Why 'Mass of the Ages'?

[patrick457]

Honest question. Why do some people call the Tridentine Mass ‘Mass of the Ages’ or ‘Mass of all time’? What do these terms mean?

While I do identify myself as a traditionalist, I feel that using the term is quite odd since the Mass did not look always as it does now in the Tridentine (which is true especially in the period around 6th-9th Century. The words of the Mass may be the same, but the rubrics are different and many prayers, such as the Credo or the Offertory or the Communion prayers are still nonexistent).

Of course, I know that many of you understand that the Mass did not drop down from Heaven ready-made and resembling the form we have now. I guess the two terms have different meanings, then?

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[cam100]

I think many people simply use this term to distiguish between a form of the mass which grew organically, or naturally over the ages, and a form that was “artificially” created, if you will. Some parts of the “Tridentine” mass are very old and have come down over the ages basically untouched. Other parts have grown and changed little by little, but the Novus Ordo was the first time that a committee intentionally altered every part of the mass to produce something externally quite a bit different that was promulgated so suddenly.

 

[bpbasilphx]

I will say that the names “Mass of All Time” and “Mass of the Ages” when the Tridentine Mass is meant irritate me.

What are the Eastern rites, which are much older? Chopped liver?

How about the non-Roman Western Rites, namely the Mozarabic and Milanese?

 

[jj2011]

I think many people simply use this term to distiguish between a form of the mass which grew organically, or naturally over the ages, and a form that was “artificially” created, if you will. Some parts of the “Tridentine” mass are very old and have come down over the ages basically untouched. Other parts have grown and changed little by little, but the Novus Ordo was the first time that a committee intentionally altered every part of the mass to produce something externally quite a bit different that was promulgated so suddenly.

The TLM is basically the Mass of the Gregorian Sacramentary, with a lengthy list of what liturgists sometimes call “accretions” consisting of the priest’s private prayers, prayers at the foot of the altar, Last Gospel, offertory prayers and so on.

I think a certain Catholic writer was correct by calling the TLM the “principal historical rite of the western church.” This avoids snubs to the eastern and non-Roman western rites. The church considers all the rites handed down by tradition to be of equal dignity.
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