
A missal is a
liturgical book
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official Church service, religious services.
Christianity Roman Rite
In the Roman Rite of ...
containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
throughout the
liturgical year
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be obse ...
. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest to celebrate Mass publicly and others for private and lay use. The texts of the most common Eucharistic liturgy in the world, the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
's
Mass of Paul VI
The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or , is the most commonly used Catholic liturgy, liturgy in the Catholic Church. It was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and its liturgical books were p ...
of the
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...
, are contained in the 1970 edition of the
Roman Missal.
Missals have also been published for earlier forms of the Roman Rite and other
Latin liturgical rites
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of ritual family, liturgical rites and Use (liturgy), uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church ...
. Other liturgical books typically contain the Eucharistic liturgies of other ritual traditions, but missals exist for the
Byzantine Rites,
Eastern Orthodox Western Rites,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
and
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
liturgies.
History

Before the compilation of such books, several books were used when celebrating Mass. These included the
gradual
The gradual ( or ) is a certain chant or hymn in liturgical Christian worship. It is practiced in the Catholic Mass, Lutheran Divine Service, Anglican service and other traditions. It gets its name from the Latin (meaning "step") because i ...
(texts mainly from the
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
, with musical notes added), the evangelary or
gospel book, the epistolary with texts from other parts of the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, mainly the epistles (letters) of
Saint Paul, and the
sacramentary
In the Western Christianity, Western Church of the Early Middle Ages, Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for Christian liturgy, liturgical services and the Mass (liturgy), mass by a bishop or Priest#Christianity, priest. Sa ...
with the prayers that the priest himself said.
In high medieval times, when it had become common in the West for priests to say Mass without the assistance of a choir and other ministers, these books began to be combined into a "Mass book" (''missale'' in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
), for the priest's use alone. This led to the appearance of the ''missale plenum'' ("full or complete missal"), which contained all the texts of the Mass, but without the music of the choir parts. Indications of the
rubrics to be followed were also added.
Latin Catholicism

The
Roman Missal (''Missale Romanum''), published by
Pope Pius V in 1570, eventually replaced the widespread use of different missal traditions by different parts of the church, such as those of
Troyes
Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...
,
Sarum (Salisbury), and others. Many
episcopal see
An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...
s had some local prayers and
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
s in addition.
At the behest of the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
,
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
greatly increased the amount of
Sacred Scripture read at Mass and, to a lesser extent, the prayer formulas. This necessitated a return to having the Scripture readings in a separate book, known as the
Lectionary
A lectionary () is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaism, Jewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, ...
. A separate
Book of the Gospels, with texts extracted from the Lectionary, is recommended, but is not obligatory. The Roman Missal continues to include elaborate rubrics, as well as antiphons etc., which were not in sacramentaries.
The first complete official translation of the Roman Missal into English appeared in 1973, based on the text of 1970. On 28 March 2001, the
Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
issued th
Instruction ''Liturgiam authenticam'' This 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." The following year, the third typical edition
[The "typical edition" of a liturgical text is that to which editions by other publishers must conform.] of the revised Roman Missal in Latin was released.
Lutheranism
In Europe, the Lutheran Missal was printed in 1525, in Livonian, Latvian, and Estonian.
The development of a Lutheran Missal in the English language is currently underway.
Anglicanism

Prior to the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
, liturgical practice had featured usage of local cathedral missal variations. The most noted of these was the Sarum Use missal, but others including the
Durham Use missal influenced English liturgical practice. During the
English Reformation
The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
, the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
separated from the Catholic Church. Characteristic of
Protestant liturgy trends, the Church of England opted to utilize a
vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
liturgy.
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...
is traditionally credited with leading the production of new liturgical texts, including the
1549 ''Book of Common Prayer''. The 1549 prayer book and successive versions of the ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
'' would replace both missals and
breviaries in regular Anglican liturgical practice.
As the
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
tradition broadened to include modern
anglo-catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...
, some Anglicans sought a return to a missal pattern for their liturgical books. In 1921, the
Society of Saints Peter and Paul published the
Anglican Missal in Great Britain. The Frank Gavin Liturgical Foundation of Mount Sinai published a revised edition in 1961 and the Anglican Parishes Association continues to print it:
Sections and illumination
In France, missals begin to be
illuminated
Illuminated may refer to:
* Illuminated (song), "Illuminated" (song), by Hurts
* Illuminated Film Company, a British animation house
* ''Illuminated'', alternative title of Black Sheep (Nat & Alex Wolff album)
* Illuminated manuscript
See also from the beginning of the 13th century. At this time, the missal was normally divided into several parts:
calendar, temporal, preface and Canon of the Mass, sanctoral, votive Masses and various additions. Two principal parts of the missal are the temporal and sanctoral. The temporal contains texts for the Mass, day by day for the whole liturgical year, organized around
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
and
Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
. The sanctoral presents a liturgical year through the commemoration of saints. Finally, votive Masses (a Mass for a specific purpose or read with a specific intent by the priest), different prayers, new feasts, commemoration of recent saints and canonizations were usually placed at the end of the missal.
Iconographic analysis of the missals of the
Diocese of Paris from the 13th-14th centuries shows the use of certain traditional images as well as some changing motifs. Among the former group, some types of
initial
In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...
s, including the
introit to the
First Sunday of Advent; to the preface of the Mass for
Holy Week
Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...
; to the Masses for saints, containing their images, but also the rich illumination of two pages of the missal in full size: the
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...
and
Christ in Majesty. The second group with changing scenes include some images of the clergy that are not depicted in all missals, but can be a repeating motif pertaining to only one manuscript. This can be the priest at prayer, the priest elevating the host (
sacramental bread), monks in song and so forth.
Catholic missals after the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
(1962−1965) are only little illustrated, at least before 2002, mostly with black-and-white pictures. Since 2005, many editions of the Editio typica tertia of the
Roman Missal have been illustrated in colour, especially in the English-speaking world.
Missalettes
The term "missal" is also used for books intended for use not by the priest but by others assisting at
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
or the
service of worship. These books are sometimes referred to as "hand missals" or "missalettes", while the term "altar missal" is sometimes used to distinguish the missal for the priest's use from them. Usually they omit or severely abbreviate the rubrical portions and Mass texts for other than the regular yearly celebrations, but include the Scripture readings.
One such missal has been used for the swearing in of a United States President. After the
assassination
Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives.
Assassinations are orde ...
of President
John F. Kennedy,
Lyndon B. Johnson was
sworn in as the nation's
36th president aboard
Air Force One using a missal of the late President.
See also
Missals
* ''
Missale Aboense''
*
Anglican Missal
*
Aromanian Missal
* ''
Missal of Arbuthnott''
* ''
Beauvais Missal''
*
Roman Missal
*
Missal of Silos
Other articles
*
''Rubricarum Instructum''
*
Sacramentary
In the Western Christianity, Western Church of the Early Middle Ages, Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for Christian liturgy, liturgical services and the Mass (liturgy), mass by a bishop or Priest#Christianity, priest. Sa ...
*
Customary (liturgy)
*
Roman Breviary
*
Anglican Breviary
The ''Anglican Breviary'' is an Anglican edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, Divine Office translated into English, used especially by Anglicans of Anglo-Catholicism, Anglo-Catholic churchmanship. It is based on the ''Roman Breviary'' as it exis ...
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General bibliography
*
*
*
*
* (page 23 at )
*
*
*
External links
Missale ad usum insignis Ecclesiæ Eboracensis (The York Missal in Latin)Missale ad usum insignis Ecclesiæ Eboracensis (alternate edition)
The Lutheran Missal*
Download of Church of England Missal in PDF{{Authority control
Christian literary genres