Attending a Tridentine Mass for the first time

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FAH

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Hello.

I’ll be attending, please God, my first Latin Mass next Sunday on the feast of the Holy Trinity. I have a Missal and have been watching a DVD of a Low Mass of Trinity Sunday so am fairly well prepared. But I do have a few questions.

How should I dress to attend A Latin Mass?
Obviously I shouldn’t wear casual clothes, but do I need to be decked out to the nines with shirt and tie etc…

How long is a Low Mass?

Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Sorry if these questions are a bit basic but I have never attended a Latin Mass in my life but I’m getting a tad fed up with badly worded Gloria’s in which people clap and long to see a greater reverence to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Many Thanks

FAH
 
I am ordering a few different things from Ebay or Amazon that will arrive for me to read & take with me before I go to my first Latin Mass (at a church that is in good standing with the Holy See etc).

Here is my email and reply from the priest as I will be going to a Mass out of town as I am on a weekend vacation in his location, hope that may help you like it has for me:
*Hello,

Please introduce yourself to me when you come. If you would like, I can have someone sit with you to help you through the Mass.

As to your questions:

#1 - Both Masses are Catholic so Yes, you fulfill your Sunday duty.

#2 - It is very much appreciated if all dress in a modest and formal fashion as we are coming before our King. The head covering is not required, but many woman still make use of it. you will not be judged if you do not have one, but if you do have one then you will be right at home if you wear it.

#3 - We have Latin/English books for you to use to follow along with. The book tells you what postures to make and yes, you can just follow the people (do not follow the servers as their postures differ from the people).

God Bless,
<****>
*
**— On Tue, 6/7/11, <****> wrote:
Code: 
From: <****>
Subject: A few questions about your Latin Mass
To: <****>
Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 6:37 PM

Hello,

I will be on a short vacation in the <****> area near the end of June, and would like to experience a Latin (Extra Ordinary Form) Mass for the first time as I have been raised in the Ordinary Form due to my young age (in my 30's).  I do have a few questions so I am prepared:

#1 Will attending Mass fulfill my Sunday obligation even though I was raised and attend Mass in the Ordinary form?

#2 I presume that women are asked to wear either a veil, mantilla, head scarf or other sort of head covering, and be dressed conservatively, is that correct?

#3 If I am not able to obtain a missal to follow along with the Mass before my vacation, do you have something like that so I will be able to follow along?  I am sure by watching others I will know when to stand, sit or kneel.
Best Regards,

MissRose73

**
 
From what you’ve written you sound prepared. In terms of clothes, trousers and a shirt would be fine. This observation is based on me visiting several FSSP parishes in the UK and abroad. I’ve seen people wear jeans but they tend to be dressed up a bit in that case : with a nice shirt,jumper,tie and/or jacket.

A low mass can be a bit shorter but could also last an hour. I suggest you don’t respond at first because it might be the case that the priest will have altar servers respond everything, so you don’t want to be the only one in the congregation responding. It could be the case that the congregation responds together with altar servers, or something in-between. I’ve been to low masses and encountered all 3 scenarios. I don’t know why that is - maybe it depends on the priest.

I hope you will enjoy it. Let us know how it went. 👍
 
Thank you both for the informative replies. I don’t think the Priest is part of the FSSP but one of the very reverent Priests in the Diocese that celebrates the EF.
 
Hi FAH

To answer your questions from my perspective, From where I attend mass you would be under dressed in jeans, I started out wearing nice dress pants and a nice shirt but noticed a lot of guys wearing their suits so I started wearing a suit every week now and I really actually like it and feel properly dressed in front of our Lord. A low mass is around an hour and a high mass takes 1.5 hours on average. Some other things I noticed going to a traditional mass is most all the woman wear veils, larger families with well dressed children, confession going on during mass, the rosary before mass and at the end of mass the priest leading us in three Sacred Heart of Jesus prayers, 3 Hail Marys, a prayer for priests, the Salve Regina and the St Micheal prayer. I started going over a month ago and now drive over 50 miles one way to mass every Sunday and I don’t mind a bit. I hope your experience is as joyful as mine
 
FAH said:
Hello.

I’ll be attending, please God, my first Latin Mass next Sunday on the feast of the Holy Trinity. I have a Missal and have been watching a DVD of a Low Mass of Trinity Sunday so am fairly well prepared. But I do have a few questions.

How should I dress to attend A Latin Mass?
Obviously I shouldn’t wear casual clothes, but do I need to be decked out to the nines with shirt and tie etc…

How long is a Low Mass?

Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Sorry if these questions are a bit basic but I have never attended a Latin Mass in my life but I’m getting a tad fed up with badly worded Gloria’s in which people clap and long to see a greater reverence to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Many Thanks

FAH
Click to expand...
Glad to hear. The Mass is truly a gift whether the OF or EF. Just dress “Sunday best” as you would for any Mass. Women commonly veiling is the only difference in dress. The Mass is still relatively an hour and if its a High Mass almost 2 sometimes. Just try to follow along in your Missal but don’t get so preoccupied with it that you forget to pray along and just enjoy your time with God. You will get used to the Mass if you wish to attend more. Blessings.
 
In my experience there’s usually always someone new, or fairly recent - so don’t worry about feeling left behind. It normally takes a few dozen attendances to ‘get the hand of it’.
 
Today I attended my first Low Mass as I intended to. It was a truly reverent experience of the sacred. I’m so glad I went. The congregation was small in number (only about 20 people) and Mass was held in the small side chapel of the Church. But before the start of mass everyone was practically silent. It was wonderful, something I have never experienced before.

But I do have a few questions regarding the Mass:

The Priest didn’t really give a sermon or homily he just repeated the Epistle and Gospel in English. Is he required to give a homily as I think in the OF the Priest is required to on Sundays and Holy Days?

On the DVD filmed at St. John Cantius the priest slid the unconsecrated host off the paten and on to the corporal. Why is the done?

I would be grateful if you could answer some of these questions for me.

Yours in Christ

FAH
 
I am glad I won’t feel alone about being a new person going to the EF…
maritain said:
In my experience there’s usually always someone new, or fairly recent - so don’t worry about feeling left behind. It normally takes a few dozen attendances to ‘get the hand of it’.
Click to expand...
 
FAH said:
The Priest didn’t really give a sermon or homily he just repeated the Epistle and Gospel in English. Is he required to give a homily as I think in the OF the Priest is required to on Sundays and Holy Days?
Click to expand...
According to another poster on CA, a homily is recommended but not required. The priest has always offered a homily at the Sunday Low Masses I have attended. In two of the Masses (out of about 20), the priest gave a homily but did not repeat the readings in English.
FAH said:
On the DVD filmed at St. John Cantius the priest slid the unconsecrated host off the paten and on to the corporal. Why is the done?
Click to expand...
Perhaps it is done to recall the burial shroud of our Lord? Or more mundanely, perhaps it is a relic of a time when the faithful brought loaves to the altar. If the Offertory previously began with altar bread resting on a corporal, perhaps that practice was retained, even when how the bread got there changed. I’m just guessing, based on the limited information in the Catholic Encyclopedia I linked to. If anyone has a definitive explanation, I’d like to hear it.
 
OP, I hope you were able to go to the EF Mass and that you will try to go again as I would like to go back to an EF Mass more often myself.
 
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