When the third edition of the
English-language version of the Roman Missal is implemented at Advent,
it will mark the continuing evolution of the eucharistic liturgy that
began in the earliest days of the church.
The most recent changes -- which more closely reflect "Liturgiam
Authenticam" ("The Authentic Liturgy"), the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Sacraments' 2001 document on liturgical translations --
are unlikely to be the last, liturgists agree.
From Aramaic to Greek to Latin to vernacular language after the Second
Vatican Council, the Mass has evolved over 2,000 years in an effort to
help worshippers appreciate the mystery that is God.
"It's not the changing that's abnormal. It's not changing that's
abnormal," said Jesuit Father John Baldovin, professor of historical and
liturgical theology at Boston College, who explores the history of the
missal and the new English translation in a video series on the National
Jesuit News website.
The translation that began being implemented in English-speaking
countries in 2010 has been openly criticized by some clergy and liturgy
experts for its structurally complicated language that they believe
strays from the intent of Vatican II's liturgical reforms. But other
liturgists responsible for catechesis on the missal are reminding the
faithful that the translation helps bind modern-day Catholics with early
Christians through its more authentic language.
"People may find it interesting that this has developed over centuries.
It isn't something dropped out of the sky at Vatican II, but it has a
history," said Christina Ronzio, director of the Office for Worship in
the Cleveland Diocese.
"What it does is it establishes continuity of that tradition of the church," she said.
The Missal of Pius V appeared seven years after the Council of Trent
concluded its work in 1563, implementing the council's call for
uniformity in liturgical books. Convened in response to Protestant
disputes with the church, the council met in 25 sessions in three
periods beginning in 1545. By its conclusion the council codified the
celebration of Mass and defined church teaching on Scripture and
tradition, original sin, justification, the sacraments and the
veneration of saints.
The council allowed religious orders that had their own liturgical rites
in place for more than 200 years -- among them the Dominicans and the
Franciscans -- to continue using their own missal. Those missals
continue in use today with updated translations approved by the Vatican.
In part, credit the development of the printing press for the missal's
introduction in the 16th century, said Father Richard Hilgartner,
executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops'
Secretariat on Divine Worship.
"The idea of trying to codify the liturgy prior to the invention of the
printing press, it was just seen as a huge obstacle because you couldn't
reproduce it," Father Hilgartner said.
Until the late 16th century, holy books were reproduced by hand by
monks, making widespread distribution of sacred texts impractical.
But long before the first missal was promulgated, a desire for
consistency in worship began to emerge. Some Mass prayers can be traced
to the third century, said Rita Thiron, director of the Office of
Worship in the Diocese of Lansing, Mich., citing the second eucharistic
prayer, which dates to about 215.
In a series called "Welcoming the New Roman Missal" on the Lansing
diocesan website, Thiron wrote that by the fourth century worship became
more formalized because of a growing concern for orthodoxy. That
concern led to standardization of prayers and readings in various
rituals.
By the seventh and eighth centuries the sharing of prayer texts became
more common, Father Hilgartner said. Sacramentaries also were assembled,
the most notable being the Old Gelasian Sacramentary in the seventh and
eighth centuries and the Gregorian Sacramentary in the late eighth
century.
In 785, Pope Hadrian I gave a copy of the Gregorian Sacramentary to
Charlemagne, king of the Franks, who unified liturgical practice in
Western Europe by expanding the Sacramentary's use among faith
communities across the continent.
At the same time, Latin was becoming the language of the church. Father
Daniel Merz, associate director of the USCCB's Secretariat of Divine
Worship, explained that the use of Latin took several hundred years to
emerge, beginning in the third century; by the 10th century it was
widespread.
"But even in Rome it's interesting that the first several hundred years
you can see there was this concern to have the language be in the
language of the people," he said.
After the Council of Trent it would be more than four centuries before
the Roman Mass saw significant changes. Even though several popes
granted concessions to missionaries to allow Mass to be celebrated in
local languages to aid in evangelization -- including Mandarin in China
in the early 14th century, Arabic for the Carmelites in Persia in 1624
and Iroquoian for the Jesuits in 1773 near modern-day Montreal -- Mass
changed little until Vatican II.
The first document to emerge from Vatican II in 1963 was the
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy ("Sacrosanctum Consilium"), which
called for "full, conscious, and active participation" of all people in
the liturgy. The missal reflecting those principles, known as the Missal
of Paul VI, was approved in 1969.
That missal was translated into English by 1973 by the International
Commission on English in the Liturgy, known as ICEL. It was slightly
revised in 1975 with the addition of new eucharistic prayers for
reconciliation. That English translation appeared in 1985 and remains
the missal in use until Advent.
But some Vatican officials felt that version of the missal could be improved and set about working on still another translation.
In 2001, the third translation was issued. It incorporates the changes
that will take effect at Advent. It took ICEL nearly a decade to
translate the changes into English and gain Vatican approval, but not
without tension.
Diocesan-based liturgists Ronzio and Thiron both have included a
discussion of liturgical history in their workshops on implementing the
translation after initially hearing from people who perceived the
translation as betraying Vatican II's promise. With knowledge of
history, the anger has largely disappeared, they said.
"One of the things (people) appreciate most about the Catholic
faith is tradition," Thiron said. "When they see tradition is being
preserved, they're comfortable with that."