Introduction
I. Options
in the Text for Mass
II. Prayers
in the Mass
III. Changes
in the Order of the Mass
IV. Some Special
Cases
V. Variations
in the Divine Office
VI. Some Variations
in the Rites for the Dead
VII. Vestments
VIII. Use
of the Vernacular
Introduction
Three years ago the Instruction Inter Oecumenici, issued by the Congregation
of Rites, September 26, 1964, established a number of adaptations
for introduction into the sacred rites. These adaptations, the
first fruits of the general liturgical reform called for by the
conciliar Constitution
on the Liturgy,
took effect on March 7, 1965.
Their rich yield
is becoming quite clear from the many reports of bishops, which
attest to an increased, more aware, and intense participation
of the faithful everywhere in the liturgy, especially in the
holy sacrifice of the Mass.
To increase this
participation even more and to make the liturgical rites, especially
the Mass, clearer and better understood, the same bishops have
proposed certain other adaptations. Submitted first to the Consilium,
the proposals have undergone careful examination and discussion
by the Consilium and the Congregation of Rites.
At least for
the moment, not every proposal can be sanctioned. Others, however,
do seem worth putting into effect immediately, because pastoral
considerations commend them and they seem to offer no hindrance
to the definitive reform of the liturgy yet to come. Further,
they seem advantageous for the gradual introduction of that reform
and are feasible simply by altering rubrics, not the existing
liturgical books.
On this occasion
it seems necessary to recall to everyone's mind that capital
principle of Church discipline which the Constitution on the
Liturgy solemnly confirmed. "Regulation of the liturgy depends
solely on the authority of the Church. Therefore, no other person,
not even a priest, may on his own add, take away, or change anything
in the liturgy" (SC art. 22, §§
2-3).
Ordinaries, both
local and religious, should therefore be mindful of their grave
duty before the Lord to watch carefully over observance of this
norm, so important for Church life and order. All ministers of
sacred rites as well as all the faithful should also willingly
conform to it.
Individual spiritual
growth and well-being demand this, as do harmonious cooperation
in the Lord and mutual good example among the faithful in any
local community. It is required also by the serious responsibility
of each community to cooperate for the good of the Church throughout
the world, especially today when the good or evil that develops
in local communities quickly has an impact on the fabric of the
whole family of God.
All should heed
the warning of the Apostle: "For God is not a God of discord
but of peace" (I Cor 14:33).
The following
adaptations and changes are instituted to achieve the more specific
actualization and measured progress of the liturgical reform.
I. Options
in the Text for Mass
1. Outside Lent, on days of class III, the Mass either of the
office of the day or of the commemoration made at morning prayer
may be celebrated. If the second is chosen, the color of the
office of the day may be used, in keeping with the Codex rubricarum
no. 323.
2. Once the conference
of bishops in its own region has sanctioned an order of readings
for weekdays in Masses with a congregation this may also be used
for Masses celebrated without a congregation and the readings
may be in the vernacular.
This order of
readings for weekdays may be used on certain days of class II,
to be indicated in the Lectionary itself, and in all Masses of
class III and IV, whether Masses of the season or of saints,
or votive Masses not having their own, strictly proper readings,
that is, those that mention the mystery or person being celebrated.
3. On weekdays
in Ordinary Time, in the celebration of the Mass of the Sunday
preceding, one of the Prayers for Various Needs or an opening
prayer from the votive Masses for Various Needs may be taken
from the Missal to replace the prayer of the Sunday Mass.
II. Prayers
in the Mass
4. In the Mass
only one prayer is to be said; depending on the rubrics, however,
there is added before the single conclusion:
a. the prayer
proper to a rite (Codex rubricarum no. 447);
the prayer from the Mass for the profession of men and women
religious, displacing the Mass of the day (Rubr. spec.
Missalis no. 447);
the prayer from the votive Mass Pro sponsis displaced
by the Mass of the day (Codex rubricarum no. 380).
b. the prayer
from the votive Mass of thanksgiving (Codex rubricarum
no. 382 and Rubr. spec. Missalis);
the prayer for the anniversaries of the pope and the bishop (Codex
rubricarum nos. 449-450);
the prayer for the anniversary of the priest's own ordination
(Codex rubricarum nos. 451-452).
5. If in the
same Mass several prayers were to be required before the single
conclusion, the only one added is the one most in keeping with
the celebration.
6. Instead of
an imperated prayer, the bishop may insert one or more intentions
for particular needs into the general intercessions.
In them by decree
of the conference of bishops intentions also may be included
for civil rulers (now used in various forms in the different
countries) and special intentions for the particular needs of
a nation or region.
III. Changes
in the Order of the Mass
7. The celebrant
genuflects only:
a. on going to or leaving the altar if there is a tabernacle containing the Blessed Sacrament;
b. after elevating the Host and the chalice;
c. after the doxology at the end of the Canon;
d. at communion, before the words Panem caelestem accipiam;
e. after the communion of the faithful, when he has placed the remaining Hosts in the tabernacle.
All other genuflections are omitted.
8. The celebrant
kisses the altar only: at the beginning of Mass, while saying
the Oramus te Domine, or on going to the altar, if the prayers at the foot of the altar are omitted; at the end of Mass before the blessing and dismissal of the people.
The kissing of the altar is otherwise omitted.
9. At the Offertory,
after offering the bread and wine, the celebrant places on the
corporal the paten with host and chalice, omitting the signs
of the cross with paten and with chalice.
He leaves the
paten, with the Host on it, on the corporal both before and after
the Consecration.
10. In Masses
celebrated with a congregation, even when not concelebrated,
the celebrant may say the Canon aloud. In sung Masses he may
sing those parts of the Canon that the rite for concelebration
allows.
11. In the Canon,
the celebrant:
a. begins the
Te igitur standing erect and with hands outstretched;
b. makes one
sign of the cross over the offerings at the words benedicas
+ haec dona, haec munera, haec sancta sacrificia illibata,
in the prayer Te igitur. He makes no other sign of the
cross over the offerings.
12. After the
Consecration, the celebrant need not join thumb and forefinger;
should any particle of the host have remained on his fingers,
he rubs his fingers together over the paten.
13. The communion
rite for priest and people is to have the following arrangement:
after he says Panem caelestem accipiam, the celebrant
takes the Host and, facing the people, raises it, saying the
Ecce Agnus Dei, then adding three times with the people
the Domine, non sum dignus. He then communicates himself
with the Host and chalice and immediately distributes communion
in the usual way to the people.
14. The faithful
receiving communion at the chrism Mass on Holy Thursday may receive
again at the evening Mass on the same day.
15. A Mass celebrated
with a congregation should include, according to circumstances,
either a period of silence or the singing or recitation of a
Psalm or Canticle of praise, e.g., Ps 33 [34], I will bless the
Lord, Ps 150, Praise the Lord in his sanctuary or the Canticle
Bless the Lord [Dn 3:35] or Blessed are you, O Lord [1 Chr 29:10].
16. At the end
of Mass the blessing of the people comes immediately before the
dismissal. It is recommended that the priest recite the Placeat
silently as he is leaving the altar.
Even Masses for
the dead include the blessing and usual dismissal formulary,
Ite, Missa est, unless the absolution follows immediately;
in this case, omitting the blessing, the celebrant says: Benedicamus
Domino and proceeds to the absolution.
IV. Some Special
Cases
17. In nuptial
Masses the celebrant says the prayers Propitiare and Deus,
qui potestate not between the Pater noster and
its embolism, but after the breaking of Bread and the commingling,
just before the Agnus Dei.
In a Mass celebrated
facing the people the celebrant, after the commingling and a
genuflection, may go to the bride and groom and say the prayers
just mentioned. He then returns to the altar, genuflects, and
continues the Mass in the usual way.
18. A Mass celebrated
by a priest with failing sight or otherwise infirm and having
an indult to say a votive Mass, may have the following arrangement.
a. The priest
says the prayers and the preface of the votive Mass.
b. Another priest,
a deacon, reader, or server is to do the readings from the Mass
of the day or from a weekday Lectionary. If only a reader or
server is present, he has permission also to read the gospel,
but without the Munda cor meum, Iube, domine, benedicere
and Dominus sit in corde meo. The celebrant however says
the Dominus vobiscum before the reading of the gospel
and at the end kisses the book.
c. The choir,
the congregation, or even the reader may take the Entrance, Offertory,
and Communion antiphons, and the chants between the readings.
V. Variations
in the Divine Office
19. Pending the
complete reform of the Divine Office, on days of class I and
class II with a Matins of three Nocturnes, recitation
of any one Nocturne with three Psalms and three readings is permitted.
The hymn Te Deum, when called for by the rubrics, comes
after the third reading. In the last three days of Holy Week
the pertinent rubrics of the Roman Breviary are to be followed.
20. Private recitation
leaves out the absolution and blessing before the readings as
well as the concluding Tu autem.
21. In Lauds
and Vespers celebrated with a congregation, in place of the capitulum
there can be a longer reading from Scripture, taken, for example,
from Matins or from the Mass of the day, or from a weekday
Lectionary, and, as circumstances suggest, a brief homily. Unless
Mass immediately follows, general intercessions may be inserted
before the prayer.
When there are
such insertions, there need only be three Psalms, chosen in this
way: at Lauds one of the first three, then the Canticle, then
the final Psalm; at Vespers any three of the five Psalms.
22. At Compline
celebrated with a congregation participating the Psalms can always
be those of Sunday.
VI. Some Variations
in the Rites for the Dead
23. The color
for the office and Mass for the dead may in all cases be violet.
But the conferences of bishops have the right to stipulate another
color suited to the sensibilities of the people, not out of keeping
with human grief, and expressive of Christian hope as enlightened
by the paschal mystery.
24. At the absolution
over the coffin and over the grave, other responsories taken
from Matins for the dead, namely, Credo quod Redemptor meus
vivit, Qui Lazarum resucitasti, Memento mei, Deus, Libera me,
Domine, de viis inferni, may replace the Libera me, Domine.
VII. Vestments
25. The maniple
is no longer required.
26. The celebrant
may wear the chasuble for the Asperges before Mass on
Sundays, for the blessing and imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday,
and for the absolution over a coffin or grave.
27. A concelebrant
must wear the vestments obligatory for individual celebration
of Mass (Rite of Concelebration no. 12).
When there is
a serious reason, for example, a large number of concelebrants
and a lack of vestments, the concelebrants, with the principal
celebrant always excepted, may leave off a chasuble but never
the alb and stole.
VIII. Use
of the Vernacular
28. The competent
territorial authority observing those matters contained in the
Constitution
on the Liturgy art.
36, § 3 and § 4 may authorize use of the vernacular
in liturgies celebrated with a congregation for:
a. The Canon of the Mass;
b. all the rites of holy orders;
c. the reading of the Divine Office, even in choral recitation.
In the audience
granted April 13, 1967 to the undersigned Cardinal Arcadio Maria
Larrona, Prefect of the Congregation of Rites, Pope Paul VI approved
and confirmed by his authority the present instruction as a whole
and in all its parts, ordering its publication and its faithful
observance by all concerned, beginning June 29, 1967.
