Friday, May 02, 2008

A 1962 Missal and the Mass for public pentients

Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and granted her desire. So she came into possession of a 1962 Missal and said, "God has taken away my reproach." (Genesis 30:22-23, RMUV*)

I finally have a 1962 Missal and need no longer be ashamed of myself at traditional Latin Masses. :) I've been making do with a booklet missalette and a printout of the day's propers, but real trads have missals.

(This painting is "The Missal" by Waterhouse; I found it on Wikipedia, where I also learned that President Johnson was sworn in on a Roman Catholic missal from Kennedy's desk because they couldn't find a Bible on Air Force One!)

So I've been browsing through my shiny new 1962 Missal, and of course it's full of cool traditional Catholic stuff. In the Votive Collects section are the proper prayers for Masses for all sorts of intentions and needs and dangers, both physical and spiritual: rain, fair weather, earthquake, famine, storms, a Mass "in time of cattle plague" (which I'm sure was no laughing matter back when food sources were more precarious), for the faithful departed, in honor of the Holy Ghost, in honor of the Most Holy Sacrament, and this interesting little one: "For concord in a congregation." Its postcommunion prayer goes like this: "O Lord, pour forth upon us the spirit of Thy love, that those whom Thou hast fed with one heavenly Bread, Thou mayest, by Thy mercy, make of one mind..."

But the votive Mass that really grabs my attention is the one "For public penitents". Evidently that means a person can do public penance for some sin by having a votive Mass said for that intention? How does that work, exactly? Would you invite everyone you know? Would it be a regular daily Mass? Would there be an announcement about who the Mass was for and what the sin was? How "public" are we talking here? I wonder if that Mass was ever said any time in the last hundred years. I knew public penance was the norm in the early centuries of Church history but I didn't know there was any kind of provision for it in today's liturgy! Anyway, here's one of its prayers: "Almighty, everlasting God, in Thy loving kindness release from their sins Thy servants, who confess their guilt: so that they will not lose more from the pain of remorse than they gain from Thy gracious pardon...."

* Rachel's Made-Up Version

11 comments:

Mary Rose said...

Congratulations! I just bought one myself a few days ago. I'll probably post a photo of it and may even create a digital scrapbook page devoted to it! (I'm a digi girl, for sure.)

I didn't realize that I'm not headed into the direction of being a "trad." But I see the writing on the wall. Next will be getting a mantilla. :-)

Nice blog. Glad Adrienne mentioned you!

Mary Rose said...

Have you read any of the Morning Prayers?

"Adorable Jesus! divine Pattern of that perfection to which we should all aspire, I will endeavor this day to follow Thine example: to be mild, humble, chaste, zealous, patient, charitable and resigned. Incline my heart to keep Thy commandments. I am resolved to watch over myself with the greatest diligence, and to live soberly, justly and piosly for the time to come..."

I have the one printed by Baronius Press. My Catholic bookstore didn't have the Angelus but I just wanted one, period. Part of my tax refund went for this dear missal and I already love it.

Adorable Jesus!

Rachel said...

Oh, awesome, another trad! I've already got my mantillas; I even wear 'em to NO Masses. You can find them pretty cheap on eBay, but it might be safer to get one from a store so you can be sure the lace is limp and not stiff so it'll drape properly.

My missal is the Angelus Press one, so I don't know if it'll have the same morning prayers. It does have some very good devotions for confession; the words cut to the quick and are impossible to recite carelessly.

Mary Rose said...

This:

I didn't realize that I'm not headed into the direction of being a "trad."

Should read:

I didn't realize that I'm headed into the direction of being a "trad."

Yep. I'm a trad!

If my bookstore had the Angelus version, I'd probably have bought it. I just didn't want to wait and pay S&H for one!

Oh, I have fallen in love with a few mantillas, already. Check out this site:

Headcoverings by Devorah

I plan on buying either the White Lace Hair Wrap or the Ivory Lace Hair Wrap Mantilla Veil.

I agree with the stiffness. I'm going to keep my eye out for some at a store in town.

Unknown said...

I love the RMUV. Couldn't you make the pious lady's hair auburn,at least?

Unknown said...

Look up Votive Mass at New Advent and usccb.org/liturgy/current/chapter8.shtml. Number 375.
I’m really glad somebody is interested in the subject of votive Masses. To boil it down, they are Masses that a priest can choose, (when not obliged to celebrate some other Mystery). Then see http://www.romancatholicism.org; Penance In The Early Church.

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

just fyi, the prayers from the Angelus Press version and the other one, are virtually the same.

Unknown said...

Votive mass is indeed beautiful. We had one last year @SPC for our guardian angels.....I don't know this year though.....my guardian angel and I are still waiting
:-)

Rachel said...

Thanks, Joe.

Mary Rose, are you going to wear that hair wrap tied? I'd like the close-fitting look, so I'm not swimming in lace that screams "LOOK! I'm wearing a MANTILLA!" Not for a Novus Ordo Mass, anyway. :) I need to go thank Adrienne now.

Father, I've found the RMUV to be amazingly applicable to my life. I have not the Photoshop skills to make the missal reader's hair the proper color, but Waterhouse, like the other Pre-Raphaelites, did paint a lot of redheads: http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=waterhouse&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
But that's not the only reason I love Pre-Raphaelite paintings, honest. I suspect Waterhouse may have gone with a sober brunette color in that painting because red didn't seem pious enough. But what did he know?

Mery: a votive Mass for guardian angels! That would be lovely. I have an excellent guardian angel; someone pointed out to me the other day how graciously mine has led me all these years, even if he doesn't calculate restaurant bills like yours does. :)

Rachel said...

Father, the article on penance in the early church was very interesting! I liked learning how dependent it was the architecture.

In fall '06 when I joined the parish close to my home, they would dismiss us catechumens right after the homily just like the article talks about. I knew this was an ancient practice, but I didn't much like missing the entire Liturgy of the Eucharist.

That romancatholicism.org is the most vicious sedevacantist site I've yet seen. From Feeney and the Nazis to "Unbaptized Infants Suffer Fire"-- they've got it all. One hopes the readership is tiny!

Unknown said...

Rachel: you can actually communicate your thought to someone through your guardian angel. This actually works not only for me (especially since I am not a talkative person) but for others too. You have to make your guardian angel busy and remember he obeys you....as long as your command is according to God's will.
:-)