Roman Missal
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The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration 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) ...
, the most common liturgy and
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 ...
of 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 ...
. There have been several editions.


History


Before the Council of Trent (1570)

Before the high
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, several books were used at Mass: a
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
prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
s, 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'' (). In 1223 Saint
Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...
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
Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
s, to the whole Western 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 A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
; 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 The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...
determined that an end must be put to the resulting disparities. The chapel missal used during
Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...
's papacy was largely reproduced in the Franciscan Missal, which in turn was adopted by Pope Nicholas for the Roman Missal. The later Roman Missal of 1474, which replicates the papal chapel missal of the 1200s, "hardly differs at all" from the Tridentine Missal promulgated in 1570. The first printed ''Missale Romanum'' (Roman Missal), containing the ''Ordo Missalis secundum consuetudinem Curiae Romanae'' (Order of the Missal in accordance with the custom of the Roman Curia), was produced in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
in 1474. Almost a whole century passed before the appearance of an edition officially published by order of 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 ...
. During that interval, the 1474 Milanese edition was followed by at least 14 other editions: 10 printed in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, 3 in Paris, 1 in
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. For lack of a controlling authority, these editions differ, sometimes considerably. Annotations in the hand of
Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
Gugliemo Sirleto in a copy of the 1494 Venetian edition show that it was used for drawing up the 1570 official edition of Pope Pius V. In substance, this 1494 text is identical with that of the 1474 Milanese edition.


From 1570 to the 1960s

Implementing the decision of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V promulgated, in the Apostolic Constitution '' Quo primum'' of 14 July 1570, an edition of the Roman Missal that was mandated for obligatory use throughout the
Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...
except where there was another liturgical rite that could be proven to have been in use for at least two centuries. Some corrections to Pope Pius V's text proved necessary, and
Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...
with his papal bul
''Cum Sanctissimum''
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 Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...
on 2 September 1634 with the papal bull
Si Quid Est
'. Beginning in the late seventeenth century, France and neighbouring areas saw a flurry of independent missals published by bishops. Some of these were editions of manuscript missals already existing prior to 1370, but had undergone modifications that in some cases touched on the arbitrary. Later accusations of influence by Jansenism and Gallicanism were largely unfounded, as is shown by the fact that 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 ...
did never condemned these books. This historical phenomenon of diocesan missals ended, however, when Abbot Guéranger and bishops such as Bishop Pierre-Louis Parisis of Langres initiated in the nineteenth century a vigorous polemical campaign in favour of a return to the Roman Missal. By 1875 all the French dioceses were using the Roman Missal. In 1884,
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...
promulgated a new typical edition that took account of all the changes introduced since the time of Pope Urban VIII.
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...
with the apostolic constitution
Divino afflatu
', undertook a revision of the Roman Missal, which began in 1911 and was promulgated and declared typical by his successor Pope Benedict XV on 25 July 1920. Though Pius X's revision made few corrections, omissions, and additions to the text of the prayers in the Roman Missal, 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 under the heading "''Additiones et variationes in rubricis Missalis.''" Among the major changes in the rubrics, included the abolition of the Psalter of Pius V.
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
in 1948, established a commission for liturgical reform led by Annibale Bugnini, who would later become one of the chief architects of the liturgical reforms of Paul VI. On 9 February 1951, Pius XII published the decree ''Dominicae Resurrectionis'' which authorized, in 1951 the introduction of revised texts for
Easter Vigil The Easter Vigil, also known as the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter, is a Christian liturgy, liturgy held in Christian worship#Sacramental tradition, traditional Christian ...
. The regulations were initially deemed "ad experimentum" for one year, but in 1952 they were extended for another three years. After positive reports from the world's bishops, these changes were made universally obligatory on 16 November 1955, with the decre
''Maxima Redemptionis Nostrae Mysteria''
which took effect on 25 March 1956 (Palm Sunday), which made substantial changes to
Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Its name originates from the palm bran ...
,
Holy Thursday Maundy Thursday, also referred to as Holy Thursday, or Thursday of the Lord's Supper, among other names,The day is also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries. is ...
,
Good Friday Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...
, and the
Easter Vigil The Easter Vigil, also known as the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter, is a Christian liturgy, liturgy held in Christian worship#Sacramental tradition, traditional Christian ...
. Pius XII also removed from the Vigil of Pentecost, the series of six Old Testament readings, with their accompanying Tracts and Collects, but these continued to be printed until 1962. Acceding to the wishes of many of the bishops, Pope Pius XII judged it expedient also to reduce the rubrics of the missal to a simpler form, a simplification enacted by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 23 March 1955. The changes this made in the General Roman Calendar are indicated in General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII. In the following year, 1956, while preparatory studies were being conducted for a general liturgical reform, Pope Pius XII surveyed the opinions of the bishops on the liturgical improvement of the Roman breviary. After duly weighing the answers of the bishops, he judged that it was time to address the need for a general and systematic revision of the rubrics of the breviary and missal. This question he referred to the special committee of experts appointed to study the general liturgical reform. His successor,
Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
, with his apostolic letter Rubricarum instructum, issued a new typical edition of the Roman Missal, which would be promulgated in 1962. This incorporated the revised Code of Rubrics which Pope Pius XII's commission had prepared, and which Pope John XXIII had made obligatory with effect from 1 January 1961. In the Missal, this Code of Rubrics replaced two of the documents in the 1920 edition; and the Pope's motu proprio ''Rubricarum instructum'' took the place of the superseded Apostolic constitution '' Divino afflatu'' of Pope Pius X. The notable changes in the 1962 Missal, incorporated were the omission of the adjective "''perfidis''" in the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews which had been removed in 1959, and the insertion of the name of
Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...
into the Canon (or Eucharistic Prayer) of the Mass on 8 December 1962. Before this addition, the Canon had largely remained unaltered, since the papacy of Gregory I.


Revision following the Second Vatican Council

The instructio
''Inter Oecumenici''
of 26 September 1964, that took effect on 7 March 1965, initiated the application to the Mass of the decisions that the Council had taken less than a year before. Permission was given for use, only in Mass celebrated with the people, the use of the vernacular , in the Biblical readings and the reintroduced Prayers of the Faithful, but, "until the whole of the Ordinary of the Mass has been revised", in the chants (Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the entrance, offertory and communion antiphons) and in the parts that involved dialogue with the people, and in the Our Father, which the people could now recite entirely together with the priest. Most Episcopal Conferences quickly approved interim vernacular translations, generally different from country to country, and, after having them confirmed by the Holy See, published them in 1965. Other changes included the omission of Psalm 43 (42) at the start of Mass and the Last Gospel at the end, both of which Pope Pius V had first inserted into the Missal (having previously been private prayers said by the priest in the sacristy), and the Leonine Prayers of
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...
. The Canon of the Mass, which continued to be recited silently, was kept in Latin. Three years later, the second instructio
''Tres abhinc annos''
of 4 May 1967 gave permission for use of the vernacular in the Canon of the Mass, and allowed it to be said audibly and even, in part, to be chanted; the vernacular could be used even at Mass celebrated without the people being present. Use of the maniple was made optional, and at three ceremonies at which the cope was previously the obligatory vestment the chasuble could be used instead. A new edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated by
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 ...
with the apostolic constitution '' Missale Romanum'' of 3 April 1969. The full text of the revised Missal was not published until the following year, and full vernacular translations appeared some years later, but parts of the Missal in Latin were already available since 1964 in non-definitive form, and provisional translations appeared without delay. In his apostolic constitution, Pope Paul VI made particular mention of the following significant changes that he had made in the Roman Missal: * To the single Eucharistic Prayer of the previous edition (which, with minor alterations, was preserved as the First Eucharistic Prayer) he added three alternative Eucharistic Prayers, increasing also the number of prefaces. * The rites of the Order of Mass (in Latin, ''Ordo Missae'') — that is, the largely unvarying part of the liturgy — were "simplified, while due care is taken to preserve their substance." "Elements which, with the passage of time, came to be duplicated, or were added with but little advantage" were eliminated, especially in the rites for the preparation of the bread and wine, the breaking of the bread, and Communion. * "'Other elements which have suffered injury through accidents of history are now to be restored to the earlier norm of the Holy Fathers'
''Sacrosanctum Concilium''
art. 50), for example, the homily (see ''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', art. 52) and the 'common prayer' or 'prayer of the faithful' (see ''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', art. 53)." Paul VI also added the option of "a penitential rite or act of reconciliation with God and the brothers, at the beginning of the Mass", though this was neither an ancient part of the Introductory Rite nor mentioned in ''Sacrosanctum Concilium''. * He greatly increased the proportion of the Bible read at Mass. Even before Pius XII reduced the proportion further, only 1% of the Old Testament and 16.5% of the New Testament was read at Mass. In Pope Paul's revision, 13.5% of the Old Testament and 71.5% of the New Testament are read. He was able to do this by having more readings at Mass and introducing a three-year cycle of readings on Sundays and a two-year cycle on weekdays. In addition to these changes, the Pope noted that his revision considerably modified other sections of the Missal, such as the Proper of Seasons, the Proper of Saints, the Common of Saints, the Ritual Masses, and the Votive Masses, adding: "In all of these changes, particular care has been taken with the prayers: not only has their number been increased, so that the new texts might better correspond to new needs, but also their text has been restored on the testimony of the most ancient evidences." In response to the promulgation of the
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 ...
, in 1969, cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Antonio Bacci presented the Ottaviani Intervention.


Editions after the Second Vatican Council

In 1970, the first typical edition of the Roman Missal (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 ...
) bearing the title ''Missale Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum'' was published, after being formally promulgated by
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 ...
in the previous year. A reprint that corrected misprints appeared in 1971. A second typical edition, with minor changes, followed in 1975. In 2000,
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
approved a third typical edition, which appeared in 2002. This third edition added feasts, especially of some recently canonized saints, new prefaces of the Eucharistic Prayers, and additional Masses and prayers for various needs, and it revised and amplified the
General Instruction of the Roman Missal The ''General Instruction of the Roman Missal'' (GIRM)—in the Latin original, (IGMR)—is the detailed document governing the celebration of Mass of the Roman Rite in what since 1969 is its normal form. Originally published in 1969 as a separa ...
. In 2008, under
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
, an emended reprint of the third edition was issued, correcting misprints and some other mistakes (such as the insertion at the beginning of the Apostles' Creed of "unum", as in the Nicene Creed). A supplement gives celebrations, such as that of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, added to the
General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar (GRC) is the liturgy, liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and Sacred mysteries, mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgic ...
after the initial printing of the 2002 typical edition. Three alterations required personal approval by Pope Benedict XVI: * A change in the order in which a bishop celebrating Mass outside his own diocese mentions the local bishop and himself * Omission from the Roman Missal of the special Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children (which, however, were not thereby suppressed) * The addition of three alternatives to the standard dismissal at the end of Mass, ''Ite, missa est'' (Go forth, the Mass is ended): ** ''Ite ad Evangelium Domini annuntiandum'' (Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord) ** ''Ite in pace, glorificando vita vestra Dominum'' (Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life) ** ''Ite in pace'' (Go in peace)
Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
's 1962 edition of the Roman Missal began a period of aesthetic preference for a reduced number of illustrations in black and white instead of the many brightly coloured pictures previously included. The first post-
Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...
editions, both in the original Latin and in translation, continued that tendency. The first Latin edition (1970) had in all 12 black-and-white woodcut illustrations by Gian Luigi Uboldi. The 1974 English translation adopted by the United States episcopal conference appear in several printings. ''Our Sunday Visitor'' printed it with further illustrations by Uboldi, while the printing by ''Catholic Book Publishing'' had woodcuts in colour. The German editions of 1975 and 1984 had no illustrations, thus emphasizing the clarity and beauty of the typography. The French editions of 1974 and 1978 were also without illustrations, while the Italian editions of 1973 and 1983 contained both reproductions of miniatures in an 11th-century manuscript and stylized figures whose appropriateness is doubted by the author of a study on the subject, who also makes a similar observation about the illustrations in the Spanish editions of 1978 and 1988. The minimalist presentation in these editions contrasts strongly with the opulence of United States editions of the period between 2005 and 2011 with their many full-colour reproductions of paintings and other works of art. The first vernacular version of the third edition (2002) of the Vatican II Roman Missal to be published was that in Greek. It appeared in 2006. The English translation. taking into account the 2008 changes, came into use in 2011. Translations into some other languages took longer: that into Italian was decided on by the Episcopal Conference of Italy at its November 2018 meeting and was confirmed by the Holy See in the following year, as announced by the conference's president at its 22 May 2019 meeting. It replaces the 1983 Italian translation of the 1975 second Latin edition. The new text includes changes to the Italian Lord's Prayer and Gloria. In the Lord's Prayer, ''e non c'indurre in tentazione'' ("and lead us not into temptation") becomes ''non abbandonarci alla tentazione'' ("do not abandon us to temptation") and ''come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori'' ("as we forgive our debtors") becomes ''come anche noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori'' ("as we too forgive our debtors"). In the Gloria ''pace in terra agli uomini di buona volontà'' ("peace on earth to people of good will") becomes ''pace in terra agli uomini, amati dal Signore'' ("peace on earth to people, who are loved by the Lord").


Continued use of earlier editions

Following the promulgation of the Missal of Paul VI in 1969-70, it was generally assumed that the 1962 edition had been abrogated, however some refused to adopt the new missal, most notably the Society of Saint Pius X, created by Marcel Lefebvre. On 30 October 1971, Paul VI granted permission for use of the previous missal in England and Wales, in what became known as the Agatha Christie indult. On 3 October 1984,
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
issued a letter known as '' Quattuor abhinc annos'' which extended the indult to bishops worldwide. In his motu proprio '' Summorum Pontificum'' of 7 July 2007,
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
stated that the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal was never juridically abrogated and that it may be freely used by any priest of the
Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...
when celebrating Mass "without a congregation". Use of the 1962 edition at Mass with a congregation is allowed, with the permission of the priest in charge of a church, for stable groups attached to this earlier form 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) ...
, provided that the priest using it is "qualified to do so and not juridically impeded" (as for instance by suspension). Accordingly, many dioceses schedule regular Masses celebrated using the 1962 edition. In 2021,
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
, motivated by a desire to stave off what he perceived to be growing rejection of the Second Vatican Council developing from groups using the preconciliar rites, issued '' Traditionis custodes'' to restore the previous status quo of bishops having authority over the celebrations of Mass in the preconciliar Roman Rite. Francis stated in the letter that the current version of the Roman Rite ought to be regarded as the "unique expression of ts'' lex orandi''." Several traditionalist fraternities in full communion with the Holy See are authorised to celebrate the Mass exclusively according to the 1962 version of the Missal: such groups include the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), the
Institute of the Good Shepherd The Institute of the Good Shepherd (, ) is a Catholic society of apostolic life made up of traditionalist priests promoting the Tridentine Mass and other traditional sacraments, in full communion with the Holy See. As of 2024, the Institute ...
(IBP) and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney. However in more recent years, limited indults have been granted to certain parishes for use of the
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 ...
prior to the reforms of Pius XII. The Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), which rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and is not in full communion with the Holy See, exclusively celebrates the Mass according to the 1962 version of the Roman Missal. Sedevacantist and sedeprivationist groups, which reject the Council and do not recognise any Pope since the Council as valid, also reject the 1962 version of the Missal, seeing it as contaminated by modernism as well and thus only celebrate Mass using the 1920 edition of the Missal, however there is a dispute among these groups, on the acceptance of the 1955 rubrics of the Paschal Triduum introduced by Pius XII: some groups, such as the
Society of Saint Pius V A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority and dominant cultural expecta ...
, the Roman Catholic Institute and the Istituto Mater Boni Consilii) reject them, believing them to be the first step towards the post-Conciliar liturgical renovations; others, such as the
Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (; CMRI) is a sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation. The CMRI is dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fátima and the devotion of the practice of Total Consecrat ...
accept them, seeing them as a liturgical change by a valid Pope and, thus, binding to all Catholics. However, the CMRI does not accept the modifications to the Roman Missal by Pope John XXIII as they don't recognise him as a valid pope. For information on the calendars included in pre-69/70 editions (a small part of the full Missal), see General Roman Calendar of 1960, General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, General Roman Calendar of 1954, and Tridentine calendar.


Official English translations

The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) prepared an English translation of the 1970 Roman Missal, which was approved by the individual English-speaking episcopal conferences and, after being reviewed by 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 ...
, was put into effect, beginning with the United States in 1973. The authority for the episcopal conferences, with the consent of the Holy See, to decide on such translations was granted by the Second Vatican Council. ICEL prepared a greatly altered English translation, and presented it for the consent of the Holy See in 1998. The Holy See withheld its consent and informed ICEL that the Latin text of the Missal, which must be the basis of translations into other languages, was being revised, making irrelevant a translation based on what would no longer be the official text of the Roman Missal. On 28 March 2001, the Holy See issued the Instruction '' Liturgiam Authenticam'', which 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." This was a departure from the principle of functional equivalence promoted in ICEL translations after the Second Vatican Council. In the following year, the third typical edition of the revised Roman Missal in Latin, which had already been promulgated in 2000, was released. These two texts made clear the need for a new official English translation of the Roman Missal, particularly because the previous one was at some points an adaptation rather than strictly a translation. An example is the rendering of the response "''Et cum spiritu tuo''" (literally, "And with your spirit") as "And also with you." Accordingly, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy prepared, with some hesitancy on the part of the bishops, a new English translation of the Roman Missal, the completed form of which received the approval of the Holy See in April 2010. On 19 July 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments established an international committee of English-speaking bishops, called the Vox Clara Committee, "to advise that Dicastery in its responsibilities related to the translation of liturgical texts in the English language and to strengthen effective cooperation with the Conferences of Bishops". On the occasion of the meeting of the committee in Rome in April 2002, Pope John Paul II sent them a message emphasizing that "fidelity to the rites and texts of the Liturgy is of paramount importance for the Church and Christian life" and charging the committee to ensure that "the texts of the Roman Rite are accurately translated in accordance with the norms of the Instruction ''Liturgiam authenticam''". ''Liturgiam authenticam'' also took from the Bishops' conferences the power to make its own translations and instituted a papal commission, Vox Clara, to revise the Bishops' work. In 2008 it made an estimated 10,000 changes to the ICEL's proposed text. By 2017 Pope Francis had formed a commission to review and evaluate ''Liturgiam authenticam''. The work of making a new translation of the Roman Missal was completed in time to enable the national episcopal conference in most English-speaking countries to put it into use from the first Sunday of Advent (27 November) 2011. As well as translating "Et cum spiritu tuo" as "And with your spirit", which some scholars suggest refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit the priest received at ordination, in the
Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining creed, statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Counci ...
" consubstantial with the Father" was used as a translation of "consubstantialem Patri" (in Greek " ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί"), instead of "of one Being with the Father" (or, in the United States only, "one in Being with the Father"), and the
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 ...
phrase ''qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum'', formerly translated as "It will be shed for you and ''for all'' so that sins may be forgiven", was translated literally as "which will be poured out for you and ''for many'' for the forgiveness of sins" (see Pro multis). This new official translation of the entire Order of Mass is available on the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic C ...
, which also provides a comparison between the new text of the people's parts and that hitherto in use in the United States (where the version of the Nicene Creed was slightly different from that in other English-speaking countries).
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
remarked: "Many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation. The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity, and the opportunity for catechesis that it presents will need to be firmly grasped. I pray that in this way any risk of confusion or bewilderment will be averted, and the change will serve instead as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the English-speaking world." The plan to introduce the new English translation of the missal was not without critics. Over 22,000 electronic signatures, some of them anonymous, were collected on a web petition to ask the Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope to reconsider the new translation. At the time there was open dissent from one parish in Seattle. The
Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) is an episcopal conference consisting of all the Bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Roman Catholic (term), Roman Catholic Church in Roman Catholic Church in South Africa, South Africa ...
(Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland) put into effect the changes in the people's parts of the revised English translation of the Order of Mass from 28 November 2008, when the Missal as a whole was not yet available. Protests were voiced on grounds of content and because it meant that Southern Africa was thus out of line with other English-speaking countries. One bishop claimed that the English-speaking conferences should have withstood the Holy See's insistence on a more literal translation. However, when in February 2009 the Holy See declared that the change should have awaited completion of work on the Missal, the bishops conference appealed, with the result that those parishes that had adopted the new translation were directed to continue using it, while those that had not were told to await further instructions before doing so. In view of the foreseen opposition to making changes, the various English-speaking episcopal conferences arranged catechesis on the Mass and the Missal, and made information available also on the Internet. Other initiatives included the Catholic News Agency publishing a series of ten articles on the revised translation. In 2012, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines revised the 41-year-old liturgy with an English version of the Roman Missal, and later translated it in the
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 ...
to several
native languages A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...
in the Philippines. For instance, in 2024, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos uses the Tagalog language Roman Missal entitled "Ang Aklat ng Mabuting Balita."


Pope Francis' approach

On 9 September 2017 Pope Francis issued the motu proprio '' Magnum principium'' ("The Great Principle") which allowed local bishops' conferences more authority over translation of liturgical documents. The motu proprio "grants the episcopal conferences the faculty to judge the worth and coherence of one or another phrase in the translations from the original." The role of the Vatican is also modified in accord with the decree of Vatican II, to confirming texts already prepared by bishops' conferences, rather than "recognition" in the strict sense of Canon Law no. 838.


See also

* Pontifical * '' Missale Romanum Glagolitice'' * Customary (liturgy)


References


Further reading

* An exploration of the changes to the English Roman Missal affecting English speaking Catholics as of the First Sunday of Advent in 2011.


External links


Online texts of editions of the Roman Missal


Full texts of the ''Missale Romanum''


2002 third typical Vatican II edition of the Roman MissalEnglish Translation According to the Third Typical Edition
2011, for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
1962 typical edition of the Roman Missal scanned in black and white (musicasacra.com)

1920 typical edition of the Roman Missal, with feasts updated to the late 1920s (musicasacra.com)

Missale Romanum published by Pustet, 1894 (1884 typical edition)

Roman Missal, published by Pustet, 1862 (1634 typical edition, updated to 1862)

List of links to on-line reproductions of Latin manuscripts and printed editions from c. 1100 to 2002 and old translations


Texts of Roman Rite missals earlier than the 1570 Roman Missal


''Missale Romanum. Mediolani. 1474''. Robert Lippe (editor), Henry Bradshaw Society, London 1899, vol. 1

Manuscript missal of before 1225 in the Real Academia de la Historia, Spain (Biblioteca Digital)

Manuscript missal of before 1225 in the Real Academia de la Historia, Spain (Fatimamovement.com)


Partial texts



* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080412042834/http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/ordo-missae-0.html Ordo Missae of the 1962 Roman Missalwith an English translation and audio of the (Latin) text
General Instruction of the Roman Missal of 2002
English translation, but with adaptations for Australia
General Instruction of the Roman Missal of 2002
English translation, but with adaptations for the United States of America

English translation, but with adaptations for England and Wales

Latin text, free from adaptations for particular countries

1969 * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080412042637/http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/rubrics/ English translation of the Rubrics of the 1962 Roman Missal {{Authority control Roman Rite liturgical books Catholic missals Tridentine Mass