Tridentine Mass

What is the Tridentine Mass?

It is the Mass used in the Catholic Church for almost 1500 years, until the introduction of Pope Paul VI following the Second Vatican Council (1570-1962).

Why is it called the Tridentine Mass?

Because it was codified by the Council of Trent in 1570. But some of the material used in it is nearly 1,000 years older. The Council of Trent was a response by the Catholic Church to the dramatic upheaval of the Reformation. Roman Catholic bishops met for 25 sessions of debate between 1545 and 1563; further discussions continued in Rome for years afterwards.

Liturgical reform was not the Council's only result; it led to the founding of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a revision of the church calendar and much clarification and codification of Catholic doctrine.

The liturgical problem was that many local variations on the Mass had been created in the confusion that followed the Reformation, not all of them of high quality or in line with the central doctrine. The Church realized that different liturgies could become a real threat to unity.

The liturgical reforms were made by a commission set up for the purpose by Pope Pius V. Their job was to create new, centrally authorized orders of service that every Church in every country would have to use. They issued the Breviarum Romanum in 1568 and the Missale Romanum in 1570.

The Council of Trent carried out considerable reforms in the sphere of Catholic worship by removing many appalling abuses and by rearranging the form of Catholic liturgy. But the Tridentine reforms were in fact more in the nature of a restoration of the medieval status quo than a truly constructive and creative renewal of Christian worship in the light of the Gospel and arising from a need to adapt worship to the requirements of a new age. (John Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the 10th to 18th Century, 1991)

The liturgists went back to an earlier form of Mass (1472) and cleaned things up, removing what one theologian called "the rank and monstrous excesses which had, particularly during the later Middle Ages, crept into the Mass."

They produced an order of service that laid down in minute detail what would be done and said at each stage of the Mass, and so gave churches a simple and effective template for worship that could be shared by congregations everywhere.

The Mass remained unchanged for 400 years, and served the Church well, despite coming in for much criticism in more recent times, largely for giving the congregation virtually no active role to play in the service.

Current liturgical thinking is generally critical of the Tridentine era (effectively the 400 years from 1560s to the 1960s). Nevertheless, the Tridentine liturgy provided the basis for consolidation after the schism of the Reformation, for spiritual growth and devotional fervour among the laity, and for mission to every continent in the world. (John Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the 10th to 18th Century, 1991)

Was the Tridentine Mass banned?

The Tridentine Mass was not banned by Vatican II but most bishops restricted its use. 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 Oct 1984 and Pope John Paul II's motu proprio Ecclesia Dei Adflicta of 2 July 1988.

In the 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 Adflicta, 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.

Authorisation for a priest to use the 1962 Missal can be granted either by the Holy See or by the local diocesan bishop. A significant number of diocesan bishops have declined to grant authorization within their dioceses. In some cases, the difficulty is that those seeking permission are openly hostile to the present-day Church leadership (e.g. Society of St Pius X [SSPX] founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970) and the conditions laid down in Quattuor abhinc annos are therefore not satisfied.

What's the difference between the Tridentine Mass and the new version of the Mass?

The Tridentine Mass is also known as the "Old Mass" according to the 1962 Missal, and is sometime inaccurately called "The Latin Mass."

In a Tridentine Mass:

• Everything is in Latin
• The priest conducts the liturgy facing East, leading the community who are behind him
• Everything happens strictly and precisely according to the rubrics (instructions)
• The congregation follows the Mass in private prayer and doesn't play an active part

In the new version of the Mass:

• The priest faces the congregation as part of the community
• The congregation plays an active part. The liturgists believed that the Mass was the concern of the whole Body of Christ - including the lay members of the Church, and therefore they said liturgy should be "celebrated in community with the active participation of the faithful." They added:

To promote active participation, acclamations by the people are favoured, responses, the chanting of psalms, antiphons, canticles, also actions or gestures and bodily postures. One should also observe a period of sacred silence at an appropriate time.

• The language of the place when the Mass is being celebrated (vernacular language) is used - this was done, as Pope John Paul II put it, "so that every individual can understand and proclaim in his or her mother tongue the wonders of God."

So are Catholics entitled to attend a Tridentine Mass if they wish?

Yes. Pope John Paul II's instruction Ecclesia Dei Adflicta grants a privilege to Catholics under Canon Law. Cardinal Mayer, the former head of the Vatican Commission Ecclesia Dei, said the pope had spoken of the "lawfulness" of the Tridentine Mass and of the "legitimate aspiration" of Catholics to celebrate or attend that Mass. "Hence a privilege in the canonical sense of the term was granted to the faithful by the supreme legislator of the Church," said Cardinal Mayer. "Once a privilege is duly granted, the subject indeed has the right to benefit from it."

On 7 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, encouraging the bishops to allow the Tridentine Mass to be celebrated by the priests and faithful who request for it. The faithful who want to have it celebrated need to ask permission from their pastor or parish priest first.

"Art. 5, § 1. In parishes, where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonises with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favouring the unity of the whole Church."

Link: Summorum Pontificum in Latin (original version).

(Sources: www.latinmass.org/www.bbc.co.uk)