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Roman Missal

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Roman Missal
An open Roman Missal
An open Roman Missal
Latin title Missale Romanum
Celebration governed Mass in the Roman Rite
Current Latin typical edition Third typical edition, 2002; emended reprint, 2008
Promulgating authority Roman Pontiff and Apostolic See
General law within the book General Instruction of the Roman Missal
Scripture readings Published principally in the separate Roman Lectionary
Current United States English edition Roman Missal, Third Edition, in use since 27 November 2011
Authority level Binding liturgical discipline

Roman Missal is the official liturgical book containing the prayers, chants, rubrics, and ordered formularies for celebration of Mass in the Roman Rite.

Disciplinary status: Church discipline

Overview

The Roman Missal (Latin: Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church.

Identity and scope

The Roman Missal is the normative altar book for Mass in the Roman Rite. It supplies the Order of Mass, presidential prayers, antiphons, Eucharistic Prayers, prefaces, blessings, rubrics, and formularies assigned to seasons, saints, ritual occasions, public needs, votive celebrations, and the dead. A lawfully approved vernacular edition embodies the same Roman book for a defined territory; it is not a private translation or optional devotional aid.

Missal can also describe historical or local books and, in broad speech, hand missals for the faithful. The proper title Roman Missal distinguishes the Church's official liturgical book from Sunday missalettes, devotional daily missals, sacramentaries, lectionaries, graduals, and altar guides. The current Missal presupposes other books and ministries because Mass is not a priest's private recitation from one plenary volume.

The Roman Lectionary contains the assigned scriptural readings, responsorial psalms, and Gospel acclamations; the Book of the Gospels contains Gospel pericopes for proclamation; the Graduale Romanum supplies the principal Gregorian chants; and episcopal, ritual, and musical books govern other elements. Some editions print selected chants or readings, but physical inclusion does not collapse each book's legal and liturgical identity into the Missal.

Contents and organization

The Missal normally opens with decrees and the General Instruction, followed by the General Roman Calendar, universal norms for the liturgical year, and the Order of Mass. Its Proper of Time runs from Advent through Ordinary Time; the Proper and Common of Saints provide fixed celebrations and shared formularies; further collections serve sacraments and sacramentals celebrated within Mass, various needs and occasions, votive Masses, and Masses for the dead. Appendices and territorial material vary according to the approved edition.

Order of Mass

The Order of Mass gives the stable sequence of Introductory Rites, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, and Concluding Rites. It distinguishes words assigned to priest, deacon, ministers, and people and marks alternatives permitted by law. Options are real but bounded; a celebrant neither reads every alternative nor treats an option as authority to compose a new rite. The Missal's typography, musical notation, and rubrics serve public action rather than a dramatic script for one performer.

Propers, Commons, and formularies

A proper formulary belongs to a particular celebration; a Common supplies texts shared by a class such as martyrs, pastors, virgins, or holy men and women when directed; Masses for Various Needs and Occasions place ecclesial and civil needs within the Eucharistic sacrifice; votive Masses honor a mystery or saint under permitted conditions. Liturgical precedence, calendar rank, and the rubrics govern which formulary may be chosen. Pastoral usefulness does not override a day that excludes such choice.

General Instruction and rubrical authority

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal explains both Eucharistic theology and the binding structure of celebration. It governs offices and ministries, proclamation, silence, music, gestures, posture, Communion, vessels, vestments, church arrangement, concelebration, Mass with or without a deacon, adaptation, and the choice of texts. Its norms are ecclesiastical discipline informed by doctrine; they are not suggestions, yet not every rubric is irreformable dogma.[1]

Hierarchy of authority

Regulation of the sacred liturgy belongs to the Apostolic See and, according to law, the diocesan bishop and conference of bishops. The Apostolic See publishes Latin typical editions; conferences prepare and approve vernacular translations and specified adaptations, which require confirmation or recognitio according to their kind; diocesan bishops regulate within their competence. A priest, parish committee, publisher, or private association cannot authorize contrary words or rites by custom alone.[2]

Validity, liceity, and ars celebrandi

Not every rubrical violation invalidates Mass. Validity concerns whether the sacrament truly occurs; liceity concerns conformity to law; ars celebrandi concerns faithful, intelligent, prayerful execution. The required minister, valid matter, essential form, and sacramental intention must be distinguished from ceremonies that remain obligatory without constituting every element of validity. This distinction prevents both casual disobedience and scrupulous claims that any mistake makes the Eucharist nonexistent.

Origins of the Roman missal

Early Roman celebration used several books: sacramentaries for presidential prayers, lectionaries for readings, antiphoners and graduals for chant, and ordines for ceremonial direction. As celebration by individual priests and other practical needs increased, plenary missals gathered the necessary material into one volume. Medieval Roman, monastic, diocesan, and religious uses varied while sharing a developing Latin inheritance.

Roman Curia and Franciscan diffusion

A missal of the Roman Curia became influential in the thirteenth century and was carried widely by the Franciscans, whose mobile life favored a portable uniform book. Printing accelerated standardization. The 1474 printed Roman Missal is an important ancestor of the Tridentine edition, but neither it nor later papal books sprang from nothing. They codified, selected, and adjusted a long sacramentary and missal tradition.

From Trent to 1962

Following the Council of Trent, Saint Pius V promulgated the Roman Missal of 1570 to secure doctrinal and ritual integrity and greater Western uniformity. Uses with sufficient antiquity could remain, so the reform did not abolish every Latin rite or local use. Subsequent popes revised calendars, rubrics, Holy Week, prayers, and editions. The phrase Tridentine Mass covers a family of editions rather than one text left completely unchanged from 1570.

The 1962 edition promulgated under Saint John XXIII incorporated twentieth-century reforms and is the last typical edition before the postconciliar books. It differs from earlier twentieth-century editions in calendar, rubrics, Holy Week, and other details. A community cannot claim fidelity to 1962 while freely combining features from 1570, pre-1955 Holy Week, later vernacular practice, and private ceremonial preferences.

Reform after the Second Vatican Council

Sacrosanctum Concilium ordered a careful general restoration so rites would manifest their nature clearly, admit full and active participation, open Scripture more abundantly, restore certain elements, and permit regulated vernacular use and adaptation. Saint Paul VI promulgated the revised Missal in 1969; its first Latin typical edition appeared in 1970 and a second in 1975. The reform retained the Roman Mass's essential structure while revising rites, calendar, prayers, lectionary, and pastoral presentation.[3][4]

Third typical edition

Saint John Paul II approved the third typical edition in 2000, and it was published in 2002 with an emended reprint in 2008. It incorporated saints added to the universal calendar, additional formularies and prefaces, revised directions, and other adjustments while remaining the same reformed Roman Missal. Newer insertions issued by competent authority, including celebrations and revised translations, become part of living liturgical law without turning every printed copy instantly unusable apart from promulgated rules.[5]

Continuity and reform

The postconciliar Missal is not a new sacrament or a repudiation of Catholic Eucharistic doctrine. Its prayers confess sacrifice, Real Presence, ministerial priesthood, intercession of saints, prayer for the dead, judgment, grace, and the Paschal mystery. Historical criticism of particular reforms may be discussed within ecclesial obedience, but claims that the promulgated rite is intrinsically invalid, non-Catholic, or proof of a defected Church contradict Catholic faith and communion.[6]

Vernacular translations and territorial editions

The Latin typical edition is the normative point of reference. Conferences of bishops prepare vernacular translations and adaptations within law, approve them by the required vote, and submit them to the Apostolic See for confirmation or recognitio. Magnum Principium clarified these competencies while preserving the Holy See's responsibility for unity. Faithful translation attends to doctrine, Scripture, liturgical genre, proclamation, singing, and the character of the receiving language rather than mere word substitution.[7]

United States English edition

In the United States, the Roman Missal, Third Edition began obligatory use on the First Sunday of Advent, 27 November 2011. It is an approved territorial edition of the third typical edition, with adaptations proper to the dioceses of the United States. Other English-speaking territories use editions approved for them. Familiar wording from another country, an earlier translation, or an unauthorized online text does not supersede the book lawfully in force.

Use of earlier editions

Current universal law identifies the liturgical books promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II as the unique expression of the Roman Rite's lex orandi. Use of the 1962 Roman Missal is a regulated concession, not a coequal ordinary legislative regime or a right to reject the reform. The diocesan bishop acts within norms and reservations established by the Apostolic See, and priests or groups require the permissions that apply to their circumstances.[8][9]

Pastoral care for Catholics attached to earlier forms must be truthful, patient, and directed toward ecclesial communion. It neither humiliates legitimate spiritual attachment nor tolerates denial of Vatican II, the validity of the reformed liturgy, or papal authority. Historical study and private ownership of old missals are not themselves liturgical celebration; public worship must follow the law actually in force.

Celebration and legitimate options

The Missal is used in conjunction with the liturgical calendar and the concrete assembly. The celebrant selects permitted texts according to the day, ritual Mass, pastoral need, language, music, and participants; the deacon and other ministers exercise their proper offices; the faithful respond, listen, sing, keep silence, offer themselves, and receive Communion when properly disposed. Fidelity is active and intelligent, not mechanical speed or theatrical self-expression.

What the Missal does not authorize

No rubric permits altering sacramental words, replacing the readings with secular texts, improvising the Eucharistic Prayer, assigning ordained presidential prayers to laypersons, or adding ceremonies simply because they are meaningful to a group. Conversely, preference should not be elevated into universal law when the Missal grants options, legitimate cultural adaptation, or ministerial diversity. Liturgical formation teaches the difference between command, option, recommendation, local adaptation, and pious custom.

Roman Rite and other Catholic liturgies

The Roman Missal governs the Roman Rite, not every Catholic Eucharistic liturgy. Eastern Catholic Churches use their own anaphoras, divine liturgies, calendars, rubrics, and books according to their traditions and law. Other Latin liturgical traditions and approved uses likewise possess proper books. Their existence does not weaken Roman unity, and the Roman book should not be imposed as though Catholic meant exclusively Latin.

The Ordinariate use has a distinct approved missal shaped by Anglican patrimony within the Latin Church; the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites possess their own books; religious orders may retain proper calendars and texts. Proper additions require competent approval. A local devotion, national hymn, or religious custom can enrich celebration only in the place and manner the liturgical books and authority permit.

Liturgical formation and material editions

A dignified altar Missal should be legible, durable, and arranged for actual celebration. Ribbons, tabs, page preparation, music, and ministerial coordination prevent the book from becoming an obstacle. Electronic aids can assist preparation, but a consumer application or website is not automatically an approved liturgical edition. Copyright and publishing permissions concern lawful reproduction; they do not make the prayer private property or alter ecclesiastical authority.

Formation begins from the Paschal mystery and the Church's theology, then studies the book's structure and rubrics. Knowing why an action exists helps ministers obey without fussiness and exercise options without improvisation. The Missal is a received instrument of the Church's worship: its deepest purpose is not uniform page-turning but faithful participation in Christ's one sacrifice made sacramentally present in the Eucharist.

History

Before the Council of Trent (1570)

Before the high Middle Ages, several books were used at Mass: a Sacramentary with the prayers, one or more books for the Scriptural readings, and one or more books for the antiphons and other chants. Gradually, manuscripts came into being that incorporated parts of more than one of these books, leading finally to versions that were complete in themselves. Such a book was referred to as a Missale Plenum[10] (English: "Full Missal").

As early as the late 7th century, the recurring parts of the Roman Mass became compiled into a new type of liturgical text titled Ordo Missae (Order of Mass), a separate section in sacramentaries which instructed on "How the Roman Mass is to be celebrated" (Qualiter missa romana caelebratur), following the description in Ordo Romanus I.[11] From the 9th century, these Ordo texts — which appeared as part of missals as well as priestly handbooks or prayer books — flourished in variety and content, particularly in the Frankish Kingdom and along the Rhine. Going beyond earlier types of liturgical writing, they incorporated ritual instructions and private prayers for the celebrant to recite as an aid to the devout offering of sacrifice. These private prayers distinctively included prayers directly addressed to Christ and direct invocations of the Holy Trinity (such as during the Offertory) — Gallican responses against Arianism among Germanic peoples. The prayers also reflected a Frankish tendency to verbalise non-verbal gestures.[11] By the reign of Gregory VII, such Rhenish elements had become integral to the rite of the Pope and the Papal Curia, at the same time that the Roman Church began encouraging liturgical unity across Western Christendom.[11]

In 1223 Saint Francis of Assisi instructed his friars to adopt the form that was in use at the Papal Court (Rule, chapter 3). They adapted this missal further to the needs of their largely itinerant apostolate. Pope Gregory IX considered, but did not put into effect, the idea of extending this missal, as revised by the Franciscans, to the whole Western Church; and in 1277 Pope Nicholas III ordered it to be accepted in all churches in the city of Rome. Its use spread throughout Europe, especially after the invention of the printing press; but the editors introduced variations of their own choosing, some of them substantial. Printing also favoured the spread of other liturgical texts of less certain orthodoxy. The Council of Trent determined that an end must be put to the resulting disparities.

The Papal Curia chapel missal used during Innocent III's papacy was largely reproduced in the Franciscan Missal, which in turn was adopted by Pope Nicholas for the Roman Missal.[12] The later Roman Missal of 1474, which replicates the papal chapel missal of the 1200s, "hardly differs at all" from the Tridentine Missal promulgated in 1570.[13]

The first printed Missale Romanum (Roman Missal), containing the Ordo Missalis secundum consuetudinem Curiae Romanae (Order of the Missal in accordance with the custom of the Roman Curia), was produced in Milan in 1474.[14] Almost a whole century passed before the appearance of an edition officially published by order of the Holy See. During that interval, the 1474 Milanese edition was followed by at least 14 other editions: 10 printed in Venice, 3 in Paris, 1 in Lyon.[15] For lack of a controlling authority, these editions differ, sometimes considerably.[16]

Annotations in the hand of Cardinal Gugliemo Sirleto in a copy of the 1494 Venetian edition[17] show that it was used for drawing up the 1570 official edition of Pope Pius V. In substance, this 1494 text is identical with that of the 1474 Milanese edition.[16]

In the 1500s, the Pre-Tridentine Roman Rite became the basis for Evangelical-Lutheran Rite of the Mass.[18]

From 1570 to the 1960s

Implementing the decision of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V promulgated, in the Apostolic Constitution Quo primum of 14 July 1570, an edition of the Roman Missal that was mandated for obligatory use throughout the Latin Church except where there was another liturgical rite that could be proven to have been in use for at least two centuries.

Some corrections to Pope Pius V's text proved necessary, and Pope Clement VIII replaced it with a new typical edition of the Roman Missal on 7 July 1604. (In this context, the word "typical" means that the text is the one to which all other printings must conform.) A further revised typical edition was promulgated by Pope Urban VIII on 2 September 1634.

Beginning in the late seventeenth century, France and neighbouring areas saw a flurry of independent missals published by bishops. Some of these were editions of manuscript missals already existing prior to 1370, but had undergone modifications that in some cases touched on the arbitrary. Later accusations of influence by Jansenism and Gallicanism were largely unfounded, as is shown by the fact that the Holy See did never condemned these books. This historical phenomenon of diocesan missals ended, however, when Abbot Guéranger and bishops such as Bishop Pierre-Louis Parisis of Langres initiated in the nineteenth century a vigorous polemical campaign in favour of a return to the Roman Missal. By 1875 all the French dioceses were using the Roman Missal. In 1884, Pope Leo XIII promulgated a new typical edition that took account of all the changes introduced since the time of Pope Urban VIII. Pope Pius X also undertook a revision of the Roman Missal, which was promulgated and declared typical by his successor Pope Benedict XV on 25 July 1920.

Though Pope Pius X's revision made few corrections, omissions, and additions to the text of the prayers in the Roman Missal, there were major changes in the rubrics, changes which were not incorporated in the section entitled "Rubricae generales", but were instead printed as an additional section under the heading "Additiones et variationes in rubricis Missalis."

Pope Pius XII issued no new typical edition of the Roman Missal, but authorized experimentally in 1951 the replacement of revised texts for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. After positive reports from the world's bishops, these changes were made universally obligatory in 1955.[19] The Pope also removed from the Vigil of Pentecost the series of six Old Testament readings, with their accompanying Tracts and Collects, but these continued to be printed until 1962.

Acceding to the wishes of many of the bishops, Pope Pius XII judged it expedient also to reduce the rubrics of the missal to a simpler form, a simplification enacted by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 23 March 1955. The changes this made in the General Roman Calendar are indicated in General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII.

In the following year, 1956, while preparatory studies were being conducted for a general liturgical reform, Pope Pius XII surveyed the opinions of the bishops on the liturgical improvement of the Roman breviary. After duly weighing the answers of the bishops, he judged that it was time to address the need for a general and systematic revision of the rubrics of the breviary and missal. This question he referred to the special committee of experts appointed to study the general liturgical reform.

His successor, Pope John XXIII, issued a new typical edition of the Roman Missal in 1962. This incorporated the revised Code of Rubrics which Pope Pius XII's commission had prepared, and which Pope John XXIII had made obligatory with effect from 1 January 1961. In the Missal, this Code of Rubrics replaced two of the documents in the 1920 edition; and the Pope's motu proprio Rubricarum instructum took the place of the superseded Apostolic constitution Divino afflatu of Pope Pius X.

Other notable changes incorporated were the omission of the adjective "perfidis" in the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews and the insertion of the name of Saint Joseph into the Canon (or Eucharistic Prayer) of the Mass.

Revision following the Second Vatican Council

In 1965 and 1967 some changes were officially introduced into the Mass of the Roman Rite in the wake of Sacrosanctum Concilium, but no new edition of the Roman Missal had been produced to incorporate them. They were reflected in the provisional vernacular translations produced in various countries when the language of the people began to be used in addition to Latin. References sometimes met in an English-language context to "the 1965 Missal" concern these temporary vernacular productions, not the Roman Missal itself. Some countries that had the same language used different translations and varied in the amount of vernacular admitted.

A new edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated by Pope Paul VI with the apostolic constitution Missale Romanum of 3 April 1969. The full text of the revised Missal was not published until the following year, and full vernacular translations appeared some years later, but parts of the Missal in Latin were already available since 1964 in non-definitive form, and provisional translations appeared without delay.

In his apostolic constitution, Pope Paul VI made particular mention of the following significant changes that he had made in the Roman Missal:

  • To the single Eucharistic Prayer of the previous edition (which, with minor alterations, was preserved as the First Eucharistic Prayer) he added three alternative Eucharistic Prayers, increasing also the number of prefaces.
  • The rites of the Order of Mass (in Latin, Ordo Missae) — that is, the largely unvarying part of the liturgy — were "simplified, while due care is taken to preserve their substance." "Elements which, with the passage of time, came to be duplicated, or were added with but little advantage" were eliminated, especially in the rites for the preparation of the bread and wine, the breaking of the bread, and Communion.
  • "'Other elements which have suffered injury through accidents of history are now to be restored to the earlier norm of the Holy Fathers' (Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 50), for example, the homily (see Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 52) and the 'common prayer' or 'prayer of the faithful' (see Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 53)."[20] Paul VI also added the option of "a penitential rite or act of reconciliation with God and the brothers, at the beginning of the Mass", though this was neither an ancient part of the Introductory Rite nor mentioned in Sacrosanctum Concilium.[21]
  • He greatly increased the proportion of the Bible read at Mass. Even before Pius XII reduced the proportion further, only 1% of the Old Testament and 16.5% of the New Testament was read at Mass. In Pope Paul's revision, 13.5% of the Old Testament and 71.5% of the New Testament are read.[22] He was able to do this by having more readings at Mass and introducing a three-year cycle of readings on Sundays and a two-year cycle on weekdays.

In addition to these changes, the Pope noted that his revision considerably modified other sections of the Missal, such as the Proper of Seasons, the Proper of Saints, the Common of Saints, the Ritual Masses, and the Votive Masses, adding: "In all of these changes, particular care has been taken with the prayers: not only has their number been increased, so that the new texts might better correspond to new needs, but also their text has been restored on the testimony of the most ancient evidences."[23]

Editions after the Second Vatican Council

In 1970, the first typical edition of the Roman Missal (in Latin) bearing the title Missale Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum was published, after being formally promulgated by Pope Paul VI in the previous year. A reprint that corrected misprints appeared in 1971. A second typical edition, with minor changes, followed in 1975. In 2000, Pope John Paul II approved a third typical edition, which appeared in 2002. This third edition added feasts, especially of some recently canonized saints, new prefaces of the Eucharistic Prayers, and additional Masses and prayers for various needs, and it revised and amplified the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.[24]

In 2008, under Pope Benedict XVI, an emended reprint of the third edition was issued, correcting misprints and some other mistakes (such as the insertion at the beginning of the Apostles' Creed of "unum", as in the Nicene Creed). A supplement gives celebrations, such as that of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, added to the General Roman Calendar after the initial printing of the 2002 typical edition.

Three alterations required personal approval by Pope Benedict XVI:

  • A change in the order in which a bishop celebrating Mass outside his own diocese mentions the local bishop and himself
  • Omission from the Roman Missal of the special Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children (which, however, were not thereby suppressed)
  • The addition of three alternatives to the standard dismissal at the end of Mass, Ite, missa est (Go forth, the Mass is ended):
    • Ite ad Evangelium Domini annuntiandum (Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord)
    • Ite in pace, glorificando vita vestra Dominum (Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life)
    • Ite in pace (Go in peace)[25]

Pope John XXIII's 1962 edition of the Roman Missal began a period of aesthetic preference for a reduced number of illustrations in black and white instead of the many brightly coloured pictures previously included. The first post-Vatican II editions, both in the original Latin and in translation, continued that tendency. The first Latin edition (1970) had in all 12 black-and-white woodcut illustrations by Gian Luigi Uboldi. The 1974 English translation adopted by the United States episcopal conference appear in several printings. Our Sunday Visitor printed it with further illustrations by Uboldi, while the printing by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. had woodcuts in colour. The German editions of 1975 and 1984 had no illustrations, thus emphasizing the clarity and beauty of the typography. The French editions of 1974 and 1978 were also without illustrations, while the Italian editions of 1973 and 1983 contained both reproductions of miniatures in an 11th-century manuscript and stylized figures whose appropriateness is doubted by the author of a study on the subject, who also makes a similar observation about the illustrations in the Spanish editions of 1978 and 1988. The minimalist presentation in these editions contrasts strongly with the opulence of United States editions of the period between 2005 and 2011 with their many full-colour reproductions of paintings and other works of art.[26]

The first vernacular version of the third edition (2002) of the Vatican II Roman Missal to be published was that in Greek. It appeared in 2006.[27] The English translation, taking into account the 2008 changes, came into use in 2011. Translations into some other languages took longer: that into Italian was decided on by the Episcopal Conference of Italy at its November 2018 meeting and was confirmed by the Holy See in the following year, as announced by the conference's president at its 22 May 2019 meeting. It replaces the 1983 Italian translation of the 1975 second Latin edition. The new text includes changes to the Italian Lord's Prayer and Gloria. In the Lord's Prayer, e non c'indurre in tentazione ("and lead us not into temptation") becomes non abbandonarci alla tentazione ("do not abandon us to temptation") and come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori ("as we forgive our debtors") becomes come anche noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori ("as we too forgive our debtors"). In the Gloria pace in terra agli uomini di buona volontà ("peace on earth to people of good will") becomes pace in terra agli uomini, amati dal Signore ("peace on earth to people, who are loved by the Lord").[28]

Continued use of earlier editions

In his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal was never juridically abrogated and that it may be freely used by any priest of the Latin Church when celebrating Mass "without a congregation".[29] Use of the 1962 edition at Mass with a congregation is allowed, with the permission of the priest in charge of a church, for stable groups attached to this earlier form of the Roman Rite, provided that the priest using it is "qualified to do so and not juridically impeded" (as for instance by suspension). Accordingly, many dioceses schedule regular Masses celebrated using the 1962 edition. Since the main difference between the 1962 Missal and prior editions is the liturgy for Holy Week, the church has permitted Tridentine Mass parishes to adopt earlier editions of the Roman Missal published just prior to the 1962 edition.

In 2021, Pope Francis, motivated by a desire to stave off what he perceived to be growing rejection of the Second Vatican Council developing from groups using the preconciliar rites, issued Traditionis custodes to restore the previous status quo of bishops having authority over the celebrations of Mass in the preconciliar Roman Rite. Francis stated in the letter that the current version of the Roman Rite ought to be regarded as the "unique expression of [its] lex orandi."[30]

Several traditionalist fraternities in full communion with the Holy See are authorised to celebrate the Mass exclusively according to the 1962 version of the Missal: such groups include the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney and the Institute of the Good Shepherd.

The Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), which rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and is not in full communion with the Holy See, exclusively celebrates the Mass according to the 1962 version of the Roman Missal. Sedevacantist and sedeprivationist groups, which reject the Council and do not recognise the current Pope as valid, also reject the 1962 version of the Missal, seeing it as contaminated by modernism as well and thus only celebrate Mass using the 1920 edition of the Missal. There is a dispute among sedevacantists on the acceptance of the 1955 rubrics of the Paschal Triduum introduced by Pius XII: some groups (such as the Society of Saint Pius V, the Roman Catholic Institute and the Istituto Mater Boni Consilii) reject them, believing them to be the first step towards the post-Conciliar liturgical renovations;[31] others (such as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen) accept them, seeing them as a liturgical change by a valid Pope and, thus, binding to all Catholics.[32]

For information on the calendars included in pre-69/70 editions (a small part of the full Missal), see General Roman Calendar of 1960, General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, General Roman Calendar of 1954, and Tridentine calendar.

Official English translations

The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) prepared an English translation of the 1970 Roman Missal, which was approved by the individual English-speaking episcopal conferences and, after being reviewed by the Holy See, was put into effect, beginning with the United States in 1973.

The authority for the episcopal conferences, with the consent of the Holy See, to decide on such translations was granted by the Second Vatican Council.[33][34]

ICEL prepared a greatly altered English translation, and presented it for the consent of the Holy See in 1998. The Holy See withheld its consent and informed ICEL that the Latin text of the Missal, which must be the basis of translations into other languages, was being revised, making irrelevant a translation based on what would no longer be the official text of the Roman Missal.

On 28 March 2001, the Holy See issued the Instruction Liturgiam Authenticam, which included the requirement that in translations of the liturgical texts from the official Latin originals, "the original text, insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses. Any adaptation to the characteristics or the nature of the various vernacular languages is to be sober and discreet." This was a departure from the principle of functional equivalence promoted in ICEL translations after the Second Vatican Council.

In the following year, the third typical edition of the revised Roman Missal in Latin, which had already been promulgated in 2000, was released. These two texts made clear the need for a new official English translation of the Roman Missal, particularly because the previous one was at some points an adaptation rather than strictly a translation. An example is the rendering of the response "Et cum spiritu tuo" (literally, "And with your spirit") as "And also with you." Accordingly, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy prepared, with some hesitancy on the part of the bishops, a new English translation of the Roman Missal, the completed form of which received the approval of the Holy See in April 2010.[35]

On 19 July 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments established an international committee of English-speaking bishops, called the Vox Clara Committee, "to advise that Dicastery in its responsibilities related to the translation of liturgical texts in the English language and to strengthen effective cooperation with the Conferences of Bishops".[36] On the occasion of the meeting of the committee in Rome in April 2002, Pope John Paul II sent them a message emphasizing that "fidelity to the rites and texts of the Liturgy is of paramount importance for the Church and Christian life" and charging the committee to ensure that "the texts of the Roman Rite are accurately translated in accordance with the norms of the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam".[37] Liturgiam authenticam also took from the Bishops' conferences the power to make its own translations and instituted a papal commission, Vox Clara, to revise the Bishops' work. In 2008 it made an estimated 10,000 changes to the ICEL's proposed text. By 2017 Pope Francis had formed a commission to review and evaluate Liturgiam authenticam.[38][39]

The work of making a new translation of the Roman Missal was completed in time to enable the national episcopal conference in most English-speaking countries to put it into use from the first Sunday of Advent (27 November) 2011.

As well as translating "Et cum spiritu tuo" as "And with your spirit", which some scholars suggest refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit the priest received at ordination,[40] in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed "consubstantial with the Father" was used as a translation of "consubstantialem Patri" (in Greek "ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί"),[41] instead of "of one Being with the Father" (or, in the United States only, "one in Being with the Father"), and the Latin phrase qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum, formerly translated as "It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven", was translated literally as "which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins" (see Pro multis).[42]

This new official translation of the entire Order of Mass is available on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,[43] which also provides a comparison between the new text of the people's parts and that hitherto in use in the United States (where the version of the Nicene Creed was slightly different from that in other English-speaking countries).[44]

Pope Benedict XVI remarked: "Many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation. The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity, and the opportunity for catechesis that it presents will need to be firmly grasped. I pray that in this way any risk of confusion or bewilderment will be averted, and the change will serve instead as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the English-speaking world."[45]

The plan to introduce the new English translation of the missal was not without critics. Over 22,000 electronic signatures, some of them anonymous, were collected on a web petition to ask the Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope to reconsider the new translation.[46] At the time there was open dissent from one parish in Seattle.[47]

The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland) put into effect the changes in the people's parts of the revised English translation of the Order of Mass[48] from 28 November 2008, when the Missal as a whole was not yet available. Protests were voiced on grounds of content[49] and because it meant that Southern Africa was thus out of line with other English-speaking countries.[50] One bishop claimed that the English-speaking conferences should have withstood the Holy See's insistence on a more literal translation.[51] However, when in February 2009 the Holy See declared that the change should have awaited completion of work on the Missal, the bishops conference appealed, with the result that those parishes that had adopted the new translation were directed to continue using it, while those that had not were told to await further instructions before doing so.[52] In view of the foreseen opposition to making changes, the various English-speaking episcopal conferences arranged catechesis on the Mass and the Missal, and made information available also on the Internet.[53] Other initiatives included the Catholic News Agency publishing a series of ten articles on the revised translation.[54]

In 2012, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines revised the 41-year-old liturgy with an English version of the Roman Missal, and later translated it in the vernacular to several native languages in the Philippines.[55][56] For instance, in 2024, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos uses the Tagalog language Roman Missal entitled "Ang Aklat ng Mabuting Balita."[57]

Pope Francis' approach

On 9 September 2017 Pope Francis issued the motu proprio Magnum Principium ("The Great Principle") which allowed local bishops' conferences more authority over translation of liturgical documents. The motu proprio "grants the episcopal conferences the faculty to judge the worth and coherence of one or another phrase in the translations from the original."[58] The role of the Vatican is also modified in accord with the decree of Vatican II,[59] to confirming texts already prepared by bishops' conferences, rather than "recognition" in the strict sense of Canon Law no. 838.[60]

See also

References

  1. Back to citation General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Third Typical Edition — Binding general instruction on the meaning, structure, offices, ministries, gestures, vessels, furnishings, forms, choices, adaptations, and detailed celebration of Mass in the Roman Rite.
  2. Back to citation Code of Canon Law, canons 834–848 — Current Latin law on the sanctifying office, liturgical worship, the authority of the Apostolic See, conferences and diocesan bishops, approved books, valid ministers, communicatio in sacris, and sacramental norms.
  3. Back to citation Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium — Conciliar constitution on Christ's action in the liturgy, the Eucharistic center, participation, legitimate authority, reform of the Mass and Divine Office, Scripture, language, music, art, and the liturgical year.
  4. Back to citation Saint Paul VI, Missale Romanum — Apostolic constitution promulgating the revised Roman Missal, explaining its Eucharistic Prayers, expanded lectionary, restoration of elements, pastoral purpose, and continuity with the Roman liturgical tradition.
  5. Back to citation Holy See Press Office, Presentation of the Third Typical Edition of the Missale Romanum — Official 2002 presentation of the third typical edition, its relation to the earlier editions, new saints and formularies, revised General Instruction, vernacular translations, and substantial unity of the Roman Rite.
  6. Back to citation Pope Francis, Desiderio desideravi — Apostolic letter on liturgical formation, Christ's Paschal mystery, ars celebrandi, symbolic action, ecclesial communion, obedience to approved rites, and the theological purpose of the Roman reform.
  7. Back to citation Pope Francis, Magnum Principium — Motu proprio amending canon 838 and clarifying the respective responsibilities of the Apostolic See and conferences of bishops for faithful vernacular translation, adaptation, confirmation, and recognitio.
  8. Back to citation Pope Francis, Traditionis custodes — Current universal legislation identifying the liturgical books promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II as the unique expression of the Roman Rite's lex orandi and regulating authorized use of the 1962 Missal.
  9. Back to citation Congregation for Divine Worship, Responsa ad dubia on Traditionis custodes — Authoritative responses applying current law to parish churches, ritual books, permissions, bination, delegated faculty, vernacular readings, and pastoral accompaniment of groups attached to the 1962 Missal.
  10. Back to citation SILVA, Francisco de Assis Costa da; PACHECO, Marcio de Lima. RITVS ROMANVS ET RITVS PAULUS VI- Um estudo sobre o Latim utilizado nos Missais Católicos Romanos de 1000 a 1969. Revista de Filosofia e Teologia do Instituto Cardeal Eugênio Sales
  11. Back to citation occurrence 11.0 Back to citation occurrence 11.1 Back to citation occurrence 11.2 Lang, Uwe Michael (2022). The Roman mass: from early Christian origins to Tridentine reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. pp. 257–267, 275–278. ISBN 978-1-108-83245-8.
  12. Back to citation Jane A. Bernstein (2024). Printing Music in Renaissance Rome. Oxford University Press. p. 67. ISBN 9780197669631.
  13. Back to citation Lauren Pristas (2013). Collects of the Roman Missals A Comparative Study of the Sundays in Proper Seasons Before and After the Second Vatican Council. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 67. ISBN 9780567033840.
  14. Back to citation Catholic Church (1899). Missale romanum Mediolani, 1474 (in Latin). unknown library. [Printed for the Society by Harrison and sons].
  15. Back to citation Manlio Sodi and Achille Maria Triacca, Missale Romanum: Editio Princeps (1570) (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998), p. XV
  16. Back to citation occurrence 16.0 Back to citation occurrence 16.1 Celiński, Łukasz. "Per una rilettura della storia della formazione e dello sviluppo del Messale Romano. Il caso del Messale di Clemente V."
  17. Back to citation Missale secundum morem Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae (Missal in line with the use of the Holy Roman Church)
  18. Back to citation Bradshaw, Paul F; Johnson, Maxwell E. (2012). The Eucharistic Liturgies: Their Evolution and Interpretation. Liturgical Press. pp. 250–251. ISBN 978-0-8146-6240-3.
  19. Back to citation Decree Maxima redemptionis nostrae mysteria Archived 12 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine (Acta Apostolicae Sedis) 47 (1955) 838-847
  20. Back to citation Missale Romanum. The internal references to Sacrosanctum Concilium are to the Constitution of the Second Vatican Council on the Sacred Liturgy.
  21. Back to citation "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Confiteor". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  22. Back to citation Felix Just, S.J. (2 January 2009). "Lectionary Statistics". Catholic-resources.org. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  23. Back to citation "Code of Canon Law: Table of Contents". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  24. Back to citation "Frequently Asked Questions". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 20 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  25. Back to citation A full account of the corrections, additions and emendations is given on pages 367-387 of the July–August 2008 issue of Notitiae, the bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Some much less detailed information may also be found in an interview[] given by Cardinal Francis Arinze.
  26. Back to citation Bühren, Ralf van (2018). "Die Bildausstattung des 'Missale Romanum' nach dem Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil (1962−1965)". In: Liturgische Bücher in der Kulturgeschichte Europas (Bibliothek und Wissenschaft, 51), Edited by Hanns Peter Neuheuser, 173-181. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
  27. Back to citation "Επιστολή της Ι. Συνόδου Ιεραρχίας προς τους Ιερείς (Letter of the Greek Episcopal Conference to Priests 7 September 2006". Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  28. Back to citation Gambassi, Giacomo (22 May 2019). "Liturgia. Via libera del Papa alla nuova traduzione italiana del Messale" [Liturgy. Pope okays new Italian translation of the Missal] (in Italian). Retrieved 7 June 2019; uCatholic (3 June 2019). "Pope Francis Approves Changes to Lord's Prayer & Gloria of Italian Missal". uCatholic. Retrieved 14 June 2019; "Pope Francis Approves Updated Translation of Lord's Prayer: 'Do Not Let Us Fall Into Temptation'". CBN News. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019; "'Lead us not into temptation' falls out of Lord's Prayer". The Tablet. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019; "Francis approves revised translation of Italian Missal- La Croix International". international.la-croix.com. 31 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  29. Back to citation "Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum on the "Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970" (July 7, 2007) | BENEDICT XVI". w2.vatican.va. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  30. Back to citation Ferrone, Rita (17 November 2021). "Discerning the Lex Orandi". Sapientia. Fordham University. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  31. Back to citation Sanborn, Donald (2008). "Benedict XVI replaces the Good Friday prayer for the Jews in the '62 Missal" (PDF). MHT Seminary Newsletter. “It should be recalled that what occasioned our 1983 split with them was the John XXIII Mass, i.e., the 1962 Missal. The reason why Archbishop Lefebvre insisted that all take this missal, reversing his previous position of permitting the pre-1955 rubrics, was that he was in very serious negotiations with Ratzinger to have his Fraternity absorbed into the Modernist religion. He himself told me personally that the Vatican would never accept that we use the pre-1955 rubrics, and I saw myself the documents regarding the dialogue between him and Ratzinger, in which the 1962 Missal was on the table as the missal which would be approved for use by the Fraternity.[...] In 1983, when the nine priests made a stand over the maintenance of the St. Pius X rubrics of the missal, calendar and breviary, few lay people understood the importance of it. The average lay person cannot distinguish the 1962 traditional Mass from the pre-1955 traditional Mass, which is the one we use. But there are significant differences. Liturgy speaks volumes through gesture and symbolism.”
  32. Back to citation Radecki, Fr Dominic (2016). "The Liturgical Changes of Pope Pius XII: May Catholics Reject Laws Promulgated by a Legitimate Pope?". The Reign of Mary (161).
  33. Back to citation "It is for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used; their decrees are to be approved, that is, confirmed, by the Apostolic See. And, whenever it seems to be called for, this authority is to consult with bishops of neighbouring regions which have the same language. Translations from the Latin text into the mother tongue intended for use in the liturgy must be approved by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned above" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, art. 36, 3-4).
  34. Back to citation "Code of Canon Law, canon 455". Intratext.com. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  35. Back to citation "News". Icelweb.org. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  36. Back to citation "Press Release". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  37. Back to citation Helen Hull Hitchcock. "Vox Clara committee to assure fidelity, accuracy". Adoremusweb.org. Archived from the original on 5 May 2002. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  38. Back to citation "Revisiting Liturgiam Authenticam, Part I: Vox Clara | Commonweal Magazine". www.commonwealmagazine.org. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  39. Back to citation "Revisiting 'Liturgiam Authenticam': An Update | Commonweal Magazine". www.commonwealmagazine.org. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  40. Back to citation "Frequently Asked Questions". Notes on the New Translation of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  41. Back to citation "Frequently Asked Questions". In the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  42. Back to citation "Frequently Asked Questions". Six Questions on the Translation of Pro Multis as "For Many". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 6 December 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  43. Back to citation "Order of Mass" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  44. Back to citation "Changes in the People's Parts". Usccb.org. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  45. Back to citation "To Members and Consultors of the Vox Clara Committee, 28 April 2010". Vatican.va. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  46. Back to citation "What If We Just Said Wait?". WhatIfWeJustSaidWait.org. Archived from the original on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  47. Back to citation "St. Leo Parish Council" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  48. Back to citation "A pastoral response to the faithful with regard to the new English Language Mass translations:: bisdomoudtshoorn.org::". 8 March 2009. Archived from the original on 8 March 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  49. Back to citation Gunther Simmermacher (24 December 2008). "Liturgical Anger". Scross.co.za. Retrieved 27 November 2011; Fr John Conversett MCCJ (24 December 2008). "Letter". Scross.co.za. Retrieved 27 November 2011; "Coyle IHM. Mass translations: A missed opportunity". Scross.co.za. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  50. Back to citation Risi, Edward (3 February 2009). "Pastoral Response to the New English Translation Text for Mass". South African Bishops Conference. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  51. Back to citation Bishop Dowling (18 January 2009). "Letter". Scross.co.za. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  52. Back to citation Brennan, Vincent (5 March 2009). "Clarification on the Implementation of the New English Mass Translation in South Africa". Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  53. Back to citation England and Wales; Australia Archived 12 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine; New Zealand; Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine United States.
  54. Back to citation "Preparing the way for the Roman Missal – 3rd Edition". CatholicNewsAgency.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  55. Back to citation "Manila Archdiocese starts seminars for new translation of Roman Missal". GMA Integrated News. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  56. Back to citation Aning, Jerome (25 November 2011). "Church revises Roman Missal". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  57. Back to citation "Sandigan". Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos. 1 January 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  58. Back to citation McElwee, Joshua J. (22 October 2017). "Francis corrects Sarah: Liturgical translations not to be 'imposed' from Vatican". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  59. Back to citation "Sacrosanctum Concilium, 39,40". 4 December 1963. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  60. Back to citation Carstens, Christopher (4 January 2018). "What is the current status of the translation document Liturgiam Authenticam?". Adoremus. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2019.

Online texts of editions of the Roman Missal

Full texts of the Missale Romanum

Texts of Roman Rite missals earlier than the 1570 Roman Missal

Partial texts

Further reading

  • Goldhead Group, The (2010). New Translation of the English Roman Missal: A Comprehensive Guide and Explanation. Minneapolis: Lulu. ISBN 978-0-557-86206-1. An exploration of the changes to the English Roman Missal affecting English speaking Catholics as of the First Sunday of Advent in 2011.
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