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St Michael's Catholic Church

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How did the Roman Missal originate?

In the early Christian Church, many of the prayers that were said at Eucharist were memorized and handed down by word of mouth. Eventually the prayers were collected and written down in books known as sacramentaries (book of sacraments). Scripture readings were recorded in other books and the Psalms were written in a book called the Psalter. Throughout the ages, as these manuscripts were passed down, modifications and additions were made. Eventually, all the chants, prayers, instructions and scriptures were organized into one book. It was written in Latin and as the texts contained in it continued to evolve over the next five centuries it became quite large. After the Second Vatican Council, the Mass was translated into many different languages (the vernacular).

Interesting Related Documents

These documents are from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website and have been made freely available for us to download:

Words in The Roman Missal
The Worshipping Assemby at Mass
The Recepton of Holy Communion at Mass
The Eucharistic Prayer
Ten Questions on the Roman Missal
Scripture and the Mass
Praying with body mind and voice
Postures and Gestures
Parts of the Mass
Ministries and Roles
Liturgy and life
Hearing the Word of God
Embracing the Changes in the Liturgy
Celebrating the Lords Day

Greeting

Former:	New:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

This greeting is from 2 Corinthians 13:13.

The word ‘Fellowship’ has been replaced by ‘Communion’. The New Testament talks a lot about communion. It is something that characterises the followers of Jesus Christ, us, the Church and our relationship with Jesus Christ. A profound concept. We are used to using the word ‘Communion’ to refer to Holy Communion, and Holy Communion is part of the communion that is the Church. Holy Communion is an act that takes place within a context of communion, the life of communion, the communion that is the church.

The Blessing

“The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you” has changed to “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

This was a standard form of greeting among Christians in New Testament times. It occurs eight times in the Pauline letters, e.g. in Romans 1:7

But why is it in this odd format, with the nouns “grace” and “peace” separated by a pronoun? It seems an unnatural way of expressing ourselves. This comes directly from the time of the earliest Christians. It was written this way in the Greek New Testament, and retained when it was translated into Latin because it had been a kind of password between Christians. If you spoke like that, people knew that you knew the language of the Christian community. So that curious form has been preserved over many, many centuries as the distinctive Christian greeting. I think it is precious.