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Thursday, December 3, 2015

I ORDERED MY NEW "DIVINE WORSHIP, THE MISSAL" ON SATURDAY ON-LINE AND IT ARRIVED YESTERDAY; NOW THAT'S SERVICE SEEING IT WAS DELIVERED FROM ENGLAND BY THE CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY!

My new Missal looks exactly like this one!
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On a later post, I'll will take pictures of significant wonderful things in this new Missal. is a wonderful resource for priests to have in the Latin Rite and should be a part of every priest's liturgical library.

The postures of the Mass are highlighted for the various countries in which this missal will be used to include England, Australia and the USA and a few others.

When from the appendix "The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar" are used, the congregation kneels for these which act as a prelude to the actual Mass when the priest ascends the altar. The Introit, as in the EF Mass, could be sung by all as the priest and ministers pray this prayer.

It is clear from the rubrics and hearkens to our transition 1965 Missal that the Introductory Rite can be prayed in the traditional way facing the altar as in the EF Mass or from the Sedalia.

Highlighting the Gradual/Tract and Alleluia in the Missal itself emphasizes that these seem to be the preferred option for Mass rather than the responsorial psalm.

The Offertory Verse is in the missal as in the EF's.

There are two options for the Offertory, the traditional EF option which seems to be preferred for Sundays and the revised OF option which is second and thus a lesser choice better for weekday Masses.

The Prefaces in the Missal are not what the Ordinary Form have and they are very, very brief compared to the OF Missal. I will print a few in later posts to show you.

The kissing of the altar each time the priest turns from it to the congregation (which presumes ad orientem) returns to this Missal as it is in the EF. The Roman Canon has one kiss of the altar in the middle of the first sentence of the canon as in the EF.

After each of the consecrations the double genuflection returns to the rubrics as in the EF Mass.

After the Per Ipsum and Great Amen, the priest genuflects as in the EF Mass and 1965 Missal, but removed in the OF Missal.

The Communion Rite is almost identical to the OF's Communion Rite except for the Emoblism following the Our Father includes the Blessed Mother, Peter and Paul and Andrew as does the Confiteors in the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar: "Deliver us, O Lord, we beseech thee, from all evils, past,present and to come; and at the intercession of the blessed and glorious ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and with Andrew, and all the saints, favourably grant peace in our days, that by the help of thine availing mercy we may eve both be free from sin and safe from all distress. The people respond: "for thine is the kingdom, and the power..."

The first option for the distribution of Holy Communion to the Faithful is the EF's:

"The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life."

or from the OF:

The Body of Christ.

The same options for the Blood of Christ.

No "Amen" is prescribed for the laity. Unfortunately the English of the EF's version does not include the priest saying "amen" at the end of his statement.

The OF Order of Dismissal is kept, but an Anglican blessing replacing the EF's Placeat is including with the priest turning back to the altar to pray it aloud, then kissing the altar and turning again to the congregation for the blessing and dismissal. 

The Last Gospel is an option found in the Appendix but encouraged during Christmastide to February 2nd.

The Season of Septuagesima returns (three Sundays before Ash Wednesday) with their own propers and prayers and preface! John Nolan will be happy. I believe it has different lectionary reading too.

The Octave of Pentecost returns too although with the Anglican name "Whitsun" which John Nolan can explain to us.

Time after Epiphany rather than Ordinary Time and Time after Trinity rather than Ordinary Time returns. And the term "tides" return: Christmastide; Eastertide."

I would have preferred Time after Pentecost and maybe our new missal will respect that choice as it is in our EF Missal and part of our patrimony.

Mark my words, a revised Ordinary Form Missal, with the exact English wording we already have but with the additions in this Missal in continuity  with the EF Mass will be coming to our Missal soon. You can bet my clairvoyance on that!

This means the Appendix for Prayers at the Foot of the Altar; the Sprinkling Rite being as in the EF; The options of the traditional Offertory or the new one (untraditional). The double genuflections for the consecrations, the revised calendar; ect.... I can't wait!




8 comments:

Rood Screen said...

The formula for Holy Communion is actually longer ("...which was given for thee...") than that of the EF. I wonder if that's simply the old Sarum formula in English.

Michael (Quicumque Vult) said...

Can the non-ordained purchase altar missals for the sake of studying them? I'd love to have one myself for that purpose, but I wouldn't want to "trivialize" what a missal is for.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Yes from the Catholic Truth Society in England. 300 Euroes or about $500! You can order on line from them.

Mark Thomas said...

I am not aware certainly of each blog within the Catholic Blogosphere. But from what I have observed, Father McDonald is about the only leading Catholic blogger who has devoted an appreciable amount of time to discuss Divine Worship.

Vox Cantoris has also posted about the Missal. But other than that and, naturally, some blogs devoted to the Ordinariate, I have found little interest throughout the Catholic Blogosphere in regard to Divine Worship.

The Missal is...or should be...major news as Divine Worship represents a major development within the Church.

However, various liberal bloggers are not keen to discuss Divine Worship as the Missal does not fit their narrative in regard to His Holiness Pope Francis. They claim Pope Francis as one of their own.

That is, Pope Francis is supposedly a radical. He is overthrowing the big, bad Church. He does not possess supposedly keen interest in liturgy. He views supposedly majestic worship of the Majestic God as "arrogant" and pre-Vatican II.

Various Traditionalists advance the same narrative. Therefore, they aren't keen to discuss Divine Worship as that destroys the narrative in question.

Anyway, I thank Father McDonald and Vox Cantoris for having devoted attention to the new Missal of Pope Francis. Divine Worship is an important development within the Church.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

John Nolan said...

Whitsun or Whit is the English term for Pentecost and long predates the Reformation. The numbering of Sundays after Trinity was carried over from the Sarum Use into the Anglican liturgy - the Dominican Use counts Sundays after the Octave of Trinity. Had Divine Worship adopted the Sarum Lectionary it would be even closer to the EF. Plumping for the unwieldy 1970 OF Lectionary (which everybody is supposed to like but which few people do) may have been a reluctant concession and could well be revisited (Fr Hunwicke thinks so).

I don't know whether the CTS is planning to produce a hand missal. Buying an altar missal is an expensive option but anyone can purchase one. I have a pocket-sized Rituale Romanum (Latin only) which is designed for priests. It doesn't mean I can go around blessing things and exorcizing people.

Anonymous said...

My prediction: Robert Cardinal Sarah will suppress the Bugnini fabricated, Protestant-influenced Ordinary and rubrics in the OF Roman Missal, and replace it with essentially the 1965 Ordinary and rubrics, just tweaked slightly.

Charles G said...

Well, some of us like the OF Lectionary, with its Old Testament typology and its focus on a different Synoptic Gospel every year. My only complaint about it is that it omits some crucial things that were found in the old Lectionary, most notably St. Paul's teaching on not partaking of the Lord's body unworthily. And it appears many people in the Church, including some quite senior prelates, seem to have forgotten or to ignore that teaching ever since the change in Lectionary, as demonstrated at that wretched Synod recently.

John Nolan said...

Those of us who were brought up with the older Lectionary, had forty years of the new one, and are now reconnected to tradition by dint of attending the EF on most Sundays, can legitimately question whether the gain outweighs the loss. Take Lent III as an example. The Collect, Epistle and Gospel would have been heard every year by Catholics and Anglicans alike, since Cranmer didn't change them. The Gospel (Luke 11:14-28), which shows Our Lord in direct conflict with Satan, was removed from the Sunday readings altogether - a bit too uncomfortable for modern audiences, one suspects. The Collect, for good measure, was also changed.

The compilers of the new Mass and Lectionary were strong on theory but weak on pastoral practice. The OT reading isn't really contextualized and few priests seem capable of explaining it, so we get yet another homily on an already familiar parable. The link between the readings and the liturgical calendar is broken, since the calendar is annual and the Lectionary biennial (weekdays) and triennial (Sundays). How many people have a three-year attention span? Added to this, the NAB (US) and JB (UK and Ireland) translations are dire. At least the Ordinariate is going with RSV which was always an option but rarely taken up because the wretched and ubiquitous 'missalettes' don't use it.

How many people leaving your average Novus Ordo Mass can remember what the first two readings were? Precious few, I suspect.