Welcome

St Michael's Catholic Church

 

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).

The Memorial Acclamation
A Walk through the New Mass
After the Consecration, the priest says: ‘The mystery of faith’ and the people respond with one of three new Acclamations. Until recently we used one of four different Acclamations. This is an example of one of them:
Former: New:
Dying you destroyed our death,
Rising you restored our life.
Lord Jesus, come in glory
We proclaim you Death, O Lord,
And profess your Resurrection until
You come again
All the new Memorial Acclamations have been based on the text of the Roman Missal, and all are addressed to Jesus Christ. It is now only the people who make this acclamation; the priest no longer joins in – thus creating a dialogue, as in the Latin original.

The idea here of “memorial” comes from 1 Corinthians 11:25, which is part of St Paul’s description (in verses 23–26) of Christ instituting the Eucharist and contains the words the priest has just used in the Consecration.

Note: the familiar “Christ has died…” has been omitted from the Acclamations since it differs from the other three in not being addressed to our saving Lord.

Based mainly on the DVD ‘Become One Body, One Spirit, in Christ’.
©2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.
 

Copyright © 2009 St Michael's Catholic Church. All Rights Reserved.
Website developed and maintained by Webwize.