Traditional Mass Posture Question

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HaroldA

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Hello. I’m attending a traditional Requiem soon. For various reasons I may be the only one there. I’m not a frequent attendee of the ere Extraordinary Form. Is there a guide someone that will let me know when to sit, stand, or kneel?

Thanks.
 
HaroldA said:
Hello. I’m attending a traditional Requiem soon. For various reasons I may be the only one there. I’m not a frequent attendee of the ere Extraordinary Form. Is there a guide someone that will let me know when to sit, stand, or kneel?

Thanks.
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The easiest option is to just follow what everyone else is doing.

As a brief run thru, you kneel until the end of the penitential rite, sit at the Epistle, stand at the Gospel dialogue, sit during the offertory, stand at the preface, kneel starting at the sanctus, stand at the conclusion of the canon and then kneel again at the Agnus Dei, stand at the end of the mass, kneel for the final blessing, stand for the last gospel and genuflect at the words of the Incarnation.
 
At a real Low Requiem Mass (EF), you stand as the priest greets the body at the entrance of the church. Kneel for the prayers at the foot of the Altar. Continue to kneel until the Gospel. If it is a High Mass, then sit for the Epistle. (How can you tell if it is a High Mass? If there are 6 candles lighted. A low Mass has only two Lit.)

Sit for the Homily.

There is no Credo at a Requiem Mass. stand at the start of the Offertory. Then sit. Stay sitting until you hear the Orate Frates, then be ready to stand at “per Omnia saecula saeculorum”. kneel at the Sanctus. At this point there is some differences of opinion. some say stand for the Pater Noster some say just sit. Kneel at the breaking of the Host. Stay kneeling until the Last Gospel. Then Genuflect at " et verbum caro factum est"

There will be some variations depending on the local traditions as there are NO REAL RUBRICS for the laity. It is mostly custom and tradition.

And its ok if you make mistakes. I’m sure the priest will make some too as well as the Altar boys.

God Bless, and let us know how things go.
 
I should have mentioned that you can order a Requiem Mass booklet from either the FSSP publications dept. or the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei. They run about $3.95 each. Real handy to have around. The parish may also provide them. They are a light gray in color rather than the red ones for regular Mass.
 
Thanks. I muddled through with only one or not sure postures.
 
Glad you got through OK. I was sure that you would. 🙂 I bought 1/2 dozen of the gray colored missalettes just to have them around. At my age, I go to more funerals than weddings.
 
A quick rule of thumb on this is to follow the lead of the other worshippers, pick someone who looks like they have been there before, and just do as they do.

If you’re the only one there, it should be a short mass- stand at the gospel, sit at the epistle, the rest of the mass is mostly kneeling and you can’t go wrong. If you are in doubt, pay attention to the altar server, if there is no altar server- kneel if you are in doubt as to what to do.
 
Glad you survived! 😃

It’s also important to know that there are no mandatory postures for the faithful at the EF. As long as you aren’t distracting others or being irreverent, your postures are never “wrong.”
 
There’s definitely more kneeling, which I simply can’t do. I make it a point to kneel for the Consecration, but I will often sit for the Epistle and the prayers after Mass. One can only do one’s best, after all.

God bless you.
 
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