Mass in the Ancient Roman Rite

A Short Catechism

by Fr. Godfrey A. Carney

This pamphlet, in question-and-answer catechism style, explains the theology of the Mass, in particular the Old Latin Mass [Extraordinary Form]. It is published by the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei. Copies may be purchased here. The first half of its material is applicable to the Catholic Mass in general; the second half deals specifically with the Extraordinary Form.

[I. Concerning the Mass in General]

Q. What is a sacrifice?
A. A sacrifice is the offering of a Victim to God by a priest to acknowledge that God is the Supreme Being, the Creator of all things.

Q. What is a Victim?
A. A Victim is the thing that is offered. Often in the Old Law (before Christ) it was an animal, killed, and its blood poured on the altar by the priest. The people who gave the animal were saying this to God: "The animal represents us, it represents all creation. We give it to Thee to show that we give Thee ourselves that we are Thine, that everything is Thine." In this act there is adoration, thanksgiving, pleading for forgiveness, pleading for help for soul and body. The Victim was often eaten afterwards in a ritual meal. These sacrifices were offered for many centuries in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Q. Did Christ abolish all that?
A. It is more true to say that He fulfilled all that. Those Old Covenant acts were foreshadows of the new and everlasting Covenant. At the Jewish Passover Supper, before His Passion began, He lifted all those sacrifices up into His own Sacrifice when He made the Mass.

Q. What is the Mass?
A. The Mass is the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross offered up continually under the appearances of bread and wine. It is the final perfect Sacrifice.

Q. Are there a number of Rites of the Mass?
A. Yes, quite a number. In the Eastern Church — that means in Greece, Egypt, the Middle East, and further north — there are various rites of the Mass: the Greek Rite, the Byzantine Rite, the Syriac, Coptic, Armenian and others. In the Western Church (with a few variations): the Roman Rite.

Q. Why are they different?
A. They developed that way from the beginning of Christianity — different places, slow traveling, slow communications, different languages. But it was the same Mass — the same essential act of worship.

Q. What is the essential act?
A. The essential act in the Mass is the redeeming Sacrifice of Jesus Christ which He offered once on the Cross of Calvary, and which He continues to offer through the priest at the Altar under the appearances of bread and wine, for the living and the dead.

Q. Do all rites look alike?
A. They don't look the same, but there is the same general structure in every rite, the same broad outline — the Offertory, the Consecration, and the Communion.

Q. What is the Offertory?
A. The Offertory is the first part of the Sacrifice proper. It is an integral part of the Mass. The priest offers the bread and wine to God the Father — the bread anad wine that will be changed into Jesus' Body and Blood when the Consecration comes. Now, everyone present can give themsleves in that act of offering. Jesus will transform those gifts at the Consecration. He will join us then, and we will join Him, and become one with Him in His great Redeeming Act.

Q. What is the Consecration?
A. The Consecration is the center point, the climax, the very heart of the Mass. At that moment the bread and wine are changed in Being, changed into Christ Himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. There is no change in color or shape or touch or taste. All those "bread and wine" appearances remain the same. It is the inner essence — the substance — that changes, changes from being bread and wine into being the Body and Blood of Christ. This change is called Transubstantiation.

Q. Do we see this change?
A. No. This is a hidden change, from one hidden thing into another hidden thing. The inner reality, the substance, of every material thing is always hidden from our senses, hidden from all experiment. Chemical analysis does not touch substance. The mind knows substance. The senses only contact the outward appearances, "the messages," that come to the senses — color, sound, taste, and so on. The change at the Consecration is a change of substance, and Christ is present in the way of substance.

Q. After the Consecration, what remains of the bread and wine?
A. Only the appearances remain, the "messages" to the senses, the external reactions. The substance, the real thing there, is Jesus Christ.

Q. How can Christ become so small?
A. Christ is there "substantially," that is, in the way in which substance is present in anything at all. Substance has nothing at all to do with size. A tiny crumb of bread, a tiny drop of wine, is just as truly bread, and as truly wine, as all the bread and wine in the world. We believe in this hidden change because of the words of Christ, Who is God Almighty, Who made the universe from nothing. We don't know how God did that, but He did it. We don't know how He does this, but by His words we know He does it.

Q. What words are these?
A. The words which Christ spoke over the bread and wine at the Last Supper the night before He was crucified. These words have some small variations in different Gospels and different rites, but the following is a summing of the words — "Take ye and eat. This is my Body given up for you. Drink of this. This is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the New and everlasting Covenant. It will be shed for you and for many, so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in remembrane of Me." If these words mean what they say, then that change of substance takes place. Christ clearly meant what he said.

Q. It's hard to believe, isn't it?
A. It is. The people who were there when Christ promised to do it found it hard — so hard that they walked away and left Him. And He didn't try to stop them and explain away the hard saying. He must have meant it. The gift of Faith helps us to believe.

Q. Christ could do it. But how can the priest do it?
A. By his own personal power, the priest, of course, cannot do it. But when he was ordained he was given a share in the mighty Priesthood of Christ. He was empowered to speak at the Altar, in the Person and Character of Christ. Christ ordained the Apostles, and all priests, when he added at the Last Supper the words — "Do this in memory of me." Christ commanded and thereby gave the power. Christ makes this great change, using the priest's voice and actions. Christ does it, through the priest.

Q. Apart from the change, what else happens?
A. Christ is really present. He is present in a posture of sacrifice, both Priest and Victim. "This is my Body given up for you. This is my Blood, shed for you." The Cross and the Mass and the Last Supper are one and the same action, done by the same Person — Christ Our Lord.

Q. Does Christ die again in the Mass?
A. No. He died once on the Cross. He dies no more, but His act of loving self-surrender, His Act of Sacrifice for us, goes on at every Mass in a real living way. He is there really and truly, making Calvary present before us, and before every generation until the end of the world.

Q. Why the separate Consecration of His Body and His Blood?
A. His Body and His Blood are not really separated. In His Death on Calvary they were separated. But He rose to life. He lives. That is why it is not necessary to receive Him under both appearances. We receive the complete Christ under one appearance. The priest must receive under both appearances in order to complete the Sacrifice. But in the separate Consecration, we are given a vivid sign of death. The Body and the Blood seem to be separated — a sign of death. The Mass reminds us of the Death of Christ for us. Saint Paul puts it like this: "As often as you do this (that is, the Mass), you shall show forth the Death of the Lord until He comes again."

Q. Does this add anything to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross?
A. No, it is the same Sacrifice. It is not a repetition of Calvary. Christ is a Priest forever. He is a Victim forever. His priestly Act goes on forever. The Mass makes it present to us. The Mass applies its power to our souls.

Q. The Communion — what is that?
A. It is the last part of the Mass. The priest receives Our Lord, and gives Him to the people. Christ lives in us as Food, to strengthen our souls with His Divine Life, to be one with us in love, to unite us to Him and to each other. Communion means "Many united in One."

Q. What must we do to prepare to receive Him like this?
A. We must be baptized Catholics. We must be free from any mortal sin by a genuine Confession beforehand. We must be fasting for one hour. We must be in the right frame of mind — believing, hoping, loving, reverent, and humbly thankful for such a Wondrous Gift.

Q. About the language — Is Latin forbidden in the Mass at present?
A. Certainly not. The New Rite [Novus Ordo / Ordinary Form] of Pope Paul VI was issued from Rome in Latin in 1970. It can be said either in Latin or in the language of the country (the vernacular). The Second Vatican Council explicitly states that Latin must be preserved in the Mass.

[II. The Extraordinary Form]

Q. What is the Tridentine Mass?
A. That is a name given nowadays to the Old Rite of the Mass [termed the Extraordinary Form by Pope Benedict in his Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum (2007)]. This Latin form developed in the Western Church (the Latin Church) and was revised and ordered for the whole Latin Church by Pope Pius V. He did this following the great reforming Council of Trent in the 16th century. The word "Tridentine" is from the Latin Tridentinus, an adjectival word, descriptive, refering to the town of Trent in Northern Italy in which the Council was held — the "Tridentine Council."

Q. What was the Mass like before that?
A. In the beginning, it was very simple, and said in various languages. It was said in Latin from about the fourth century, and it grew up with variations in different parts of Europe. Gradually the Order of Mass used in Rome at the Pope's Mass spread and influenced the rest of Europe. Pope Pius V trimmed it and unified it so that the Catholic anywhere in the Western world heard the same Latin sounds wherever he worshiped.

Q. What was the situation before the Fourth Century?
A. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire which covered all the Mediterranean lands and all Western Europe. But in the early centuries Greek was also spoken in the West. The Gospels and Epistles were written in Greek. Greek was used as the language of worship. The Mass in the West was in Greek in the very early centuries for a time. Gradually Latin took over. The Kyrie Eleison ("Lord, have mercy") is part of a Greek Litany still in the Mass. There was never a sudden change. >From very simple beginnings the Mass grew, variations coming and going, but it was a natural organic growth.

Q. So Roman influence prevailed?
A. Ultimately, yes. Rome, being the center of the Church and the Holy Apostolic See of Peter, had a unifying influence on the whole Church in Faith and Morals, but also in ways of worship. "The law of praying is the law of believeing." (Lex orandi lex credendi).

Q.Why is Latin used nawadays? — a "dead" language!
A. Latin is old and beautiful and sacred and unchanging in meaning, It is a lovely heritage handed down to us. It safeguards the Holy of Holies from profanation and abuse. It makes for awe and reverence and mystery surrounding the Mystery of Faith. It unifies the whole Church. It makes us feel "at home" in all countries. It is a language sanctified by the holy use of centuries of Saints and Martyrs. It is a lovely veil that covers and yet enhances and radiates the Mystery of our Redemption. To throw it away is a great mistake.

Q. What is the Canon of the Mass?
A. "Canon" means something fixed, permanent, a rule. The Canon of the Mass is the central Eucharistic Prayer surrounding the Consecration itself.

Q. How old is the Canon?
A. The Canon is the oldest part of the Roman Mass. We have a description of it written by Saint Ambrose of Milan in the 4th century. Its wording is very much the same as the Roman Canon is today. Obviously it was already old in Saint Ambrose's day.

Q. Would you describe the Canon in the Mass today.
A. The Canon begins with the Preface, which is an introductory Prayer of Thanksgiving and praise ending with the Sanctus, the Angels' cry of praise in Heaven. Then the Canon itself leads up to the Consecration with beuatiful pleadings through Christ to the Father, that He accept the Sacrifice. We pray for the Church, the Pope, the Bishop, for all here present, for all the living. We unite ourselves with our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Joseph, and with all the Apostles and Martyrs and all the Saints. The priest spreads his hands over the bread and wine, calling down the Holy Spirit of God and His power [Epiclesis]. Then he acts and speaks the words of Christ at the Last Supper, and the Great Change takes place — Christ is present and Christ's Sacrifice is present from then on.

The prayers continue, recalling His Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, and offering the most Holy, Pure, Spotless Victim to the Eternal Father, asking Him to accept this offering. We pray for the Dead. We plead that we sinners may be allowed, through God's mercy, to join the company of the Saints and Martyrs. All this we plead for through Christ Our Lord; and to finish the Canon the priest holds up Chirst's Body and Blood in a gesture of sacrifice, saying: "Through Him, with Him, in Him, is given to Thee, God the Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory for ever and ever." Amen.

Q. What happens then?
A. Then the Communion begins at once with the Lord's own prayer — the Pater noster — the Our Father.

Q. What happens before the Canon?
A. The Offertory. The priest offers the bread and wine to God, speaking of them already as sacred gifts, dedicated to the most sublime purpose of the Sacrifice. Then he turns to the people and says: Orate, fratres — "Pray, brethren, that my Sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father." And for this the people pray also.

Q. Why does he say MY Sacrifice and YOURS? Why not OUR Sacrifice?
A. We all share by Baptism in the priesthood of Christ. We all can, and should, offer ourselves as baptized members of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, giving our lives and activities to the Father with Christ, putting our loves into the Mass, and putting the Mass into our lives. That is the wonderful way in which we can become part of this sublime Act.

But the preist at the Altar has received another Sacrament — Holy Orders. He is a Minister of Christ. He has the power of acting in the person of Christ as he says the words of Consecration and so brings about the change, and the Sacrifice is present. So the words "My Sacrifice and yours" show that vital distinction. Without the ordained priest there could be no Mass.

Q. What happens before the Offertory?
A. That is called the Mass of the Catechumens or, The Liturgy of the Word. It centers around the Bible. There are two readings from the Scriptures: the Epistle, read on the right-hand side of the Altar (the south side); and the Gospel, read on the left-hand side (the north side).

Q. Why is the Book taken across after the Epistle to the other side of the Altar?
A. One reason the Gospel of Christ is read on the north side of the church with the priest facing toward the north is because in former times the north was considered to be the pagan area and not yet converted. Another is that it is a symbol of the changeover from the Old Testament to the New, from the Old Law to the New Law, from Moses to Christ, from the synagogue to the Catholic Church.

Q. What follows the Gospel?
A. On Sundays and Holy Days there is usually a sermon. Then the Nicene Creed is said or sung, just before the Offertory.

Q. Why aws the first part (the reading and preaching) called the Mass of the Catechumens?
A. In the earlier centuries, the catechumens, that is, converts under instruction in the Faith, met for the Bible reading and preaching, and having responded with the Creed, they were blessed and sent away. Only baptized Christians could stay on to join in the Sacrifice.

Q. Why does the priest kiss the Altar and genuflect often, and make signs of the Cross over the host and chalice?
A. These gestures show reverence for the place of Sacrifice, for the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, to express the supreme holiness of this great act of worship. For the same reasons, the people kneel for Holy Communion and recive Our Lord on the tongue.

Q. Is the Altar not also a table? Is the Mass not also a Holy Meal?
A. Yes. The Communion at Mass is a Holy Meal coming from the Last Supper, a Sacred Banquet in which Christ is received, and from that aspect we can think of the Altar as a table of the Lord. But the Mass is first and foremeost the Sacrifice of the Cross.

Q. Why doesn't the priest face the people in the Old Rite [Extraordinary Form]
A. The priest and people face in the same direction. They face towards the East, where the Sun rises. Jesus is the Sun of Justice. He rose from the dead on Easter morning as the Sun rose in the East. That has always been the way. Both priest and people faced God together. In fact, in the New Rite [Novus Ordo, Ordinary Form], there is no law which commands the priest to face the people. The Pope does not face the people when he says Mass in the [Sistine] Chapel at the Vatican.

Q. What are the Introit, the Gradual Psalm, the Offertory Verse and the Communion Verse?
A. These are Psalms or parts of Psalms. They are often sung in Plainchant at High Mass. They became shortened in time to one verse or two, with a repeated response called an antiphon. The Introit ("he goes in") at the beginning of Mass was an entrance Psalm sung as the priest went in procession to the Altar in large churches. The Graduale — a Psalm between the Epistle and the Gospel — was sung on the step below the Gospel platform. Gradus means "a step."

Q. What is said at the beginning of Mass at the foot of the Altar steps?
A. Priests and servers say alternately Psalm 42 (43). It is most appropriate. One verse sets the tone for the whole Mass. This verse is set as the start of the Psalm, repeated in its own proper place within the psalm itself, and again at the end of the Psalm. This is the famous Introibo ad altare Dei — "I will go to the Altar of God: to God who gives joy to my youth." Then before he mounts the steps to the Altar, priest and people confess that they are sinners and aks for pardon by saying the Confiteor.

Q. Why is it called "Mass"?
A. The word "Mass" is from the Latin word Missa. Before he gives the final blessing, the priest says to the people Ite, missa est, which means "Go, it is the dismissal" or "Go, you are sent." Somehow or other the word Missa became the short name for the whole great Action. A good reason for this is that the people are being told: "You have met Christ is His saving Sacrifice, you may have received Him into your souls. Now just as He said to His Apostles, 'Go, teach all nations,' so you are now sent to take Christ with you to your homes, and wherever you go. You are sent on a mission. You are missionaries, apostles of Christ."

Q. The Last Gospel — why and what is it?
A. After he has given the final blessing, the priest goes to the north side again to read the Last Gospel. This actually is the start of the Gospel of Saint John. It was once part of the thanksgiving after Mass. It reminds us as we read it, that the Eucharist is truly a continuation of the Incarnation itself. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … and the Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The Mass contains the whole of the sublime Mystery of the Redemption. The ancient Latin Tire is a masterpiece to be cherished.

Q. This account of the Ancient Roman Rite is rather jumbled; it hops to and fro, doesn't it?
A. We want to give a portrait, not just a photograph of what the Mass means. Jesus is there, Himself. He is doing the Act, making the great Change, giving Himself in the Act of the Cross, and giving Himself to us in love. We must center everything in the Consecration, the very heart of the matter. The Consecration is like the verb in a sentence. It gives life and meaning to all that goes before it, and to all that comes after it. The Mass grew outward from the Consecration.

Q. How can I guide myself through the Rite?
A. If you have a Missal, you can follow the Rite in sequence from beginning to end in Latin and English.

Here is an outline in four sections that may help you:;

The Mass of the Catechumens

We speak to God, God speaks to us (in the Bible and the Sermon). We respond to him with Faith (the Creed).

1. The Liturgy of the Word
   At the foot of the Altar steps the priest says Psalm 42 (43), Judica me ("I will go to the Altar of God"), and the Confiteor — an act of penance. He goes up to the Book and reads the Entrance Psalm (Introit), comes to the center and says the Kyrie eleison ("Lord, have mercy"). Then he says the Gloria (a hymn of praise), greets the people, and reads the Prayer of the day (Collect), the Epistle and the Gradual Psalm. The Book is taken to the Gospel side. The priest crosses over and reads the Gospel. Then on a Sunday he may preach.

The Mass of the Faithful

We give ourselves with Christ to His Heavenly Father. Jesus gives Himself for us, and to us.

2. The Offertory
   

   After the Offertory Prayer, the priest holds up the bread to God and offers it with prayer. At the Epistle side he takes form the server wine and water and pours them into the Chalice — symbol of the union of the Divine and Human Natures in Christ. He offers the wine, and bowing, humbly asks the Father to accept us. At the Epistle side the server helps him wash his hands in purification, the Lavabo. At the center he turns to the people asking them to pray that his Sacrifice and theirs may be acceptable — Orate fratres. He read the Secret ("sacred"), a prayer which sets aside thses gifts for the sacred purpose of Sacrifice. And so the Offertory ends, and the Canon begins.

   After a short dialogue with the people, the priest reads the Preface ending with the Sanctus, and ushering in the Canon. The Canon prayers are whispered, and soon the warning bell brings us to the heart of the Mass, the vital words of Jesus Himself.
    

3. The Consecration
   

   Bells ring as the priest adores and holds up the Body and Blood of Christ to be seen and adored by the people. The prayers continue quietly. The priest breaks the silence with the words Nobis quoque peccatoribus ("To us also, sinners"), a plea that we may be allowed by God's mercy to join the Saints and Marytrs. He finishes the Canon with the significant words, "Through Him, with Him, in Him, is given to Thee, God the Almighty Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory" — then in a final signal of Sacrifice he holds up the Body and Blood of Christ together and says, Per omnia sæcula sæculorum ("for ever and ever"). AMEN.

   And so ends the Conon of the Mass.
    

4. The Communion
   

   This begins at once with Our Lord's own prayer — the Pater noster. Then in a prayer for liberation from evil and for peace, he says — Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum — ("May the peace of the Lord be with you always"). Next he bows before the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) asking Him for mercy and peace. Bending, he prays in preparation to receive Him. Three times striking his breast, he says Domine, non sum dignus ("Lord, I am not worthy"). He receives reverently the Body and Blood of Our Lord, turns to the people with the Host raised in his hand and says. Ecce Agnus Dei ("Behold the Lamb of God") and again three times Domine, non sum dignus, and gives Holy Communion at the altar rails to each one saying, "May the Body of Our Lord Jesus keep your soul unto life everlasting."

   He returns to the Altar, purifies the Chalice and his fingers with wine and water, and reads the Communion verse and the Thanksgiving Prayer. Then he tells the people, Ite, Missa est, ("Go, you are sent"), gives them his blessing, and reads the Last Gospel. Kneeling as the foot of the altar after Low Mass, he says in English the prayers added by Pope Leo XIII. These are for Russia, for the Church everywhere, and for all sinners.

End of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Fr. Godfrey Aloysius Carney (1910-2008) was an Irish priest, faithfully serving in Liverpool.