THE MASS:
the Latin Mass
Part VIa:
The Mass
of St Pius V; after
the Council of Trent
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
19th Ecumenical Council, The Council of Trent
Site:
Years:
Popes:
Emperors:
Trent, Italy
1545-1563; sessions 1st-8th, in Trent (1545–47), and the
9th-11th in Bologna (1547) during the pontificate of Pope
Paul III. Under Pope Julius III, the 12th-16th sessions in
Trent (1551–2). Under Pope Paul IV, the 17th-25th
sessions in Trent (1559–63).
Paul III, 1534-1549; Julius III, 1550-1555; Marcellinus II,
1555; Pius IV, 1559 - 1565
Charles V, 1519-1556 and Ferdinand I, 1556-1564
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
Developments and Abuses
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
The “close of the middle ages” expresses the history of the liturgy of the
Church best, and not the least, of the Mass.
The growth--rich and manifold--was exemplified in Church music.
Scholastic theology produced nothing for the liturgy of the Mass--growth
became dry and withered.
The optimism of church music does not hold true for the text of the
Mass ordo. All the silent prayers of the priest continued and all these
became more or less in the background because they were for the
priest only.
Reverence for the Sacrament led to a change in policy regarding handling
of the Sacred Host by lay people. No lay hand was allowed to touch it.
Developments and Abuses
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
The corporal was often shown honor that amounted to superstition; for
washing it, prayers were composed.
More and more pericula or defecta (dangers and defects) which might
occur in the Mass grew and grew--spilling the chalice, dropping a particle
of the Host--stern punishments were prescribed. New dangers were
constantly being discovered.
Preaching and teaching on the Sacrament (one-sided discussions,
unenlightened and isolated popularizing) on the “effects” of the Mass.
Theology did not approve of exaggerations; fruits multiplied from four or
five to ten, then twelve, e.g., if people attended Mass they would be saved
merely by hearing Mass, etc.
The use of “Votive Masses” for the most exaggerated reasons--against
sicknesses, against dangers to right and property, against attacks by
an enemy, etc. Particular Masses being thought to obtain certain specified
results.
Developments and Abuses
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
Masses were being offered in particular series (10, 15, 30, etc.), specified
number of candles, specific number of alms gifts are stipulated--with the
assurance of unfailing results--created extravagant promises to the Mass.
There developed an unnatural multiplication of Masses, and with it, an
unnatural increase in clergy who derived their entire income from Masses
by way of stipends; most celebrated--Votive Masses and Masses for the
Dead.
Because only one sung Mass could be celebrated in a church at a time,
clergy created “Boxed Masses”--where several such Masses could be
celebrated in close and overlapping succession.
Some bishops sought to curb abuses by creating requirements for
Mass books; they should be assembled at certain places, corrected by
one stipulated, unobjectionable exemplar.
Developments and Abuses
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
The Church became an object of scorn and ridicule and was repudiated as
a horrible idolatry by entire people. Enter Luther . . .
Complaints raised by the Reformers were aimed accurately and quite
relentlessly against questionable points in church texts regarding the Mass:
the fruits of the Mass, the Votive Masses, the commerce in stipends.
Martin Luther
Born: November 10, 1483
Birthplace: Eisleben, Germany
Died: February 18, 1546
German monk who started the Protestant Reformation. Without quite
intending to, Martin Luther changed the course of Christianity and Western
history. His 1517 complaint against specific abuses in the Roman Catholic
church--the 95 Theses--sparked the explosive Protestant Reformation that
swept Europe for the rest of the century. Born to a Roman Catholic family
(his father was a copper miner), Luther graduated from the University of
Erfurt in 1505 but abandoned his legal studies to enter an Augustinian
monastery.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1507 and by 1512 was a doctor of
theology and a Bible professor at the University of Wittenberg. Luther was a
gifted preacher but his theology began to clash with that of the Catholic
church: he wrote that salvation came not by any human work but by
absolute faith in God's promise of forgiveness on account of Jesus Christ.
Luther didn't anticipate the uproar touched off by the 95 Theses he sent to a
bishop and archbishop to protest “indulgences” being sold by the Catholic
hierarchy under Pope Leo X. His controversial beliefs earned him
excommunication from the church, but he pressed on with many new
followers. Luther produced a German translation (among six or seven
existing translations) of the Bible and developed a new form of Christian
worship that emphasized preaching and popular hymns, permitted the
clergy to marry, and honored ordinary life in the world as a field for God's
service.
In 1525, Luther married a former nun, Katharina von Bora, sixteen years
younger than he. They had six children. Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress
is Our God" (c. 1529), has been translated into more than 50 languages.
Luther's Theology
Luther denied the sacrificial character of the Mass. For him, the Eucharist
was only a “testament” what he called “a bequest and benefit” handed
us, and as such--this is Luther’s rash conclusion--in no way a “bene-fit”
or good work that we can offer to God in order to “merit” from Him
something for ourselves or especially for others.
Therefore the Mass cannot be said either for the living or for the dead. All
prayers in the Mass--liturgy in which there is any mention of this,
particularly of sacrifice---like the canon--are bad human additions and
must be dropped.
A special work of Luther’s deals with “the abomination of the low Masses
called the “canon.” He made charges that Masses, especially Masses for
the Poor Souls, were means of fleecing the people. [Jungmann, S.J., p 99]
The Council of Trent
Council of Trent, lasted eighteen years (1545-1563) under five popes:
Paul III, Julius III, Marcellus II, Paul IV and Pius IV, and under the
Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand.
There were present 5 cardinal legates of the Holy See, 3 patriarchs, 200
Bishops, 7 abbots, 7 generals of monastic orders, and representatives of
kings and princes.
It was convoked to examine and condemn the errors promulgated by
Luther and other Reformers, and to reform the discipline of the Church. Of
all councils it lasted longest, issued the largest number of dogmatic and
reformatory decrees, and produced the most beneficial results.
Trent condemned the heresies of Luther, Calvin, and others.
It issued decrees on the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the
Sacraments (notably Baptism and Holy Orders) and teachings on
marriage, purgatory, indulgences and the use of images.
The remaining tasks begun by Pope Pius IV were continued by his
successor, Pope St. Pius V (1566 - 1572):
reforming of the Missal and Breviary,
writing of the Catechism based on the decrees of Trent,
appointing a commission to issue a more exact edition of the
Latin Vulgate, and
the reforming of morals.
Developments, Abuses, Reform
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
The Council (1545-1563)
The Council took up the matter of reform: 1546-1547. Considering the use
and misuse of Holy Scripture, it touched on the question of the Mass book-the standardization of the Latin Mass--the subject was finally taken up.
A special commission was tasked to collect the abusus missae (abuses
of the Mass).
Among the abuses: saints sequences and prefaces with legendary
content, prayers for peace, prayers in need, various chants after the
consecration, new Mass formularies of questionable origin (Votive
masses, Mass series, setting aside the order of Sundays and the
Church year in favor of private chosen formularies). Add the great
variety of Mass rites--not even in the same church was the same rite
observed.
Developments, Abuses, Reform
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
The Council (1545-1563)
Confusion grew all the more with the start of the Reformation era: priests
took it upon themselves to start their own reform--many priests even left
out the canon (e.g., in Austria).
The commission did not neglect anything. The custom of saying private
Masses in church while high Mass was going on; saying Masses without
at least two participants present; the need for a certain consistency at
least for the beginning and conclusion of Mass.
The commission passed a Decretum de observandis et evitandis in
celebratione missae (The decree on those things to be observed and
avoided in the celebration of Mass) on September 17, 1562. It was
concerned only with the most obvious abuses and evil conditions: bishops
should be vigilant about stipends; Mass should be celebrated only in
sacred places; disturbing and irreverent conduct and frivolous music
must be banished; capriciousness of priests regarding rites and prayers
at Mass; the superstitious observances of numbers for fixed Masses
would have to cease. There was no mention of the reform of the Missal.
Developments, Abuses, Reform
The Close of the Middle Ages (1300-1500/1650)
The Council (1545-1563)
The reform of the missal was left to the pope.
Pope Paul III
Pope Marcellinus II
Pope Pius IV
THE REFORM
JULY 14, 1570
1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569
Pope Julius III
BEGINNING OF THE
COUNCIL OF TRENT
Pope St Pius V
Pope Paul IV
END OF THE
COUNCIL OF TRENT
The Missale Romanum ex decreto ss. Concilii Tridentini restitutum, Pii V.
Pont. Max. iussu editum (“The restored Roman Missal by decree of the
most holy Council of Trent by Pius the Fifth, Holy Pontiff, is now issued”). The
restored Roman Missal became binding on July 14, 1570.
Binding on the whole Western Church; established the wished-for uniform
missal; in truth a Roman Missal.
For centuries Popes did not enforce their own rite and did not enforce
uniformity. Many Popes were content in allowing the usage of other rites
but that were valid and pleasing to God. Pope St. Gregory the Great (590604 A.D.) told Saint Augustine to use whatever rites he thought were
suitable, but again they must be valid and pleasing to God.
Pope St. Gregory the Great finished his Gregorian Sacramentary (book
containing the prayers of the Mass used by the priest at the altar).
The Gregorian Sacramentary essentially is the Mass that Pope St. Pius V
in 1570 standardized or set in stone through his Papal Bull, Quo Primum
Tempore.
Definition
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines a "papal bull" as "an Apostolic letter with a
leaden seal." "Papal" means "pertaining to a pope," and "bull" refers to the "bulla,"
or seal often affixed to the documents for authentication. The popes' use of the
"bulla" gave rise to the practice of referring to the documents themselves as
papal bulls.
Pope Pius V did not invent an entirely new and experimental Rite of Mass
but simply codified and set in stone an existing Rite of Mass that had been
used for almost 1000 years and that is still used for the past 1400 years.
The Council of Trent (1545-1563) wished the Roman Mass to be said
uniformly everywhere. The Roman Mass essentially has been said since
the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great in Rome for 1400 years but
uniformity across the western Church wasn’t enforced until 1570 by Pope
Pius V. The pontifical constitution, Quo Primum, of Pope Pius V in the form
of a Bull is used for important and permanent decrees and is binding to
those for whom they are issued.
"One of the first acts of the new Pontiff was to appoint a number of expert
theological revisers to examine every statement in the Catechism from the
viewpoint of doctrine." (Intro to The Catechism of the Council of Trent, xxv)
In a brief pontificate of six years, Pope Pius V (1566-1572) vigorously
promulgated the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), issued the
Roman Missal, the revised Breviary, and the Catechism of the Council of
Trent (all of which has served the Church for more than 400 years), plus
excommunicated Elizabeth I of England, established the Index of
Forbidden Books, chose 314 bishops, wrote hundreds of bulls, and
gathered an allied Christian force which destroyed the Turkish fleet at the
Battle of Lepanto in 1571, bringing to an end their dominance of the
Mediterranean Sea.
Historical Variations of the Tridentine Mass
In the Apostolic Constitution (Papal Bull) Quo Primum, with which he
prescribed use of his 1570 edition of the Roman Missal, Pius V decreed:
"We order and enjoin that nothing must be added to Our recently
published Missal, nothing omitted from it, nor anything whatsoever be
changed within it."
This of course did not exclude changes by a Pope. Pope Pius V himself
added to the Missal the feast of Our Lady of Victory, to celebrate the
victory of Lepanto of October 7, 1571.
His immediate successor, Pope Gregory XIII, changed the name of this
feast to “The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary” and Pope
John XXIII changed it to “Our Lady of the Rosary.”
Pius V’s work in severely reducing the number of feasts in the Roman
Calendar was very soon further undone by his successors. Feasts that he
had abolished, such as those of the Presentation of Mary, St. Anne and
St. Anthony of Padua, were restored even before Clement VIII’s 1604
typical edition of the Missal was issued.
In the course of the following centuries new feasts were repeatedly added
and the ranks of certain feasts were raised or lowered. A comparison
between Pope Pius V's Tridentine Calendar and the General Roman
Calendar of 1954 shows the changes made from 1570 to 1954.
Pope Pius XII made a general revision in 1955, and Pope John XXIII
made further general revisions in 1960 simplifying the terminology
concerning the ranking of liturgical celebrations
Post-Conciliar Reform
1570+
The intent of the Commission and Pope Pius V was to disengage the
basic “form” of the Eucharistic liturgy from all distorting additions. They
thoroughly investigated the ancient sources. The final missal was brought
to the “pristine norm and rite of the holy fathers.”
Among the accomplishments of the degree of the Commission and the
Pope was purifying the Mass book of disturbing accessories; their work
was done with remarkable energy; members were not held back at all.
They did nothing to hinder the polyphonic Church music of the era.
Regarding Communion: the decree disavowed the case of the chalice for
the laity--experiences were not favorable, e.g., spillage, excessive
consumption, etc.
The Commission tried to focus once more on the grand outlines of the
Christian sacrificial celebration; they did recommend that the faithful
receive Communion each time they came to mass (clearly not the
practice of the day).
The Reform
The Decree (1570)
Such a broad and sweeping unification could never have been completely
accomplished before the day of the printing press: Guttenberg, 1455.
The next great step in renewal for Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) was his
Constitution Immensa, January 1588 which founded the Congregation of
Rites; its tasks were to see to it that everywhere in the Latin church the
prescribed manner of celebrating Mass and performing the other functions
of the liturgy were carefully followed. It was charged with the duty of seeing
the status of things established by the Missal of Pius V be in no way altered
or endangered.
The Reform
The Decree (1570)
The greatest and most consequential innovation of the Mass book of
Pius V was the enactment, clearly expressed in the Bull of introduction,
that this book was to be, from then on, the standard in every church and
that no changes were to be made therein. [Jungmann, S.J., p. 104]
The Reform
The Decree (1570)
There were other real changes since the sixteenth century:
The new edition of the missal under Clement VIII (1604) were
that the biblical chant pieces, arbitrarily changed to the new Vulgate
translation be restored; added new regulation regarding the final blessing.
Another new edition of the Mass book was ordered by Urban VIII
(1634); wording of rubrics were greatly improved; the revision of hymns
was carried out in the few new hymns of the missal.
The reform of Pope St. Pius X (1920) was the next revision of the
missal. He included an increase in saints’ feast days, but did not affect the
arrangemen of the Mass.
Pope Clement XIII (1764) added the preface of the Holy Trinity
for Sundays.
Pope Leo XIII (1902) ordered the prayers to be said after the low
Mass.
End of
The Mass of the Council of Trent, Part VIa
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The Mass of the Council of Trent, Part VIb