The Holy Mass

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not a memorial service.

It is not a communal meal, a devotional gathering, or a weekly ritual that merely recalls something ancient. It is the selfsame sacrifice of Calvary made present in an unbloody manner upon the altar — the one eternal act of Our Lord's self-offering to the Father, rendered present in time through the ministry of the priest.

Time does not repeat; Christ does not die again. Rather, the veil between the Upper Room, the hill of Golgotha, and the altar before us is drawn back. The Mass does not imitate what happened; it participates in what always is. Our Lord's sacrifice stands before the Father as an eternal act. The priest, acting in persona Christi, draws the altar into that eternal moment. The faithful who kneel before it kneel, in a true and mysterious sense, at the foot of the Cross.

The Council of Trent stated it plainly: “In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner, who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross.” (Session XXII, Chapter 2, 1562)

The Mass has three inseparable dimensions

As Sacrifice. The Mass is a propitiatory sacrifice. It is not merely offered in thanksgiving, though thanksgiving is part of it. It is offered to obtain from God remission of sins, temporal penalties, and punishments, both for the living and for the souls in Purgatory. (Council of Trent, Session XXII, Ch. 2)

As Sacrament. At the Mass, the Holy Eucharist is confected. Through the words of consecration spoken by the priest, the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine; they become, in every real and substantial sense, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine. This is the doctrine of Transubstantiation, solemnly defined by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and reaffirmed by Trent.

As Presence. The Mass is the continuation of Our Lord's presence among His people until the end of the world — the fulfillment of His promise: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (S. Matthew 28:20)

St. Thomas Aquinas, contemplating the Mass as the memorial of the Passion, wrote: “The celebration of this sacrament is called a sacrifice for two reasons. First, because… it is a representative image of Christ's Passion. Second, because through this sacrament we are made partakers of the fruit of our Lord's Passion.” (Summa Theologiae III, Q. 83, Art. 1)

This page follows the Traditional Latin Mass — the Extraordinary Form — as codified in the Roman Missal of 1962 under Pope John XXIII. This is the same rite celebrated by every Catholic in the Western Church for nearly four centuries, and the rite around which the liturgical calendar of this site is ordered. Its prayers are the prayers of the ancient Roman Church, shaped by the Apostles and refined by the saints.

See also: The Holy Eucharist — Sacraments

Before the first word is spoken, the Traditional Latin Mass has already communicated something through its setting, its silence, and its arrangements. Nothing in the sacred rite is accidental.

In the Traditional Latin Mass, both priest and people face the same direction — toward the liturgical East, toward the rising sun, the ancient symbol of Christ's Resurrection and His coming again in glory. The priest does not stand facing the congregation across an altar; he stands before God on behalf of the people, leading them toward the same horizon, as a captain leads soldiers into battle.

This posture is called ad orientem — “toward the East.” It is not the priest turning his back to the people. It is priest and faithful together turning their faces toward God. It is a posture of common supplication, of corporate prayer, of a people and their mediator ascending together.

“For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” — S. Matthew 24:27

The theological significance is precise: the Mass is not a dialogue between priest and congregation. It is an offering directed upward, to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.

The Roman Rite has been celebrated in Latin since at least the fourth century. The Church's insistence on retaining Latin in the West was never mere conservatism. St. Pius V, in his apostolic constitution Quo Primum (1570), codified the Roman Rite precisely because the sacred language and its fixed prayers guard the Faith against alteration and drift.

Latin in the liturgy serves three purposes that no vernacular language can fully replace:

• Universality. Every Catholic on earth, regardless of nation or tongue, hears the same words at Mass. A Catholic from Louisiana kneeling at a Mass in Rome, in Tokyo, or in Lagos will recognize every syllable.
• Precision. Theological terms in Latin carry fixed, irreducible meanings. Translations always carry the risk of doctrinal imprecision; the original cannot drift.
• Sacredness. Latin is set apart from commerce, from literature, from daily speech. It exists now for one purpose: the worship of God and the transmission of His revelation. A language so consecrated becomes, in itself, a sign.

For the newcomer, the existence of hand missals with Latin and English in parallel columns means that the language barrier is more apparent than real. Those who attend the Traditional Mass regularly report that within weeks, the familiar cadences of the Latin prayers become as recognizable as one's own name.

See also: Why Speak a Dead Language?

Before approaching the altar, the priest vests in the sacristy. Each vestment carries a meaning, and each is accompanied by a vesting prayer. The principal vestments are:

The colour of the chasuble changes with the liturgical season and the feast celebrated:

See also: The Sacred Calendar

Upon the altar are arranged the instruments of the sacrifice:

• The Chalice — The sacred cup in which the wine will be consecrated into the Precious Blood.
• The Paten — The small golden plate on which the Host rests before and after consecration.
• The Corporal — A square white linen cloth spread on the altar; no particle of the consecrated Host may fall beyond it.
• The Purificator — A linen cloth used to purify the chalice after Communion.
• The Missal — The Roman Missal, containing all the prayers, readings, and rubrics of the Mass.
• The Burse and Veil — The corporal is carried in the burse; the chalice is covered with the chalice veil before Mass begins.

These vessels are consecrated, not merely blessed. They may not be touched by the unconsecrated hand. The care given to every object that will come into contact with the Body and Blood of Christ is itself a profession of faith in the Real Presence.

The Mass divides into two great parts. The first, the Mass of the Catechumens, takes its name from the early Church practice of dismissing the unbaptized (catechumens) before the Offertory, for the eucharistic mysteries could be witnessed only by the baptized. Today all remain, but the structure endures: the first part of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Word, preparing the faithful to participate in the Sacrifice.

The priest and servers approach the altar step by step. Before the priest ascends, he pauses at the foot and, with bowed head, recites the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar — a dialogue of Psalm 42 and the Confiteor, spoken alternately between priest and servers.

These prayers are the priest's public acknowledgment that he is a sinner approaching a holy place. He does not ascend the altar steps as one entitled to do so but as one who begs admission.

Psalm 42 (antiphon, sung or said)

Introibo ad altare Dei. I will go unto the altar of God. Ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam. To God who giveth joy to my youth.

The Psalm then unfolds as a prayer of trust and longing — the soul's yearning for the house of God. It ends with the same antiphon, the priest having affirmed his intention: he goes to the altar as a suppliant, not a sovereign.

The Confiteor (I confess) follows — the priest's public confession of sinfulness, addressed to God, to Our Lady, to the angels and saints, and to the congregation:

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Ioanni Baptistæ, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et vobis fratres: quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opere… I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you, brethren: that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed…

The servers respond with their own Confiteor on behalf of the people. Then comes the Misereatur and Indulgentiam — the priest's absolution over the congregation, and the congregation's prayer of absolution over the priest. Though sacramental absolution of mortal sin requires individual Confession, this exchange is a profound ritual humility: priest and people acknowledge before God and one another that they come as sinners to the Sacrifice of sinners' atonement.

Having ascended the altar and kissed it — the altar that represents Christ — the priest goes to the Epistle side and reads the Introit: the entrance antiphon and psalm verse proper to the day's feast or season. The Introit is the Church's first word of the Mass in a liturgical sense — drawn from the Psalms or from Scripture — and it immediately establishes the spiritual character of the day.

On Christmas Day, the Introit begins: “Puer natus est nobis” — A child is born to us. On Good Friday, there is no Introit; the Mass begins in silence, the bare altar stripped of cloth and candles. On Easter Sunday, the Introit announces: “Resurrexi” — I have risen.

The Introit sets the key. Everything that follows resonates within it.

Returning to the centre of the altar, the priest — together with the servers — recites or sings the Kyrie nine times, in three groups of three, alternating between priest and servers (and, at a Solemn Mass, between celebrant and choir).

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christe eleison. Christe eleison. Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

The Kyrie is the only part of the traditional Roman Mass retained in Greek rather than Latin — a direct inheritance from the early Church at Rome when Greek was the common tongue. Its retention is itself a monument to continuity: this is the cry of the earliest Roman Christians, unchanged.

The ninefold repetition addresses the Holy Trinity: three invocations to the Father, three to the Son, three to the Holy Ghost. It is a cry from the depths — the prayer of the blind men beside the road (“Lord, that our eyes may be opened” — S. Matthew 20:33), of the leper, of the Canaanitish woman, of every soul that knows its need. The Mass begins not with congratulation but with supplication.

On Sundays and feasts of sufficient rank (but not in Advent, Lent, or Masses for the Dead), the Gloria is intoned by the priest and taken up by the servers or choir. It is the great hymn of angelic praise, traceable in its earliest form to the second and third centuries.

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will. Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te… We praise Thee. We bless Thee. We adore Thee. We glorify Thee…

The Gloria is a torrent of praise. It piles title upon title — Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty; Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son; Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father — as though one name were insufficient to express what God is. It concludes with a trinitarian doxology, returning to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost.

The Gloria does not appear every week. Its restriction to feasts and Sundays means that when it returns after the silence of Lent — on the morning of Holy Saturday — its eruption is experienced almost physically. The bells ring, the organ sounds, and what was withheld for forty days pours out in a single moment of exultation.

After the Gloria, the priest turns to greet the people: “Dominus vobiscum” — The Lord be with you. The congregation responds through the servers: “Et cum spiritu tuo” — And with thy spirit. This exchange, repeated throughout the Mass, is not a pleasantry. It is a mutual invocation: the priest calls down the Lord's presence upon the people; the people call the Lord's presence upon the priest, the instrument of the sacrifice.

The Collect (Oratio) follows. The priest sings or says “Oremus” — Let us pray — and a brief, dense prayer collects (colligit) the silent prayers of all the faithful and lifts them to God in one voice. Each Collect is assigned to a specific day or feast and has in many cases been prayed unchanged for more than a thousand years. The language of the Collects is considered among the finest liturgical prose ever composed — compact, architecturally perfect, theologically precise.

The priest moves to the right side of the altar (the Epistle side) and reads the Epistle — a passage from the Letters of the Apostles, the Acts of the Apostles, or the Book of Revelation, as assigned in the Missal for the day. At a Solemn Mass, the Subdeacon chants it facing the altar; at a sung Mass, the priest chants it.

The Epistle is the word of God through His apostles — doctrinal, moral, practical, and pastoral. It grounds the faithful in the teaching of the Church before they hear the words of Christ Himself.

Between the Epistle and the Gospel comes the Gradual — a responsorial chant, so called because it was originally sung from the steps (gradus) of the ambo. The Gradual is drawn from the Psalms and is often among the most ancient and musically beautiful elements of the Mass.

It is followed by the Alleluia — except during Lent, when the Alleluia is replaced by the more penitential Tract (Tractus), a long series of psalm verses sung without response. The suppression of the Alleluia for forty days of Lent gives that word a resurrection quality: when it returns at the Vigil of Easter, no word in the liturgical year carries more weight.

All stand. The priest moves to the Gospel side (the left side of the altar, which faces the congregation's right) — signifying the proclamation of the Gospel to the West, to the nations. Before reading, he bows and recites the prayer of the prophet Isaiah:

Munda cor meum, ac labia mea, omnipotens Deus… Cleanse my heart and my lips, O Almighty God, Who didst cleanse the lips of the Prophet Isaias with a burning coal…

He then announces the reading: “Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum…” — A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to… — and the servers respond: “Gloria tibi, Domine” — Glory be to Thee, O Lord. As the priest reads the Holy Gospel, the faithful make a threefold small cross with the thumb — on the forehead, on the lips, on the breast — signifying: may the word of Christ be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart.

The Gospel is the apex of the Mass of the Catechumens. The priest does not merely read it; he proclaims it. When the reading concludes, the servers respond: “Laus tibi, Christe” — Praise be to Thee, O Christ. The priest kisses the text of the Gospel, as one would kiss a relic.

At a Sunday Mass and on principal feasts, the priest descends from the altar and delivers the sermon from the pulpit or the sanctuary step. The sermon is the proper place for the explanation and application of Sacred Scripture and doctrine. It is, in the liturgy, distinct from the rite itself — it is the voice of the Church's teaching authority applied to this day, this people, this mystery.

Sermons in the Traditional Mass are typically doctrinal, scriptural, and direct. The faithful expect to be taught; the priest is bound to teach. The homily is not an opportunity for personal reflection or current events; it is an act of the Magisterium in miniature.

On Sundays and at Solemn Feasts, the Credo is recited or sung — the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, defined at the Council of Nicaea (325) and expanded at Constantinople (381). The Creed is the summary of all that we believe, the entire doctrinal deposit of the Faith compressed into a single profession.

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem cæli et terræ, visibilium omnium et invisibilium… I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible…

At the words “Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: Et homo factus est” — And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: and was made man — the entire congregation genuflects. This is not a rubric imposed from outside; it is the instinctive prostration of creatures before the incomprehensible mystery of the Incarnation. God became man. Every knee bends.

See also: The Ecumenical Councils

The Mass of the Faithful is the sacrifice itself. Where the first half of the Mass prepares and instructs, the second half acts. The priest ascends to a participation in the eternal priesthood of Christ; the faithful kneel as witnesses and participants in what is offered on their behalf and for the whole Church.

This is the most sacred portion of the Mass. A reverent silence governs it. The Canon — the great prayer of consecration — is prayed silently, in a voice so low it cannot be heard in the nave, for it has always been the practice of the Roman Church to envelop the holiest words in silence.

The Mass of the Faithful opens with the Offertory Antiphon, a psalm verse or scriptural text proper to the day. Then the priest offers the bread and wine — still unconsecrated — to God in a series of preparatory prayers of great antiquity.

He elevates the paten with the host and prays:

Suscipe, sancte Pater, omnipotens æterne Deus, hanc immaculatam hostiam… Accept, O Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God, this unspotted host, which I, Thine unworthy servant, offer unto Thee…

He then prepares the chalice, mingling water and wine — the water represents the humanity of the faithful, the wine represents the divinity of Christ; they are commingled to signify the union of humanity and divinity in the sacrifice — and offers the chalice:

Offerimus tibi, Domine, calicem salutaris, tuam deprecantes clementiam… We offer unto Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, imploring Thy clemency…

The priest incenses the offerings, the altar, and the cross. The incense rising in coils of fragrant smoke is not decorative but theological: “Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight.” (Psalm 140:2) The sacrifice ascends.

After incensing, the priest washes his hands — the Lavabo — while reciting Psalm 25:

Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas: et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine… I will wash my hands among the innocent: and will encompass Thine altar, O Lord…

This is not merely hygienic. It is a ritual purification, a last act of preparation before the priest's hands are used to make present the Body and Blood of Christ. It recalls the Mosaic law of purification, the Temple rites, the priestly tradition of which this Mass is the fulfillment.

The priest bows over the altar and prays the Orate fratres — “Brethren, pray that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty.” The servers respond with the Suscipiat — a prayer that God receive the sacrifice for the praise and glory of His name, for our benefit, and for the benefit of the whole Church.

The priest then prays the Secreta (Secret) — a prayer said so quietly that it became known as the “secret” prayer. Like the Collect, it is assigned to the day and gathers the intention of the offerings into one voice before God.

The Preface is the great introductory prayer of thanksgiving that opens the sacrificial action proper. The priest sings the dialogue:

Then follows a soaring prayer of thanksgiving that varies by season — the Preface of Christmas, of Easter, of the Apostles, of the Blessed Virgin, and so on — ending with the declaration that with all the angels, archangels, and every order of the heavenly host, we sing:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis. Blessed is He who cometh in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

The Sanctus is the point at which the human and angelic liturgies meet. The words are the words of the seraphim in Isaiah's vision of the heavenly throne room (Isaiah 6:3). As the choir or servers sing them, the priest has already bowed and begun the Canon. The congregation kneels.

See also: The Angels — the nine choirs of the heavenly host

The Canon of the Mass — Canon Missæ — is the single, unvarying eucharistic prayer of the Roman Rite. It is prayed silently (secreto), in a voice so low that in an ordinary church it cannot be heard from the nave. This silence is deliberate and ancient: it envelops the most sacred words of the sacrifice in the same reverence one would observe at the holy of holies.

The Canon begins:

Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per Jesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus… We therefore humbly pray and beseech Thee, most merciful Father, through Jesus Christ Thy Son Our Lord…

The Canon moves through a series of intercessions — for the Church, for the Pope, for the bishop, for the faithful present, for those departed — before arriving at the moment of transformation. These intercessions are not additions or decorations. They are the precise fulfillment of Trent's teaching that the Mass is a propitiatory sacrifice offered for the living and the dead.

Key prayers of the Canon

• The Communicantes — which names the Blessed Virgin Mary, the apostles, and early martyrs by name, uniting the offering with the whole Communion of Saints.
• The Hanc igitur — a prayer asking God to receive the sacrifice peacefully, delivered for the Church, for those present, for the departed.
• The Quam oblationem — the final petition that God might transform these gifts, making them the Body and Blood of His Son.

See also: Purgatory — the Mass offered for the holy souls

The Consecration is the irreducible centre of the Mass. Everything before it has been preparation; everything after will be reception and thanksgiving. At the words of consecration, Christ's own words at the Last Supper are spoken by the priest in persona Christi — not as quotation but as present act.

At the moment these words are spoken, the bread is no longer bread; the wine is no longer wine. The substance has been transformed by divine power into the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Council of Trent defined this transformation as Transubstantiation — the entire substance of the bread changed into the Body, and the entire substance of the wine into the Blood, while the appearances (colour, shape, taste) remain unchanged.

Immediately following each consecration, the priest genuflects in adoration. Then he slowly raises the Host — and then the Chalice — above his head, so that the faithful may see and adore. The server rings the bell three times.

This is the Elevation, one of the most recognized and devotionally powerful moments in all of Christian worship. The faithful who are present at Mass are not merely watching. They are adoring God made present — the same Lord who hung upon the Cross, who rose from the tomb, who sits at the right hand of the Father — now held by the priest's consecrated hands above an altar of stone.

For those who cannot receive Communion worthily that day — whether because of fasting requirements, state of mortal sin, or illness — the sight of the elevated Host has always been received as a grace. The Church has taught that the devout gaze upon the Elevated Host is itself a spiritual communion. Many saints report that if pressed to choose between receiving Communion and beholding the Elevation, they could scarcely choose.

The prayer said silently by the faithful at the Elevation

Dominus meus et Deus meus. My Lord and my God. — drawn from S. John 20:28

After the completion of the Canon — with its closing doxology, “Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso…” (Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, is given to Thee, God the Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory, world without end) — the priest prays the Pater Noster, the prayer Our Lord Himself gave.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis, sanctificetur nomen tuum… Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…

In the Traditional Mass, the Pater Noster is sung or said by the priest alone; the servers respond with the final petition: “sed libera nos a malo” — but deliver us from evil. The prayer is the immediate preparation for Communion: we approach the altar as children of the same Father, having sought His forgiveness, His will, and His deliverance.

See also: Prayers — the traditional prayers of the Church

The priest strikes his breast three times, praying the Agnus Dei — the invocation drawn from the words of St. John the Baptist at the Jordan:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

“Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world.” — S. John 1:29

At the Agnus Dei, the sacrifice and the Sacrament converge: the priest is about to receive the Lamb who was slain. The three invocations, the striking of the breast, the petition that moves from miserere nobis (mercy) to dona nobis pacem (peace) — this is the soul's final approach to the altar.

Before receiving the Body of Christ, the priest prays three preparatory prayers, asking that this reception may not be to his judgment or condemnation but to the health of soul and body. He then receives the Host and the Precious Blood.

The Communion of the faithful follows. Those who are in a state of grace, have observed the Eucharistic fast (one hour from food and drink other than water and medicine at ordinary Masses; three hours for a Solemn Mass by pious tradition), and hold the Catholic Faith receive the Host on the tongue while kneeling at the Communion rail.

The form of distribution

Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam æternam. Amen. May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul unto life everlasting. Amen.

While the faithful receive, the choir or servers sing the Communion Antiphon — a verse assigned to the day — and the faithful remain in silent thanksgiving.

See also: Examination of Conscience — preparation for Confession

After Communion, the priest purifies the paten and chalice with great care, consuming every particle and drop that may remain. He then prays the Postcommunion prayer — the proper prayer of thanksgiving for the day — and turns to deliver the final greeting and dismissal.

These words give the Mass its name: missa — the sending. The faithful are not dismissed in the sense of being released from an obligation; they are sent forth as bearers of what they have received, to carry the grace of the Sacrifice into the world.

The priest imparts a final Blessing over the people, and then, turning back to the Epistle side, reads the Last Gospel — the Prologue of the Gospel of St. John:

In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum… In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word…

This is not an afterthought. The Last Gospel is a theological summary and a doctrinal seal placed upon the entire Mass. What has just been accomplished — the making present of the Body of Christ — is inseparable from the mystery proclaimed here: the Word who was with God from the beginning, the Word through whom all things were made, became flesh. “Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis” — And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (S. John 1:14)

As these words are read, all kneel. At the Incarnation — even now, at the close of the Mass — every knee bends.

The Missal. The single most practical tool for a newcomer to the Traditional Latin Mass is a hand missal with Latin and English in parallel columns. The Mass is printed in full for every Sunday and feast of the year. Recommended editions:

• The St. Andrew Daily Missal (Abbot Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B.) — the classic companion missal, comprehensive
• The Baronius Missal (Baronius Press) — handsome, accurate, and readily available
• The Roman Missal: Latin-English Edition (Angelus Press) — another excellent daily missal

The Postures. In the Traditional Latin Mass, the faithful kneel through most of the Mass. The general rule:

The Silent Canon. When the priest bows over the altar and the bells fall quiet, do not feel lost. The server's bells signal the key moments: three rings at the beginning of the Canon, three at the Elevation of the Host, three at the Elevation of the Chalice. Use these moments for adoration. A missal is not required during the Canon; prayer and attention are.

Receiving Communion. Approach the Communion rail and kneel. Fold your hands beneath the paten held by the server (it prevents any fragment of the Host from falling to the ground). Tilt your head back slightly, open your mouth, and receive the Host on the tongue. Do not reach for or touch the Host. Return to your pew and remain in silent prayer.

Who may receive? Any Catholic who is:

• In a state of sanctifying grace (free from unconfessed mortal sin)
• Holding the Catholic Faith
• Observing the Eucharistic fast (one hour from food and drink, excepting water and medicine)

If in doubt about your state of soul, attend Mass without receiving and go to Confession before the next reception of Holy Communion.

See also: Examination of Conscience

The Traditional Mass does not stand alone; it moves within the great current of the liturgical year. Each day has its assigned Proper texts — Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Gospel, Offertory, Communion — drawn from either the Proper of the Time (the cycle of Our Lord's mysteries, from Advent to Pentecost) or the Proper of the Saints (the commemorations of individual saints assigned to calendar dates).

When a feast day falls on a Sunday, the Missal's rubrics determine which Proper is used according to the rank of the feast — a hierarchical system codified in the 1962 Missal:

A feast of higher rank displaces one of lower rank on the same day; the displaced feast is either commemorated within the higher Mass or transferred to another day. This careful hierarchy ensures that the most important mysteries of the Faith receive the most liturgical weight.

See also: The Sacred Calendar — 1962 Liturgical Calendar

The Traditional Latin Mass (the Extraordinary Form, or Usus Antiquior) and the Mass of Paul VI (the Ordinary Form, promulgated 1969) differ in structure, language, and emphasis. Both are valid rites of the Roman Catholic Church; the Church permits both. The differences below are factual, not polemical.

Both forms share the same essential structure of Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist, the same words of Consecration, the same Real Presence, and the same sacrificial character.

Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum (2007) described the Traditional Mass as never having been abrogated and established that any priest of the Latin Rite may celebrate it freely. Pope Francis's Traditionis Custodes (2021) placed new restrictions on its celebration, returning oversight to local bishops. The matter remains a subject of ongoing discussion within the Church.

For the faithful who wish to deepen their understanding of the Mass beyond this introduction:

• The Holy Eucharist — the sacrament confected at every Mass, among the seven
• The Sacred Calendar — the 1962 liturgical calendar, day by day
• Examination of Conscience — preparation for Confession before Communion
• Why Speak a Dead Language? — Latin in Catholic life
• The Last Things — Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell
• The Faith — the doctrinal index of this site