What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Some years ago a very kind person gave me an edition of a reprinted Missale Romanum supposed to be the 1962 edition.  It even has 1962 printed on the cover, as the photo shows here.

This is NOT an edition of the 1962 Missal.

If you have this or just bought it, DON’T PANIC.

"But Father! But Father!" you may be saying, as sweat breaks out on your forehead. "The cover says 1962!  Surely you’re wrong about this.  It must be the 1962 edition!  That’s what I paid for!"

Au contraire, my sweaty friend.  But, again, do not panic.  You have not bought a useless book.

"But Father! But Father! &%$^#!!", you continue.  "How do I know that the edition I have is really a 1962 edition?"

Many of you will have old editions of the Missale Romanum.  Very few of you will actually have a 1962 edition.  In that case, to use it at all, first, you will have to make sure you are following the rubrics established by John XXIII in 1960 and tweaked in 1962.

The fastest way to see if your edition is really a 1962 edition is to check the Roman Canon to see if the name of St. Joseph is included.  This was a change made by Bl. Pope John XXIII for the 1962 edition.  St. Joseph’s name was not in the Canon before the 1962 edition.  Not even in the 1960 edition, which is picture above despite the bold "1962" on the cover.

Here is a photo of the page of the Roman Canon in this supposedly "1962" reprint editon pictured above.  Notice that St. Joseph’s name is not there.  I marked the spot where it should be.



To find out what edition you actually have, you can look at the "legal" documents at the beginning of any Missal.  A Missal always includes the texts of the documents which promulgate the edition.  Remember, back in the day publishing houses were given permission by the Holy See to print liturgical books.  So, the publication date of an edition printed in the USA might actually be after the year of the edition. 

In the reprint edition in question here, you can see that this is NOT the 1962 edition of the Missal by checking the documents.  Here are shots of the documents in the supposedly "1962" edition that interest us.

Here is the General Decree of promulgation Novum rubricarum dated 1960.  This tells you that what is decreed in John XXIII’s Rubricarum instructum of 1960, which made all sorts of changes the rubrics, is duly promulgated and that the new rubrics went into force on 1 January 1961.  It also talks about the Breviary and Martyrology, but they don’t interest us here.

It is small, but you can see the date is 1960.  I circled it.

Here is the other document, Pope John XXIII’s Rubricarum Instructum which made all the significant changes to the rubrics of the Mass.  Click on it for a larger image.

 

The date is clearly 1960.

"But Father! Bu…"  Yes, I know.  What is the difference?

First, the documents. In an edition of the 1962 Missal, this is the document you would find.  This is the Decree Novo rubricarum corpore of

The 1962 typical edition will have the two documents I included above.  But it will also include this, which shows that it is the "typical" edition, that is, it is the edition to which all subsequent editions and approved reprints must conform.

Why is this important?  After all, you can simply write in the name of St. Joseph between the lines pretty easily. And, the rubrical changes such as the removal of the so-called "Second Confiteor" occured with John XXIII’s document of 1960 called Rubricarum instructum (pictured above).

I think people ought to know what they are getting.  What is advertised is the 1962 edition.  That is not what you get.  You get something very similar, but it isn’t the 1962 edition.

On a side note, in the chapel of The Sabine Farm, I use a 1962 Missal, in an edition called the "editio prima iuxta typicam", the first edition printed according to the typical edition.  It was printed in Italy for a Spanish publisher, probably for use in Latin American countries.  I imagine it was distributed to missions and dioceses straight from Rome by the organization that had it made.

In order to reprint the 1962 typical the publisher had to have permission of the Holy See.  So, here you find not the decree that what you have in your hands is the very typical edition itself, but rather a different decree saying that what you have in your hands conforms exactly to the 1962 typical edition.  Here is the decree.



You can see that this is the according to the 1962 book.  And sure enough, unlike the 1960 edition (on sale with the cover I showed you at the top of this entry) in the hallowed pages of this edition I use in The Sabine Chapel, you find the name of St. Joseph in the Roman Canon.  This is what it looks like.


So, older Missals can be used, but you have to be aware that changes need to be made if they are editions before 1962.  Whatever book you use, the 1962 edition’s rubrics and calendar are permitted, not those of earlier editions. 

You can double check what you are doing in the useful 1962 edition, a reprint, of Fortescue and O’Connell The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, (hard to get right now, I think) which has a page of helpful corrections at the beginning.  Also, the new edition of Trimeloni is useful, if you know Italian and can get it.

Caveat emptor!

You all remember the dust up last year over the presence of Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, at Ave Maria University.  Controversy swirls around the place.  It seems, sadly, that people can’t get on the same page there.

What is happening with the Motu Proprio?  My understanding is that some student want the older form of Mass there.

I found this on the blog AveWatch.

My emphases and comments.

DIRECTIVE ON LITURGY AT AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY (August 4, 2007)

We give thanks to Almighty God, as we accustom ourselves to the excellent facilities of our permanent Campus. At this time, the Administration of the University have given this directive on our liturgical practice. It is hoped that all our efforts will enable us to continue to have beautiful and dignified liturgies, always fully in accord with the mind and the liturgical law of the Church.

The ordinary location for most of our Masses this semester will be the “Ballroom,” set up for worship, on the first floor of the Student Union. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved there only, until further notice and until the air conditioning functions properly in the “Ark Chapel” (near the Chaplain’s Office) and in the “Library Chapel” (tentatively to be called “Our Lady’s Chapel”).

The liturgical timetable remains largely the same, except that the first Sunday Mass will be at 8:00 a.m. (rather than 8:30 a.m.) to accommodate time constraints, and the 5:15 p.m. Sunday Mass will be at 8:00 p.m. at the request of Student Life (5:15 p.m. only on August 26, no 8 p.m. Mass that day). The 7:50 a.m. weekday Mass may have to be adjusted to 7:30 a.m. to accommodate class schedules, but this remains to be determined upon the arrival of students after August 20. Thus, starting August 26, the ordinary Liturgical Schedule will be:

• Mass: Sunday: 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 12 noon, 8 p.m.
• Mass: Weekdays: 7:50 a.m., 12:10 p.m., 5:15 p.m.
• Mass: Saturday: 9 a.m., 4 p.m. (Vigil for Sunday)
• Confessions: Sat.: 9:30-10:30 a.m., Sun.: 11:15-11:45 a.m., Mon.-Sat.: 2:45-3:45 p.m.
• Liturgy of the Hours (in Ballroom or in Ark Chapel): Morning Prayer: Sunday at 9:30 a.m., Saturday at 8:30 a.m., Weekdays at 7:30 a.m. (may be adjusted in Sept.); Evening Prayer: daily at 5:15 p.m.; Night Prayer: daily at 9:20 p.m.
• Evening Rosary Walk: 9 p.m. daily, from Student Union
  

The 8:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday will be in Latin, in the ordinary Novus Ordo form. The 7:50 AM Masses on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be in Latin, in the ordinary Novus Ordo form. Normally all other Masses will be in English.

The practice of celebrating Mass ad orientem is accepted [It had better be!  This really is the normal way Mass is to be celebrated, if you examine the rubrics.] at the first Mass of the morning for a priest or priests having a personal preference for this practice. However, ad orientem is not considered the ordinary or obligatory practice at Ave Maria University. [Huh? Who do these people think they are that they can establish a policy about something which is ENTIRELY at the discretion of the priest?  I guess they can always threaten to fire a priest who does not conform.]  At all other Masses the priest or priests are directed [Does this strike anyone but me as overweening?] to celebrate Mass facing the congregation.

It may happen that a priest wishes to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Mass of the Roman Rite, a Mass in accordance with the Roman Missal of 1962, commonly called a “Tridentine Mass.” This may be out of personal preference or in response to requests from the faithful. In accord with the provisions of “Summorum Pontificum,” the Holy Father’s apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (“on his own impulse”), arrangements will be made beforehand through the Chaplain’s Office to celebrate properly the Tridentine Mass in the Ark Chapel or in the Library Chapel. At the present time, the Tridentine Mass will not be available in the “Ballroom.”

The University’s opening Mass on August 27 will be in English, with the priest facing the people.

Respectfully submitted,

Office of the Chaplain

I understand the need for order in the life of an institution.

The tone and "directives" here strike me as being both pompous and, frankly, inflammatory.  If they are trying to avoid conflict by means of these directives, I bet they will fail. 

That said, I am very pleased that there are Novus Ordo Masses in Latin at that school.  I hear good things about Ave Maria.  I also hear disturbing things.  I am an outsider, but it seems to me that their controversies are being generated from within.