Premonstratensian Use

In Brief

The Premonstratensian Use — the Norbertine Rite — is the Mass of the canons regular of Prémontré: the Roman Mass with the Order's own variants in Mass, Office and Penance. The Canon is substantially Rome's, down to a slight variation in the sign made with the paten. Today its public home is St Michael's Abbey in Silverado, California, where the canons sing a solemn high Latin Mass in the Norbertine Rite on Sunday at noon.^1,2

Where to Experience It

St Michael's Abbey, Silverado, California: Sundays at noon, the "Norbertine Rite Solemn High Latin Mass". That is the documented current use — one abbey, one Mass a week, open to the faithful who come.²

Your First Visit

Come on a Sunday for noon. It is a solemn high Latin Mass — sung, with the older structure of the Roman Mass — celebrated by the Norbertine canons in their own rite. The abbey's schedule is the authority for the hour; confirm it before traveling.

The Shape of the Liturgy

What the sources describe is a full liturgical use, not a handful of local touches: the Norbertine Mass differs from Rome's in the Mass itself, in the Office and in Penance. The Canon, though, is substantially identical — the one noted variation is a slight difference in the sign made with the paten.¹

The shape a visitor meets at St Michael's is the solemn high form: the older Mass sung in full, in Latin, by the abbey's canons. The use's differences live in the details of that celebration — the Order's own prayers and gestures around the Roman Canon — rather than in any structural departure from the Roman Mass.^1,2

What makes it distinctive

• A Sunday solemn high Latin Mass at St Michael's Abbey, Silverado, California — the use's public home today.²
• The Roman Canon, substantially identical, with a slight variation in the sign made with the paten.¹
• Differs from Rome in Mass, Office and Penance — a full liturgical use, not a few local touches.¹

History

The canons regular of Prémontré — Norbertines, after their founder Norbert — took shape in the twelfth century as a reform of the canonical life, and like every medieval order they prayed their own use of the Roman Mass.¹ Old enough by 1570, it passed under Pius V's exemption for customs older than 200 years and kept its books.⁵

The last pre-conciliar printing documented is the Missale Praemonstratense of 1936, scanned on archive.org.⁴ The use contracted after the Council to the houses that kept the old books. St Michael's Abbey — the California house whose Sunday Mass is documented here — is the house that kept it publicly, week by week, in solemn form. This page does not claim the whole Order uses it today: the evidence seen supports one place, St Michael's Abbey, and its Sunday Mass.²

Milestones

1. 12th centuryThe Order of canons regular takes shape at Prémontré, with its own liturgical use¹
2. 1570Pius V's Quo primum exempts uses with a custom older than 200 years from the imposed Roman books⁵
3. 1936The Missale Praemonstratense printed — the last pre-conciliar edition documented⁴
4. 2026St Michael's Abbey lists a Sunday 'Norbertine Rite Solemn High Latin Mass' at noon²

Texts & Books

The book is the Missale Praemonstratense, the Order's own Missal. The 1936 printing is the last edition documented here; its scan is on archive.org.⁴ Which books St Michael's Abbey celebrates from is not stated on the abbey's schedule — the schedule names the rite and the hour, not the edition. This page does not fill the gap.²

Theology & Spirit

A canonry is a parish and a monastery at once: canons regular serve the Church's pastoral life from a common, contemplative rule. The Norbertine use fits that double vocation — Rome's Mass, kept distinct enough to mark the Order's own corporate prayer, in Mass, Office and Penance alike. Where it survives today it survives as a Sunday solemnity, the canons' own rite offered for whoever comes.

Family & Relations

It is a use of the Roman Rite, in the old sense: the Roman Canon with the Order's own rubrics and books.^1,3 Its closest kin is the Vetus Ordo: the same Canon, the same pre-conciliar horizon. Among the order uses it belongs with the Dominican — kept by permission and occasional celebration rather than as a norm — rather than with the Carthusian, whose whole Order still prays its own revised books.^6,7

Compare with

• Vetus Ordo: the received Roman Missal; the Norbertine use keeps the Canon substantially identical while differing in Mass, Office and Penance¹
• Dominican Use: the other mendicant-style order use kept by permission and occasional celebration rather than as a norm⁶

The Rite Today

One abbey, one Mass a week: St Michael's Abbey lists the Sunday noon "Norbertine Rite Solemn High Latin Mass" on its hours schedule.² That is what the sources seen establish, and this page claims no more. It does not claim that the Norbertine use died after the Council — St Michael's proves otherwise — and it does not claim that the Order at large celebrates it. The honest statement is the small one: the old Norbertine Mass is still sung, on Sundays, in Silverado.

As of 20 September 2026.

Disputed Questions

Go Deeper

The open question is the books. The abbey's schedule is exact about the rite and the hour and silent about the edition — and a use lives in its books. The 1936 Missale Praemonstratense is the last printed Missal documented; whether St Michael's celebrates from it, from an earlier printing, or from a reprint made for the purpose, the schedule does not say. This page leaves the question open rather than answering it from assumption. What is certain is the smaller fact, and it is enough: the Norbertine Rite is not a museum entry. It is sung, weekly, in Latin, by canons.^2,4

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 Norbertine use's closest kin

Official resources

• St Michael's Abbey — Hours Schedule

Recommended reading

• Rybrook, G., “Premonstratensian Rite”, Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, s.v. Rites, 1912.The 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia's account of the use and its differences from Rome Read online
• King, Archdale A., Liturgies of the Religious Orders, London: Longmans, Green, 1955.A mid-century liturgist's chapter on the Premonstratensian Mass Read online
• Missale Praemonstratense, 1936.The 1936 Missal itself, scanned Read online

Sources

1. ReferenceRybrook, G., “Premonstratensian Rite”, Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, s.v. Rites, 1912. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read in the New Advent text, the section signed G. RYBROOK: 'The Norbertine rite differs from the Roman'; 'The canon is identical, with the exception of a slight variation'
2. Primary textSt. Michael's Abbey, Silverado, California, Hours Schedule. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read: Sunday, '12:00 p.m. Norbertine Rite Solemn High Latin Mass'
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. Primary textMissale Praemonstratense, 1936. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · archive.org metadata for item missale-praemonstratense-1936: title 'Missale Praemonstratense 1936', community scan uploaded 2021-12-30, with Latin OCR. Scan not read in full
5. 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)
6. 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). 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
7. Primary textOrdre des Chartreux, “The Liturgy”, chartreux.org. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read in full: 'Texts and rubrics were revised in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Second Vatican Council'; the Order 'has preserved its own rite of Mass', dating from the 11th-12th centuries, 'a branch of the Roman Rite'; 'the Carthusian liturgy is always celebrated in Latin', with 'silence and sobriety'; no instruments or polyphony; proper Gregorian chant; limited concelebration (Sundays and major feasts); prostration at the consecration; priest generally alone in the sanctuary; no final blessing; Latin 'always used' for noted chant, psalmody varies by house, readings in the vernacular