![FSSP Mass Zagreb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/FSSP_Mass_Zagreb.jpg)
In the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, the use of preconciliar rites after the Second Vatican Council has resulted in certain
Latin liturgical rites
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...
coexisting with older ("preconciliar": "before the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
") versions of those same rites.
In the postconciliar years, i.e. years following the Second Vatican Council,
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
initiated a significant change of the
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...
(the predominant rite of the
Latin Church
, native_name_lang = la
, image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran
, caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...
), which precipitated certain other Latin rites being similarly reformed. Some of those among Paul VI's contemporaries who considered the
changes to the Roman Rite Mass to be too drastic obtained from him limited permission for the continued use of the previous version of that rite's
missal
A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a pries ...
.
In the years since, the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
has granted varying degrees of permission to celebrate the Roman Rite and other Latin rites in the same manner as was done prior to the council.
The use of preconciliar rites is associated with the movement known as
traditionalist Catholicism
Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...
.
In the decades immediately after the Second Vatican Council, each of the various grants of permission to use the preconciliar Roman Rite Mass was in the form of an
indult
In Catholic canon law, an indult is a permission or privilege, granted by the competent church authority – the Holy See or the diocesan bishop, as the case may be – for an exception from a particular norm of church law in an individual case ...
(i.e. a concession). The term universal indult was used to describe a hypothetical broadening of these concessionary permissions, but in his 2007
apostolic letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
''
Summorum Pontificum
''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Ben ...
'',
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
went even further than the proposed "universal indult" by elevating the status of the preconciliar forms beyond that of a concession.
In 2021, however, Pope Francis reinstated restrictions on the use of the
preconciliar Roman Rite Mass with his
apostolic letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
''
Traditionis custodes''.
Terminology
The simultaneous use of the preconciliar rites alongside the current editions of those same rites has necessitated the development of nomenclature to distinguish the older versions from the newer ones. The preconciliar Roman Rite has been called by a wide variety of names:
* Extraordinary Form ( la, Forma extraordinaria)
* ''Usus antiquior''
* Ancient Roman Rite
* Traditional Roman Rite
* Classical Roman Rite
* Tridentine Rite
* Gregorian Rite
To distinguish it from the
Mass of Paul VI
The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 19 ...
, the older Roman Rite
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
(that is, the 1962 revision of the
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...
) has been called at various times the:
* Indult Mass
* Tridentine Latin Mass or Traditional Latin Mass (both abbreviated as ''TLM''), or simply the Latin Mass
* Old Order of Mass ( la, Vetus Ordo Missae) or simply the la, Vetus Ordo, label=none
* Preconciliar liturgy
The
preconciliar Ambrosian Rite has been called the Extraordinary Form of the Ambrosian Rite.
Because the current versions of the rites are far more widely used, they are generally identified using the name of the rite without any further specification, e.g. "
Ambrosian Rite
The Ambrosian Rite is a Catholic Western liturgical rite, named after Saint Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the fourth century, which differs from the Roman Rite. It is used by some five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese o ...
." When differentiation is required, the current version is often called the Ordinary Form of the rite.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
introduced the phrase "unique expression" to refer to the current Roman Rite in contrast to the preconciliar form.
The Mass of the current Roman Rite is sometimes called the New Order of Mass ( la, Novus Ordo Missae) or simply the la, Novus Ordo, label=none.
History
Indults of Paul VI
In June 1971,
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
gave bishops permission to grant faculties to elderly or infirm priests to celebrate the older Roman Rite Mass without a congregation. Later that year,
Cardinal John Heenan presented Paul VI with a petition signed by 57 scholars, intellectuals, and artists living in England, requesting permission to continue the use of the older Mass. On October 30, 1971, Paul VI granted this permission for England and Wales. Because
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
was one of the petition's 57 signers whose name Paul VI is said to have recognized, the indult became known as the
Agatha Christie indult
The Agatha Christie indult is a nickname applied to the permission granted in 1971 by Pope Paul VI for the use of the Tridentine Mass in England and Wales. '' Indult'' is a term from Catholic canon law referring to a permission to do something t ...
.
''Quattuor abhinc annos'' (1984)
In the 1984 letter ''
Quattuor abhinc annos
''Quattuor abhinc annos'' (Latin for "four years ago") is the incipit of a letter that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments sent on 3 October 1984 to presidents of episcopal conferences concerning celebration of ...
'', the
under
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
extended to the entire
Latin Church
, native_name_lang = la
, image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran
, caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...
the indult for bishops to authorize celebrations of the preconciliar Roman Rite Mass under certain conditions.
''Ecclesia Dei'' (1988)
In 1988,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
issued la,
motu proprio
In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept.
In Catholic canon law, it refers to a do ...
, label=none the
apostolic letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
''
Ecclesia Dei
''Ecclesia Dei'' is the document Pope John Paul II issued on 2 July 1988 in reaction to the Ecône consecrations, in which four priests of the Society of Saint Pius X were ordained as bishops despite an express prohibition by the Holy See. The ...
'' in which he urged a "wide and generous application" of the indult already given. Masses celebrated under the ''Ecclesia Dei'' framework came to be known as "Indult Masses."
John Paul II simultaneously created the
Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'' to supervise groups using the preconciliar liturgy. Days after the letter's promulgation, John Paul II instituted the
Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri; FSSP) is a traditionalist Catholic society of apostolic life for priests and seminarians which is in communion with the Holy See.
The society was founded in 19 ...
to minister in the preconciliar Roman Rite exclusively.
''Summorum Pontificum'' (2007)
In 2007,
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
issued la,
motu proprio
In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept.
In Catholic canon law, it refers to a do ...
, label=none the
apostolic letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
''
Summorum Pontificum
''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Ben ...
'' in which he introduced the terminology of "extraordinary form" to describe the preconciliar liturgy. Rather than using the language of concession or permission, Benedict established the preconciliar form as parallel to the postconciliar, albeit as "extraordinary" in the sense of "different."
Instead of giving bishops control over the extent of preconciliar celebrations, Benedict XVI required priests with the suitable liturgical competency to offer the preconciliar rites to "stable groups of the faithful" who requested them. Benedict also authorized the use of the older rite for the celebration of sacraments (beyond the celebration of Mass) and allowed
clerics to fulfill their obligation of prayer using the ''
Roman Breviary
The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notati ...
'' in lieu of the postconciliar ''
Liturgy of the Hours
The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...
''. He furthermore permitted the celebration of other preconciliar Latin rites besides the Roman Rite.
''Traditionis custodes'' (2021)
In 2021,
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
, motivated by a desire to stave off growing rejection of the Second Vatican Council that he perceived as developing from groups using the preconciliar rites, issued la,
motu proprio
In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept.
In Catholic canon law, it refers to a do ...
, label=none the
apostolic letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
''
Traditionis custodes'' to restore the previous status quo of bishops having authority over the celebrations of Mass in the preconciliar Roman Rite. Francis stated in the letter that the current version of the Roman Rite ought to be regarded as the "unique expression of
ts''
lex orandi
''Lex orandi, lex credendi'' (Latin: "the law of what is prayed sthe law of what is believed"), sometimes expanded as ''Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi'' (Latin: "the law of what is prayed swhat is believed sthe law of what is lived"), is ...
''."
Liturgies
Mass
Most groups using the preconciliar Roman Rite use the 1962 revision of the
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...
.
Divine Office
In his 2007 letter ''
Summorum Pontificum
''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Ben ...
'',
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
permitted priests to fulfill their canonical obligation of prayer (their "divine office") using the preconciliar ''
Roman Breviary
The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notati ...
'' instead of the postconciliar ''
Liturgy of the Hours
The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...
''.
Sacraments
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
in ''
Summorum Pontificum
''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Ben ...
'' also authorized the celebration of sacraments according to the preconciliar rites. In 2021, the
published a follow-up letter to ''
Traditionis custodes'' in which it stated that this permission is revoked.
Current use within the Catholic Church
![Preparation of the chalice at a low Dominican Rite mass](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Preparation_of_the_chalice_at_a_low_Dominican_Rite_mass.jpg)
Dioceses
The number of preconciliar Roman Rite Masses celebrated by
diocesan
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
clergy grew significantly after the release of ''
Summorum Pontificum
''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Ben ...
''. Many bishops, however, curtailed diocesan preconciliar Masses after the promulgation of ''
Traditionis custodes''.
Personal apostolic administration
The only "personal apostolic administration" in existence is the
Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
The Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney ( la, Administratio Apostolica Personalis Sancti Ioannis Mariae Vianney) was established on 18 January 2002 by Pope John Paul II for traditionalist Catholic clergy and laity with ...
, a canonical structure erected by
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
in 2002, geographically coterminous with the
Diocese of Campos
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Campos ( la, Dioecesis Camposinus) is a diocese located in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes in the Ecclesiastical province of Niterói in Brazil.
History
On December 4, 1922 it was established as the Diocese of Cam ...
in Brazil, and dedicated to exclusively ministering in the preconciliar Roman Rite.
Institutes and societies
Some
institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life in the Catholic Church use preconciliar liturgical forms exclusively, including those of the Roman Rite,
Carmelite Rite
The Rite of the Holy Sepulchre, commonly called the Carmelite Rite, is the liturgical rite that was used by the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, Hospitallers, Templars, Carmelites and the other orders founded within the Latin Patriarchate of J ...
,
Dominican Rite
The Dominican Rite is the unique rite of the Dominican Order of the Roman Catholic Church. It has been classified differently by different sources – some consider it a usage of the Roman Rite, others a variant of the Gallican Rite, and still ...
, and
Premonstratensian Rite.
Canonically irregular clergy
The
Society of Saint Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the Sec ...
, a group of traditionalist clergy, grew out of resistance to the postconciliar liturgical changes, and continues to use the preconciliar Roman Rite exclusively. The society is "canonically irregular," meaning they operate outside of the canonical structures governed by the pope, even though they acknowledge the pope as legitimate.
Current use outside the Catholic Church
The scope of the liturgical changes after the Second Vatican Council was one factor that led certain groups identifying as
traditionalist Catholics
Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1 ...
to claim that the postconciliar
pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
s have been incapable of holding the office of the papacy ("
sedevacantism
Sedevacantism ( la, Sedevacantismus) is a doctrinal position within traditionalist Catholicism, which holds that the present occupier of the Holy See is not a valid pope due to the pope's espousal of one or more heresies and that therefore, for ...
") or incapable of legitimately exercising its functions ("
sedeprivationism
Sedeprivationism is a doctrinal position within Traditionalist Catholicism which holds that the current occupant of the Holy See is a duly-elected pope, but lacks the authority and ability to teach or to govern unless he recants the changes brough ...
").
Conclavist
A conclavist was a personal aide of a cardinal present in a papal conclave. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-cardinals. Conclavists p ...
groups are those who have claimed to elect their own successor to the papacy. These groups generally use the preconciliar Roman Rite.
Promotional organizations
Societies
Lay-led groups dedicated to the promotion of preconciliar rites and practices are often called "Latin Mass societies."
Periodicals
* ''
Latin Mass Magazine''
* ''Usus Antiquior'' (20102012)
See also
*
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...
*
Traditionalist Catholicism
Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...
Notes
References
{{Latin Church
Traditionalist Catholicism
Second Vatican Council