Roman Missal

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Latest edition (2002) of the Missale Romanum

The Roman Missal (in Latin, Missale Romanum) is the liturgical book that contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church.

1 History
2 References
3 See also
4 External links
- 4.1 Full texts of the Missale Romanum
- 4.2 Partial texts

[edit] History

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 (full missal). In 1223 St 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 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 recognized that an end must be put to the resulting confusion.

Implementing the Council’s decision, Pope Pius V promulgated on 14 July 1570 an edition of the Roman Missal that was to be in obligatory use throughout the Latin Church except where there was a traditional liturgical rite that could be proved to be of at least two centuries’ antiquity.

Some corrections to 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 influenced by Jansenism and Gallicanism. This ended when Bishop Pierre-Louis Parisis of Langres and Abbot Guéranger initiated in the nineteenth century a campaign to return to the Roman Missal. Pope Leo XIII then took the opportunity to issue in 1884 a new typical edition that took account of all the changes introduced since the time of Urban VIII. Pope Pius X also undertook a revision of the Roman Missal, which was published and declared typical by his successor Pope Benedict XV on 25 July 1920.

Pius X’s revision made few corrections, omissions and additions to the text of the prayers in the Roman Missal. But 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 headed Additiones et variationes in rubricis Missalis.

In contrast, the revision by Pope Pius XII, though limited to the liturgy of only four days of the Church’s year, was much bolder, requiring changes even to canon law, which until then had prescribed that, with the exception of Midnight Mass for Christmas, Mass should not begin more than one hour before dawn or later than one hour after midday. In the part that he revised thoroughly, he anticipated some of the changes that were put into effect throughout the year only after the Second Vatican Council. These novelties included the first official introduction of the vernacular language into the liturgy. Pope Pius XII left until after completion of the work of a commission that he had set up to prepare a general revision of the rubrics of the Missal^[1] the issuance of a new typical edition of the Missal. However, he authorized printers to replace the earlier texts with those that he made obligatory in 1955 for the four days in question.

His successor, Pope John XXIII, issued a new typical edition in 1962. Its most notable innovations were the omission of the adjective "perfidi" 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. The revised Code of Rubrics prepared by Pope Pius XII's commission, which he had made obligatory with effect from 1 January 1961, replaced two of the documents in the 1920 edition; and his Apostolic Letter Rubricarum instructum took the place of the superseded Bull Divino afflatu of Pope Pius X.

Changes made to the liturgy in 1965 and 1967 in the wake of decisions of the Second Vatican Council were not incorporated in the Roman Missal, but were reflected in the provisional vernacular translations produced when the language of the people began to be used in addition to Latin. This explains the references sometimes met in an English-language context to "the 1965 Missal". Even countries that had the same language used different translations and varied in the amount of vernacular admitted.

Implementing a decision of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated in 1969 a fully revised typical edition of the Roman Missal, which became available in 1970. (A preliminary non-definitive text of two sections of this edition had already been made available in 1964.) A further typical edition with minor changes followed in 1975. In 2000, Pope John Paul II approved yet another typical edition, which appeared in 2002.

As was stated authoritatively by Benedict XVI's in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal was never juridically abrogated and may be freely used by any priest of the Latin Rite when celebrating Mass without the people. The priest in charge of a church may grant permission for its use in parishes 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). The 1962 edition is that used habitually by priests of traditionalist fraternities such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney.

In addition, some priests in what has been called "a situation of separation"^[2] also celebrate Mass publicly using editions of the Roman Missal other than the latest. They include members of the Society of St. Pius X, who use the 1962 typical edition, and of the Society of St. Pius V, who use an earlier edition.