Dominican Use

In Brief

The Dominican Rite is the Order of Preachers' own Mass: the Roman Mass in its older structure, prayed with the Order's thirteenth-century variants. It is Roman to the bone — the Canon is Rome's Canon — but its gestures, prayers and calendar are the Order's. Since 1969 it has lived by permission rather than by norm: a rescript of the Holy See lets the Master of the Order, or a provincial, allow friars to celebrate it as it then stood.^1,2

Where to Experience It

Wherever the leave is given: in Dominican friaries and houses of the Order, and in public celebrations such as the Mass offered Monday through Saturday at Holy Rosary Church in Portland, Oregon.^2,5

Your First Visit

A Dominican Rite Mass is in Latin and follows the older structure of the Roman Mass — the shape a Catholic who knows the 1962 Missal will recognize, with the Order's own turns of phrase and gesture. At Holy Rosary in Portland it is offered on weekday mornings. Check the parish's current schedule before going; times belong to the parish, not to this Index.

The Shape of the Liturgy

The marks a visitor notices are small but unmistakable. There is no Judica me — no Psalm 42 — at the foot of the altar. The Confiteor is short, and it names St Dominic among the saints. At the Offertory, the Host and the chalice are offered together, with a single prayer, in one of the use's most distinctive gestures. The Canon is the Roman Canon, prayed with the Order's own rubrics, and the Communion has several ceremonies of its own.¹

What makes it distinctive

• No Judica me at the foot of the altar: the Dominican Mass begins without the psalm.¹
• A short Confiteor naming St Dominic, rather than the longer Roman form.¹
• The simultaneous oblation of Host and chalice with a single prayer, one of the use's most distinctive gestures.¹
• The Roman Canon, prayed with the Order's own rubrics and several distinctive Communion ceremonies.¹
• Celebrated by leave, not by norm: the 1969 rescript lets the Master (for the whole Order) or a provincial permit the rite as then in force.²

History

When the Order of Preachers was young, its houses used the books of the places they lived in — a patchwork no order built for preaching across Christendom could keep. The work of unification ran through the thirteenth century and came to rest under Humbert of Romans, the Order's fifth Master General. The general chapter at Paris in 1256 accepted his revision, and the Dominicans have prayed one liturgy ever since.¹

It did not begin with St Dominic himself, and it is not some survival of the ancient Gallican rite. It is a thirteenth-century ordering of the Roman Mass — Rome's Mass, given the Order's own cut.

In 1570 Pius V imposed his revised Missal on the Latin Church but exempted uses that could show a custom older than 200 years. The Dominican use, older than that by three centuries, kept its books.⁷ The printed Missals of the Order carried it into the twentieth century; a 1933 Missale S. Ordinis Praedicatorum survives in scan.⁶

In 1969 the Order did what most of the Church did: it took up the Missal of Paul VI as its norm. But on 2 June 1969 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued a rescript — signed by Cardinal Gut and Annibale Bugnini — that let the Master of the Order, for the whole Order, or a provincial, for his province, "concedere valet licentiam celebrandi Missae Sacrificium iuxta ritum dominicanum hucusque vigentem": permit the celebration of Mass according to the Dominican rite as it then stood.²

The following decades confirmed the arrangement. Summorum Pontificum (2007) and the instruction Universae Ecclesiae (2011) — whose n. 34 says members of religious orders may use their proper liturgical books in force in 1962 — covered the Order's books among others.^4,8,9 Then came Traditionis custodes (2021), and with it the question this page cannot answer for you: what, exactly, changed.^4,10

Milestones

1. 1256The general chapter at Paris accepts Humbert of Romans' revision, giving the Order one liturgy¹
2. 1570Pius V's Quo primum exempts uses with a custom older than 200 years from the imposed Roman books⁷
3. 1933A printing of the Missale S. Ordinis Praedicatorum⁶
4. 1969The 2 June rescript: the Order takes up the Missal of Paul VI as its norm, while the Master or a provincial may permit the Dominican rite then in force²
5. 2007–2011Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae n. 34 confirm that religious may use their proper books in force in 1962^4,8,9
6. 2021Traditionis custodes; what it changed for the Dominican Rite is unclear — see the dispute below^4,10

Texts & Books

The book is the Missale S. Ordinis Praedicatorum — the Order's own Missal, with its variants in the Order of Mass, its propers and its sanctoral. A 1933 printing is scanned on archive.org.⁶ What friars celebrate under the rescript is the rite "as it then stood": the Order's books in force in the 1960s, the same books Universae Ecclesiae n. 34 had in view.^2,4 The rescript itself is scanned as a PDF, and Augustine Thompson OP — a Dominican historian of the liturgy — has published the fullest account of the canonical tangle, with the rescript's archival reference and the text of Universae Ecclesiae n. 34.^2,4

Theology & Spirit

The Dominican Rite is worth understanding as an act of corporate memory. An order of preachers, scattered across the world, chose to pray the same Mass the same way — not because Rome forced one book on them (in 1570 Rome exempted them), but because a common liturgy made a common preaching. The 1969 rescript kept the logic: the Order moved with the Church to the new Missal, and the Holy See left the old Mass to the Order's own government, by leave rather than by right. Law here serves identity — and identity, once given, is not easily surrendered.

Family & Relations

It is a use of the Roman Rite, in Adrian Fortescue's old phrase "merely the Roman Rite with local additions and modifications" — the additions being the Order's.^1,3 Its closest kin is the Vetus Ordo: the same Canon, the same 1962 horizon, the same older structure. Its other relative is the Novus Ordo: the Missal the Order adopted as its norm in 1969, alongside the permitted older use. Among the religious-order uses, the Carmelite is its nearest neighbor — the Carmelite Confiteor is notably similar to the Dominican one.¹¹

Compare with

• Vetus Ordo: the received Roman Missal; the Dominican use keeps the same Canon with its own rubrics and prayers¹
• Novus Ordo: the Missal the Order took up as its norm in 1969, alongside the permitted older use^2,4

The Rite Today

The last documented permission is the rescript of 2 June 1969: the Master or a provincial may allow the Dominican rite as it stood then.² What Traditionis custodes did to that permission is, as Thompson reports it, genuinely unclear. The canonists he consulted think the rescript survives, because it was a privilege and was never explicitly named in the 2021 legislation — privileges, they say, must be expressly abrogated. Thompson himself will not go that far: the effect of the motu proprio on Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae is unclear, and so is the rescript's fate. His advice is practical, not legal: a Dominican priest should consult his provincial and follow his directives, and where the celebration is public, the bishop's.⁴

None of this is an authoritative ruling. It is the best-informed commentary available, and this page reports it as commentary.

As of 20 September 2026.

Disputed Questions

Go Deeper

Two questions follow this use everywhere, and both deserve straight answers.

Is it a rite of its own? In the strict sense, no. Like the other order uses, it is a use of the Roman Rite — the Roman Canon with the Order's own rubrics, prayers and calendar. "Rite" is the customary name; "use" is the accurate one. This Index files it under its uses, its category for a sanctioned, identifiable form of a rite.³

May it still be celebrated? By the letter of the 1969 rescript, yes — with the leave it describes. Whether Traditionis custodes silently narrowed that letter is the live question. The steelman for survival: a granted privilege endures unless expressly revoked, and the rescript was never named. The steelman for doubt: the 2021 legislation deliberately recentralized permissions for the older books, and silence is not obviously the same as survival. Thompson's page lays out both the rescript's text and the canonists' reasoning; consult it, and then consult the provincial.^4,10

On Domus Dei

• The Roman RiteThe rite from the fourth century and the lineage of its Missals
• Vetus OrdoThe received Roman Missal of 1962, the Dominican use's closest kin
• Novus OrdoThe Missal the Order of Preachers adopted as its norm in 1969

Official resources

• The 2 June 1969 rescript (scan, PDF)
• The Dominican Rite at Holy Rosary, Portland
• Augustine Thompson OP on the canonical status

Recommended reading

• Smith, Ignatius, “Dominican Rite”, Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, s.v. Rites, 1912.The 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia's account of the use's history and distinctive ceremonies Read online
• Thompson, Augustine (OP), “Dominican Liturgy: Current Canonical Status”, dominican-liturgy.blogspot.com, 2026.A Dominican liturgist on the rescript, the post-1969 history and the unresolved post-2021 question Read online
• Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, “De Missali Romano et novo calendario Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum (Prot. n. 98/69), 2 June 1969”, Analecta Sacri Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum 39 (1969), 1969, pp. 250-251.The 2 June 1969 rescript itself, in scan Read online
• King, Archdale A., Liturgies of the Religious Orders, London: Longmans, Green, 1955.A mid-century liturgist's chapter on the Dominican Mass Read online

Sources

1. ReferenceSmith, Ignatius, “Dominican Rite”, Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, s.v. Rites, 1912. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read in the New Advent text, the section signed IGNATIUS SMITH: its opening definition, and Humbert of Romans's revision submitted to the Chapter of Paris (1256)
2. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation for Divine Worship, “De Missali Romano et novo calendario Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum (Prot. n. 98/69), 2 June 1969”, Analecta Sacri Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum 39 (1969), 1969, pp. 250-251, p. 251, a); pp. 250–251; pp. 250-251; p. 250. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · the scan read by eye (no text layer): the Order adopts the Missale Romanum of Paul VI (p. 250); p. 251 a) the Master or a provincial 'concedere valet licentiam celebrandi Missae Sacrificium iuxta ritum dominicanum hucusque vigentem'; signed B. Card. Gut and A. Bugnini
3. ReferenceFortescue, Adrian, “Rites”, Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, 1912. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read in the New Advent text: the general part, signed ADRIAN FORTESCUE (New Advent's citation line names P. Griffin, wrongly): 'merely the Roman Rite with local additions and modifications, most of which are to its disadvantage'; dioceses (e.g. Lyons) and orders 'keep their special uses'. It misdates Quo primum to 19 July 1570 (the bull: pridie Idus Julii, 14 July), so that date is not repeated
4. ReferenceThompson, Augustine (OP), “Dominican Liturgy: Current Canonical Status”, dominican-liturgy.blogspot.com, 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read in full: post-Traditionis custodes status 'unclear'; his consulted canonists think the 2 June 1969 rescript remains in force because 'such privileges must be explicitly named in any abrogation' and it was not so named in Traditionis custodes; the rescript (Sacra Congregatio pro Cultu Divino, 2 iun. 1969, Prot. N. 98/69, Analecta SOP 39 (1969): 250-251) gave the Master authority for the whole Order and provincials the power to let friars 'celebrate Mass according to the Dominican rite then in force'; he recommends friars consult their provincial and follow his directives; Q&A (Fr. Pius Pietrzyk OP, rev. Thompson): Universae Ecclesiae n. 34 — 'Sodalibus Ordinum Religiosorum licet uti propriis libris liturgicis anno 1962 vigentibus'; in 1969 the rite 'ceased being the normal liturgical celebration of the Order' and the Order took up the Missal of Paul VI
5. ReferenceHoly Rosary Church, Portland, Oregon, The Dominican Rite. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read: 'offered Monday through Saturday at 6:00 a.m.'
6. Primary textMissale S. Ordinis Praedicatorum, Tornaci (Tournai), 1933. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · archive.org metadata for item missalesordinisp00unse: title 'Missale S. Ordinis Praedicatorum', date 1933, 802-page scan with Latin OCR. Scan not read in full
7. 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)
8. Magisterial / canonicalBenedict XVI, Summorum Pontificum, 2007. 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'
9. Magisterial / canonicalPontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Universae Ecclesiae (instruction), 2011. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read on vatican.va (English): 'usus antiquior'
10. 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'
11. ReferenceDiPippo, Gregory, “Photos of the Recent Solemn Carmelite Mass”, New Liturgical Movement, 2020. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read in full: solemn Mass in the traditional Carmelite rite, July 2020, at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middletown, NY (motherhouse of the order's North American Province); celebrant Fr Lucian Beltzner, OCarm ('who offered this Mass in his youth'), 'with the permission and encouragement of Fr Mario Esposito, OCarm, Prior Provincial of the Carmelite Friars Saint Elias Province', as an official Year of Vocations event; Fr Beltzner regularly offers the Traditional Carmelite Rite at St. Joseph's, Troy, NY; the Mass: Carmelite Litany of the Saints, Veni Sancte Spiritus and Asperges, Carmelite prayers at the foot of the altar, Carmelite Confiteor 'specifically invokes the prophet Elijah', celebrant reads at the sedilia while the subdeacon chants the Epistle, chalice prepared at the sedilia on a corporal on the celebrant's lap, arms outstretched in the form of a Cross at the Unde et memores, Last Gospel