LatinHistory of the Roman RiteLiving

The Descent of the Roman Rite

The Roman Rite drawn to scale, from the Upper Room to today: nineteen centuries of one line, and the break, begun in 1964 and completed in 1969.

Last verified 2026-09-17

IKnow it

In Brief

The Roman Rite as it was received is one rite, grown along one line. It passed from Greek into Latin, was carried north in the sacramentaries, gathered into the Curia's missal, printed in 1474, and revised in place from the Missal Pius V issued in 1570, at the direction of the Council of Trent, to the Missal of 1962.1,2,3,4 Between 1964 and 1969 its Order of Mass was replaced by a new one, drafted by a commission, which the reform itself called the point of arrival after intermediate stages.5,6 This page draws that history to scale and sets out the record. The Church had the authority to make the change, and the Mass of the new Missal is valid, but neither fact makes the new rite continuous with the old.

IIUnderstand it

History

The Descent of the Roman Rite. A single line runs to scale from 33 to 1962, through 8 eras: Greek at Rome; The Latin Canon; The sacramentaries; The Frankish synthesis; The books return to Rome; The Curia's missal; Printed; Revised in place. At 1964 a tear runs through the line. What follows sits lower and in another colour: The Missal of Paul VI, 3.1 per cent of the line's length. An enlarged band shows the last decades, the break, and the received rite continuing beneath the new one, by permission. The Church had the authority to do this, and the Mass of the Missal of Paul VI is valid. Neither fact makes the new rite continuous with the old, nor settles whether it is poorer. This Index judges that it is.THE DESCENT OF THE ROMAN RITEDrawn to scale, from the Upper Room to the present dayTHE ROMAN RITE, AS RECEIVEDnineteen centuries, grown and revised in place; its last edition, of 1962, is what is now called the traditional Latin MassAD 20040060010001200140016001800c. 33The Last Supperc. 215Apostolic Traditionc. 400De sacramentisc. 600Gregory the Greatc. 785The Hadrianumc. 810–815Frankish books13th c.The friars1474First printed1570Pius VA NEW RITE →3.1% of the line, to scaleENLARGED: THE LAST EIGHTY-SIX YEARSfrom AD 331948Pius XII's commission1951The Easter Vigil restored1955Holy Week rebuilt1962the 1962 MissalTHE ROMAN RITETHE BREAKnot reformed, but replacedTHE MISSAL OF PAUL VI (NOVUS ORDO)the received roman rite does not stop: still celebrated, by permission19401950196019701980199020002010202019centuries of one line,from the Upper Room to 19623new Eucharistic Prayers,for a rite that had prayed one669of 1,273 orations not carried over;463 kept, whole or editedThe Church had the authority to do this, and the Mass of the Missal of Paul VI is valid. Neither fact makes the new rite continuous with the old, nor settles whether it is poorer. This Index judges that it is.
The Descent of the Roman Rite

The Church had the authority to do this, and the Mass of the Missal of Paul VI is valid. Neither fact makes the new rite continuous with the old, nor settles whether it is poorer. This Index judges that it is.

The Roman Rite, as received

  1. c. 33The Last Supper7The Council puts it in one sentence: "At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood." Every valid Mass hands on that act. This line traces the form in which Rome handed it on.7
  2. c. 215Apostolic Tradition1The Church Order traditionally ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome — the Apostolic Tradition, probably completed about 215 — hands down the earliest fixed eucharistic prayer in Rome's tradition: a model formulary of well-rounded completeness.1
  3. c. 400De sacramentis8The treatise De sacramentis, which Faller and Frank argued in 1940 is Ambrose's, quotes about 400 a eucharistic prayer standing close to the Roman Canon: the earliest substantial witness to that prayer's wording.1,8
  4. c. 600Gregory the Great1Under Gregory the Great (590–604) the Roman Mass takes the shape it would keep: his few changes — to the Kyrie, the Pater noster, the preface, the Hanc igitur — were for the most part a return to older and simpler forms, and many of the prayer-texts still in use today stem from him.1
  5. c. 785The Hadrianum1Hadrian I sent the Gregorian sacramentary — Rome's own Mass book — to Charlemagne in 785–786; comparative study has reconstructed the exemplar from its Frankish copies. This is the book the next mark's Supplement was written for.1
  6. c. 810–815Frankish books9,10The book Rome sent north was incomplete for Frankish use, so a Supplement was added to it, assigned since Deshusses to Benedict of Aniane and dated about 810 to 815. Roman book and Frankish supplement travel on together.9,10
  7. 13th c.The friars1The papal court kept a missal compact enough to travel, and the Franciscans carried it across Europe. That is how the Curia's own use became the common use of the West.1
  8. 1474First printed2The first printed Roman Missal opens "Incipit ordo missalis secundum consuetudinem Romane curie", according to the custom of the Roman curia, and was finished at Milan on 6 December 1474.2
  9. 1570Pius V1,3,11Pius V's Missal of 1570 took the Curia's book as its base and corrected it: the codification of the Roman Rite in the form now called the Traditional Latin Mass. His bull spared any church whose own way of celebrating, approved by the Apostolic See at its founding or resting on custom, had been observed for more than two hundred years.1,3,11
  10. 1948Pius XII's commission12,13Pius XII set up a commission for the general reform of the liturgy at an audience on 28 May 1948. It first met on 22 June, in Cardinal Micara's rooms, and worked in strict secrecy.12,13
  11. 1951The Easter Vigil restored13,14Pius XII had the Easter Vigil restored in 1951, for trial, through his commission for the reform of the liturgy.13,14
  12. 1955Holy Week rebuilt14Holy Week rebuilt in 1955, binding from Palm Sunday 1956. Substantial change to one week of the year: the Canon, the offertory and the Order of Mass for the rest of the year stood as they were.14
  13. 1962the 1962 Missal4The edition of 1962, declared typical by decree of 23 June 1962: the last edition of the Missal that had grown along this line.4
  14. 1970SSPX founded15On 1 November 1970 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the Priestly Society of St Pius X as a pious union of priests, approved and erected by Bishop François Charrière of Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg; its first seminary, at Écône in the Swiss canton of Valais, had opened the month before with the authorization of the local ordinary. The Society describes the new institute's object as the priesthood and all that pertains to it — above all the formation of priests.15
  15. 1984Indult16After a worldwide consultation found priests and faithful still attached to the Missal of 1962, the Congregation for Divine Worship's circular letter Quattuor abhinc annos granted diocesan bishops the faculty of permitting Mass with the Roman Missal of 1962 for groups named in a petition to their bishop. The grant came with conditions: Latin only, no mixing of the rites' texts, celebration only for petitioning groups in bishop-designated churches, and no part with those who questioned the legitimacy of the 1970 Missal.16
  16. 1988Ecclesia Dei17,18,19Following the episcopal consecrations of 30 June 1988, John Paul II's motu proprio Ecclesia Dei (2 July 1988) asked that the directives for the 1962 Missal receive "a wide and generous application," and erected the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. On 18 July 1988, a dozen clerics formerly of the Society of St Pius X signed at Hauterive, Switzerland, the act founding the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter as a clerical society of apostolic life; the Commission erected it by decree ratified by John Paul II in audience on 18 October 1988.17,18,19
  17. 1990ICKSP founded20The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest was founded in 1990 by Msgr Gilles Wach and Fr Philippe Mora in Gabon, Africa, and canonically erected on 1 September 1990 by Bishop Cyriaque Obamba of Mouila. A society of apostolic life, it counts among the integral elements of its charism the use of the traditional Latin liturgy of 1962 for the Mass and the other sacraments.20
  18. 2007Summorum Pontificum21With Summorum Pontificum (7 July 2007, in force from 14 September 2007), Benedict XVI declared the Missal last edited by John XXIII in 1962 the extraordinary expression of the same lex orandi as the Missal of Paul VI — "duo usus unici ritus romani," two usages of the one Roman Rite — and stated that it had never been abrogated. The conditions laid down by the 1984 indult and Ecclesia Dei were replaced by the new law.21

The Missal of Paul VI

  1. 1964The break6,22,23Here the Order of Mass that had grown for nearly two thousand years was supplanted: reworked from 1964, and replaced in 1969 by one a commission drew up, largely from the old one's materials. Rites had been set aside before, but for other rites that had grown. In 1969 the Roman Rite's own Order of Mass gave way to one made to take its place, as Paul VI's own words state; this Index finds no earlier instance in the rite's history. The reform itself said the offertory it reordered had been left untouched by every earlier reform.6,22,23
  2. 1969–The Missal of Paul VI5,22,24A commission constituted in 1964 drafted a new Order of Mass, promulgated in 1969. In 1976 Paul VI said it was promulgated "ut in locum veteris substitueretur", to take the place of the old.5,22,24
  3. 1970Missal25,26The first typical edition of the new Missal appeared in 1970. The Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship's decree of 26 March 1970 (Prot. n. 166/70) declared the new edition typical — "Nova editio Missalis Romani promulgatur et typica declaratur" — and permitted the Latin edition to be taken into use.25,26
  4. 19752nd ed.27The second typical edition, editio typica altera, followed by the Congregation for Divine Worship's decree of 27 March 1975 (Prot. N. 1970/74), issued because the Missal had to be reprinted; the Congregation's own summary describes the new edition as substantially identical to the first.27
  5. 20023rd ed.11,21,28The third typical edition, editio typica tertia, was promulgated on 20 April 2000 and published in 2002; its General Instruction is the one printed for that edition. John Paul II "approved the third typical edition", as the preamble of Summorum Pontificum records.11,21,28
  6. 2021Traditionis Custodes29,30With Traditionis custodes (16 July 2021), Francis restricted the celebration of the 1962 Missal, abrogating the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that did not conform to it. Article 1 declares that the liturgical books promulgated by Paul VI and John Paul II are "the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite" — "unica expressio" — and article 2 gives the diocesan bishop the exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Missal in his diocese, according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See.29,30
  7. 2023rescript31By a rescript of 20 February 2023, following an audience with Francis, the dispensations for celebrating the 1962 Missal in parish churches and for priests ordained after the publication of Traditionis custodes were "reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See".31

The figures

  • 19 centuries of one line, from the Upper Room to 19621,4,32
  • 3 new Eucharistic Prayers, for a rite that had prayed one24,33
  • 669 of 1,273 orations not carried over; 463 kept, whole or edited34

From Greek into Latin

Rome's liturgy was Greek before it was Latin, and the change was gradual. Papal tomb inscriptions are Latin from the second half of the third century, yet about 360 Marius Victorinus still quotes a Greek phrase from the Roman offering prayer.1 Jungmann thinks the change produced many intermediate forms, since the third century had no universally fixed texts.1 By about 400 the treatise De sacramentis, which Faller and Frank argued in 1940 is Ambrose's, quotes a eucharistic prayer standing close to the Roman Canon. It is the earliest substantial witness to that prayer's wording.1,8

The books that carried it

Three books carried the Roman prayers into the Middle Ages. The Veronese survives in a single Verona manuscript; no book called Gelasian mentions Gelasius; and the Gregorian went north with Hadrian I's covering letter, written between 784 and 791.35,36,37 The book Rome sent was incomplete for Frankish use, and a Supplement was added to it, assigned since Deshusses to Benedict of Aniane and dated about 810 to 815.9,10

Edmund Bishop found the Roman missal made of two books. One was "genuinely Roman, without foreign admixture"; the other was Roman in its bulk but "considerably modified by Gallican hands". The two were fused north of the Alps, and Rome "only adopted it ready made".32 Hands shaped this rite, and Bishop says so plainly: he sees "the powerful hand of a reformer" in the early Roman book, paring it to "a simplicity which seems baldness" beside the Leonine and Gelasian books. Yet the prefaces and variants of the canon in that reformer's book are, Bishop adds, with one or two exceptions those of the Missal of his own day.32 So the difference from 1969 is not that nobody ever edited the Roman books. Each editor worked on the book he was given and handed it on, and none set out to replace it.

Printed, and revised in place

The papal court kept a missal compact enough to travel, and the Franciscans carried it across Europe; that is how the Curia's own use became the common use of the West.1 The first printed Roman Missal opens "Incipit ordo missalis secundum consuetudinem Romane curie", according to the custom of the Roman curia.2 Pius V's Missal of 1570 took the Curia's book as its base and corrected it, and his bull left in place any rite approved from its institution or kept without break for more than two hundred years.1,3,11

Four centuries of revision followed, each presented as correction or restoration. Clement VIII said his corrections seemed "to imitate and supply" the old books rather than "bring anything new".38 Urban VIII restored rubrics that had degenerated from the old use.39 Pius X called his own work a first step toward emendation.40 Pius XII had the Easter Vigil restored for trial in 1951 and Holy Week rebuilt in 1955, through the commission he had set up in 1948 for the reform of the liturgy, and the edition of 1962 was declared typical on 23 June of that year.4,13,14 The Missal of 1962 says what it is on its own title page: restored by decree of the Council of Trent, ex decreto SS. Concilii Tridentini restitutum, and revised by the care of the Supreme Pontiffs, Summorum Pontificum cura recognitum.41

None of that is the objection. Each change was made within the book as it stood, and left its Canon, its offertory and most of its prayers in place; the Canon took one name, St Joseph's, in 1962.42 The Missal of 1969 also called itself restored by decree of a Council, so titles settle nothing either way. What settles it is what a revision kept.24

The break

The reform described itself as a process, and dated it. Paul VI called Pius XII's restored Easter Vigil and Holy Week the first stage of updating the Roman Missal for the present-day mentality, and Notitiae called the Order of Mass of 1969 "il punto di arrivo della riforma della Messa, dopo le tappe intermedie", the point of arrival of the reform of the Mass after the intermediate stages marked by the Instructions of 26 September 1964 and 4 May 1967.6,24 We draw the line by what each stage did, not by where the reformers later placed it. Holy Week of 1955 stands on the received line by the test above: it rebuilt one week of the year and left the Order of Mass for the rest of it as it was. The stages of 1964 and 1967 worked on the Order of Mass itself, and 1969 replaced it.

The work of those years differs in kind, and three things show it: how much was changed, how the changing was done, and the warrant claimed for it.

The degree is on the record. A commission was constituted in 1964, and the Missal it drafted was promulgated in 1969.5,24 Three new Eucharistic Prayers were approved in 1968 for a rite that had prayed one; the decree records the wish for prayers "praeter traditum ac venerabilem Canonem Romanum, in usu sane manentem", besides the handed-down and venerable Roman Canon, which indeed remains in use.33 Notitiae described the offertory as a part "mai toccato nelle precedenti riforme", never touched in the previous reforms, and reordered it.6 Of the 1,273 orations Hazell counts for the old Missal, 669 do not occur in the new one at all.34

The manner is on the record too. Lauren Pristas, weighing what was done to those prayers, judged that "never before have reformers freely altered the texts of orations".43 A reviser free to rewrite the prayers themselves is no longer bound by what he found.

The warrant is where the objection bites hardest. The new Missal presents itself as a return to antiquity: its constitution says the most ancient prayers were restored "ad antiquorum textuum fidem", to the faithfulness of the ancient texts, and the General Instruction invokes restoration "to the original norm of the holy Fathers", in the very words Pius V had used.11,24 Of its edits to the old Missal's prayers, Hazell finds that "more often than not, the changes made by the Consilium are entirely novel, with no basis in the manuscript tradition".34 The Consilium said of the second Eucharistic Prayer that it "s'inspire de l'anaphore d'Hippolyte", takes its inspiration from the anaphora of Hippolytus, which is not the same as being it.44

The bishops were asked

The new Order was shown to the Synod of Bishops in October 1967, and on 26 October they were asked whether its general structure pleased them. Seventy-one answered yes, forty-three answered no, and sixty-two answered yes with reservations.45 Notitiae printed the chief remarks made in the hall, which it says came from one Father or another. Among them: that the offertory seemed too much reduced, and the prayers and rites then in use should be kept; that the whole scheme should be richer, keeping more signs of the cross, genuflections and bows; and that nothing should be left to the priest's discretion, lest differences arise between churches and regions.45 The new Order kept some of what was asked, among them quiet prayers for the priest and the Orate, fratres; it replaced most of the offertory prayers then in use, and shortened or changed the rest.6,25

Witnesses

Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci wrote to Paul VI in September 1969 that the new Order was "a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent".46 Joseph Gelineau, who worked on the reform and welcomed it, wrote that "the Roman rite as we knew it exists no more", and that the old edifice could now be seen "as a ruin or as the partial foundation of a new building".47 Joseph Ratzinger wrote that the old building had been "demolished" and another built, "largely using materials from the previous one and even using the old building plans". He granted that the new Missal "in many respects brought with it a real improvement and enrichment"; what he faulted was "setting it as a new construction over against what had grown historically".23

The reform's own defence

The reform has a serious defence, and it belongs on this page. The Council ordered the Order of Mass revised, and asked that new forms should "grow organically from forms already existing".7 The new Missal says that it and the old, "separated by four centuries, embrace one and the same tradition".11 Benedict XVI called the two Missals two usages of one Roman rite, and wrote that "in the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture".21,48 That is the strongest case against this page.

Paul VI added a comparison. The new Order, he told the consistory in 1976, "promulgatus est, ut in locum veteris substitueretur post maturam deliberationem, atque ad exsequendas normas quae a Concilio Vaticano II impertitae sunt", and Pius V had acted "haud dissimili ratione", in no dissimilar way, after Trent.22 That comparison concerns authority, and this Index grants it. The Council's own test is organic growth, and this page applies it: Pius V's commission corrected the book it was handed, and the Consilium produced another Order of Mass.

When the General Instruction was attacked, the Fathers of the Consilium and their experts found no doctrinal error in it, and still rewrote article 7 entire so that the sacrifice, the priesthood and the real presence stood out more clearly.46,49 The reform answered its critics, and quickly.

IIIStudy it

A Word from Domus Dei

Editorial · the view of Domus Dei

The Church had the authority to promulgate the Missal of 1969, and the Mass celebrated from it is valid; every valid Mass hands on what was instituted in the Upper Room. This Index says so without qualification. Current law names the new books "the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite", and we accept the law as law.29 Our judgment concerns the rite's form and how it came to be.

Authority settles who may act, and validity settles whether the sacrament is confected. Neither settles whether what was promulgated grew from what went before, and neither settles whether it is as rich. On the record set out above, the Missal of 1962 is the Roman Rite as it had grown along one line, and the Missal of 1969 is a rite that was made, largely from the old one's materials. We judge that it is also poorer. Ratzinger granted it real gains, and we do too: it reads far more of Scripture, and it restored ancient prayers. But it set aside more than half the orations of the old Missal and reordered an offertory no earlier reform had touched, and those losses are not made good by what it added.6,23,24,34,50

Go Deeper

The Roman Rite page sets both Missals side by side, and the pages on the Vetus Ordo and the Novus Ordo treat each in full. The Liturgical Movement timeline carries the close-up of the reform era article by article, including the Synod of 1967 and the Ottaviani intervention.

On Domus Dei

Sources

  1. 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, pp. 50–51; vol. I, pp. 27–28, 31; vol. I, p. 52 n. 10; vol. I, pp. 58, 63; vol. I, p. 63; vol. I, p. 101; vol. I, p. 135; vol. I, pp. 50–51 and nn., 95, 97; vol. I, p. 51. 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
  2. Primary textMissale Romanum Mediolani, 1474, ed. Robert Lippe, 2 vols., Henry Bradshaw Society, London, 1899-1907, vol. I, pp. 1, 502. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org full text and search inside (editor): vol. I, p. 1, the Temporale opens 'Incipit ordo missalis secundum consuetudinem Romane curie'; the colophon, Milan, 6 December 1474, p. 502 (leaf 536)
  3. 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)
  4. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation of Rites, “Decree declaring the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal typical (23 June 1962)”, Missale Romanum, editio typica 1962, 1962. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · page image of the decree at the head of the 1962 editio typica (leaf n1), read: 'praesens Vaticana Missalis romani editio uti « typica » declaratur'; dated 23 June 1962, Card. Larraona
  5. Magisterial / canonicalPaul VI, Sacram Liturgiam (motu proprio, 25 January 1964), 1964. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · vatican.va (LA), seen for the research canon: the special commission set up to carry out the Constitution on the liturgy, known from 1964 as the Consilium: 'peculiarem condimus Commissionem'
  6. Primary textSacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Notitiae 5 (1969), no. 46: the new Ordo Missae and General Instruction, 1969, p. 148; pp. 140, 148; pp. 148–149. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · cultodivino.va PDF: p. 140, Paul VI's consistory address of 28 April 1969, the new altar book and the other liturgical books 'post diligens studium, a Consilio ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia recogniti sunt' (re-read 2026-09-18); p. 148, the prayers at the foot of the altar suppressed and the offertory, 'mai toccato nelle precedenti riforme', reordered; p. 149, 'Benedictus es, Domine, Deus universi' and the embolism 'abbreviato e senza i nomi dei Santi'; the Ordo 'il punto di arrivo della riforma della Messa, dopo le tappe intermedie', p. 148; 'in modo da non anticipare la vera offerta del sacrificio', p. 149; re-read 2026-09-16: p. 148 'viene ora riordinato in modo da rispondere meglio al suo vero significato'; p. 149 'che sarà fatta nel Canone', and 'espressioni di benedizione tradizionali nella Bibbia'
  7. Magisterial / canonicalSecond Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963, §47; §§23, 50. 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'
  8. 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], IV.5.21–IV.6.27. 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
  9. ScholarshipVogel, Cyrille, Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to the Sources, tr. William G. Storey and Niels Krogh Rasmussen (rev. and tr.), Washington, DC: Pastoral Press, 1986, pp. 2, 61. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org lending copy, search inside (editor): Benedict of Aniane's Supplement '(ca. 810-815)', pp. 2, 61
  10. ScholarshipWestwell, Arthur, “The lost Missal of Alcuin and the Carolingian sacramentaries of Tours”, Early Medieval Europe, 2022, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 350-383, pp. 351, 355. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · the author's open-access PDF (Regensburg repository), read: the Supplement assigned since Deshusses (1965) to Benedict of Aniane, pp. 351, 355 and n. 19
  11. Magisterial / canonicalCongregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, General Instruction of the Roman Missal (third typical edition; English translation), United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, §7; §6. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · read on usccb.org: §41 ('Gregorian chant holds pride of place because it is proper to the Roman Liturgy'); §69; §119; §§281-283; §295; §299 ('desirable wherever possible'); §357 ('three readings'); 2026-09-15: §6 ('separated by four centuries, embrace one and the same tradition'), §7 ('only very slight changes'), §157 ('With the people he adds'); 2026-09-16: §§2, 32, 43, 45, 70, 73, 82, 112–113, 160–161, 199, 252–254, 284, 320, 322, 357 and 390 read in the vatican.va English (the same translation), among them §2 ('The sacrificial nature of the Mass, solemnly asserted by the Council of Trent'), §43 ('The faithful should stand from the beginning of the Entrance chant'), §357 ('For Sundays and solemnities, three readings are assigned') and §390 ('It is up to the Conferences of Bishops to decide on the adaptations')
  12. ScholarshipBugnini, Annibale, The Reform of the Liturgy 1948-1975, tr. Matthew J. O'Connell, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990, pp. 8–9. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org lending copy, search inside (editor): p. 450 n. 4, study group 10 (the Ordinary of the Mass) enlarged, its members including J. Gelineau; pp. 8-9, Pius XII's commission for the general reform appointed 'May 28, 1948', Micara presiding, its meetings held 'in absolute secrecy'
  13. ScholarshipGiampietro, Nicola, The Development of the Liturgical Reform: As Seen by Cardinal Ferdinando Antonelli from 1948 to 1970, Fort Collins, Colorado: Roman Catholic Books, 2009, pp. 18–20; p. 18. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · open full text on archive.org (folios print at the foot of the page): p. 18, at the audience of 28 May 1948 'The Holy Father nominated a Pontifical Commission' to examine the plan for the reform, Micara presiding; p. 19, 'The Commission met for the first time on June 22, 1948 in Cardinal Micara's apartments', its members bound to 'the strictest secrecy'; p. 20, Antonelli's diary for that evening, 'This evening (June 22, 1948), the first meeting of the Commission was held', naming those present. English edition of the Italian original (Studia Anselmiana, 1998); ISBN 978-1-934888-12-4
  14. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation of Rites, “Maxima redemptionis nostrae mysteria (general decree, 16 November 1955)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 47 (1955), 1955, pp. 838-841 (the decree; the Instruction of the same date follows at pp. 842-847), preamble, pp. 839–840; preamble, p. 839; preamble, p. 840, n. 2; n. 2; preamble, pp. 839–840, n. 2. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · AAS 47 (1955) 838-841, read 2026-09-15: n. 2 'Novus hic Ordo servari debet a die 25 Martii, dominica II Passionis seu in palmis, anni 1956' (p. 840); n. 7 the Mass of the Lord's Supper in the evening, not before 5 p.m. nor after 8 p.m.; n. 9 'quae permittat Missam solemnem eiusdem vigiliae incipere circa mediam noctem', anticipation by the local Ordinary 'non ante diei crepusculum, aut certe non ante solis occasum' (p. 841)
  15. Primary textSociety of St Pius X (Maison Générale), Founder of the Society of St. Pius X, Man of the Church and Defender of the Faith. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read firsthand on the Society's General House site: 'One month later, on November 1, 1970, the Society of St. Pius X was officially born, approved and erected by Bishop Charriere, the Bishop of Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg'; the Écône house (Valais) 'opened its doors on October 1, 1970' with the authorization of Bishop Nestor Adam; laudatory decree of 18 Feb 1971 from Cardinal John Wright, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Clergy. Corroborated the same day on sspx.org ('SSPX: for the priesthood', 2 Jul 2014): 'the SSPX was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 as a "pious union" of priests, whose object was the priesthood and all that pertains to it: most especially the formation of priests', 'with its first seminary at Econe, located in the Swiss canton of Valais'
  16. Magisterial / canonicalCongregation for Divine Worship, “Quattuor abhinc annos (circular letter, 3 October 1984)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 76 (1984), 1984, pp. 1088-1089, pp. 1088–1089. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read firsthand in the AAS OCR PDF on vatican.va, AAS 76 (1984) pp. 1088-1089, 'EPISTULA: De usu Missalis Romani iuxta editionem typicam anni MCMLXII': 'Episcopis dioecesanis facultatem concedit utendi Indulto, quo sacerdotes et christifideles, qui in petitione proprio Episcopo exhibenda explicite indicabuntur, Missam celebrare valeant Missale Romanum adhibendo iuxta editionem typicam anni 1962, servatis autem normis, quae sequuntur'; conditions (a)-(e) read verbatim (no part with those questioning the 1970 Missal; petitioning groups only; bishop-designated churches/oratories; Latin only; no mixing of rites/texts; bishops report to the Congregation). Signed 'Ex aedibus Congregationis pro Cultu Divino, die 3 Octobris 1984', A. Mayer Pro-Praefectus, V. Noè a Secretis.
  17. Magisterial / canonicalJohn Paul II, Ecclesia Dei (motu proprio, 2 July 1988), 1988, §6c. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · read on vatican.va (EN, LA): §6c 'a wide and generous application of the directives already issued … for the use of the Roman Missal according to the typical edition of 1962'
  18. Primary textPriestly Fraternity of St Peter (UK), Happy 35th anniversary FSSP (Act of Foundation, 18 July 1988), Act of Foundation, 18 July 1988. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read firsthand on the Fraternity's official UK site: 'Today, 18 July 2023, is the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter by a dozen priests at the Abbey of Hauterive in Switzerland on 18 July 1988'; the Act of Foundation ([Original: French], translation given): 'By this act the undersigned clerics found the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter as a clerical Society of Apostolic Life'; 'Made at Hauterive on 18 July 1988'
  19. Primary textPontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Decree erecting the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (Prot. 234/88, 18 October 1988), decree, 18 Oct 1988. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · the FSSP's English, headed '[Original: Latin]', read verbatim: 'a clerical society of Apostolic Life with Pontifical Right'; 'the use of the liturgical books in force in 1962'; ratified by John Paul II in audience, 18 Oct 1988
  20. Primary textInstitute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (UK Province), Who We Are. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read firsthand on the Institute's official UK province site: 'The Institute was founded in 1990 by Monsignor Gilles Wach and Father Philippe Mora in Gabon, Africa'; a 'Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right'; canonically erected 1 September 1990; Bishop Obamba of Mouila gave the canonical erection and named Wach his Vicar General; 'an integral part of the Institute's charism is the use of the traditional Latin Liturgy of 1962 for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the other sacraments'. Verified on the Institute's official UK province site, not institute-christ-king.org: no history/about page was locatable on the main.org domain.
  21. Magisterial / canonicalBenedict XVI, Summorum Pontificum, 2007, art. 1. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · art. 1 read in Latin on vatican.va: 'duo usus unici ritus romani'; 'formam extraordinariam'; the preamble read in Latin and English: 'libros liturgicos instauratos et partim innovatos' / 'revised and in part renewed', and John Paul II 'approved the third typical edition'
  22. Magisterial / canonicalPaul VI, Allocution to the consistory of 24 May 1976, 1976. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read in Latin on vatican.va: 'Novus Ordo promulgatus est, ut in locum veteris substitueretur', set beside the comparison with Pius V ('Haud dissimili ratione, Decessor Noster S. Pius V…')
  23. ScholarshipRatzinger, Joseph, Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, tr. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998, p. 148. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org lending copy, search inside (editor; leaf 160 = p. 148): 'the old building was demolished, and another was built, to be sure largely using materials from the previous one'; 'a real improvement and enrichment'; 'and even using the old building plans'; 'setting it as a new construction over against what had grown historically'
  24. Magisterial / canonicalPaul VI, Missale Romanum: Apostolic Constitution on the New Roman Missal, 1969. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read on vatican.va (given at Rome, Holy Thursday, 3 April 1969): promulgation of the new Missal, effective the First Sunday of Advent (30 Nov 1969); SC as the basis of the revision. Re-read 14 Sep 2026 in English and Latin for the Eucharistic Prayer: 'The major innovation concerns the Eucharistic Prayer … we have decided to add three new Canons to this Prayer' ('tres novi Canones adderentur statuimus'; vatican.va's Latin prints the typo 'stauiimus')
  25. Primary textMissale Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum, auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum (editio typica 1970), Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1970, pp. 385–476. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org scan, djvu OCR with page images checked: the SCDW decree of 26 Mar 1970 as the Missal prints it, carrying 'Prot. n. 166/70' (the AAS printing at 62 (1970) 554 carries no protocol number); the Normae universales de anno liturgico et de calendario; the Ordo Missae cum populo, whose text begins at p. 385 (p. 383 is the section title page and p. 384 is blank) and ends with n. 145 at p. 476, with Eucharistic Prayer IV's 'Confitémur tibi, Pater sancte' at n. 118, p. 467; the Appendix's alternative penitential acts at pp. 487-489; the Ordo Missae sine populo, pp. 479-486, with the Confiteor at p. 479; the sprinkling rite at p. 889
  26. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation for Divine Worship, “Celebrationis eucharisticae (decree declaring the new edition of the Roman Missal typical, 26 March 1970)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 62 (1970), 1970, p. 554. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · AAS 62 (1970) 554, vatican.va PDF: 'Nova editio Missalis Romani promulgatur et typica declaratur'; 'permittitur ut editio latina … in usum assumi possit'; dated 26 March 1970
  27. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation for Divine Worship, “De editione typica altera Missalis Romani (decree Prot. N. 1970/74, 27 March 1975)”, Notitiae 11 (1975), 1975, p. 297; the Variationes at pp. 177-193. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · Notitiae PDF read: signed Knox and Bugnini; the second edition was issued because the Missal had to be reprinted, and note 1 of the presentation at pp. 290-291 (not the decree, which has no footnote) fixes the Variationes at pp. 177-193 (the art. 7 material is at 177-178). The fascicle's multilingual SUMARIO, not pp. 290-291, carries the summary that the second edition is substantially identical to the first
  28. ScholarshipBarba, Maurizio, “La genesi istituzionale dell'«Editio typica tertia» del «Missale Romanum»”, Notitiae 38 (2002), 2002, pp. 56-62. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · Notitiae PDF read: the third typical edition was promulgated 20 April 2000 and published in 2002. The article opens on the unnumbered p. 56 (after LITTERAE CONGREGATIONIS 55), with running heads 57 to 62, and ends at p. 62 with Barba's signature
  29. Magisterial / canonicalFrancis, Traditionis custodes, 2021, art. 1. 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'
  30. Magisterial / canonicalFrancis, Letter to the Bishops of the whole world that accompanies Traditionis custodes (16 July 2021), 2021. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · read on vatican.va: 'I take the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present Motu proprio'
  31. Magisterial / canonicalDicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (Card. Arthur Roche), Rescriptum ex audientia SS.mi (20 February 2023), 2023. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · read on press.vatican.va: the dispensations for parish churches and for priests ordained after Traditionis custodes 'are reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See'
  32. ScholarshipBishop, Edmund, Liturgica Historica: Papers on the Liturgy and Religious Life of the Western Church, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918, pp. 6, 41; p. 6; p. 41. 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
  33. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation of Rites, “Decree Prot. R. 26/967 approving three new Eucharistic Prayers and eight prefaces (23 May 1968)”, Notitiae 4 (1968), 1968, pp. 156-157, p. 156. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · Notitiae PDF read: the three new Eucharistic Prayers and the new prefaces, usable from 15 August 1968. p. 156: many bishops and faithful had wished for other eucharistic prayers 'praeter traditum ac venerabilem Canonem Romanum, in usu sane manentem'
  34. ScholarshipHazell, Matthew P., “"All the Elements of the Roman Rite"? Mythbusting, Part II”, New Liturgical Movement, 2021, October 2021, totals; October 2021. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · the article and its PDF tables, read: 1,273 orations (prefaces, hymns and sequences excluded); 165 (13.0%) identical; 307 (24.1%) edited; 669 (52.6%) not used; 463 (36.4%) identical or edited, nine prayers being in both lists; 206 (16.2%) centonised; the base is the Missal of 1951 (1,191) with the 82 orations added by 1962, 'not exactly representative of the 1962 Missal' (n. 4); 'more often than not, the changes made by the Consilium are entirely novel, with no basis in the manuscript tradition'
  35. Primary textSacramentarium Leonianum, ed. C. L. Feltoe, Cambridge: University Press, 1896, pp. vii, xv. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org full text: the introduction on the single Verona manuscript and the collection's date, pp. vii, xv
  36. Primary textThe Gelasian Sacramentary: Liber sacramentorum Romanae ecclesiae, ed. H. A. Wilson, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894, pp. xvii, lviii. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org full text: p. xvii (the Vatican manuscript, a Frankish copy, 7th or early 8th c.); p. lviii ('None of the manuscripts classed as "Gelasian" contains any mention of S. Gelasius')
  37. Primary textDas Sacramentarium Gregorianum nach dem Aachener Urexemplar, ed. Hans Lietzmann, Liturgiegeschichtliche Quellen 3, Münster: Aschendorff, 1921, pp. XV, XVII. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org full text: Hadrian I's covering letter dated 'zwischen 784 und 791', p. XV; Cambrai 164 and the year 812, p. XVII
  38. Magisterial / canonicalClement VIII, “Cum sanctissimum Eucharistiae Sacramentum (brief, 7 July 1604)”, Missale Romanum, editio typica 1962, front matter, 1604, MR1962 p. VII. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · page images of the 1962 editio typica's front matter, pp. VI-VII: 'illorum sensum imitari potius, et supplere, quam aliquid novi afferre videantur' (p. VII); dated 'die VII iulii MDCIV'
  39. Magisterial / canonicalUrban VIII, “Si quid est (brief, 2 September 1634)”, Missale Romanum, editio typica 1962, front matter, 1634. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · page image of the 1962 editio typica, p. [VIII] (unnumbered), read: 'rubricae, quae sensim ab usu rituque veteri degeneraverant, in pristinum restitutae'
  40. Magisterial / canonicalPius X, “Divino afflatu (apostolic constitution, 1 November 1911)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 3 (1911), 1911, pp. 633-638, pp. 636–637. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · AAS 3 (1911), vatican.va PDF, read: 'primum Nos fecisse gradum ad Romani Breviarii et Missalis emendationem' and the ancient Sunday and Lenten ferial Masses restored, pp. 636-637
  41. Primary textMissale Romanum ex decreto SS. Concilii Tridentini restitutum Summorum Pontificum cura recognitum (editio typica 1962), Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1962, title page. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org scan (rights not established; consulted; a printing later than 13 Nov 1962, so cited by page as reprinted): the title page; the Ordo Missae and Canon Missae incipits and some twenty Ordo pages in the OCR; Proprium de Tempore and Proprium Sanctorum; Ritus servandus I.3, II.2, II.4, V.3 (p. LVII, page image), VI.6, X.6, X.7 and XII; Rubricae generales nn. 425, 503, 509–510; 'In Missis defunctorum dicitur prædicta oratio: sed aqua non benedicitur' (p. 221)
  42. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation of Rites, “Decree inserting the name of St Joseph in the Canon of the Mass (13 November 1962)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 54 (1962), 1962, p. 873, p. 873. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · AAS 54 (1962) 873, read: 'sed et beati Ioseph eiusdem Virginis Sponsi'; in force 8 December 1962
  43. ScholarshipPristas, Lauren, “The Orations of the Vatican II Missal: Policies for Revision”, Communio: International Catholic Review, 2003, vol. 30, pp. 621-653, p. 652. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · the publisher's PDF, read: 'never before have reformers freely altered the texts of orations', p. 652
  44. Magisterial / canonicalConsilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de sacra Liturgia, “Catechesis on the new Eucharistic Prayers”, Notitiae 4 (1968), 1968, pp. 148-155, p. 153. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · French text read: Eucharistic Prayer II 's'inspire de l'anaphore d'Hippolyte'; Prayer IV follows 'la tradition antiochienne', and the regrouped intercessions 'suit l'exemple de la tradition antiochienne' while the epiclesis stays Roman, before the institution narrative. Alexandria is named twice (p. 150, on where the epiclesis and intercessions fall); Basil is never named anywhere in the fascicle, so the Basil-Alexandria genealogy of Prayer IV is scholarly, not the Holy See's. p. 151: 'une seule anaphore ne peut contenir toute la richesse pastorale, spirituelle et théologique souhaitable', and every Church but Rome's has always had several; p. 150, the supplication that the Father make the bread and wine the Body and Blood of Christ, and p. 152, 'l'épiclèse consécratoire, c'est-à-dire … la supplication adressée au Père'; p. 153, 'Elles restent néanmoins de style romain'
  45. Primary textConsilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de sacra Liturgia, Notitiae 3 (1967): the Synod of Bishops and the normative Mass; the calendar of the study groups, 1967, p. 357; pp. 355, 357–359. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · cultodivino.va PDFs of nos. 35-36: the Synod's votes, pp. 354-363; 'Nulla pars cadit, nulla additur' with the comparison table, pp. 372-373; Coetus 11 'de lectionibus biblicis in Missa', relator P. C. Vagaggini, p. 427; p. 372, the three offertory prayers carry note 3, '« Pro opportunitate »' (page image, 2026-09-15)
  46. Primary textOttaviani, Alfredo, and Antonio Bacci, Cardinals, Letter to Paul VI (25 September 1969), with A Brief Critical Study of the New Order of Mass, 1969. LinkVerified 2026-09-16 · archive.org English text (circulated by the Society of St Pius X; treat as in copyright, quote 25 words or fewer), read: letter §1, the Novus Ordo 'represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent'; Study §II, 'The definition of the Mass is thus limited to that of a "supper"'; §III.1, the end of praise to the Trinity 'has disappeared from the Offertory, with the disappearance of the prayer Suscipe, Sancta Trinitas'; §IV, 'The explicit mention of the object of the offering, which was found in the Suscipe, has not been replaced by anything'. The letter §1 says the study is the work of 'a group of theologians, liturgists and pastors of souls'
  47. ScholarshipGelineau, Joseph, The Liturgy Today and Tomorrow, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1978, p. 11. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · archive.org lending copy, search inside (editor; leaves 11, 13 = pp. 9, 11): p. 9, 'the long, too long stagnation of liturgical forms' and 'the signal to start moving'; p. 11, 'the Roman rite as we knew it exists no more. It has gone'; 'we can look at it as a ruin or as the partial foundation of a new building'. The authorized English of Demain la liturgie (Paris: Cerf, 1976)
  48. Magisterial / canonicalBenedict XVI, Letter to the Bishops on the occasion of the publication of Summorum Pontificum, 2007. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read on vatican.va: 'Forma ordinaria'; 'Forma extraordinaria'; 'the new Missal will certainly remain the ordinary Form of the Roman Rite'; also 'There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal' and 'In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture'
  49. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation for Divine Worship, “Variationes in «Institutionem generalem Missalis romani» inductae”, Notitiae 6 (1970), 1970, pp. 177-193 (art. 7 at pp. 177-178), pp. 177–178. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · read: the recast article 7, with 'Hic numerus 7 totus refectus est' and 'repraesentatio simpliciter in memoriam vel symbolica omnino excluditur' (p. 178). The introduction, p. 177: after examination 'nec ullus deprehensus est error doctrinalis', yet the text was completed or rewritten here and there 'ad clariores reddendas quasdam locutiones', citing the Declaratio of 18 Nov 1969. p. 178: the new text of art. 7 ('personamque Christi gerente', 'seu sacrificium eucharisticum', Christ present 'substantialiter et continenter sub speciebus eucharisticis'); p. 177, 'Ante omnia peculiaris attentio data est n. 7, de quo plura scripta sunt'; 'Hic numerus 7 totus refectus est, ut clarius appareant illae veritates, quae a divina revelatione, Ecclesiae traditione et magisterio, semper propositae sunt et directe respiciunt mysterium eucharisticum: nempe veritas sacrificii, natura sacramentalis sacerdotii ministerialis et realis praesentia'; the article 'integram definitionem doctrinalem Missae colligere non intendit', and no longer begins 'Cena dominica sive Missa est sacra synaxis'
  50. ReferenceJust, Felix, S.J., Lectionary Statistics, 2009, the New and Old Testament tables. LinkVerified 2026-09-15 · read on catholic-resources.org (page last updated 2 January 2009): under the heading 'Readings from the New Testament', in the body and not in the notes, 'Before Vatican II, the same readings were used each year for the various Masses in the Roman Missal' (re-read 2026-09-15); New Testament verses read on Sundays and major feasts 16.5% before 1970, 40.8% now, 71.5% with the weekdays; Old Testament outside the Psalms 1.0%, 3.7% and 13.5%; the 'before' column is the Missal before 1951, whose revision cut the Old Testament to 0.39% (note 3), and 'now' is the Lectionary's second edition (1981)
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