; the celebrant took their part as well as his own. One server took the part of the choir and of all the other ministers, everything was said instead of being sung, the incense and kiss of peace were omitted. So we have the well-known rite of low Mass (missa privata). This then reacted on high Mass (missa solemnis), so that at high Mass too the celebrant himself recites everything, even though it be also sung by the deacon, subdeacon, or choir.

On the origin of the "Missa Cantata", the same source gives the following information:

... high Mass is the norm; it is only in the complete rite with deacon and subdeacon that the ceremonies can be understood. Thus, the rubrics of the Ordinary of the Mass always suppose that the Mass is high. Low Mass, said by a priest alone with one server, is a shortened and simplified form of the same thing. Its ritual can be explained only by a reference to high Mass. For instance, the celebrant goes over to the north side of the altar to read the Gospel, because that is the side to which the deacon goes in procession at high Mass; he turns round always by the right, because at high Mass he should not turn his back to the deacon and so on. A sung Mass (missa Cantata) is a modern compromise. It is really a low Mass, since the essence of high Mass is not the music but the deacon and subdeacon. Only in churches which have no ordained person except one priest, and in which high Mass is thus impossible, is it allowed to celebrate the Mass (on Sundays and feasts) with most of the adornment borrowed from high Mass, with singing and (generally) with incense.

Revision of the Roman Missal

Pius XII began in earnest the work of revising the Roman Missal with a thorough revision of the rites of Holy Week, which, after an experimental period beginning in 1951, was made obligatory in 1955. The Mass that used to be said on Holy Thursday morning was moved to the evening, necessitating a change in the rule that previously had required fasting from midnight. The Good Friday service was moved to the afternoon, Holy Communion was no longer reserved for the priest alone (as before, hosts consecrated at the Holy Thursday Mass were used) and the priest no longer received part of the host in unconsecrated wine. The Easter Vigil service that used to be held on the morning of Holy Saturday was moved to the night that leads to Easter Sunday and many changes were made to the content. Some traditionalist Catholics refuse to accept these changes.

In 1960, Pope John XXIII ordered the suppression of the word "perfidis" ("faithless"), applied to the Jews, in the rites for Good Friday, which he followed up two years later, in 1962, with a more thorough revision of the Roman Missal. This is the edition authorized for use by virtue of the Quattuor abhinc annos indult (see below, under Present status of the Tridentine Mass). Changes included adding St. Joseph's name to the Roman Canon; eliminating the second Confiteor before Communion; suppressing 10 feasts, such as St. Peter's Chair in Rome (or more accurately combining both feasts of St Peter's Chair into one, as they originally had been), St. Philomena (the latter had been authorized only for certain places), 14 festal octaves and 9 vigils of feasts; and modified rubrics especially for Solemn High Masses.

On 4 December 1963, the Second Vatican Council decreed in Chapter II of its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium that "the rite of the Mass is to be revised ... the rites are to be simplified, due care being taken to preserve their substance. Parts which with the passage of time came to be duplicated, or were added with little advantage, are to be omitted. Other parts which suffered loss through accidents of history are to be restored to the vigor they had in the days of the holy Fathers, as may seem useful or necessary. The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God’s word ... A suitable place may be allotted to the vernacular in Masses which are celebrated with the people ... communion under both kinds may be granted when the bishops think fit...as, for instance, to the newly ordained in the Mass of their sacred ordination, to the newly professed in the Mass of their religious profession, and to the newly baptized in the Mass which follows their baptism..."

The instruction Inter Oecumenici of 26 September 1964 initiated the application to the Mass of the decisions that the Council had taken less than a year before. Permission was given for use, only in Mass celebrated with the people, of the vernacular language, especially in the Biblical readings and the reintroduced Prayers of the Faithful, but also, "until the whole of the Ordinary of the Mass has been revised," in the chants (Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the entrance, offertory and communion antiphons) and in the parts that involved dialogue with the people, and also in the Our Father, which the people could now recite entirely together with the priest. Most Episcopal Conferences quickly approved interim vernacular translations, generally different from country to country, and, after having them confirmed by the Holy See, published them in 1965. Other changes included the omission of Psalm 42 (41) at the start of Mass and the Last Gospel at the end, both of which Pope Pius V had first inserted into the Missal (having previously been private prayers said by the priest in the sactristy), and the Leonine Prayers of Pope Leo XIII. The Canon of the Mass, which continued to be recited silently, was kept in Latin.

Three years later, the instruction Tres abhinc annos of 4 May 1967 gave permission for use of the vernacular even in the Canon of the Mass, and allowed it to be said audibly and even, in part, to be chanted; the vernacular could be used even at Mass celebrated without the people being present. Use of the maniple was made optional, and at three ceremonies at which the cope was previously the obligatory vestment the chasuble could be used instead.

Pope Paul VI continued implementation of the Council's directives, ordering with Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum of Holy Thursday, 3 April 1969, publication of a new official edition of the Roman Missal, which appeared (in Latin) in 1970.

Opposition to the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal

Traditionalist Catholics claim that the revised liturgy represented a major break with the past, and that its content is, in Catholic terms, seriously deficient and defective. Some claim that it is displeasing to God and that no Catholic should attend it. See further Mass of Paul VI.

When a preliminary text of two sections of the revised Missal was published in 1969, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre gathered a group of twelve theologians, who, under his direction, wrote a study of the text. They stated that it "represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session 22 of the Council of Trent.". Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, a former Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, supported this study with an open letter to Pope Paul VI which was published with it, as did Cardinal Antonio Bacci. The critical study became known as The Ottaviani Intervention. After the revised Roman Missal appeared in 1970, Cardinal Ottaviani wrote that Pope Paul VI’s doctrinal exposition of the revised liturgy in its definitive form meant that "no one can any longer be genuinely scandalized". Some (including Jean Madiran, editor of the French journal Itineraires) have claimed that the relevant letter was fraudulently presented to the elderly and blind cardinal for his signature by his secretary, Monsignor Gilberto Agustoni, and that Agustoni was dismissed as a result.

In October 1967, a meeting of the Synod of Bishops had already given its opinion on a still earlier draft. Of the 187 members, 78 approved it as it stood, 62 approved it but suggested various modifications, 4 abstained, and 47 voted against.

From the 1960s onwards, Western countries have experienced a drop in Mass attendance (in the United States, from 75% of Catholics attending in 1958 to 25% attending by 2002). These same countries also saw a decline in seminary enrollments and in the number of priests (in the United States, from 1,575 ordinations in 1954 to 450 in 2002), and a general erosion of belief in the doctrines of the Catholic faith. Opponents of the revision of the Mass liturgy argue, citing opinion poll evidence in their support, that the revision contributed to this decline. Others, pointing to the fact that, globally, there are more priests and seminarians now than in previous years (in 1970, there were 72,991 major seminarians worldwide; in 2002, there were 113,199), suggest that the apparent decline of Catholic practice in the West is due to the general influence of secularism and liberalism on Western societies rather than to developments within the Catholic Church.

Present status of the Tridentine Mass

The official policy of the Holy See regarding the use of the Tridentine Mass is expressed in the Congregation for Divine Worship's circular letter Quattuor abhinc annos of 3 October 1984 and Pope John Paul II's motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988. In Quattuor abhinc annos, the Congregation granted to diocesan bishops, on certain conditions, an "indult" (permission) to authorize celebrations of the Tridentine Mass for priests and laypeople who request them. (The term "indult" is also widely used to denote such authorizations granted by bishops.) In Ecclesia Dei, the Pope stated that "respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition" (which, in context, referred to the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite), and urged bishops to give "a wide and generous application" to the provisions of the previous document.

Authorization for a priest to use the 1962 Missal can be granted either by the Holy See or by the local diocesan bishop. Such authorization has in fact been granted to a significant number of priests, parishes and priestly societies (such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which was established by Pope John Paul II in 1988, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney). An international list, with addresses and other contact information, of priestly societies and religious institutes in good standing with the Holy See which celebrate the Tridentine Mass is given on the website of the International Federation Una Voce.

A significant number of diocesan bishops have declined to grant authorization within their dioceses. In some cases, the difficulty is that those seeking the permission are openly hostile to the present-day Church leadership (see Traditionalist Catholic), and the conditions laid down in Quattuor abhinc annos are therefore not satisfied. Some other refusals of permission are arguably more difficult to explain or justify, and are claimed by some to stem from certain bishops' hostility in principle to the Tridentine liturgy.

Several Traditionalist organisations and a significant number of unaffiliated "independent" priests of the same mind celebrate the Tridentine Mass outside normal Church structures. They argue that the Catholic Church has taken a seriously wrong turning since the Second Vatican Council, and that the revision of the liturgy is among the most important of a series of highly problematic changes that have been carried through by the Church authorities since then. The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), founded by the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970, is the largest and best known such group; as at October 2005, it had 4 bishops and 463 priests in 32 countries. The Holy See regards the 4 "Lefebvrist" bishops as excommunicated and the SSPX priests as suspended from exercising sacerdotal functions, a position strongly contested by the Society itself and its supporters.

In order to provide for those who attend the Tridentine Mass, publishers have issued facsimiles of old missals. However, these usually date from the 1950s, and many do not have the revised Holy Week rites promulgated by Pope Pius XII. While this satisfies the small Traditionalist groups (such as the Society of St. Pius V, which broke from the Society of St. Pius X in 1983) that reject Pius XII's liturgical changes, most prefer to have the revised Easter triduum in their Missal. Two new editions of the 1962 Tridentine Missal were published in 2004: one, with the imprimatur of Bishop Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz of Scranton, by Baronius Press in association with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter; the other by the Society of St. Pius X's publishing house, Angelus Press.

On October 11, 2006 an unidentified Vatican source told The London Times that Pope Benedict XVI is preparing and will sign a universal indult (permission) so priests can celebrate the Tridentine Mass freely, unless the Bishop has explicitly forbidden it.

Footnotes

1. Ordorecitandi website
2. Document 314
3. Document 403
4. Papal Encyclicals
5. catechumen
6. Text of Mass of the Catechumens
7. Text of Mass of the Faithful
8. antiphon
9. New advent website
10. Catholic Forum website
11. Catholic Forum website
12. Santus
13. Diptych
14. oblation definition
15. Post Missam
16. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
17. Missale Romanum
19. Ottaviani letter
20. Ottaviani
21. Traditio website

See also

• Pre-Tridentine Mass
• Mass of Paul VI
• The Mass
• Traditionalist Catholic
• Second Vatican Council
• Ecclesia Dei

External links and further reading

• Video of a 1941 Solemn High Mass narrated by Fulton Sheen
• Another video of a Solemn High Mass
• Text of the 1962 Ordinary of the Mass
• Text of the 1962 Ordinary of the Mass, another source
• Quo primum, promulgating the 1570 Roman Missal (Pope Pius V)
• Cum santissimum, promulgating the 1604 Roman Missal (Pope Clement VIII)
• Si quid est, promulgating the 1634 Roman Missal (Pope Urban VIII)
• Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum, promulgating the 1970 Roman Missal (Pope Paul VI)
• Encyclical Mediator Dei
• Liturgy of the Mass (article in Catholic Encyclopedia)
• History of the 1570 Missale Romanum
• Photographs of a Traditional (Tridentine) Mass
• Complete English-Latin Ordinary of the Mass in a printer-friendly format
• The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
• Michael S. Rose, Ugly as Sin: Why They Changed Our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces and How We Can Change Them Back Again Sophia Institute Press, 2001. ISBN 1-928832-36-9
• The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (1945 edition), St. Bonaventure Publications
• Roman Catholic Daily Missal 1962, Baronius Press
• Alfons Cardinal Stickler, "The Attractiveness of the Tridentine Mass" (Speech in the United States in 1999 by Stickler, retired prefect of the Vatican Archives and Library).
• James B. Spencer, "Facts are Stubborn Things" (a review of Index of Leading Catholic Indicators) in The Latin Mass: A Journal of Catholic Culture, Vol. 13, No. 1, Winter 2004, p. 85.
• Renaissance Polyphony and the Tridentine Mass
• Text of the entire 1954 Missal
• The Times: Pope set to bring back Latin Mass that divided the Church

• Misplaced Pages pages referenced by the press
• Tridentine Mass