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Think the Latin Mass Is Just the Novus Ordo in Latin? Think Again.
Photo by Shalone Cason on Unsplash
Thanks be to God, there are so many young people coming to the Catholic Church through Traditional Catholicism and the Traditional Roman Rite.(1) While many more Catholics are attending and falling in love with the Traditional Liturgy, I believe that the majority of Catholics who still attend the Novus Ordo may not be aware that the Latin Mass is NOT just the English Mass in Latin. Here are just five examples.
1. The Readings are NOT the same!
If you were to attend the Latin Mass on a Sunday and try to follow along with the readings for the Novus Ordo Sunday Mass, you may become a bit confused. The Novus Ordo has a Three-Year Lectionary, whereas the Traditional Mass has only one. So, the readings are not the same readings on a given Sunday or feast day.
An interesting tidbit about the New Lectionary – St. Paul's reading on receiving Holy Communion unworthily does not appear at all! Dr. Peter Kwaniewsi speaks on this, “In the vast new Lectionary, the following three verses from 1 Corinthians 11 never appear, not even once: “Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink of the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself; and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eatheth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27–29). St. Paul’s warning against receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord unworthily, that is, unto one’s damnation, has not been read at any Ordinary Form Mass for almost half a century. And yet, in the traditional Latin Mass, these verses are heard at least three times every year, once on Holy Thursday (where the Epistle is 1 Cor 11:20–32), and twice on Corpus Christi (where both the Epistle and the Communion antiphon presents them). If, moreover, the faithful happen to attend a votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament—a popular choice among votive Masses—they will encounter them yet again.”(2)
He also gives a beautiful example of how the readings are themed, “On May 4, the traditional feastday of St. Monica (because it is the day of her birth into eternal life), the Epistle of the Mass is St. Paul speaking of the honor due to pious widows—a reading Monica shares with other holy widows—but the specially chosen Gospel recounts when Jesus raised the weeping widow’s son from the dead and restored him to his mother. What more perfect Gospel could there be for the mother of St. Augustine! What could better impress both the Gospel and Monica’s life on our minds than this striking juxtaposition! Each year, throughout her sojourn on earth, no matter how many thousands of years will pass by, Holy Mother Church thus commemorates the mother who never lost faith in God and eventually regained her son, dead in sin and error, risen in the life of grace.” (3)
Obviously there is a lot more than can be said about the New and Old Lectionary but all this to say, that you would not be able to follow along the Latin Mass readings with the Novus Ordo readings of that day.
2. The Liturgical Calendar is not the same!
Yep, not only were the readings changed but the entire Liturgical Calendar differs from the “English Mass.”
A few examples, there is no “Ordinary Time” in the Traditional Rite but “Sunday's After Pentecost” that continue until Septuagesima Sunday. Now Septuagesima is the first of three Sundays preceding Lent!(4) They are to help us shift into the Lenten Season slowly. Starting on Septuagesima Sunday there is no Gloria, no Alleluias, and the priest begins to wear purple. The ebb and flow of the New Liturgical Calendar seems almost bland compared to the fullness of the Traditional one.r
3. The Order of the Mass is different!
For someone attending the Latin Mass for the first time, it may be difficult at first to get their bearings as to what is going on. There are some areas where it is obvious of course, such as the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei, the distribution of the Holy Communion. But the order of the Novus Ordo Mass differs very much from the Traditional Mass. Much has been cut away and / or completely changed(5), and funnily enough, not according to the wishes of the Vatican II Fathers who clearly said, "There must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing." As The Mass of the Ages team write, "Vatican II wrote the guidelines for how the new Mass was to be created in a document called 'Sacrosanctum Concilium.' Then a commission called 'the Consilium' created the new Mass."
Matthew Hazel writes, “52.6% (669) of the prayers in the Missal of the usus antiquior do not occur in the Missal of Paul VI at all; 24.1% (307) of them have been used somewhere in the reformed Missal, but edited in some manner - with 86 of these prayers receiving only minor edits; 16.2% (206) have been ‘centonised’: this was the term used by the Consilium to refer to the combining of parts of two or more orations to create what is effectively a newly-composed prayer; only 13% (165) of the prayers of the usus antiquior made it through the process of reform intact.”(6)
Here is another chart one in which one can see the huge differences on display.(7)
This is a whole fascinating rabbit hole one can go down.
The Mass of Ages has an entire free episode on this which is super interesting!
4. You Don't Say “Amen” After Receiving Holy Communion!
When the priest hands Jesus Truly Present in the Host to the laity he says quietly, ""Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen." This translates to: "May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul unto life everlasting. Amen." We do not say “Amen” after receiving Jesus, simply because the priest has already said the “Amen.”
In the Novus Ordo, as we know, the priest says, “The Body of Christ,” and we reply, “Amen.”
Of course its not a huge deal if we don't know or we forget. We are all learning about this gem of tradition, so no one will come after you for saying “Amen.”
5. The Traditional Mass has Two Parts... but they're a bit different from the Novus Ordo!
The Novus Ordo has two parts of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Traditional Mass has the Mass of the Catechumins and the Mass of the Faithful. The first part ends before the Offertory. Traditionally this was when those who were not yet baptized had to leave. This website has a great step-by-step guide on the parts of the Mass.(8)
There is so much to unpack so I will leave it at 5 examples. I hope this will move you, dear reader, to delving more into the beauty and supernatural drama that is the Traditional Roman Rite!
Footnotes
(2) https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/03/full-text-of-dr-kwasniewskis-talk-on.html
(3) Ibid.
(4) https://www.fisheaters.com/customsseptuagesima1.html
(5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXA-Nsd2VTI
(7) https://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/newmass/ordo.htm
(8) https://reverentcatholicmass.com/blog/how-easily-grasp-latin-mass-step-step-guide
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