What is the Traditional Latin Mass?
The Traditional Latin Mass
This is the Mass of the Roman rite which has been celebrated throughout the world from the early Christian centuries up until the 1960s when it was replaced by the "novus ordo", a service in the vernacular that reflects a diversity of religious beliefs. The Traditional Latin Mass is the true and genuine form of the Mass of the Roman rite. It has a pedigree that dates back to the early centuries of Christianity from which it developed in almost imperceptible stages by a process of natural and gradual development until it was codified by Pope St Pius V as the most perfect expression of the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Mass, to remain unchanged for all time.
The Traditional Latin Mass is sometimes (although mistakenly) referred to as the Tridentine Mass, because the Roman Missal was codified by Pope Saint Pius V, at the specific request of the Fathers of the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century (the adjective 'Tridentine' is derived from the name Trent). It is important to recall, however, that what Pius V published in 1570 was a Missal based upon the continuous liturgical practice of the Church since the time of Pope Saint Gregory the Great in the sixth century.
Historical evidence shows that the Roman Missal in use for a century before the Council of Trent was in all respects identical to the Missal codified by Pope St Pius V. The work of the Trent commission was not to change, but to canonise, that is, to standardise, the Mass to the practice of the Roman See, as minor differences had crept in over the centuries according to local regions. A notable example of this was the proliferation of local usages such as the Sarum rite used in England before the Reformation. Accordingly, the Mass after Trent was substantially the same as that before Trent.
It was an unfortunate and regrettable decision of Pope John XXIII to introduce in 1962 a change in the Canon of the Mass (which had remained intact for over 1,000 years) by adding a reference to St Joseph. With hindsight it has become clear that this change was the precursor of much more serious changes to the liturgy which followed after Vatican II.
The Traditional Latin Mass is also called the Mass of the Roman Rite. After the Council of Trent Pope St Pius V issued the Bull Quo Primum Tempore (1570) which promulgated the Roman Mass now codified for the first time in the Church's history. The Bull also guaranteed use of the Roman Rite in perpetuity, and confirmed the traditional rites of various religious orders (such as the Dominicans) where these had been in use for at least 200 years.
This is the Mass that in all its essentials was passed on by St. Peter, the first Pope, to the Church. The Apostles themselves, according to St. Ambrose, worked at its elaboration. It reached its complete perfection with Popes St. Damasus (fourth century) and St. Gregory the Great (sixth century). As the great liturgical scholar, Fr. Adrian Fortescue, wrote, this Mass is:
"the most venerable in all Christendom, with a history of unbroken use far longer than that of any Eastern rite, there being no doubt that the essential parts of the Mass are of Apostolic origin."
The Traditional Latin Mass is therefore our sacred liturgical inheritance, our living link with the past, and it is the sacred duty of the Holy See to guard it from any contamination of error and to pass it on pure and undefiled, in the form they have received it, to future generations of Catholics.
The Traditional Latin Mass has sustained the Western Church for the last 1,500 years. It is this Mass which has inspired all the great saints and martyrs of the Church and nourished the faith of countless generations of the faithful. It is the Mass that was taken by missionaries all over the world in order to win souls for Christ.