Potential Altar Serving Inquiries

[Drewww]

Hello fellow Catholcis. To become an altar server for the Traditional Latin Mass, does one need to be very familiar with the Latin liturgy prior to training for a role as an altar server? Or can one learn the liturgy, altar server roles, and prayer responses in training? I’ve attended a Novus Ordo parish all my life, having started altar serving recently. I’m greatly saddened to have discovered this beautiful liturgy in my later teen years, but I have been attending the Mass celebrated in this Liturgy periodically for some months now. Thanks for the response in advance!

 

[Augustinian]

Sure, you have to be very familiar with the liturgy to be an altar server. It takes a lot of drills to get it down smoothly- school kids usually took 6 weeks after school to get it down smoothly. And even then, it took a while to get it down pat enough for Sunday mass.

Is there a need for new altar servers for Latin Mass where you are?

 

[Entwhistler]

To serve in the Latin Mass you have to be able to recite the Latin responses. That can take some time to learn. Latin Mass altar serving isn’t something you pick up over the weekend. But it is doable. Heck, folks have been doing for years (like, hundreds of years). Good luck.

 

[bardegaulois]

I didn’t start serving the TLM until my 30s, so don’t despair at all. Just ask whoever is in charge of the altar service at your parish if he has any training resources and volunteer your services. You can start probably by learning how to pronounce ecclesiastical Latin, if you don’t know already, and by memorizing the responses. The basic things don’t change from day to day or week to week, so once you have them down, you have them down for life.

Here’s a good online resource: http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/serving/
I’d also look into some of the videos produced by the FSSP for train servers. I believe you can find them on YouTube.