'DISCARDED'

Elements of the old mass excluded from the new

In brackets after each translation of a discarded element, you will find the (likely) reason for its exclusion.

The items deleted from the Ordinary of the mass (the unchanging part) tend to be:

●      personal prayers recited by the priest in the first person singular;

●      ‘apologies’, repeated statements of unworthiness by the celebrant (which certainly strike one nowadays as excessive in both number and style);

●      medieval ‘accretions’, so-called late additions to the mass (their rejection reflecting the prejudice among liturgists in favour of the first 500 years of liturgical history);

●      references to the Saints, to intercession, and the Blessed Virgin Mary (presumably for ecumenical reasons);

●      items deemed to be repetitious, including in particular ...

●      some of the frequent references to sacrifice, a source of differences with Protestants, and found excessive by modern Catholic liturgical scholars. The (Lutheran) scholar Karl-Heinz Bieritz for example speaks feelingly of the original meaning of the text of the mass being ‘overwhelmed’ by the terminology of sacrifice.^[1]

Discarded items

The numbers refer to the Outline of the Mass of 1570

●      Item 2: The opening prayers of the mass were in future to be said from the sanctuary rather than the foot of the altar. This involved deleting the whole of Psalm 42/43 Introibo, ad altare Dei.* (I will go to the altar of God). Originally a preparatory prayer by the priest, said in the sacristy or on the way to the altar, then a medieval addition to the opening prayers, it constituted a rather unfocused opening to the mass. It is hard to argue with the decision to delete this prayer, and if a role for it were required, it could be returned to its former status as a preparatory prayer for the celebrant.

●      Items 4 and 5: Aufer a nobis and Oramus te Domine: these two silent private prayers are said by the celebrant while going up the steps to the altar:                                                                                                                                                 ‘Take away our sins from us, Lord, we beseech you, that we may enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies’ (Possibly repetition: request for personal forgiveness alongside the Confiteor).                                                                                     ‘We beseech you, O Lord, by the merits of those of your Saints whose relics lie here, and of all the Saints, deign in your mercy to pardon me all my sins.’ (Many possible factors: repetition; personal prayer of priest, an ‘apology’ for his sinfulness; reference to relics, prayer for intercession by saints).

●      The Offertory prayers:  Items 17-23                                                                                                                                       Click HERE  for a detailed consideration of these prayers and their almost total deletion.

●      Item 42: Celebrant’s prayer over the chalice:  Quid retribuam  (first-person private prayer of the celebrant).                 ‘What shall I give the Lord in return for all He has given me? I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. In praise I shall call upon the Lord and I shall be saved from my enemies.’

●      Item 43: Corpus tuum, Domine: One of the two celebrant’s prayers said while purifying the chalice after Communion (Repetition, also an ‘apology’):‘May your body, Lord, which I have eaten, and your blood, which I have drunk,  cleave to my inner self, and grant that no trace of sin be found in me.’

●      Item 50:  Celebrant’s prayer at the end of mass (another example of an ‘apology’): Placeat tibi, Sancta Trinitas ..     ‘May the tribute of my worship be pleasing to you, most Holy Trinity, and grant that the sacrifice, which I, though unworthy, have offered in the presence of your majesty, may be acceptable to you, and  through your mercy obtain forgiveness for me and all for whom I have offered it.’                                                                                                                               

●      Item 52: The Last Gospel (John 1.1-18)* is an anomaly, coming after the dismissal and blessing.                           Originally a private prayer of the priest for after mass, it did not become part of the Roman rite until 1485 but was then included the Roman Missal in 1570, and consequently kept its place until the reform of the 1960s..^[2]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

* Text not given here because it can be found in scripture