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The Tridentine Mass is a term used for Mass celebrated in Latin in accordance with the successive forms of the Roman Missal from its December 5 1570 promulgation by Pope Pius V, implementing a decision of the General Council, held in Trent, Italy (Tridentine is the adjectival form of Trent), through its repeated revisions by later Popes, especially in 1604, 1634, 1888, 1920 and 1955, up to but not including the revision by which Pope Paul VI implemented a decision of another General Council, the Second Vatican Council.
In addition to "Tridentine Mass," Traditional Catholics say "ancient Mass," "traditional Mass," etc., because Pope Pius V?s revision of the Roman Missal involved research aimed at restoring the Missal ?to the original form and rite of the Church Fathers?. At the time of the Council of Trent, the traditions preserved in manuscript Missals varied considerably, and standardization was sought not only within individual dioceses, but throughout the Latin West. Pope Pius V accordingly imposed uniformity by law, exempting only rites of an antiquity greater than 200 years. Several of the rites that thus remained legitimate were progressively abandoned, though the Ambrosian rite survives strongly in Milan, Italy and neighbouring areas, stretching even into Switzerland, and the Mozarabic rite continues in much more limited fashion in Toledo, Spain. The Carmelite, Carthusian and Dominican religious orders also kept their rites until the second half of the twentieth century, when at least some of them chose to adopt the Roman rite, after this had been revised in accordance with the directives of the Second Vatican Council. The rite of Braga, Portugal seems also to have been abandoned.
Standardization was also required to safeguard against introduction into the liturgy of notions linked with the religious revolution initiated by Martin Luther, whose opinions and those of other reformers made it necessary for the Council of Trent to set forth Catholic teaching on the Eucharist in three of its sessions.
The following is an outline description of the Roman-rite Mass as celebrated in the mid-twentieth century, including additions such as the Prayers after Mass or Leonine Prayers, introduced by Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), but never included in the Roman Missal and not recited in Latin in English-speaking countries, though Latin was used in several other countries.
The wordings given are only unofficial translations of the Latin texts. No official translations existed.
Traditional Catholics would object to the use, in what follows, of the Massoretic numbering of the Psalms. At the time envisaged, Catholics used only the Septuagint division of the Book of Psalms; and this is still the official numbering for liturgical texts, although, by exception, the Massoretic numbering (traditional among Protestants) appears in English translations sponsored by the United States Catholic hierarchy.
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Compared to other rites, the Roman rite is noted for its sobriety, being less florid than, in particular, those of most Eastern Churches. Its traditional chant is also simpler and it does not have the iconostasis that is typical of the Byzantine rite.
Though what was called the Pontifical High Mass, Mass solemnly celebrated by a bishop accompanied by a deacon and subdeacon and other ministers, can be considered the fundamental form, the Mass most people were familiar with was celebrated by a single priest who spoke the words without chanting. In English, this was called a Low Mass. Mass in which the priest sang and a choir responded was known as a Missa Cantata (sung Mass). A High Mass was celebrated with the assistance of a deacon and subdeacon (or of priests taking the parts allotted to these) and with some additional ceremonies. The Roman Missal of the time (Rubricae generales Missalis, XX) required a minimum of two lighted candles ?on the altar? (if the altar had a reredos, this was treated as part of the altar); priests usually kept to that minimum at a Low Mass, at least on weekdays.
On 4 December 1963, the Second Vatican Council decreed in Chapter II of its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy that ?the rite of the Mass is to be revised ... the rites are to be simplified, due care being taken to preserve their substance. Parts which with the passage of time came to be duplicated, or were added with little advantage, are to be omitted. Other parts which suffered loss through accidents of history are to be restored to the vigor they had in the days of the holy Fathers, as may seem useful or necessary. The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God?s word ... A suitable place may be allotted to the vernacular in Masses which are celebrated with the people ... communion under both kinds may be granted when the bishops think fit ...?
Pope Paul VI implemented the Council's directives, ordering with apostolic constitution Missale Romanum of Holy Thursday, 3 April 1969, publication of a new official edition of the Roman Missal, which appeared in 1970.
A minority of Catholics resisted, observing that the revision of the Missal went against ?papal bulls and encyclicals dating back to the time of the Apostles? (sic), or failed to promote proper reverence. Viewing the revision of the Missal as a dogmatic rather than a pastoral measure, they denied the right of the Second Vatican Council to order changes, on the grounds that it was a pastoral and not a dogmatic Council. They denied also Pope Paul VI?s authority to make his revision of the Roman Missal.
Among Traditional Catholics, some deny the validity of Mass celebrated in accordance with the revised Missal. Most consider it valid, but "Protestantized" and leading to heresy and loss of the Catholic faith.
A few high-profile Church figures were among those who opposed the revision. In September 1969, before the revised Missal was published, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, Prefect Emeritus of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote an open letter to Pope Paul VI, accompanying it with a theological study of a preliminary draft of the Ordo Missae section of the Missal. The study claimed that the draft "represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session 22 of the Council of Trent.".
In October 1967, a meeting of the Synod of Bishops had given its opinion on a still earlier draft. Of the 187 members, 78 approved it as it stood, 62 approved it but suggested various modifications, but 4 abstained, and 47 voted against.
However, after the 1970 publication of the revised Roman Missal, Cardinal Ottaviani wrote that Pope Paul VI?s doctrinal exposition of the revised liturgy meant that ?no one can any longer be genuinely scandalized?..
In the 1960s, 1970s and beyond, Western countries experienced a drop in Mass attendance. These same countries also saw a decline in seminary enrollments, though on a worldwide scale (especially in African countries, which embraced the revised liturgy most enthusiastically) there was a strong increase in numbers: from 72,991 major seminarians in 1970 (the first year of publication of the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, and coincidentally the year of publication of the revised Roman Missal) to 113,199 in 2002. The same holds for the number of priests (again in contrast to the global trend) and for adherence to fundamental truths of the Catholic faith, as expressed by Catholics in Western countries. The geography of the declines suggests they are part of the general phenomenon of secularism and libertarianism that these countries have experienced since the 1960s, before the liturgy was revised. But some attribute the confusion and disenchantment, instead, to the changes in the liturgy, and point to opinion polls in which people indicated they thought there was such a link.
The present Roman Missal is, doubtless, the text that the Roman Rite will use for many years to come. However, the Holy See has made provision for those still attached to the earlier form of the Roman rite. The letter Quattuor abhinc annos of 3 October 1984 authorized for them celebration of Mass in accordance with the pre-1970 Roman Missal. In his letter Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988, Pope John Paul II stated that ?respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition?. That this was a reference not only to the use of the Latin language but also to the pre-Vatican II form of the Roman liturgy is shown by his urging ?a wide and generous application of the directives? in the 1984 document.
Authorization to use the pre-Vatican-II Missal is in fact granted to individual priests and to groups in Rome itself and in many dioceses. Other diocesan bishops have not found it appropriate to authorize it. On some, hopefully rare, occasions the difficulty is that the demand comes from people who treat the directives of the most recent popes as heretical and the most recent Ecumenical Council as unauthoritative.
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter ( is an association of priests who celebrate the ?Tridentine? Mass in full accord with the Roman Catholic Church. There are some twenty other such groups of priests and religious that operate with full papal approval. Catholics have, of course, every right to attend their Masses.
Better known than any of these, and larger that any taken individually, is the Society of St. Pius X, founded originally with canonical approval by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Its aims are more sweeping than authorization to celebrate Mass in the ?Tridentine? form, for it claims that the Church has in its teaching and practice abandoned some inviolable principles, and it rejects some of the teaching and decrees of the Second Vatican Council. The Church judges the attitude expressed by various members of the Society to be schismatic, and regards the priests of the Society as illicitly ordained and in consequence automatically suspended from exercising priestly functions. For this reason and because of the risk of imbibing schismatic ideas (not because of the use of the ?Tridentine? form of the Roman rite) the Church judges it morally illicit in normal circumstances for Catholics to attend the Masses they celebrate.
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