Why the bobbing at the Latin Mass?

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The “bobbing” you are referring to is bowing. The priest is turning from the book on the Epistle side of the altar and bowing to the presence of Christ in the tabernacle whenever the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned in prayer or whenever the minor Gloria is prayed. Typically, this would be at the end of the Introit when he recites “Gloria Patri et Filiio …” and then at the Collect when he recites “Per Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum …” The altar boys would do likewise at the same time. If there is a commemoration of a saint, there would be two Collects and it could happen twice depending on the ending of the Collect.
 
Left or right head movements toward the priest are done by the servers at the Misereatur and at the “et te, Pater” and “et tibi, Pater” of the Confiteor. This Confiteor may be repeated at your parish right before communion as well. Bows are made at several points of the Mass, including after picking up from or placing the Missal at the altar and also when presenting cruets.
 
The other “bobs” you may have noticed, OP, could have been at the name of Jesus, during any part of the mass.
 
ProVobis said:
Left or right head movements toward the priest are done by the servers at the Misereatur and at the “et te, Pater” and “et tibi, Pater” of the Confiteor. This Confiteor may be repeated at your parish right before communion as well. Bows are made at several points of the Mass, including after picking up from or placing the Missal at the altar and also when presenting cruets.
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Thanks.
 
porthos11 said:
Are you sure it’s after he ascended the altar? Because the only left-to-right bobbing at the Mass is during the Confiteor, at the points the priest says “and to you brethren” and "and “and you brethren”. The servers likewise bob to the priest at the points where they say “to you Father” and “and you Father.”
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That’s what it is! 🙂 I’ve always wondered…
 
I wonder if the reason I don’t remember having seen it before is that I almost never have an aisle seat? Maybe they’ve been doing it all along, but they were too low for me to see. 🤷
 
:rotfl:
Oh Lord, I thought my … guts were gonna split out of my abdomen.
 
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