The Irish standard., 1907-12-21

The following interesting article on
''The Mass in Many Lands" from the
pen Of James Byrne. is taken from
the Christmas number Of Donahoe's
Magazine:
The approach of Christmas Day, the
one day in the year on which every
priest has the privilege of saying
three Masses, makes fitting the bring
ing together Of some facts bearing on
the Mass in many lands-from the
times Of the martyrs when the Holy
Sacrifice was offered in secret in the
Catacombs to the present day when
all over the world it is offered up ac-
companied by the most impressive
ceremonial.
The ablest liturgical writer's state
that st. Peter said the first Mass after
the descent Of the Holy Ghost in the
very same cenacle at Jerusalem where
the Blessed Eucharist was instituted.
II we consider the institution OF the
Holy Sacrifice as Mass, then the first
Mass was celebrated by Our Lord at
the Last Supper. At the time Of Our
Lord three languages were common
throughout Judea,-Hebrew, Greek and
Latin. The first, better known as the
Syriac, was the language of the great
er part Of Judea and without doubt
was the vernacular Of Our Lord and
His Blessed Mother The Greek oh.
tanned large sway in Palestine also;
but the Latin had obtained far wider
sway in the Holy Land at this time
than either Of the other two; for it was
the language Of Imperial Rome; and
as Judea was then Roman province
it was but natural to expect that the
language Of Rome would be forced on
the conquered people. -.
'1n what Language was the first
Mass offered?" is a, question that has
engaged the attention Of many writer's.
Eclxius, a learned German divine Of
the sixteenth century, was the first to
VOA(O tbGO op4lbtOu III LA1C OCSNl.
ming MASS was celebrated in Hebrew,
but this cannot be sustained, for the
ablest liturgical writers and linguists
hold that the Mass was celebrated in
the language that prevailed in the
places where the Apostles went to
spread the light Of the Gospel. Thus
at Jerusalem 1t was. celebrated in Sy-
riac, In the Grecian cities in Greek,
and at Rome, and throughout the west,
in Latin. As the first mass was cele-
brated At Jerusalem, it is generally
accepted that the syriac was the Ian
guage in which it was offered.
The Catholic Church today offers up
the sacrifice OF the Mass in nine diff
ferent languages,-Latin,: Greek, sy-
riac, Chaldiac, slavenic. Wallachian,
Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopic, the
first named being the Language of the
Mass in the entire west, and in . few
places In the east.
During the early days every priest
could say one or more Masses at his
discretion, and. it was quite usual to
say two Masses. one in honor of the
feast 81 the day.. the other TOR the
beneht Of the faithful departed. Re-
striction, however, was soon imposed,
: allowing the plurality of Masses only
on occasion when some :solennity
brought together greater concourse
Of people than ordinary. At such. times
in order to afford all an opportunity
to assist at the Holy Sacrifice. as many
Masses as were deemed necessary were
said. even by the same priest. Pope
Leo III, in the ninth century, said
as many as nine Masses. on a single
day; but by the time of Pope Alexan-
der II. the practice had declined and
that Pontif decreed that no priest
should say more than one Mass, on the
same day, a regulation that obtains al
the present. There are, however, fac
ulties granted to priests in charge Of