Thanks. More clarity, please! Where do the Ambrosian, Mozarabic, and Congolese, not to mention some of the religious orders fit in? I’m a bit hazy in distinguishing form, use, and rite.
Here’s a quick rundown of the structure of the Catholic Church. There’s the twenty–three autonomous particular Churches, including Maronite, Melkite, and the other Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as the Latin Church. The liturgy of the Latin Church is divided up into about five rites:
Roman, Ambrosian, Bragan,
Mozarabic, and
Carthusian.
The Roman Rite is the most used rite. It consists of the
Anglican Use, the
Zaire Use, Algonquian and Iroquoian Uses, and the “regular” use. The “regular” use is further split up into the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms. The “regular” use is what is used the most. The Anglican Use is for former Episcopalians and Anglicans. The Zaire Use is rarely used, usually in Africa. The Algonquian and Iroquoian Uses were used among Native Americans, where the priest’s parts remained in Latin, but the propers and ordinary was translated into the indigenous languages, which is also rarely used.
The Ambrosian Rite is generally used in the Archdiocese of Milan in Italy, and in a few surrounding areas. It has an equivalent structure to the “regular” use I mentioned earlier: it has the
older Latin–only version, and the
newer version in Latin with the option of Italian. The Bragan Rite is used in the Archdiocese of Braga in Portugal. It is optional. The Mozarabic Rite is used in Spain, typically only in the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Toledo, Spain. The Carthusian Rite is used by members of the Order of Saint Bruno (Carthusians).
Those are the active rites. The defunct rites include:
African,
Celtic,
Gallican, the defunct local uses, and the rites of religious orders.
The African Rite was used before the eighth century in north Africa. The Celtic Rite was used in Ireland, Scotland, northern England, Wales, Cornwall and Somerset, up until the Middle Ages. The Gallican Rite can be said to be the sum of the various local traditions pre–Trent.
The defunct local uses include:
Sarum,
York, Lincoln, Bangor, Cologne, Lyonese, Nidaros, Uppsala,
Aquileian, Benevento,
Durham, and Esztergom. The rites of religious orders included:
Dominican,
Cisterian,
Carmelite, and
Norbertine.
Franciscans,
Friars Minor Capuchin, and the
Servants of Mary used variations on the Roman Rite.
Whew. And that’s the just the Latin Church.