The first Latin Mass I've attended

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Theres plenty of videos on YouTube.
You kneel much more of the time than in novus ordo Mass. It’s better to have a missal but the laudate app has a Latin mass option you could follow along with. You kneel at during the Creed where in the new mass you just bow. There is a last gospel, the first 14 verses of the Gospel of John where you also kneel at “and the word became flesh”. There are prayers ordered by the pope immediately after mass. You don’t say amen when the priest gives you eucharist and you do not take on hands. Usually altar railings. Depending where you go many girls will be wearing veils most likely. It’s an experience. I go every week. I just began going last fall. Still go to new mass but prefer Tridentine. Many older priests don’t like it for some reason. Younger priests tend to like the tradition more.
It’s how mass was said officially from the council of Trent in 1570 until the new mass came in 1970. So just realize it is so much beyond you and lost yourself in the sacrifice of the mass. Also the priest is not facing you. It isn’t about the laity it is about God. You will be shocked how little you say. You really say nothing. The altar servers do the responses. Normally the epistle and gospel are reread in the vernacular and homily is in vernacular. At first it seems alien but you get used to it. And if you have a translation to follow it makes it much better for knowing the introit, offertory, communion prayers etc.
God bless.
 
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Ah yes, Communion. That is an aspect of the EF that bears commenting on for the benefit of first-timers.

If there is a rail, the expectation is to kneel at it to receive. If you can’t kneel, however, you may stand at the rail. This point was underscored emphatically by the priests when I was in that situation (open [as opposed to arthroscopic] knee operation). During the Mass I stood or sat when everyone else knelt, then hobbled up to the rail on crutches and received standing. No one thought it was weird or unacceptable, even after I could walk unaided but still could not kneel (i.e. when it was no longer obvious that I had a physical limitation that ruled out kneeling).

Kneeling or standing, reception is always on the tongue. The Precious Blood is not offered to the congregation.
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Would they be likely to use hymns at all? We only have them normally at the 5pm Saturday Mass and the 11am Sunday anyway.
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This will depend upon the parish. The chapel where I attend EF Mass is an all-EF parish in the pastoral care of the ICRSS. The Assumption being a Solemnity, the structure of the Mass is like that of Sundays. The ICRSS schedule indicates that Mass that day will be a Sung Mass so yes, there will be singing. The choir will take care of the liturgical singing but there may be a recessional hymn and possibly an entrance hymn as well. If so, there are hymnals available for the laity to use. A parish offering both OF and EF Mass may behave differently for any of a number of reasons, so YMMV. It is acceptable in either form to celebrate a low (non-sung) Mass on a Solemnity, or on Sundays for that matter.
 
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I would add one thing to that. If there is a cloth covering the communion rail, place your hands underneath the cloth when receiving or ready to receive. The priest walks from one person to the next.
 
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Onthisrock84 said:
It’s how mass was said officially from the council of Trent in 1570 until the new mass came in 1970.
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In most places, this is incorrect. The Traditional Latin Mass gave way to a Partially Latin Mass about 1965- which included a lot more English. The fully Vernacular Ordinary Mass was introduced in 1970
 
Yes. However it was still the Mass of Pius V just with given permission to say propers etc in the vernacular.
The official Mass of Paul Vl came out in 1970.
 
Augustinian said:
In most places, this is incorrect. The Traditional Latin Mass gave way to a Partially Latin Mass about 1965- which included a lot more English. The fully Vernacular Ordinary Mass was introduced in 1970
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That, and
a) the vernacular was introduced in about the fourth century, displacing over that time the greek used for liturgy. Why? Because it was the vernacular . . . and
b) While the Archdiocese of Rome was nearly all latin by the end of this, it’s liturgy was by no means normative or universal in the western church before Trent. I believe that it was the most common liturgy, but some diocese used the eastern liturgies, some had their own, ands forth. They were not all in latin either. Latin was quite common, but some had the liturgy in the vernacular.

hawk
 
Yes.
The Council of Trent allowed any Liturgy used by groups that could prove to be a couple centuries old to continue using those.
 
It did, but most of those eligible to retain still switched to the Roman usage.

hawk
 
babochka said:
I remember that experience when I’m talking to people who come to visit us at my Parish. I want to tell them that the Divine Liturgy will be the most beautiful thing they’ve ever experienced or ever will experience this side of Heaven.
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That was exactly the experience I had at my first Divine Liturgy, which almost certainly wouldn’t have been the case had it been in a language I couldn’t understand. . .

hawk
 
Sit in the back to feel more comfortable. Just do as everyone else does. Not much to mess up. Lots of parts of the OF are in the EF. Some of the “phrasing” of the prayers the priest prays are phrased the same as in the OF. But it took me a few masses to catch it. There are parts that the priest says silently so it’s easy to get lost. If you try and follow along in the missal and get lost, there are “markers” if you will, that’ll help you figure out where in the mass the priest is at. Such as the Kyrie, the gospel reading, incensing the altar, and obviously the consecration. So if you’re lost and catch one of these markers, just flip to that part of the missal and you’re back on track. The epistles are read on the right side, as you’re looking at the altar. The gospel is read on the left. That’s usually in the vernacular. You’ll kneel at the rail to recieve. And say nothing. No Amen. It took me about 8 or more masses before I was able to follow along without getting lost. So don’t get discouraged. Just take in the reverence, the silence, the smells and pray!
 
I know right. It’s so unmistakably Catholic. Going to it makes me so sad at what has been lost.
 
dochawk said:
That was exactly the experience I had at my first Divine Liturgy, which almost certainly wouldn’t have been the case had it been in a language I couldn’t understand. . .

hawk
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I am cradle Byzantine, so I don’t remember my first Divine Liturgy. My earliest memories are that it was really, really long and I much preferred to go to Mass because it was shorter and we got to sit more. My appreciation grew gradually over the years.

I first brought my husband to the Divine Liturgy when we were dating. I was so excited to share it with him. He was unimpressed. He didn’t get it. He later told me that it took him more than a year of regular attendance to feel at home. I can relate, as that is the same way I feel about the Tridentine Mass.
 
Joy, I think it’s great that you want to experience the Latin Mass. You’ll get to see how Catholics worshipped back in the pre-Vatican II era, which is a nice link with the traditions of the Church.

Most TLM’s I’ve been to have a little Latin/ English Mass guide or handout that you can pick up and use during the Mass. You may need to get there early or look around the church for where to pick one up, and in my area they often run out. I strongly suggest that you get there early and try to grab one because otherwise it can be confusing to try to follow what is going on, especially since the priest will be facing away from you and/or praying inaudibly for a good part of the time. People who attend a lot of TLM will have a Latin-English missal of their own to use.

I don’t know how you usually dress for Mass, but if you’re okay with wearing a skirt and a head covering (veil or small hat), that’s the “traditional” way. The TLM’s I’ve been to do not give women the fisheye if they wear nice trousers and no veil, but since the idea is to be traditional, I like to wear the traditional attire. You may see people praying the rosary during the Mass, which was permitted back in the days of Pope Leo XIII. You probably don’t want to do that at your first TLM because you’ll want to be watching the Mass.

Be prepared for a lot of kneeling. If the kneeling is too much for you, feel free to sit. Sometimes I can kneel for the required length of time, but at least once I had to stop and sit down because I was about to pass out otherwise. Also, there will be a lot of incense involved in this Mass and if you have any sort of breathing issue from the smoke of it, you may want to sit away from the front.

There is a “Last Gospel” for TLM that is read at the very end of the Mass, unlike for the vernacular Mass. Other than that, everything pretty much happens in the same order as for an OF Mass.

It is likely that fewer TLM attendees will go up for Holy Communion, so if you are planning to go up, just be aware that a lot of others may be staying in the pew, and make sure you are reasonably confident about your own state of grace.

Also (this is important): When you receive Communion kneeling at the altar rail, you just put your head back and stick out your tongue. You do NOT say “Amen”. The priest or in some cases, the server, will say the whole prayer including “Amen”. A lot of people new to TLM don’t know this and they try to say “Amen” while the priest is trying to put the host in their mouth.

Hope you enjoy the experience. I am always happy I get to use my 4 years of Latin instruction, even though I am by no means fluent. I do not find the TLM particularly more reverent, and I can see why a priest might prefer the OF although I don’t think your priest should have dampened your enthusiasm, but I do find the TLM to be a good link with history that we should not abandon.
 
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I’ve seen it at “modern Mass” for particular major events such as feast days. As well as at some (not all) TLM.
“Modern Mass” on St. Patrick’s Day and Feast of the Assumption at certain churches gets so crowded around here, you’re lucky if you can jam your body into the vestibule.
 
Well, I’ll agree with you that it would be nice if all the people who are clogging the aisle and vestibule for the big feast day Masses would be that enthusiastic about Mass every Sunday, because I’m guessing that many are not, but I still think it’s nice that so many come out, especially for St. Patrick’s which is not a holy day of obligation in USA and people are making the choice to go to morning Mass rather than go straight to the bars/ parade party areas, which are already open in the morning on that day.
 
Dear JTTW,
Hope you enjoy your first EF Mass. I will echo what someone else said: the first time I went, I was expecting to love it, and I didn’t. It was very hard to follow with the red book. A lot of what the priest is saying is silent, and things are happening simultaneously. The choir might be singing things on one page, while the priest is on a different page. However, once I had attended a few more times, that’s when I started to catch on, and I also feel like I don’t need to follow along closely. I hope you find it meaningful!
 
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Re: language one doesn’t understand

Several months ago two of my distant Polish cousins sent me text messages that they were celebrating God’s Body. Apparently they went through the same translator. When I asked “Do you mean Corpus Christi?” they responded affirmatively. They understood the Latin, yet they used the vernacular which obviously gets the original meaning lost in translation. Point is the Church uses Latin or Greek or Aramaic to standarize its theology and prayer. We don’t need to evolve into a Church of Babel.
 
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One must remember the Mass of Paul Vl was also originally in Latin. It still is. I have been to masses of it in Latin. All official documents are in Latin. 1965 was when the vernacular was allowed hence the mass of Pius V was allowed certain vernacular translations approved by the Holy See translated by local bishops conferences. It is exactly how every Vatican document is translated. Thus even calling the Mass of Pius V the “Latin Mass” is somewhat a misnomer as both are originally in Latin and both are said in Latin and can be. Both now can also be said in the vernacular if wanted though most traditionalists would find that somewhat ridiculous to say the mass of Pius V in the vernacular. They want it said in Latin. But yes I have seen both forms said in Latin. The Mass of Paul Vl is actually beautiful in Latin and you actually realize the commonalities of both forms when you do see it done in Latin. The Mass of Pius V only seems so alien because of the Latin whereas most who go to the mass of Paul Vl are used to the vernacular. When seeing both forms in Latin you realize the differences but also the commonalities. It’s really an interesting experience.
 
Its so weird. I have only recently been exposed the OF.

I was born and bred on a diet of EF Mass, Respect for clergy - (saying My Lord, Your Grace, … yes Father, no Father, three bags full Father). Etc, etc,. I’m not particularly old either – 1988 I was born.

Suddenly I’m thrown into (what seems like) a completely foreign religion.

Its strange - it seems like everyone else is in the opposite position. 😀

EDIT: Before anyone says anything, I completely accept everything the Church teaches and Holy Father as Supreme Pontiff.
 
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ProVobis said:
Re: language one doesn’t understand
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The language has never bothered me. Although I prefer to pray in a language that I understand, I actually enjoy occasionally going to Mass in other languages. Latin is particularly nice because it is such a beautiful language. I like the Divine Liturgy in Slavonic because the chant is better in the language for which it was written. It sometimes seems convoluted in English, with syllables broken up oddly or stretched out awkwardly.

My issues with the EF Mass are more about the style of participation than the language. I am used to a Divine Liturgy with congregational chanting in which my mind, voice and body are engaged throughout and my role is clear. It is not an easy transition for me.
 
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