Help with the Tridentine Mass

[Margarite]

Here is a link to the Fraternity of St. Peter
http://www.fssp.com/main/index.htm
They are a wonderful group, that is similar to every way except they were not excommunicated. They are in most of the places that the SSPX is, and their masses are just as beautiful.

 

[FrRJBoyd]

I know the reasoning for when there were only TLMs, but I was giving what I thought was the practical reasoning for today. What I said is totally valid TODAY.
There are hardly any priests today who can say a TLM. Many don’t even know the Latin, so they start out with the low mass and then learn the harder high mass later. Another problem with the high mass for these beginners is that there are very few cantors or choirs who can sing Latin and when someone doesn’t know Latin, believe me it is horrible to hear when they try.

With respect, Margarite, the priest’s knowledge of Latin is not really a point of differentiation between the low Mass and the sung Mass. Both have the same amount of Latin (OK, a sung Mass with incense does have the blessings of the incense and the additional psalm at the offertory, but if you know enough Latin to say a low Mass, you can handle these without difficulty). The real challenge between the low Mass and sung Mass with incense is the chanting and the additional rubrics. Everyone learns the low Mass first, but, after learning the low Mass, sung Mass is not that much more difficult, provided you can sing. I studied the low Mass first, but my first TLM was a sung Mass with incense. This was because I had a date for my first TLM: September 14, 2007; if I had permission to say the TLM before this, I would have certainly started with low Mass. Before 1970, the first Mass of a newly ordained priest was usually sung, because he had a lot of time to prepare. Now that the MP is in full swing, most priests offer a low Mass first because it is easier, and you can even get away without having a server.

Forming a choir can take some time…

God bless,

Fr. Boyd