THE MASS:

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THE MASS the Latin Mass
Part VIa The Mass of St Pius V after the
Council of Trent
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19th Ecumenical Council, The Council of Trent
Site Trent, Italy Years 1545-1563 sessions
1st-8th, in Trent (154547), and the 9th-11th
in Bologna (1547) during the pontificate of Pope
Paul III. Under Pope Julius III, the 12th-16th
sessions in Trent (15512). Under Pope Paul
IV, the 17th-25th sessions in Trent
(155963). Popes Paul III, 1534-1549 Julius
III, 1550-1555 Marcellinus II, 1555 Pius IV,
1559 - 1565 Emperors Charles V, 1519-1556 and
Ferdinand I, 1556-1564
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1800 1900 2000
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 Luthers
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 Luthers 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
THE REFORM JULY 14, 1570
Pope Paul III
Pope Marcellinus II
Pope Pius IV
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 St Pius V
Pope Julius III
Pope Paul IV
END OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
BEGINNING 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.
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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 (590-604 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.
16
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 wasnt
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)

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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.
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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 Vs 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 VIIIs
1604 typical edition of the Missal was issued.
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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
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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).
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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.
22
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
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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.
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End of The Mass of the Council of Trent, Part
VIa Go to The Mass of the Council of Trent, Part
VIb