The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-06-17
CEREMONIES OF THE MASS.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the
most sacred and august of all acts of
worship, is both prayer and a cere-
mony, says the Brooklyn Tablet"
The rites according to which the
Mass is offered are not only beau
tiful and symbolical, but are deserving
Of our highest respect and veneration
because of their antiquity. Many of
them have come down to us, I'M
changed in essentials, from the very
first days of Christianity. The liturgy
Of the Church, governing and regulat-
ing the saying or singing of Mass, has.
been modified, to some extent, during
the centuries that have interviewed
since the time of the Apostles, but
such additions or substractions, as we
find, are comparatively few and only
what we should expect. 1t is no ex-
aggeration to say that the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass is offered today
in ? way that closely resembles the
manner in which it was offered sixteen
centuries ago.
As early as the year 200 A. D., GER
tain prayers and ceremonies were add
ed to the essential parts of the Mass.
Since that time there has been
change in these non-essentiaIs yet the
liturgy of the Mass of today can be
shown, by comparison, to be surpris-
ingly like that of the early ages of the
Church. Thus, in years long past, the
service began with the singing of
psalms by the assembled congrega-
ton. Today the priest, only, says the
psalms "Judica Me, etc." at the foot
of the altar and is answered by the
altar boy who recites the alternate
verses.
The singing of psalms was then fol
lowed by a petition to God for mercy
Today the priest says the Confiteor at
the foot of the altar and soon after the
Kyrie Eleison, both prayers for mercy
Then came the thanksgiving for the
pardon of sin. In the Mass of our day,
the Kyrie Eleison is Immediately fol-
lowed by the thanksgiving hymn,
Gloria in Excelsis Deo" Next the
officiating Bishop turned to the people,
said the words, "Dominus vobiscum"
and at once offered prayer for those
present at the Holy Sacrifice. The
priest in the Masses at which we
assist does identieally the same
After this one of the assistants read
portion of one of the Epistles, then
an excerpt from the Gospels, as is
done today. After a discourse on the
Gospel by the one officiating, the
Greed was said by Bishop and people
in unison. Following this came the
Offertory which was considered as the
beginning of the Mass proper. 1t is
easy to recognize in these various
parts of the Sacrifice the correspond
ing parts in our present liturgy.
The Mass, then, in it's essential rites
and ceremonies is read today as it
was read in the third century.
In the ceremonial of the Mass the
whole story of Redemption is symbol
cally represented. The opening pray
ers said by the priest at the foot of
the altar, and at little distance from
it, are emblematic of the 1000 years
during which man was comparatively
far from God, and looking for the Re
demption. The Kyrie, repeated nine
times, and the Gloria signify the song
of praise sung by the nine choirs of
angels at Bethlehem; the prayers read
at the Epistle side of the altar SYM
bolize the youth of Our Lord. The
Epistle, the carrying across of the
missal from the Epistle to the Gospel
side, the Gospel and the Greed, are
to remind us that the Gospel was
first preached to the Jews, and being
rejected by them, was proclaimed to
the Gentiles, many of whom believed
and were baptized.
It is not only the ceremonies of the
Mass that are symholical. The vest
ments in which the priest Is clothed
also have a mystical significance.
The Amice, white linen cloth, which
the priest now wears about his