Lesson 30 - General Principles of the Mass Today

199 - The Roman Missal

In No. 89 we saw how the Missal or Mass Book originated. The Missal used in the Roman Rite today was ordered by the Council of Trent, and was first published by Pius V in 1570. It was revised by Clement VIII, Urban VIII, Leo XIII, Pius X, and a new edition has been brought out by authority of Benedict XV. In the time of Pius V all other Missals which could not show a use of 200 years were suppressed. The Dominicans and the Carmelites, for instance, have Missals of their own, but it may be said that the Missal of Pius V is practically the standard service book wherever Mass is said in Latin (No. 29). The Missal has been translated into English, but a very slight acquaintance with Latin will enable you to follow the priest with understanding. At first the arrangement of the Missal may seem confusing, but a brief study of its contents will remove the difficulty.

200 - The Contents of the Missal

At the beginning of the Missal we find the Calendar and the Rubrics. The Calendar (No. 97) is a list of feasts, and the Rubrics (No. 228) are the directions for saying Mass. The Calendar contains a table giving the dates on which the chief movable feasts fall each year (No. 102). Before the entries on the Calendar you will find the ordinary date of the month, the date as expressed in the old Roman Calendar, and then the Dominical Letter. Dominical Letter means the Sunday Letter, and if you turn to the table of the movable feasts you will see the Dominical Letter is given for each year (two for leap years, No. 101). This letter shows you the date of the month on which Sunday falls for the given year, so you have at your disposal a perpetual Calendar. The Missal itself gives first the Proprium de Tempore, that is, the Masses peculiar, or "proper," to the season. It begins with the Christmas Cycle (No. 104), and then passes to the Easter Cycle (No. 103), beginning with Septuagesima and ending with the Sundays after Pentecost. In the middle of this section we have the Order of the Mass inserted before Easter Sunday, because every Sunday is the commemoration of Easter, and every Mass the celebration of the Christian Passover. The Order, too, is the most used part of the Missal, and is more easily reached when placed in the middle of the book. In some translations we find the Order in the beginning of the book, but the plan of the Latin editions proves by experience the more serviceable. After the Proprium de Tempore we have the Proprium de Sanctis, beginning with the Vigil of Saint Andrew, November 29. Then comes the Commune Sanctorum, or Masses common to various classes of saints (No. 108), followed by Masses said on various occasions and Masses peculiar to certain localities.

201 - Low Masses

In describing the growth of the Mass we have taken it for granted that the Mass was sung, and that the celebrant was attended by the deacon, sub-deacon and other ministers (No. 51). But from the earliest times Mass was also celebrated privately and without a choir. The priest read in a loud voice the parts which the choir is wont to render, and a lay server or altar boy made the responses in the same tone. During the Middle Ages this method was extensively adopted, and we may say that in our time it is the ordinary way of performing the Liturgy. Still, we must remember that the practice of singing Mass with a full staff of ministers is the normal method, as contemplated by the Church, and that Mass is read because it is practically impossible to have ministers present at every celebration. In No. 51 we saw that the common name in English for a Mass which is not sung is a Low Mass. It is well to bear in mind that the difference between a solemn Mass and a Mass celebrated without solemnity, is not in the absence of the choir, but in the absence of the ministers. Thus, a chanted Mass, which is sung by the priest alone, is considered merely a Low Mass.

202 - Occasional Omissions and Additions

We have also taken it for granted that the prayers and ceremonies already described, were employed at all Masses. The growth of the practice of saying Mass with only a server in attendance naturally led in such Masses to the omission of ceremonies for whose observance the presence of a congregation or of communicants was necessary. We have seen how the Kiss of Peace was transferred from before the Offertory to before the Communion because all those that offered did not always communicate. In private Masses the priest alone received Communion, and therefore the ceremony of giving the Pax was entirely omitted; the prayer, however, was retained. Again, as a congregation or a number of ministers is necessary to hold a procession, the processional services, and the incense used thereat, disappeared from private Masses. Moreover, at the Offertory nearly all the ceremonies connected with the offering of the gifts by the people were omitted. Just as there were occasional omissions in the service, so there were occasional additions. The Church year is a record of joy and sorrow.

We pass from the Passion of the Lord to the glories of His Resurrection, and we vary the triumphant celebration of the festivals of the saints by the recollection of our manifold deeds and infirmities. On days of rejoicing the Church uses prayers of thanksgiving and hymns of gladness which she suppresses in times of mourning. Thus it happens that certain prayers and hymns are added on feasts, while on fasts they remain unspoken.

203 - The Lines of Prayer

From the fact that Mass was said by a celebrant accompanied by ministers, and in presence of a congregation, we can readily compare the whole Order of the Mass to a rope made up of various strands, and if we would understand the Order of the Low Mass, especially, it will be necessary to keep these strands well separated in our minds. Essentially, the order is a line of three colors, the priest's part, the ministers part and the part of the congregation. But we must remember that the priest is also an individual and has prayers peculiar to him as an individual as well as prayers peculiar to him as celebrant. We must also remember that from the very beginning some kind of a choir was inevitable and became indispensable as the Church music grew more ornate, so that the part of the congregation was divided between the people and the trained singers. Finally, when the practice of private Mass became the settled and ordinary usage, the priest had to take upon himself all these functions except the few that were left to the altar boy or Mass server. At the first part of the Mass, the old Sunday school (No. 148), the celebrant acted as President of the Congregation, or, as we say, Chairman of the Meeting. If you assist at a Mass said by a Bishop with full solemnity, you will notice that after the solemn entrance he goes to his throne (No. 60), and remains there until the Offertory. Then he comes to the altar for the Sacrifice, as his function in the second part of the Mass is that of sacrificing priest. During the first part of the Mass he salutes the people, and recites the Collect; the rest of the service is carried out by the deacon, sub-deacon and choir. In the second part of the Mass he takes the offerings, chants the Great Thanksgiving or Preface, recites the Canon, chants the Lord's Prayer before the Fraction, gives the Pax and administers Communion. It is the duty of the sub-deacon to read the Epistle, of the deacon to chant the Gospel, while the choir sings the Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual and Creed. During the Sacrifice the choir chants the Offertory, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Communion, but the ministers have no vocal part, except at the Dismissal, where the Ite, Missa est is an old function of the deacon. Formerly, the congregation sang the short responses, and in some Catholic countries the people still can and do chant the Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, a custom which might be established among ourselves with good results.

204 - Special Service Books

If you examine your Missal, you will find that the great bulk of the book is made up of extracts from the Bible commonly called Epistles and Gospels. Formerly, these extracts were read directly from the Bible, but were afterwards gathered into special books (No. 89), and finally into the form we have today.

205 - The Psalms

The Book of Psalms in the Holy Bible consists of 150 hymns or sacred songs. These hymns were written in Hebrew at various times and by various authors. As most of the hymns were written by King David, "the sweet singer of Israel," the whole book is called the Psaltery of David. The Psaltery has always been the Prayer Book of the Church, and after the Lessons the greater part of the Mass is made up of extracts from the Psalms. In singing the Psalms various methods were used. Sometimes they were recited as solos, sometimes as solo and chorus. In No. 141 reference is made to the Great Hallel, or Psalm 135. If you look it up in your Bible, you will find that it reads like a Litany:

"Praise ye the Lord, for He is good.
For His mercy endureth forever.
Praise ye the God of gods,
For His mercy endureth forever.
Praise ye the Lord of lords,
For His mercy endureth forever."

This is a second way of saying the Psalms. The reader reads a verse, or sometimes two verses, and the people responded with a refrain. A third method of singing the Psalms is known as the Antiphonal. It was introduced by the monks (No. 171), and required two choirs or choruses. One choir sang the first verse; the other choir replied with the second verse; the first choir took up the third verse, and so on. The Psalms were not always sung to the same air or time, and, in order to give the choirs the proper tone, a verse of the Psalm was sung by a soloist. This verse, or part of a verse, was called the Antiphon or Anthem, and gave not only the key to the music, but was also used to give the key to the meaning of the Psalm, something like the "mysteries" we say before each decade of the Rosary. As a protest against the Arian Heresy (No. 172), the Lesser Doxology, that is, the "Glory be to the Father," was added to each Psalm. At the end the whole Anthem was repealed, so that the structure of a Psalm sung in the Antiphonal manner is:

• Anthem. (In full or in part.)
• Psalm. (Recited alternately.)
• Glory be to the Father, etc.
• Anthem. (In full.)

- taken from The Mass, by Father Peter Christopher Yorke