Ambrosian Rite

In Brief

The Ambrosian Rite is the rite of the Church of Milan. Its name points to Ambrose, bishop of the city from 374 to 397, and the archdiocese still calls the rite his.¹ Its Missal, its lectionary and calendar, and its chant are Milan's, not Rome's.^1,2 The Missal was reformed after the Second Vatican Council and promulgated by Cardinal Colombo in 1976.³ A second edition followed: the Dicastery for Divine Worship approved it in December 2023, Archbishop Delpini promulgated it at the Chrism Mass of 2024, and from 17 November that year it became the book every Ambrosian parish must use.^2,4,5

Where to Experience It

The archdiocese said in 2023 that the rite is in force in almost a thousand of its parishes, and in about a hundred parishes of the dioceses of Bergamo, Como, Lodi, Lugano, Novara and Pavia. Forty-four parishes inside the archdiocese follow the Roman Rite instead.¹ The Duomo and the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio publish their Mass times; the cathedral's capitular Mass is in Latin, and its Cappella Musicale sings at it every Sunday.^9,10,11

Your First Visit

Mass here fulfils the Sunday obligation, and a Catholic not barred by law may receive Communion.¹²

Much will be unfamiliar. A reader asks the blessing aloud before reading, "Benedicimi, padre".² Before the gifts are carried to the altar the deacon, or the priest if there is no deacon, invites the peace, "Sia pace tra voi", the first of six monitions printed for it, and all give one another a sign of it.² Then the gifts are brought up, and the priest blesses each of those who carry one.² At the end the Mass closes "Andiamo in pace", answered "Nel nome di Cristo" (Let us go in peace; In the name of Christ; our translations).²

The year runs differently too. Advent begins after 11 November, the feast of St Martin, and has six Sundays; the sixth is the Sunday of the Incarnation.² Lent begins on a Sunday, not on a Wednesday as at Rome, and no Mass is said on its Fridays unless the solemnity of St Joseph or of the Annunciation falls there. Four of its Sundays carry the names of Gospel scenes: of the Samaritan Woman, of Abraham, of the Blind Man, of Lazarus.²

The Shape of the Liturgy

The Ambrosian Mass has the shape any Catholic will know: entrance, readings and Gospel, the preparation of the gifts, the Eucharistic Prayer, Communion, dismissal. What differs is where the parts fall, what is sung at them, and what is not there at all.²

Three parts stand elsewhere than they do at Rome. The peace is given before the gifts are carried up, after the prayer that closes the Liturgy of the Word, whereas at Rome it comes before Communion. The Creed follows the preparation of the gifts. The host is broken as soon as the Eucharistic Prayer ends, and the Our Father comes after the breaking.²

The chants have their own names, and the Latin book lists them. There is the ingressa at the entrance, the psalmellus between the readings, the antiphon after the Gospel, the confractorium at the breaking of the bread, the transitorium at Communion.⁷ The Italian book of 2024 calls them by Italian names. The chant after the Gospel is sung when the homily is over, or straight after the Gospel where there is none, while the ministers prepare the altar.²

The prayer that closes the Liturgy of the Word is the super sindonem, said over the corporal, the shroud that gives it its name. It is never left out, even when the universal prayer is.^2,13

The Order of Mass carries six Eucharistic Prayers. Four are the Roman Missal's, printed here in Ambrosian form, with St Ambrose named in the intercessions of each; the Canon is commended on Sundays, on the feasts of the apostles and of the saints it names, and on days with a proper Communicantes or Hanc igitur, unless pastoral reasons call for another prayer.² The fifth is prescribed for the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, and allowed at Masses of the Eucharist and the passion, at ordinations, at priestly anniversaries and at gatherings of priests. The sixth is prescribed for the Easter Vigil, and allowed at Masses for the baptised, on the Sundays and weekdays of Eastertide, and at the ritual Masses of Christian initiation.² An appendix adds two prayers of Reconciliation and a fourfold prayer for Masses for various needs.²

There is no Agnus Dei. The priest's invitation, "Ecco l'Agnello di Dio", leads straight to Communion, and "O Signore, non sono degno" is said once.² The Kyrie comes where a Roman-Rite Catholic does not expect it. When Mass opens with a true procession the penitential act may be left out and twelve Kyrie eleison sung instead, in versicle and response.² At the end of Mass the people answer the greeting with a threefold Kyrie, before the blessing.²

Not every Mass begins as the rest do. The Saturday vigil that opens the Sunday Eucharist begins with the announcement of the Gospel of the resurrection, or with a reading; the opening rites are then left out, or carried out in a particular manner, as they are at the great vigil liturgies. Everything then follows the books appointed for such liturgies, beginning with the Book of the Vigils.²

The order of Mass in the Ambrosian Missal (Italian edition of 2024)

1. Entrance
   Ingressa
   The priest and ministers go to the altar while the entrance chant, the ingressa, is sung.^2,7
2. Greeting and penitential act
   Nel nome del Padre
   The sign of the cross, then one of the greetings the Missal prints. The penitential act has three forms. It is left out at the rite of the twelve Kyrie, when Mass is joined to Vespers or Lauds, at funerals and weddings, and at the vigil liturgies.²
3. Gloria and opening prayer
   Gloria a Dio nell'alto dei cieli
   The Gloria when it is prescribed, then the prayer at the beginning of the liturgical assembly.²
4. Readings
   Benedicimi, padre
   A reader asks the blessing aloud, "Benedicimi, padre", and the priest answers with the formula proper to the book; a reader who goes on to a second reading does not ask again. Between the readings comes the psalm, the psalmellus.^2,7
5. Gospel
   Il Signore sia con voi
   The Alleluia before the Gospel, or another chant the rubrics appoint for the season; then the Gospel, with incense if the occasion calls for it.²
6. Homily and the chant after the Gospel
   Il canto dopo il Vangelo / Antiphona post evangelium
   The homily, prescribed on Sundays and holy days. The chant after the Gospel follows it, and the ministers prepare the altar while it is sung.^2,7
7. Universal prayer and the prayer over the shroud
   Corrigite vos ad orationem
   The faithful may kneel while the intentions are read. If they do, the deacon calls them up again before the priest's prayer, "Corrigite vos ad orationem", and they answer "Ad te, Domine". The prayer that closes the Liturgy of the Word, the super sindonem, is never left out.^2,7
8. The peace
   Sia pace tra voi
   The rite of peace comes here, before the gifts are brought to the altar. The first of the six printed monitions is "Sia pace tra voi", and the Missal allows others like it. All give one another a sign of peace, and the priest gives it to the deacon or minister.²
9. Presentation of the gifts
   O Padre clementissimo, accogli questo pane
   The priest blesses each of those who bring up a gift. Over the bread and the chalice he says the Ambrosian prayers, or the Roman ones; water is mixed into the chalice with the words "Dal fianco aperto di Cristo uscì sangue e acqua" (from the opened side of Christ came blood and water; our translation).^2,7
10. Creed
    Credo in un solo Dio
    The Creed is said here, after the gifts are prepared and before the prayer over them.^2,7
11. Eucharistic Prayer
    Il Signore sia con voi
    The preface and Sanctus, then one of the six Eucharistic Prayers of the Order of Mass. Four are the Roman Missal's, printed in Ambrosian form, each naming St Ambrose in its intercessions; a fifth is for the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, a sixth for the Easter Vigil.²
12. Fraction
    Confractorium
    The host is broken immediately after the doxology, while the chant at the breaking of the bread, the confractorium, is sung. Only then comes the Our Father.^2,7
13. Our Father
    Obbedienti alla parola del Salvatore
    The Lord's Prayer with its embolism, then, said aloud, the prayer "Signore Gesù Cristo che hai detto ai tuoi apostoli", which the Latin book prints as Domine Iesu Christe, qui dixisti apostolis tuis.^2,7
14. Communion
    Il canto alla Comunione / Transitorium
    The invitation "Ecco l'Agnello di Dio"; "O Signore, non sono degno" is said once. The Communion chant, the transitorium of the Latin book, is begun as the priest receives.^2,7
15. Prayer after Communion
    Orazione dopo la comunione
    Purification, then silence or a psalm of praise, then the prayer after Communion.²
16. Blessing and dismissal
    Andiamo in pace / Procedamus cum pace
    After the greeting the people answer with a threefold Kyrie eleison. The priest blesses, then says "Let us go in peace", and all answer "In the name of Christ" (our translations). The altar is kissed as at the beginning.^2,7

What makes it distinctive

• The peace before the gifts, not before Communion.^2,7
• The Creed after the preparation of the gifts.²
• The fraction before the Our Father, with its own chant, the confractorium.^2,7
• Six Eucharistic Prayers in the Order of Mass: the Roman Missal's four in Ambrosian form, one for the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, one for the Easter Vigil.^2,14
• An Advent of six weeks, and a Lent that begins on a Sunday.²
• Two chants the Roman books have no counterpart for: the antiphon after the Gospel, and the confractorium at the breaking of the bread.^7,8

History

Ambrose and after

Milan was an imperial capital, and Ambrose became its bishop in 374. While he was holding the Portian Basilica against the Empress Justina, he set psalms and hymns for the people to sing, Augustine says, "after the manner of the Orientals"; and his biographer Paulinus writes that antiphons, hymns and vigils began then in the church of Milan. Neither speaks of the Mass.⁸ The rite carries Ambrose's name. How much of it he shaped is another question, and the sources do not answer it. Milan's own account puts the first real development of the rite later, from the episcopate of Eusebius, who held the see from 449 to 462, to the years the city's bishops spent exiled at Genoa. No direct liturgical documentation survives from those years, though the oldest Ambrosian prefaces are widely thought to go back to them.¹ By about 739 a poem was already praising Milan for its own ordering of readings, its sacred song, and the way it distributed the psalms.¹

Kept, against pressure

Milan's own account has Hadrian I confirming the city's right to keep and develop a rite of its own, against Charlemagne's wish to make the empire worship alike.¹ In the eleventh century Nicholas II, and later Gregory VII, tried to end it, and failed.⁸

A Milanese chronicler whose history runs down to 1085 tells that story otherwise, and sets it three centuries before his own day, in the days of Hadrian I and Charlemagne. Two books were sealed and left on the altar of St Peter, the Ambrosian and blessed Gregory's, and whichever was found still shut was to be burnt. Both opened, "ita ambo aperti sunt", and those who saw it took both rites to be approved. The chronicle's own modern editors call the account a fable.¹⁵

Then came Trent. Pius V's bull of 1570 spared any rite that could show more than two hundred years of use, and named no church.¹⁶ Milan's exemption held, though not easily.⁸ Charles Borromeo, the archdiocese says, saved the rite from the risk of extinction: he undertook the reform of the Ambrosian books, as was then being done for the Roman ones, and founded the Congregation for the Ambrosian Rite for its custody and increase.¹ Antonio Ceriani prepared the typical edition of 1902. Achille Ratti, the future Pius XI, published Ceriani's long preparatory work in 1913.¹⁷

The Council and the reform

The Council asked that rites be preserved, and revised where needed "in the light of sound tradition".¹⁸ The Ambrosian reform followed. The Congregation for Divine Worship confirmed the Latin texts on 30 November 1974.¹⁴ Cardinal Colombo promulgated the reformed Missal on 11 April 1976, quoting the Council's article as his ground.³ The Latin typical edition came five years later, promulgated by Carlo Maria Martini, then Archbishop of Milan, on 8 September 1981.¹⁹

The second edition took the same road. At Archbishop Delpini's petition the Dicastery for Divine Worship approved the Latin text and its Italian translation on 7 December 2023, which its decree dates by the memoria of St Ambrose.⁴ He promulgated the book in the Duomo at the Chrism Mass on 28 March 2024.⁵

A pre-conciliar Order of Mass, which the Milan curia passed for printing again in 2014, shows what the reform left standing. It has the peace before the Liturgy of the Eucharist, "Pacem habete"; the super sindonem; and the dismissal "Procedamus cum pace", answered "In nomine Christi".¹³ So those traits stand on both sides of the reform. One of them moved. The super sindonem came after the peace and opened the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where the book of today has it before the peace, closing the Liturgy of the Word.^2,13

Milestones

1. 374–397Ambrose is bishop of Milan; his biographer Paulinus records that antiphons, hymns and vigils begin there while he is holding the Portian Basilica against the Empress Justina^1,8
2. 772–795Hadrian I confirms Milan's right to keep and develop its own rite, against Charlemagne's wish for one liturgy in the empire (the archdiocese's account)¹
3. 11th c.Attempts to abolish the rite under Nicholas II and Gregory VII come to nothing⁸
4. 1475The earliest printed Ambrosian Missal in Jenner's list of editions⁸
5. later 16th c.Charles Borromeo (1538–1584) reforms the Ambrosian books and founds the Congregation for the Ambrosian Rite, for its custody and increase¹
6. 1902The typical edition of the Missal, the work of Antonio Ceriani¹⁷
7. 1974The Congregation for Divine Worship confirms the reformed Latin texts (30 November)¹⁴
8. 1976Cardinal Colombo promulgates the reformed Ambrosian Missal (11 April)³
9. 1981The Latin typical edition, promulgated by Archbishop Martini (8 September)¹⁹
10. 2008Cardinal Tettamanzi promulgates the Ambrosian lectionary for the seasons (20 March), ending a trial begun in 1976; in force from that Advent²⁰
11. 2023The Dicastery for Divine Worship approves the second typical edition and its Italian translation (7 December)⁴
12. 2024Archbishop Delpini promulgates the second edition of the Ambrosian Missal (28 March)⁵

Texts & Books

The Missal carries its own General Instruction, its own calendar, the Propers and the Order of Mass. The archdiocese publishes the whole book online in eleven parts, for consultation, study and private prayer, and sells it printed.² The readings are published day by day as well, each day under its Ambrosian name.²¹ The lectionary is Ambrosian too, and it was a long time settling. Cardinal Tettamanzi promulgated the Ambrosian lectionary for the seasons on 20 March 2008, closing a trial that had run since 1976, and it came into force that Advent.²⁰ Latin and Italian have not moved together. Rome confirmed the reformed Latin texts in 1974, but the book Milan put into its parishes was the Italian of 1976; the Latin typical edition followed only in 1981.^3,7,14

Theology & Spirit

The Council gave the reason why a rite like this one is kept, declaring "that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way".¹⁸ The Ambrosian Rite is not a privilege granted to a city. It is one of the ways the Latin Church prays.

The rite argues for itself in its order. The peace comes before anything is carried to the altar. The Lord's command to be reconciled before offering is kept in the shape of the Mass, not only quoted in it.²

Sacred Arts

Ambrosian chant is a repertory of its own. All else being equal, the Missal asks that preference be given to Ambrosian chant, "in quanto proprio della nostra liturgia", because it is proper to this liturgy, and to Gregorian chant with it. It presses this especially for the capitular liturgy in the Duomo, for the other collegiate churches and for the Ambrosian monasteries, and asks every parish to keep a workable repertory of both in Latin.² Set beside the Roman books, three of its chants have counterparts. The ingressa answers to the entrance antiphon, the psalmellus to the responsorial psalm, which the Latin book itself calls "psalmus responsorius, seu psalmellus", and the transitorium to the Communion antiphon.⁷ Two have no counterpart of their kind. One is the antiphon after the Gospel. The other is the confractorium, "an anthem varying according to the day", where the Roman fraction carries the unchanging Agnus Dei.⁸ It is sung while the bread is broken and the mingling made.⁷ The comparison is the Index's; the Ambrosian books draw none.

Family & Relations

The Ambrosian is a rite, not a use. In this Index a use means a variant within a rite, keeping its books and changing some of their details; the Ambrosian has a Missal, a lectionary, a calendar and a chant of its own.^2,3 The Catechism, listing the liturgical traditions of the Latin Church, names "principally the Roman rite, but also the rites of certain local churches, such as the Ambrosian rite, or those of certain religious orders".⁶ Four of the six Eucharistic Prayers came here from the Roman Missal, and are printed in Ambrosian form. The Congregation, confirming the reformed books, said the commission had enriched the rite "sive thesauris novi Missalis Romani utendo sive textus novae creationis exarando", by drawing on the treasures of the new Roman Missal and by composing new texts.^2,14 That is a borrowing between rites, not a sign that one is a form of the other.

This Index counts one other Latin rite of its own still celebrated. The count leaves out the uses of the Roman Rite, whether a religious order's, which the Catechism names in the same breath, or a diocese's, as this Index treats Braga's; and it leaves out the rites no longer celebrated. The Hispano-Mozarabic is kept at Toledo, in the cathedral's Corpus Christi chapel and in the Mozarabic parishes, and in a limited way elsewhere in Spain.²³

Compare with

• Roman Rite: the other Latin rite a visitor is likely to know; the Ambrosian keeps the peace before the gifts, the Creed after them, and the fraction before the Our Father²
• Hispano-Mozarabic Rite: the other Latin rite of its own that this Index counts as still celebrated²³

The Rite Today

The Archbishop of Milan governs the rite as its Capo-Rito, and the Congregation for the Ambrosian Rite sits in his curia under a statute of its own, which keeps the Congregation's reference to the Apostolic See and to the Dicastery for Divine Worship.²⁴ The second edition of the Missal has been in force since 17 November 2024, in every Ambrosian church, oratory and chapel, in Milan and in the other dioceses where Ambrosian communities are.^2,5

Some in the archdiocese keep the older Ambrosian books. Avvenire, the Italian bishops' daily, reports that they use the Missal of 1954, made under Cardinal Schuster. The pre-conciliar Order of Mass read for this entry names neither that year nor that cardinal; it was passed for printing in 2014. Four stable groups meet, at Varese, Lecco, Legnano and Milan, the oldest of them being the Milanese one, which gathers on Sunday mornings at Santa Maria della Consolazione and reached its fortieth year in 2025. The Archbishop acts through delegates for celebrations in the books that precede the conciliar reform; the one named is Mons. Claudio Fontana. The Milanese group asked his leave for the Jubilee Mass of December 2025, and then the leave of the abbot of Sant'Ambrogio, Mons. Carlo Faccendini, in whose basilica it was celebrated and in whose parish the group ordinarily meets.²⁵ No act granting such permission has been published. Traditionis custodes, which governs the Missal of 1962, does not mention this rite.²⁶

As of 17 September 2026.

Disputed Questions

Go Deeper

Duchesne argued the rite into the Gallican family, Fortescue held it plainly not Roman, and Edmund Bishop thought it Roman at bottom. All three are in the reading list, with Jenner's older English account of the books and the archdiocese's own daily readings.²¹

On Domus Dei

• The Roman RiteThe Latin Church's principal rite, and the one most visitors will know

Official resources

• Rito ambrosiano (Archdiocese of Milan)
• The Ambrosian Missal, published by the Archdiocese
• Duomo di Milano: liturgical life

Recommended reading

• Chiesa di Milano, Messale Ambrosiano, II edizione (Premesse e praenotanda; Ordinario: Rito della Messa con il popolo), Milan: Centro Ambrosiano, 2024.The Missal itself: the archdiocese publishes its front matter and Order of Mass, and sells the printed book Read online
• Jenner, Henry, “Ambrosian Liturgy and Rite”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. I, New York: Robert Appleton, 1907.The older English account of the rite and its history, with the editions listed Read online
• Duchesne, Louis, Origines du culte chrétien: étude sur la liturgie latine avant Charlemagne, Paris: Thorin, 1889.The case for the Gallican family, and for Auxentius
• Fortescue, Adrian, The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy, London: Longmans, Green, 1912.The rite held plainly not Roman, and the older Ephesine theory reported and rejected Read online
• Bishop, Edmund, Liturgica Historica: Papers on the Liturgy and Religious Life of the Western Church, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918.The contrary judgment, that the rite is Roman at bottom Read online
• Archdiocese of Milan, Letture rito ambrosiano, 2026.The archdiocese's readings, day by day, each day under its Ambrosian name Read online

Sources

1. Primary textArcidiocesi di Milano, “Rito ambrosiano”, chiesadimilano.it, 2023. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read (page of 23 Jun 2023, updated 4 Aug 2023): 'in un centinaio di parrocchie extra-diocesane (nelle diocesi di Bergamo, Como, Lodi, Lugano, Novara e Pavia)'; note 1: '44 parrocchie milanesi di Rito Romano'; the page quotes Ambrose's De sacramentis on the footwashing, 'Non ignoriamo che la Chiesa Romana non ha questa consuetudine… tuttavia anche noi abbiamo, come gli altri uomini, il nostro modo di pensare; quindi, cio che altrove si osserva con fondate ragioni, anche noi lo conserviamo con fondate ragioni', and reads it as claiming a local custom and not a system: 'Sant'Ambrogio non dichiarava l'esistenza a Milano di un sistema liturgico alternativo a quello della Chiesa di Roma, ma rivendicava solo la possibilita, in un caso particolare, di seguire una diversa consuetudine locale'; it quotes Walafrid Strabo, writing about the middle of the ninth century, that Ambrose 'ordino alla sua Chiesa… la disposizione sia della messa che degli altri servizi liturgici, disposizione che si e conservata fino ad oggi nella Chiesa di Milano'; 'il primo vero sviluppo del Rito Ambrosiano data dall'epoca del santo vescovo Eusebio (449-462) agli anni dell'esilio genovese dei vescovi milanesi', with 'Non esiste una documentazione liturgica diretta in proposito'; the Versum de Mediolano civitate, written 'intorno al 739', on the city's 'proprio e particolare ordinamento liturgico delle letture, l'armonioso canto sacro, accompagnato dal suono dell'organo, e la regolata distribuzione dei Salmi'; Hadrian I (772-795) confirming Milan's right to a rite of its own against Charlemagne
2. Primary textChiesa di Milano, Messale Ambrosiano, II edizione (Premesse e praenotanda; Ordinario: Rito della Messa con il popolo), Milan: Centro Ambrosiano, 2024, Ordinario, pp. 521–567; Ordinario, pp. 593, 599–632; Norme per l'anno liturgico nn. 25, 37–38; Ordinario, p. 515; Ordinario, pp. 573–574; Ordinario, pp. 509–510; Ordinario, p. 514; Ordinamento nn. 69, 136; Ordinario, p. 576; Norme per l'anno liturgico nn. 37–38; Norme per l'anno liturgico nn. 25, 27; Ordinario; Ordinamento nn. 66, 69, 80–81, 136; Ordinario, pp. 514–519, 568; Ordinario, p. 512; Ordinamento n. 63; Ordinamento nn. 66, 67; Ordinario, pp. 521–556; Ordinario, pp. 557–567; Ordinario, pp. 568–573; Ordinamento nn. 44, 119; Ordinario, p. 505; Ordinario, p. 575; Ordinamento n. 43; Ordinario, pp. 494–505; Ordinamento n. 48; Ordinario, pp. 506–508; Ordinamento nn. 58–60; Ordinario, pp. 510–512; Ordinario, pp. 515–516; Ordinario, pp. 517–519; Ordinario, pp. 569–571; Ordinario, p. 574; Ordinario, pp. 575–576; Ordinario, p. 568; Ordinario, pp. 521–532; Ordinamento n. 69; Ordinamento n. 38; Ordinario, pp. 514–568. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the archdiocese publishes the book as twelve PDFs (Premesse e praenotanda; Mistero dell'incarnazione; Mistero della Pasqua; Mistero della Pentecoste; Ordinario; Proprio dei santi; Comune dei santi; Messe rituali; Messe votive; Messe ad diversa; Messe dei defunti; Appendici e indici), of which the first and the fifth were read for this page. The locators 'Ordinamento', 'Norme per l'anno liturgico' and 'Premesse e praenotanda' are all in the first of them; the front matter and the Order of Mass read: n. 166 'il sacerdote, a mani giunte, aggiunge: Andiamo in pace e tutti rispondono: Nel nome di Cristo'; the twelve Kyrie at a procession, 'molto opportunamente si possono cantare i dodici Kyrie eleison con la sallenda propria'; the front matter prints the curial decrees of 1974, 1976 and 2023 and Delpini's of 2024. Read in the Order of Mass: the reader's 'Benedicimi, padre' and the rubric that a reader who has just read does not ask again, p. 510; the peace 'Sia pace tra voi' with five alternative monitions, p. 514; 'Dal fianco aperto di Cristo uscì sangue e acqua' at the mixing of the chalice; 'Obbedienti alla parola del Salvatore' before the Our Father; 'Ecco l'Agnello di Dio' and 'O Signore, non sono degno' at Communion; St Ambrose named in the intercessions of all four Roman Eucharistic Prayers. In the Ordinamento: n. 38, that Ambrosian chant is to be preferred 'in quanto proprio della nostra liturgia'. Also read for this page: Ordinamento nn. 43 (the vigil liturgies), 44 and 119 (the twelve Kyrie, permissive), 48 (when the penitential act is left out), 58-60 (the chant before the Gospel), 63 (the chant after it), 66-67 (the super sindonem, never omitted), 69 and 136 (the peace before the gifts), 80-81 (the fraction, then the Lord's Prayer); Norme per l'anno liturgico nn. 25, 27 (Lent, its aliturgical Fridays and the named Sundays) and 37-38 (Advent from St Martin, six Sundays); and in the Order of Mass the Canon's rubric (p. 522), the rubrics of Eucharistic Prayers V and VI (pp. 557, 563), the Creed (pp. 517-519), the threefold Kyrie (p. 575) and the appendix (pp. 593, 599-632). The page that publishes the PDFs says the second edition is 'in vigore dal 17 novembre 2024' and 'diventa obbligatoria per tutte le parrocchie ambrosiane', offers them 'per la consultazione, lo studio e la preghiera personale', and sells the printed book
3. Magisterial / canonicalColombo, Giovanni, Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, “Decree promulgating the reformed Ambrosian Missal”, Missale Ambrosianum (1981), front matter, 1976.Verified 2026-09-17 · read in the 1981 Missal: it quotes Sacrosanctum Concilium 4 on every lawfully recognised rite being held in equal right and honour, and is dated 'Mediolani, die XI aprilis a. MCMLXXVI, Dominica Palmarum', signed 'Ioannes Colombo Card. Archiep.'
4. Magisterial / canonicalDicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, “Decree MEDIOLANENSIS, Prot. n. 183/22, approving the second typical edition of the Ambrosian Missal and its Italian translation”, Messale Ambrosiano, II edizione (2024), front matter, 2023.Verified 2026-09-17 · read in full where the Missal prints it: headed by the see, 'MEDIOLANENSIS'; opening 'Mediolanensis Ecclesia, iuxta praescripta Concilii Vaticani II, Missale Ambrosianum iam accurate restituit'; granted at the petition of Archbishop Delpini, 'Capite Ritus Ambrosiani', by letters of 4 November 2022; 'Ex aedibus Dicasterii de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum, die 7 mensis decembris 2023, in memoria sancti Ambrosii'; signed 'Arturus Card. Roche Praefectus' with 'Victorius Franciscus Viola, O.F.M. Archiepiscopus a Secretis'. Not published on vatican.va
5. Magisterial / canonicalDelpini, Mario Enrico, “Decree promulgating the second edition of the Ambrosian Missal, Prot. Gen. n. 00822/24”, Messale Ambrosiano, II edizione (2024), front matter, 2024.Verified 2026-09-17 · read where the Missal prints it: given 'nel Duomo di Milano, chiesa madre di tutti i fedeli ambrosiani, il 28 marzo 2024, Giovedì della Settimana Autentica, Messa Crismale', signed by the Archbishop with the chancellor Mons. Marino Mosconi; the book comes into force 'la prima domenica di Avvento 2024 (17 novembre)' in 'tutte le chiese, oratori e cappelle di Rito Ambrosiano, nell'Arcidiocesi di Milano e nelle altre Diocesi' where Ambrosian communities are
6. Magisterial / canonicalCatholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, §1203. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · §§460, 1105–1106, 1353, 1375, 1377 read on vatican.va; §1125 read on vatican.va; §1203 (ENG0015 __P3C) and §1367 (__P41) read on vatican.va 2026-09-15
7. Primary textEcclesia Mediolanensis, Missale Ambrosianum iuxta ritum sanctae Ecclesiae Mediolanensis, ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum, Milan, 1981, Institutio n. 57 i); Institutio nn. 17 b), 25, 35, 57; Institutio n. 25; Ordo Missae nn. 7–11; Institutio n. 17 b); Ordo Missae n. 18; Ordo Missae nn. 21–24; Ordo Missae n. 28; Ordo Missae n. 92; Ordo Missae nn. 104–108; Institutio n. 57 e), Ordo Missae n. 19; Ordo Missae n. 90; Institutio n. 57 c). LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the Latin typical edition of the 1976 reform, read in the archive.org scan: the title page; Colombo's decree quoting Sacrosanctum Concilium 4, the OCR printing 'omnes ritus legitime agnitos equo iure atque honore habere'; the Ordo Missae's fraction, 'Interim cantatur vel dicitur confractorium', before 'Preceptis salutaribus moniti'; Institutio n. 17 b), which lists the chants that accompany a rite, and n. 35, which calls the responsorial psalm 'psalmus responsorius, seu psalmellus'. Also read for this page: Institutio nn. 25, 47, 57 c), e) and i); Ordo Missae nn. 7-11 (the readings), 18 ('Corrigite vos ad orationem' / 'Ad te, Domine'), 19 ('Pacem habete'), 21-24 (the blessing of those who bring the gifts, and the prayers over bread, water and chalice), 28 (the Creed), 90 (the fraction with the confractorium), 92 ('Domine Iesu Christe, qui dixisti apostolis tuis') and 104-108 (the threefold Kyrie, the blessing, 'Procedamus cum pace' and the altar kissed as at the beginning), 'ingressa, antiphona post Evangelium, cantus ad offertorium, confractorium et transitorium'; n. 25 the ingressa; n. 35 the psalmellus; n. 47 the rite of peace before the gifts, 'pro opportunitate, ritus pacis celebrari potest', with the invitation 'Pacem habete'; and, in the outline of the Mass, the peace in the Communion rite 'nisi iam ante offertorium celebratus sit'
8. ReferenceJenner, Henry, “Ambrosian Liturgy and Rite”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. I, New York: Robert Appleton, 1907. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · read in full: the article's account of Ambrose, of Landulf's story and of the medieval attempts on the rite. A reference work of 1907
9. ReferenceVeneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, Vita liturgica. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the cathedral's own schedule of Masses and the Office, read 17 September 2026, including '11.00 (Eucaristia capitolare in lingua latina)'
10. ReferenceVeneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, Cappella Musicale del Duomo di Milano. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the cathedral's page for its choir, read 17 September 2026: the Cappella Musicale, 'composta da adulti e ragazzi', is 'presente nel Duomo di Milano ogni domenica alla solenne Celebrazione "Capitolare" delle ore 11.00'
11. ReferenceBasilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan, Orari. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the basilica's Mass times, read 17 September 2026, including the Sunday capitular Mass in Latin
12. Magisterial / canonicalCode of Canon Law, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1983, cann. 912, 1248 §1. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · cann. 844, 919, 923 read on vatican.va; cann. 913–914 read 2026-09-12; can. 1248 §1 read on vatican.va 2026-09-14; cann. 6 §1, 912, 924 §§1–2 and 926 read on vatican.va 2026-09-15; can. 916 read 2026-09-16: 'A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess'
13. Primary textEcclesia Mediolanensis, Ordinarium Missae iuxta ritum sanctae Ecclesiae Mediolanensis, Milan, 2014. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · a printing of the older Ambrosian Order of Mass. Its title page reads 'MEDIOLANI MMXIV' and its approvals 'Die 25 Novembris A.D. MMXIV', with Claudius Magnoli as censor; the scan names neither 1954 nor Cardinal Schuster, and the archive.org identifier that gives a 1954 date is the uploader's. Read in that scan: the peace, 'Pacem habete' with the answer 'Ad te, Domine', before the Liturgy of the Eucharist; the 'ORATIO SUPER SINDONEM' that follows it, which the book explains is said over the corporal, the sindone, and 'funge da apertura della Liturgia Eucaristica', so that in the pre-conciliar book it followed the peace, where the book of 2024 has it before the peace, closing the Liturgy of the Word; the threefold 'Kyrie eleison' answering 'Dominus vobiscum' at the end; and the dismissal 'Procedamus cum pace' with the answer 'In nomine Christi'. The book is in Latin with Italian rubrics and explanations, and is pre-conciliar on its own evidence: it has the preparatory 'Introibo ad Altare Dei (Ps.42)' and the Last Gospel
14. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation for Divine Worship, “Decree MEDIOLANENSIS, Prot. n. 2347/74, on the reformed Ambrosian Missal”, Missale Ambrosianum (1981) and Messale Ambrosiano, II edizione (2024), front matter, 1974.Verified 2026-09-17 · read where the Missals print it: 'Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II praescripto obsecuta, ut Ritus particulares "ad pristinam sanctorum Patrum normam" restituerentur'; the commission enriched the rite 'sive thesauris novi Missalis Romani utendo sive textus novae creationis exarando', drawing on the treasures of the new Roman Missal and composing new texts; 'Ex aedibus Sacrae Congregationis pro Cultu Divino, die 30 Novembris 1974, in festo S. Andreae Apostoli', signed by Card. Knox with A. Bugnini
15. Primary textLandulf Senior, “Historia Mediolanensis”, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores 8, ed. L. C. Bethmann and W. Wattenbach, Hanover, 1848, II.10–12.Verified 2026-09-17 · read in the MGH edition: II.10-12, the story of the two books sealed on the altar of St Peter, 'librum Ambrosianum et beati Gregorii librum', of which whichever was found still shut was to be burnt. Both opened: 'sese digito Dei aperientes, ita ambo aperti sunt, ut aliquis unam illorum foliam non inveniret plus in unam partem quam in alteram'. The MGH scan prints 'ila' at that word; it is given here as 'ita', which the correlative 'ita… ut' and the sense require. The editors' own note on the passage reads 'De fabulosa hac relatione', of this fabulous account. The MGH edition heads the work 'Landulfi historia Mediolanensis usque ad a. 1085', so it was written late in the eleventh century, some three centuries after the events it describes
16. Magisterial / canonicalPius V, Quo primum (bull promulgating the Roman Missal), 1570. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · Latin read in the front matter of the 1962 editio typica (archive.org sp07mr62-editio-typica, page images pp. [V]-VI) and of an 1862 Missal: 'nisi ab ipsa prima institutione a Sede Apostolica approbata, vel consuetudine, quae, vel ipsa institutio super ducentos annos … assidue observata sit'; dated 'pridie idus iulii' 1570; the Council of Trent's decrees had left the Missal to the pope: 'inter alia Sacri Tridentini Concilii decreta, nobis statuendum esset de sacris libris, Catechismo, Missali, et Breviario edendis, atque emendandis' (1862 front matter)
17. ReferenceGalbiati, Giovanni, “Ambrosiana, Chiesa”, Enciclopedia Italiana, 1929. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · read: 'la pubblicazione, tipica, del Messale ambrosiano, nel 1902, per opera di Antonio Ceriani', whose long preparatory work Achille Ratti made public in 1913
18. Magisterial / canonicalSecond Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963, §4. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · §4 read on vatican.va 17 Sep 2026, verbatim: the Council 'declares that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way', and desires that 'where necessary, the rites be revised carefully in the light of sound tradition'. §47 read on vatican.va 15 Sep 2026, verbatim: 'At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood'; §23 read on vatican.va; §50 read, and re-read in Latin and English on vatican.va 14 Sep 2026: 'ritus, probe servata eorum substantia, simpliciores fiant' (the substance clause governs the simplifying); 'restituantur vero ad pristinam sanctorum Patrum normam' / 'restored to the vigor which they had in the days of the holy Fathers'; §54 and §116 read on vatican.va 16 Sep 2026: 'a suitable place may be allotted to their mother tongue'; 'The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services'
19. Magisterial / canonicalMartini, Carlo Maria, Archbishop of Milan, “Decree on the Latin typical edition of the Ambrosian Missal”, Missale Ambrosianum (1981), front matter, 1981.Verified 2026-09-17 · read in the 1981 Missal: 'Mediolani, die VIII septembris, a. MCMLXXXI. Carolus Maria Martini Archiepiscopus'. He was created a cardinal two years later, in 1983
20. ReferenceMagnoli, Claudio, “Il Lezionario ambrosiano per le feste di Maria e dei Santi”, IX Convegno per gli Animatori Liturgici, Archdiocese of Milan, 6 November 2010, 2010.Verified 2026-09-17 · the paper read: 'Il 20 marzo 2008 il card. Dionigi Tettamanzi, Capo rito, ha promulgato il Lezionario ambrosiano per i tempi, chiudendo la fase sperimentale in atto dal 1976. La sua entrata in vigore ha coinciso con la I domenica di avvento di quello stesso anno', and the complete lectionary for the seasons as seven volumes, three for feasts and four ferial. The author is of the archdiocese's liturgy office
21. ReferenceArchdiocese of Milan, Letture rito ambrosiano, 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the archdiocese's daily readings, read 17 September 2026: the day given under its Ambrosian title, 'Giovedì della settimana della III Domenica dopo il Martirio di san Gio…', with the memoria of the day and an archive by month. Cited for publishing the readings day by day, not for any day's text
22. ReferenceITL Libri (Arcidiocesi di Milano, Centro Ambrosiano), Missale Ambrosianum, editio altera (publisher's catalogue entry), 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · the diocesan publisher's page, read 17 September 2026: 904 pp., ISBN 9788868948627, and 'La pubblicazione della II edizione latina (Missale Ambrosianum – editio altera), sostituisce la I edizione del 1981'. The book itself was not seen
23. Primary textConferencia Episcopal Española, “Estatutos de la Congregación para el rito hispano-mozárabe (annex to decree Prot. 314/19)”, La voz de los obispos, 2019, n. 1. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read: 'en las iglesias de las parroquias mozárabes de Toledo y, de forma limitada, en otros lugares de España'
24. ReferenceArchdiocese of Milan, Statuto della Curia arcivescovile di Milano, Appendice III: Congregazione del Rito Ambrosiano, 2025, Appendix III nn. 1, 3. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · PDF read, text coordinated to 1 September 2025: the Congregation for the Ambrosian Rite and its statute, with the Archbishop as 'Capo-Rito'
25. ReferenceGalli, Andrea, “Milano, il popolo del rito ambrosiano antico celebra il Giubileo nella Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio”, Avvenire, 2025. LinkVerified 2026-09-17 · read in full: the Italian bishops' daily on the Jubilee Mass of 14 December 2025 at Sant'Ambrogio 'in rito ambrosiano antico', in the Missal used before the conciliar reform, 'secondo l'edizione del 1954 ad opera del Cardinal Schuster'; the rite is kept by 'quattro gruppi stabili di fedeli presenti a Varese, Lecco, Legnano e ovviamente Milano', and in 2025 the Milanese group, the oldest, turns 40; leave was asked of 'monsignor Claudio Fontana, delegato arcivescovile per le celebrazioni in rito ambrosiano con i testi antecedenti alla riforma del Vaticano II', and then of the abbot of Sant'Ambrogio, Mons. Carlo Faccendini. No act granting the permission is named
26. Magisterial / canonicalFrancis, Traditionis custodes, 2021. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read on vatican.va in Latin and English: art. 1 'unica expressio' / 'the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite'; art. 2 'exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese, according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See'; art. 3 §3 'the readings are proclaimed in the vernacular language'; art. 4 priests ordained after the publication of the Motu Proprio; art. 6 the institutes erected by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei under the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies for Apostolic Life; art. 8 'Previous norms, instructions, permissions, and customs that do not conform … are abrogated'
27. ScholarshipDuchesne, Louis, Origines du culte chrétien: étude sur la liturgie latine avant Charlemagne, Paris: Thorin, 1889.Verified 2026-09-17 · read at pp. 87-89: 'La liturgie gallicane est une liturgie orientale', Milan as the centre from which it spread, and the conjecture that Auxentius, bishop of Milan 355-374, brought it from the East
28. ScholarshipFortescue, Adrian, The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy, London: Longmans, Green, 1912, p. 106; p. 100. LinkVerified 2026-09-13 · archive.org full text, pages fixed from the running heads: p. 100, the older theory that the Gallican family came from Asia Minor, 'brought to Lyons by the disciples of St John', and 'This theory is now abandoned'; p. 106, 'That it is related to the Gallican liturgies and not to that of Rome (as the Roman rite is now) seems obvious'; p. 184 (the medieval additions 'take nothing from its dignity') and p. 394 (Pius V's Missal of 1570 'for the first time admits it as part of the Mass'), each between its running heads
29. ScholarshipBishop, Edmund, Liturgica Historica: Papers on the Liturgy and Religious Life of the Western Church, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918, p. 2. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org full text, pages pinned by running heads: 'The Genius of the Roman Rite', p. 2 ('really Roman at bottom'); p. 6 ('genuinely Roman'; 'considerably modified by Gallican hands'; 'altogether in the dark'; 'Rome only adopted it ready made'); p. 19 ('soberness and sense'); p. 41
30. Primary textAmbrose (attributed), St. Ambrose "On the Mysteries" and the Treatise On the Sacraments by an Unknown Author, tr. T. Thompson, ed. J. H. Srawley, London: SPCK, [1919], III.1.5. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org full text: De sacramentis III.1.5, p. 99 ('In all things I desire to follow the Roman Church'); the Canon at IV.5.21-IV.6.27, pp. 113-116; Srawley on the author and date, pp. xix-xx
31. ScholarshipJungmann, Josef A., The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development (Missarum Sollemnia), tr. Francis A. Brunner, 2 vols., New York: Benziger, 1951–1955, vol. I, p. 52 n. 10. LinkVerified 2026-09-13 · archive.org scan (vols. I-II combined); vol. I pp. 255, 264 and vol. II pp. 5, 190 by running heads