What prayers were removed from the Mass in 1969?

The 1969 reform did not merely translate the Roman Missal into the vernacular. It substantially rewrote it. Roughly two-thirds of the prayers in the older Missal were dropped, rewritten, or relocated. Whole sections of the rite were removed entirely.

Among the most consequential losses: the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar (Psalm 42, the Confiteor, the priest’s preparation) were abolished. The traditional Offertory — with its explicit references to “this spotless host” offered for the sins of the living and the dead — was replaced by prayers modeled on a Jewish meal blessing. The Last Gospel (the Prologue of St. John) was abolished. The Leonine Prayers after Mass (three Hail Marys, the Hail Holy Queen, and the Prayer to St. Michael) were abolished. The Octaves of all but two feasts were abolished. Pre-Lent (Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima) was abolished.

The collects — the proper opening prayers of each Sunday and feast — were heavily revised. Studies by Lauren Pristas and others have documented that many of the new collects systematically softened or removed references to penance, the Four Last Things, the malice of sin, the merits of the saints, and the supernatural orientation of the Christian life. The new prayers tended toward a more horizontal, this-worldly register.

None of this was forced by Vatican II. The Council had asked for moderate reform in the light of sound tradition. What arrived in 1969 was a substantially different Mass. Catholics who attend the TLM are praying with the prayers that were taken out.

Go deeper → What Changed in 1969 — and Why the Words Matter