Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

SPECIAL GESTURES OF COURTESY FROM THE FAITHFUL DURING SOLEMN HIGH MASS

During the Procession and the  recession, the faithful bow and make the sign of the cross as the crucifix passes. This is a greeting to the cross and an acknowledgment that the cross is the symbol of our salvation.

At the “Asperges Me” before Mass, as the celebrant sprinkles the faithful with holy water, we bow our heads and make the sign of the cross.

Just before the Preface, after the thurifer has incensed the servers in the sanctuary, he walks down to incense the faithful. As he bows his head, we bow ours to him, then bow again after he blesses us with the incense.

The Classical Roman Rite and its meaning for the Church

By Msgr. R. Michael Schmitz

(continued)

Another misunderstanding arises oftentimes in regards to the position of the celebrant at the Altar. The so called “altar of Sacrifice” which, as a norm, means a freestanding altar at which the priest faces the              congregation was never mentioned by the Second Vatican Council and is actually a later introduction. Some of the rubrics of the newer Rite seem still to presuppose that the celebrant faces the same direction as the   people, whether he celebrates at a freestanding Altar or at a High Altar with reredos. In any case, important studies have shown that the early Church did celebrate the Holy Mysteries facing east as a sign of the          resurrection of Christ symbolized by the rising sun. The congregation and the priest would have the same   position, regardless of whether or not the priest would stand before or behind the faithful. This unity would also show that, on the one hand, the priest represents the Church offering the gifts to God, and on the other, that he represents Christ immolating himself for the Church. One of the most recent scholarly research books     dwelling on various facts favoring the eastward position of the priest, features a preface of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who endorses the theological quality of this thesis. On a more practical level it can be noticed that many popular sanctuaries worldwide still use the so called High Altar and that even the private Chapel of the Popes in the Apostolic Palace, used by His Holiness every day, does not have an “altar of sacrifice” at which the Celebrant faces the people. Again, this is not the place to discuss the question in depth, but what has been said will suffice to show that the position of the priest facing east together with the congregation is not        exclusive to the Classical Roman Rite.

b. Essential Elements Typical for the Classical Rite

While the aforementioned elements: the Latin and the position of the priest at the altar, against a wide spread prejudice are not exclusively typical of the Classical Roman Rite alone, other structural elements of the Rite can be recognized as pertaining more precisely to its distinctive essence. This essence is enveloped in the prayerful atmosphere of awe described at the beginning of this talk, but can be identified in the rubrics and texts of the Rite as contained in the Roman Missal which, by itself, can be considered a cultural monument.

1. Organic growth and inspired detail

Before we analyze some of the ritual practice, it is important to note that the ritual pattern displayed in the pages of the Roman Missal as a whole is not the result of any specific individual study or of a scholarly effort, and has not been conceived at one given historical moment by an identifiable group of people. No one has “invented” the Mass or any of its parts. The development of the Missal is the result of a most extended      temporal process to which members of hierarchy and notably the Roman Pontiffs have contributed, not very          frequently, through some reordering or purification of the Rite that remained unchanged in general and even in most of its details. If anything, more ritual elements were added to the whole because they had already been accepted in wide regions of the Church as fitting expressions of the liturgical Mystery. (to be continued in future bulletins)