Pre-Tridentine Mass refers to the evolving and regional forms of the Catholic Mass in the West from antiquity to 1570. The basic structure solidified early and has been preserved, as well as important prayers such as the Roman Canon.
Following the Council of Trent's desire for standardization, Pope Pius V, with his bull Quo primum, made the Roman Missal obligatory throughout the Latin Church, except for those places and congregations whose distinct rites could demonstrate an antiquity of two hundred years or more.
And this food is called among us Eukharistia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.
The earliest surviving account of the celebration of the Eucharist or the Mass in Rome is that of Saint Justin Martyr (died c. 165), in chapter 67 of his First Apology:[2]
On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.
In chapter 65, Justin Martyr says that the kiss of peace was given before the bread and the wine mixed with water were brought to "the president of the brethren". The initial liturgical language used was Greek, before approximately the year 190 under Pope Victor, when the Church in Rome changed from Greek to Latin, except in particular for the Hebrew word "Amen", whose meaning Justin explains in Greek (γένοιτο), saying that by it "all the people present express their assent" when the president of the brethren "has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings".[3]
According to some scholars, the early Christian liturgy was a continuation of the liturgy of contemporary Jewish synagogues (as distinct from the temple liturgy): Duschesne comments "the only permanent element, on the whole, which Christianity added to the liturgy of the synagogue was[...]the sacred meal instituted by Jesus Christ as a perpetual commemoration of himself."[4] This tradition included unaccompanied chant.
It is unclear when the language of the celebration finished changing from Greek to Latin. Pope Victor I (190–202), may have been the first to use Latin in the liturgy in Rome. Others think Latin was finally adopted nearly a century later.[note 1] The change was probably gradual, with both languages being used for a while.[note 2]
Before the pontificate of Pope Gregory I (590–604), the Roman Mass rite underwent many changes, including a "complete recasting of the Canon" (a term that in this context means the Anaphora or Eucharistic Prayer).[note 3] At the time of Gregory I, regional customisation of liturgies were encouraged in missionary areas: according to Bede Gregory instructed Augustine of Canterbury to select "any customs in the Roman or the Gaulish Church or any other Church which may be more pleasing to Almighty God", and to teach them to the church of the English.[7]: 45
In Gaul, the Merovingian period in (approx. 500-750) has been called "the experimental age of liturgy," with the propers constructed freely: according to historian Yitzhak Hen "each bishop, abbot or priest was free to choose the prayers he found suitable."[7]: 57 Cross-pollenation and recycling of liturgical prayers was common, as priests and bishops took sacramentaries (manuscripts of liturgical prayers) between regions, and new prayers were composed.[7][page needed]
In the eighth century the Meringovian dynasty had been replaced by the Carolingians in Frankish Gaul. In the late eighth century, Pepin the Short ordered the Roman chant be used throughout his domains.[8]: 150 However, some elements of the preceding Gallican rites were fused with it north of the Alps, and the resulting mixed rite was introduced into Rome under the influence of the emperors who succeeded Charlemagne. Gallican influence is responsible for the introduction into the Roman rite of dramatic and symbolic ceremonies such as the blessing of candles, ashes, palms, and much of the Holy Week ritual.[9]
During the Carolingian period, the language diverged with Latin going back to its classical forms and the vernacular recognized as separate tongues. Consequently, the Council of Tours (813) mandated that sermons be given in the Romance or Teutonic vernacular.[10]
The chants and musical settings of the Mass were divided into
the parts that do not change during the year (the Ordinary: the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei), and
the parts that belonged to the particular day and occasion (the Proper): Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion.[11]
The major difference between the various rites or uses was not the basic structure or components of the ordinary parts of the liturgy, but of different arrangements, selection and allocation of prayers on different days, as well as mention of regionally-popular saints, and different rubrics.[12]: Preface
Late Middle Ages
Towards the end of the first millennium, organ, previously a secular instrument, was introduced as did more complicated singing of components of the Mass by choirs.[13] Important liturgies might be preceded, followed or interrupted by elaborate processions with songs, dramatic rituals involving props, and acted plays or tableau, with the laity trained to understand the symbolism.[14] In several locations, the story of the Three Magi would be enacted by three costumed men who would follow a star through the church, search at various locations, until finding the altar, while singing the Gospel alternatively and polyphonically.[15]: 54
The recitation of the Credo (Nicene Creed) after the Gospel is attributed to the influence of Emperor Henry II. Gallican influence explains the practice of incensing persons, introduced in the eleventh or twelfth century; "before that time incense was burned only during processions (the entrance and Gospel procession)".[16] Private prayers for the priest to say before Communion were another novelty. About the thirteenth century, an elaborate ritual and additional prayers of French origin were added to the Offertory: previously, the only prayer said by the priest was the Secret; these prayers varied considerably until fixed by Pope Pius V in 1570.[note 4] The rites had some differences in the prayers on the boundaries of the Mass: Pre-Tridentine prayers said mostly in the sacristy or during the procession to the altar as part of the priest's preparation were formalized in the 1570 missal of Pope Pius V as the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar; prayers that followed the Ite missa est changed or changed position (for example, in the 1570 edition, the Canticle of the Three Young Men and Psalm 150 in Pius V's edition the priest was to say while leaving the altar were later omitted.)[17]
A Pontifical Sung Mass at the close of the Middle Ages or early Renaissance (15th century)
Renaissance
Between 1478 and 1501, the bishops of 52 dioceses, including the primates of France, Castile, England, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland each independently published, in print, official liturgical texts for their diocese, because of the extent of parish and monastery variation. [note 5] In some places, this involved stripping variations back to the Cathedral's missal; however in others it involved adding material for new saints, offices and customs.
From 1474 until Pope Pius V's 1570 text, there were at least 14 different printed editions that purported to present the text of the Mass as celebrated in Rome, rather than elsewhere, and which therefore were published under the title of "Roman Missal" (Latin: Missale romanum.) These were produced in Milan, Venice, Paris and Lyon. Even these show variations. Local Missals, such as the Parisian Missal, of which at least 16 printed editions appeared between 1481 and 1738, showed more important differences.[18] The Milanese Roman Missal of 1474, which reproduces the Papal Chapel missal of the late 1200s, "hardly differs at all" from the initial Tridentine missal promulgated in 1570, apart from local feasts.[19]
Other rites
Apart from the Roman rite, before 1570 many other liturgical rites were in use, not only in the East, but also in the West. Some Latin liturgical rites, such as the Mozarabic Rite, were unrelated to the Roman Rite which Pope Pius V revised and ordered to be adopted generally, and even areas that had accepted the Roman rite had introduced changes and additions. As a result, every ecclesiastical province and almost every diocese had its local use, such as the Use of Sarum, the Use of York and the Use of Hereford in England. In France, there were strong traces of the Gallican Rite. With the exception of the relatively few places where no form of the Roman Rite had ever been adopted, the Canon of the Mass remained generally uniform, but the prayers in the "Ordo Missae", and still more the "Proprium Sanctorum" and the "Proprium de Tempore", varied widely.[20]
Languages
In most countries, the language used for celebrating Pre-Tridentine Masses was Latin, which had become the language of the Roman liturgy in the late 4th century. However, there have been exceptions:[21]
In the 14th century, Dominican missionaries converted a monastery near Qrna, Armenia to Catholicism, and translated the liturgical books of the Dominican Rite, a variant of the Roman Rite, into Armenian for the community's use. The monks were deterred from becoming members of the Dominican Order itself by the severe fasting requirements of the Dominican Constitutions, as well as the prohibition on owning any land other than that on which the monastery stood, and therefore became the Order of the United Friars of St. Gregory the Illuminator, a new order confirmed by Pope Innocent VI in 1356 whose Constitutions were similar to the Dominicans' except for these two laws. This order established monasteries over a vast amount of territory in Greater and Lesser Armenia, Persia, and Georgia, using the Dominican Rite in Armenian until the end of the order's existence in 1794.[22][21]
On February 25, 1398, Pope Boniface IX also authorized Maximus Chrysoberges to found a monastery in Greece where Mass would be celebrated in Greek according to the Dominican Rite, and Manuel Chrysoloras translated the Dominican missal into Greek in pursuance of the plan, but nothing further is known of this undertaking.[22][21]
At various times there were calls for the prayers of the Mass to be in the vernacular, such as by Erasmus.[23]: 67
Legacy
The Pre-Tridentine Mass survived post-Trent in some Anglican and Lutheran areas with some local modification from the basic Roman rite until the time when worship switched to the vernacular. Dates of switching to the vernacular, in whole or in part, varied widely by location. In some Lutheran areas this took three hundred years, as choral liturgies were sung by schoolchildren who were learning Latin.[24]
Vernacular and laity in the medieval and Reformation eras
Historian Virginia Reinburg has noted that the medieval eucharistic liturgy as experienced by (French) lay people, and shown in their prayer books, was a distinct experience from that of the clergy and the clerical missal.[25]: 529
"What the lay prayer books reveal—and missals do not—is the pre-Reformation mass as a ritual drama in which the priests and the congregation had distinct, but equally necessary parts to play."[25]: 530
— Reinberg
Setting
In the Carolingian period, the Mass was increasingly performed as sacred drama, with the people as active participants not passive spectators:[26]: 460 Archbishop Amalarius of Metz (c.830) was accused of imparting "theatrical elements and stage mannerisms" to the Frankish liturgy.[27]
The medieval lay experience was often highly sensory:[28] churches featured chanting and singing, bells, high-tech organs, incense, busy paintings, brilliant robes, rare colours, shiny utensils, clouds of saints and angels, and stained-glass light, not to mention the taste of the host, the splashing of baptism, or even, perhaps, the feel of the silk of the priest's violet stole in absolution.[note 8] Some larger churches even had articulated puppet/statues to delight and inspire the congregation.[29]
Resurrection of the Flesh (1499–1502) Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.
By the Renaissance, churches were full of depictions in art of biblical and hagiographical people and events to illustrate notable days in the church calendar; cathedrals could have artwork on a monumental scale: for example Luca Signorelli and Fra Angelico's frescoes in Orvieto Cathedral are based around the liturgy for the Feast of All Saints.[30] In Northern Europe, such art rarely survived the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation.
Lay experience
The priests and deacons attended to the ceremony in the chancel or side altar:
"For the priest, the most important important parts of the mass would be scripture readings, offertory of bread and wine, consecration, and priest's communion."[25]: 532
For the lay congregation, however, the mass was a series of collective devotions and ritual actions; the most important elements would be the Gospel, prône ("bidding prayers", see below), offertory procession, and distribution of the pain bénit at the end of the mass.[…]The laity's mass was less sacrifice and sacrament than a communal rite of greeting, sharing, giving, receiving and making peace."[25]: 532 [note 9]
— Reinberg
Lay prayer-books, for the educated middle and upper classes, not only gave the communal actions of the liturgy, but provided almost an unofficial parallel liturgy of silent prayers and devotions for the laity to perform in between and in preparation for the actions.[31]: 59
"For the congregation, which would not have heard the sacred words "This is my body", the elevation was the emotional climax of the mass. It was also the focus of popular liturgical devotion. Virtually no lay books actually explain the consecration[…](or) the doctrine of transubstantiation.[…]Yet the ritual of the elevation was intended to express the real presence of Christ on the altar."[25]: 533
— Reinberg
Notable parts of the lay experience of the liturgy (especially the Sunday Mass) included:
The reading of the Gospel could be an elaborate and reverential event, with all people standing and genuflecting at any (Latin) mention of the name Jesus. Erasmus mentioned approvingly that in his day it was the practice, after the reading, for the sumptuous evangeliary (Gospel book) to be carried around the people and kissed by all in adoration.[32]: 197
The Prône (French: Prières du Prône, German: Pronaus, Latin: pronaüm) mentioned above was a vernacular service that came to be included as a para-liturgy in medieval Latin High Masses (typically at the Sermon), dating back at least to Regino of Prüm (d. 915).[33]: 487 It was named after the screen at the chancel entrance, where the priest would speak in the local language.[34]: 118 It could include well-known prayers, translations of the Gospel and Epistle, the homily nominally on the Gospel, catechetical instruction,[35][36]: 721 comprehensive prayers for the living and the dead,[note 10]: 352 acknowledging benefactors, open confession (for venial sins),[33]: 493 teaching the diocese's domestic morning prayer,[37]: 142 announcements including weddings, upcoming fasts and feasts,[33]: 491 village assembly meetings, royal or seigneurial decrees of note, and salutory crime reports.[38]: 281 It was regarded as vital by laypeople even into the post-Reformation period.[36]: 727
It was universally folded into the Sunday Mass by the Council of Trent and with collated bidding prayers such as Peter Canisius' German: Allgemeines Gebet.[39] (In Ireland (c. 1785), "the prône" became the name for a book of prepared sermons and prayers which were "a key tool in remodelling older oral versions of the (vernacular portion of the) liturgy to newer standardised ones."[40]: 93 )
Written and spoken Latin had diverged enough that by 813 the Council of Tours instructed that homilies should be given in the local spoken vernacular, whether Romance or Teutonic.[41] It was the common practice[note 11] that at the beginning of the vernacular homily (sermon), the Gospel reading and perhaps the Epistle reading would be rendered loosely in the vernacular by the priest.[33]: 408 [42] In a pinch, this translation could be used as the sermon itself: inability or slackness to preach in the vernacular was repeatedly regarded as a failure of a priest's or bishop's duty,[note 12] but must have happened over the centuries: John Purvey quoted English bishop Robert Grosseteste:
If any priest says he cannot preach (i.e. give composed or extemporized vernacular sermons), one remedy is: resign; [...] Another remedy, if he does not want that, is: record (i.e., recollect or write out)[44] he in the week the naked text of the Sunday's gospel, that he understands the gross story, and tell it to the people, that is if he understands Latin and does it every week of the year. And if he understands no Latin, go he to one of his neighbours that understands, which will charitably expound it to him, and thus edify he his flock[...]
— Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Scriptum est de Levitis (c. 1240)[45]: 141, 442
At times, vernacular hymns were sung.[33]: 147, 440 For example, a German: Leis hymm, sung after the sermon from the 12th Century.[33]: 486
The pain bénit was bread given in the general offering by the laity, blessed by the priest, and given back to the laity for devotional use and as alms, especially when lay communion was infrequent.
There are few records about the liturgy in remote, rural areas.
Comparison of the Mass, c. 200 to c. 2000 AD
This table is indicative. Depending on calendar, occasion, participants, region and period, some parts might be augmented or commented on (tropes)[46] or removed or rearranged or varied from standard forms. The specific collects, readings, sequences, psalms, saints, blessings, and performance instructions (or rubrics), similarly vary. The Canon of the Mass (the key section with consecration and elevation) had less textual variation in the West, and often was the standard Roman Canon.
Such local variants are called Uses (of a Rite) when relatively minor, or a new Rite when relatively major, and typically reflect the living practice at a cathedral, whose liturgical books might then be copied by other dioceses. Mixing was common: a cathedral might adopt the Liturgy from one Rite, but keep its traditional Rubrics, Sequences etc., and use the Psalms or Calendar of some other rite. Over time, the parts may be grouped or re-named to reflect the contemporary theological or pastoral priorities, but were typically known by the first words of the Latin of the prayer.
For example, the Ambrosian Rite has different prayers, prefaces, readings, calendar and vestments to the Roman Rite. It omits the Agnus Dei. The Gesture of Peace occurs before the Offertory.[47][48]
Note: Below, "Gifts" primarily means the unconsecrated bread, wine and water.
^"The complete and definitive Latinization of the Roman liturgy seems to have happened toward the middle of the fourth century." Mohrmann, Christine (1961–77), Études sur le latin des chrétiens [Studies on the Latin of the Christian], vol. I, Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, p. 54
^"The first Christians in Rome were chiefly people who came from the East and spoke Greek. The founding of Constantinople naturally drew such people thither rather than to Rome, and then Christianity at Rome began to spread among the Roman population, so that at last the bulk of the Christian population in Rome spoke Latin. Hence the change in the language of the liturgy. [...] The liturgy was said (in Latin) first in one church and then in more, until the Greek liturgy was driven out, and the clergy ceased to know Greek. About 415 or 420 we find a Pope saying that he is unable to answer a letter from some Eastern bishops, because he has no one who could write Greek." Plummer, Alfred (1985), Boudens, Robrecht (ed.), Conversations with Dr. Döllinger 1870–1890, Leuven University Press, p. 13.
^"...the Eucharistic prayer was fundamentally changed and recast" "Liturgy of the Mass", Catholic Encyclopedia, New advent.
^Ghislieri, Antonio Michele (14 July 1570), Quo primum (bull), Papal encyclicals, We decided to entrust this work to learned men of our selection. They very carefully collated all their work with the ancient codices in Our Vatican Library and with reliable, preserved or emended codices from elsewhere. Besides this, these men consulted the works of ancient and approved authors concerning the same sacred rites; and thus they have restored the Missal itself to the original form and rite of the holy Fathers. When this work has been gone over numerous times and further emended, after serious study and reflection, We commanded that the finished product be printed and published.
^"The right to use the Glagolitic [sic] language at Mass with the Roman Rite has prevailed for many centuries in all the south-western Balkan countries, and has been sanctioned by long practice and by many popes." Krmpotic, M.D. (1908). "Dalmatia". Catholic encyclopedia. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
^There is an obscure report of an improvised pre-medieval practise of a bishop to whack penitants with his pallium in proportion to their sins. Murray, Alexander (1993). "Confession before 1215". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 3: 51–81. doi:10.2307/3679136. ISSN0080-4401. JSTOR3679136.
^"The central contention of (John) Bossy’s […]Christianity in the West was that medieval Christianity had been fundamentally concerned with the creation and maintenance of peace in a violent world. “Christianity” in medieval Europe denoted neither an ideology nor an institution, but a community of believers whose religious ideal—constantly aspired to if seldom attained—was peace and mutual love. The sacraments and sacramentals of the medieval Church were not half-pagan magic, but instruments of the “social miracle,” rituals designed to defuse hostility and create extended networks of fraternity, spiritual “kith and kin,” by reconciling enemies and consolidating the community in charity." Duffy, Eamon (1 November 2016). "The End of Christendom". First Things. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
^This concern mirrors that of Charlemagne who, in 769, had ordered each priest every Lent to "report and explain to the bishop the method and procedure [in which he
performs] his ministry, concerning baptism, the Catholic faith, the prayers, and the ordo of the Mass.[...]Priests, who do not know properly [how] to perform their ministry and are not too busy to learn with all their energy according to the order of their bishops, or [those who] seem to disregard the canons, must be removed from the office itself, until they should know these completely without any mistakes."[43]: 149
^Maskell suggests that the dismissals and simplicity are caused both because of unwillingness to "cast pearls before swine" (p. xxviii) and immanent danger from persecution (p. xxi).
^Spencer, The Rev. Sidney (2013-03-05), "Christianity", Britannica (encyclopaedia) (online ed.), retrieved 2014-01-27.
^Duschesne, L. Christian Worship: its Origin and Evolution (1912 ed.). London.
^Jungmann, Josef Andreas, SJ (1949), Missarum Sollemnia – Eine genetische Erklärung der römischen Messe [Solemn mass — A genetic explanation of the Roman Mass] (in German), vol. I, Vienna: Herder, pp. 70–71{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
^Schmidt, Hermannus AP (1960), Introductio in Liturgiam Occidentalem [Introduction to Western liturgy] (in Latin), Rome-Freiburg-Barcelona: Herder, p. 352
^Casanellas, Pere (1 January 2014). "Medieval Catalan translations of the Bible". TERRADO, Xavier; SABATÉ, Flocel (eds.). Les veus del sagrat (Verum et Pulchrum Medium Aevum; 8), pp. 15–34.
^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. ISBN9780567033840.
^Thurston, Herbert (1913). "Missal". Catholic Encyclopedia.
^Pabel, Hilmar M. (1995). "Promoting the Business of the Gospel: Erasmus' Contribution to Pastoral Ministry". Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook. 15 (1): 53–70. doi:10.1163/187492795X00053.
^Salisbury, Matthew Cheung (2018). Worship in medieval England. Leeds: Arc humanities press. ISBN9781641891158.
^Dyer, Joseph Henry (2022). Readers and hearers of the word: the cantillation of scripture in the Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN978-2-503-59287-9.
^Nico Fassino (2023). The Epistles & Gospels in English: A history of vernacular scripture from the pulpit, 971-1964. Part of the Hand Missal History Project. [1]
^Emmons, D. D. (28 June 2020). "COMMUNION UNDER ONE KIND: Exploring the Church history and norms of receiving the body and blood of Christ at Mass". Our Sunday Visitor. 109 (10): 14–15.
