Attending a Tridentine Mass for the first time

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Marocchino

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Dear friends,

I’m planning to attend a Tridentine Mass for the first time. What can I expect and are there any common mistakes I can avoid?

Any advice would be well appreciated.
 
First timers can expect to be confused, and yet excited by the beauty of the TLM. I know I was.

Common mistakes- don’t reply “amen” when receiving communion, the priest has already said it for you
 
Marocchino said:
Okay; and how am I going to receive communion?
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Kneeling and on the tongue. Also, it will be the body only.

Another thing, there is differences in the posture based on whether it is a High or Low Mass.

Do you have a missal? If not, many places (including my parish) will have a booklet that will allow you to follow. It took me about a month to start following enough to where I knew what was happening.
 
Marocchino said:
Okay; and how am I going to receive communion?
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Generally, it’ll be kneeling at the altar rail. The priest will make his way down the line of people, present you with the host, and you receive on the tongue.

please note that someone may be along to correct me, or add to this, as I’ve only experienced the TLM at one parish
 
Hi Marocchino, as rar as kneeling, sitting, standing, genuflecting, and bowing while in the pew, just do as everyone else does.

As noted, kneel at the rail and receive on the tongue. Open wide, the priest isn’t threading a needle lol. Open your mouth after the server holds the patten under your chin. As noted, no Amen. You may cross yourself after receiving, or place your right hand over your heart and bow your head slightly if you like.

Trying to follow a missal the first time can be very frustrating. You will either get ahead of the priest or fall behind. And there are differences in the Low Mass and others.
This site below may be of help. I’d suggest watching the priest as he prays the Mass and learn the rubrics. This will allow one to know what part of the Mass is occurring, and will help find your place in the missal if you get lost.

The rubrics of the priest and servers…
sanctamissa.org/en/rubrics/

And the Ordinary of the Mass …
sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/ordo-missae-0.html

And this site posts the Propers for each day. You can read the Propers for the day before you go to your first TLM if you like. This may be of help until you are comfortable using a missal.
tridentine-mass.blogspot.com/

You can also find videos of the TLM on youtube, and it may be heplful to watch one before going your first time.

As mentioned by others, if the parish does have the red booklet missals, I’d still suggest following the rubrics only, watching the priest as he prays the Mass. I believe these booklets have some rubrics in them.

Hope this helps.

J+M+J
 
I actually just attended my first Tridentine Mass. I did not try to keep up at all. I only focused on kneeling, sitting, and standing at the correct times. But, I am also the type of person if I can’t do something perfectly the first time, I tend to get really frustrated and will not try again, so I had to focus only on one thing.

I absolutely LOVED going to the TLM. I purchased a 1962 Missal (just got it today!!! 😃 :extrahappy: 👍 Early Christmas present), and the priest who celebrates the one I went to is offering classes on the TLM next month. The parish you’re going to might also have some sort of “training”.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

God Bless!
Ericka
 
Erica,
Do you mind if I ask where in TN you are? I lived in the Ft Campbell area ( Clarksville, TN, Hopkinsville, KY) for many years. The closest TLMs to me were about 3 hours away in any direction. I would love to hear that that situation has changed. I know there was 1 in Memphis, 1 or 2 in the Knoxville area. Is that still the case? If so, please pray for a wider acceptance of the TLM.You would think Nashville would have one, but no, not at that time. Nashville was about an hour away from me which I would have gladly traveled. I found many priests and deacons very resistant to the TLM.
 
Monica37 said:
Erica,
Do you mind if I ask where in TN you are? I lived in the Ft Campbell area ( Clarksville, TN, Hopkinsville, KY) for many years. The closest TLMs to me were about 3 hours away in any direction. I would love to hear that that situation has changed. I know there was 1 in Memphis, 1 or 2 in the Knoxville area. Is that still the case? If so, please pray for a wider acceptance of the TLM.You would think Nashville would have one, but no, not at that time. Nashville was about an hour away from me which I would have gladly traveled. I found many priests and deacons very resistant to the TLM.
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I am in East TN, about 30 miles outside of Knoxville. There are two or three now that I know about in the Knoxville area (I think celebrated by the same priest), and there is one in Sparta, TN at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church on January 11th at 11am. groups.msn.com/standrewsparta is their website where it’s listed. I don’t really know if this is a one time situation or if it’s the start of regular celebrations of the TLM (I pray for the latter).

The church were I went to TLM the one time recently celebrated their 4th anniversary!! Attendance at that particular Mass time is as good, if not better than for the others (as far as I’ve seen). I pray for the success of all TLM, because then hopefully they will start being held regularly all over the country, even in places like TN that doesn’t have that big of a Catholic population to start with.

God Bless!
Ericka
 
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