Since September 14, 2007, the Sunday when general permission was given for the celebration of the the traditional rite of the Mass, Latin Rite Catholics whether they know it or not have been living in a very new era.
Now is as good a time as any to take a look at our current Eucharistic prayers and come to appreciate all of them for their beauty and power to bring us the greatest gift in this life as well as understand some of their limitations.
The Easter Vigil Reform:
- Celebrated Holy Saturday Night (instead of Holy Saturday morning)
- Eucharistic fast modified from midnight prior to 3 hours prior (for Vigil only)
- Use of the vernacular for the readings
- Lay readers
1955
Holy Week Reforms:
- Several prayers including blessings and a collect said facing the people
- Prayers at the foot of the altar and Last Gospel suppressed (the opening and closing rites of the ancient rite)
- Priest and people recite together the Lord’s Prayer on Good Friday (previous principle was that the people did not pray together with the pries, but he prayed on their behalf)
- Palm Sunday rites greatly abbreviated
- Good Friday Mass of the Presanctified replaced by simple communion service
- Tenebrae and Three Hours devotion de-emphasized and virtually disappear
- Holy Saturday Vigil greatly simplified with 12 readings reduced to 4.
- Ancient Vigil Service for Pentecost suppressed
Reform of the Rubrics:
- Rankings of feasts as semi-double and simple abolished
- Suppression of various vigils (for feasts of the Apostles, the BVM, All Saints, etc.)
- The number of octaves reduced from 15 to 3, (presently Christmas, Easter and Pentecost)
- Various feast collects abolished
- Last Gospel suppressed in some instances (Mass formerly concluded with the reading of the Prologue of St. John, and the Prayer to St. Michael)
1958
Dialogue Masses:
- Various parts of the mass were now read by the priest and people simultaneously including: the Introit, the Kyrie, the Gloria, and the Our Father.
- Introduction of lay commentators who read in the vernacular while the priest read them in Latin.
- Prayers of the mass said aloud so that the congregation could follow the rite.
- Responses previously said only by altar servers were now said by the congregation.
1960-62 (Blessed John XXIII)
- Simplification of the Divine Office readings and prayers
- Many feast days suppressed including St. Peter’s Chair at Antioch, Finding of the Holy Cross, etc.
- Confiteor before Communion abolished
One can clearly see that there were significant changes happening in the liturgy under Pius XII and John XXIII which prefigured the changes that were to come in the 1960’s.
I have relied heavily on an SSPX site for information. I do not agree with their conclusions, but they have the best articulation of the changes in this period that I have found on the web.
The New Order of the Mass
Following the Second Vatican Council there were broad changes in the Eucharistic liturgies of the Catholic Church including the following:
- Liturgy in the vernacular facing the people
- De-emphasis on the uniqueness of the priest (e.g.: priest and people now say one Confiteor together rather than two separately)
- Emphasis on the audibility of prayers for the sake of full active participation of the faithful
- Partially reduced references to the sacrificial language such as “altar,” and “victim” (e.g.: removal of Ps. 42)
- The addition of the Prayers of the Faithful
- The addition of the Memorial Acclamation
- Removal of the prayers at the foot of the altar and the Last Gospel and associated prayers
- Abbreviation of the Gloria and Confiteor prayers.
