DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THE ORDINARY OF THE TRIDENTINE MASS
AND THE NOVUS ORDO MISSAE


 
Firstly, a few key names to define:

Tridentine Mass: the traditional Mass that was codified through the Council of Trent (1545-63) - hence the name, Tridentine, meaning "of Trent" - by St. Pope Pius V as the standard liturgy in the Western Church. It does, however, go back in its essentials to St. Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) and beyond.

Novus Ordo Missae (New Order of Mass): the new liturgy as introduced in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It was a radical re-write of the previous Roman rite (the Tridentine Mass), performed by the Consilium (liturgical committee) after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

Cranmer: Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) was the apostate Archbishop of Canterbury who destroyed the Catholic faith in England through liturgical change according to his Protestant views. He introduced two main new liturgical books: the 1549 service that was a compromise between the Catholic rite before and a fully-blown Protestant service, and the 1552 service that truly embodied his Protestant beliefs. He was burnt at the stake during the reign of Queen Mary of Tudor, convicted of heresy (a capital crime at that time).

The Sarum rite: The Sarum rite was a usage of the Roman rite as celebrated in England until the Reformation. Essentially, it is the same as the traditional Roman rite (codified as the Tridentine Mass), but with local variations due to regional customs and traditions.
 

The Tridentine Mass

1. Entitled "The Mass"
 

 

The Novus Ordo Missae

Cranmer entitled his 1549 service: "The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion commonly called the Mass".
The Novus Ordo Missae was entitled "The Lord's Supper or Mass" in the original Article 7. The term "Lord's Supper" is still included in the revised Article 7.
 

2. Celebrated in Latin.
  		  Cranmer's Lord's Supper celebrated in the vernacular.
The Novus Ordo Missae celebrated in the vernacular.
 
3. Much of the Mass said inaudibly.
  		  Cranmer's service one of public praise and thanksgiving and therefore said audibly.
Novus Ordo Missae said audibly throughout.
 
4. Celebrated on an eastward-facing altar.
  		  Cranmer's service celebrated on a table facing the people.
Novus Ordo Missae celebrated on what is clearly intended to be a table facing the people.
 
5. The Psalm Judica me, unacceptable to Protestants in virtue of its reference to the "altar of God".
  		  Suppressed by Cranmer (Cranmer's Godly Order, p. 101).
Suppressed in the Novus Ordo Missae.
 
6. Double Confiteor distinguishes between priest and people, which is unacceptable to Protestants as is the invocation of saints.
  		  Cranmer abolished the Confiteor (Cranmer's Godly Order p. 101).
The double Confiteor has been suppressed in the Novus Ordo Missae thus blurring the distinction between priest and people. A truncated Confiteor invoking the angels and saints is included as an option but other penitential rites containing no such invocation and thus completely acceptable to Protestants are provided.
 
7. The prayer Aufer a nobis evokes Old Testament sacrifice with its reference to the Holy of Holies which the High Priest entered to offer the blood of the sacrificial victim.
  		  Suppressed in the Novus Ordo Missae.
 
8. The prayer Oramus te, Domine refers to the relics in the altar stone.
  		  The use of an altar stone is no longer obligatory for movable altars or when Mass is celebrated outside a consecrated building. An altar stone is only "commended" for permanent altars (Institutio Generalis 265-6). The prayer has been suppressed in the Novus Ordo Missae.
 
9. Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Collect, Epistle, Gospel, Creed.
  		  Retained by Cranmer.
Retained in Novus Ordo Missae.
 
10. The Offertory Prayers:
Suscipe, sante Pater Deus, qui humanae Offerimus tibi, Domine In spiritu humilitatis Veni, sanctificator omnipotens; Suscipe, sancta rinitas.
  		  Comparable prayers in the Sarum rite suppressed by Cranmer (Cranmer's Godly Order, pp. 101-2).
All these prayers suppressed in the Novus Ordo Missae but for an extract from the Deus, qui humanae and the In spiritu humilitatis (see p. 322).
 
11. Orate fratres.
  		  Suppressed by Cranmer and suppressed by the Consilium in the draft for the Missae Normativa. Restored as a result of pressure at the 1967 Synod in Rome (see p. 324).
 
12. Secret Prayers (Proper of the Mass).
  		  These prayers often contain specifically sacrificial terminology. They were abolished by Cranmer but have been retained in the Novus Ordo Missae though frequently emasculated in the ICEL translations. As these prayers do not form part of the Ordinary they do not provide an obstacle to achieving an ecumenical Ordinary.
 
13. Sursum corda dialogue Preface, Sanctus.
  		  Retained by Cranmer.
Retained in Novus Ordo Missae.
 
14. Roman Canon.
  		  Abolished by Cranmer.
Retained as an option in the Novus Ordo Missae, which also contains a Canon (Eucharistic Prayer II) which some Protestants consider acceptable. It makes no distinction between priest and people and does not include the word "Hostia" (victim).
 
15. The Consecration Formula.
  		  This was considerably modified by Cranmer and the Novus Ordo Missae has incorporated his most important modifications. This was demonstrated in Chapter XV which examines Canon II in detail.
 
16. The prayer Libera nos after the Pater noster.
  		  Luther and Cranmer abolished this prayer, owing to the invocation of saints at its conclusion.
A modified version has been retained in the Novus Ordo Missae with no invocation of saints.
 
17. Haec commixtio.
  		  A version of this prayer in the Sarum Missal was abolished by Cranmer.
A modified version of the prayer has been retained in the Novus Ordo Missae but with the significant omission of the word "consecratio."
 
18. Domine Jesu Christe, qui dixisti.
  		  This prayer did not occur in the Sarum rite but contains nothing to which a Protestant could object beyond the words "ne respicias peccata mea" in which the priest asks forgiveness for his personal sins. This is another prayer distinguishing between the priest and layman, and in the Novus Ordo Missae "peccata mea" has been changed to "peccata nostra" - "our sins."
 
19. Domine Jesu Christi, Fili Dei and Perceptio Corporis tui.
  		  Modified versions of these prayers are included in the Novus Ordo Missae, one of which the priest says in his personal capacity before Communion. It is a matter for some satisfaction that such a prayer is included. Too much significance should not be attached to to use of realistic language regarding the Real Presence in these prayers. It was primarily sacrificial language which the Reformers wished to eliminate. They were able to reconcile the use of language apparently expressing belief in the Real Presence with their own theories e.g. Cranmer's prayer cited in Cranmer's Godly Order, p. 108.
 
20. The Communion Rite
(a) Communion given to the laity under one kind.
  		 
(a) Communion given under both kinds in Cranmer's service.
The occasions when this is done in the Novus Ordo Missae are multiplying. It is already permitted at all Sunday Masses in the U.S.A. (see Chapter XXI).
 
(b) Traditional style altar breads.
  		  (b) the relevant rubric in Cranmer's 1549 rite states that altar breads should be: "unleavened, and round, as it was before, but without all manner of print, and something more larger and thicker than it was, so that it may be aptly divided in two pieces, at the least, or more by the discretion of the minister."
Article 283 of the General Instruction reads: "Bread used for the Eucharist even though unleavened and of the traditional shape, ought to be made in such a way that the priest, when celebrating with a congregation, can break it into pieces and distribute these to at least some of the faithful."
 
(c) The Host is placed on the tongue of the kneeling communicant by a priest.
  		  (c) Cranmer retained all three traditional practices in his 1549 rite but in the 1552 rite Communion was given in the hand to signify that the bread was ordinary bread and the priest did not differ in essence from a layman (see p. 464).
Communion is now given in the hand in almost every Western country (though not Poland or Italy) but the Novus Ordo Missae has outcranmered Cranmer by allowing communicants to stand and received from a lay minister.
 
21. Quod ore sumpsimus and Corpus tuum.
  		  The explicit references to the Real Presence included in these prayers would not commend them to Protestants, although Luther felt able to retain them owing to his theory of consubstantiation. The Quod ore was not in the Sarum Rite, but the corpus tuum was, and Cranmer suppressed it.
Both were suppressed in the New Mass, but the Quod ore was subsequently restored.
 
22. Placeat tibi.
  		  The Placeat tibi was a bete noire for Protestants (see Cranmer's Godly Order, p. 109).
This prayer alone would have rendered the Novus Ordo Missae unacceptable to them had it been retained. Following the example of Luther, Cranmer, and other Reformers, the Consilium suppressed this prayer.
 
23. Last Gospel
  		  There is nothing in the Last Gospel incompatible with Protestantism but its retention in the Novus Ordo Missae would have clashed with the pattern of Protestant Communion services which conclude with a blessing. The Consilium suppressed it.
 
24. Leonine Prayers
  		  The prayers after Mass do not form part of the Ordinary itself but in practice appeared as an integral part of the liturgy. Five prayers less compatible with Protestantism would hardly be imagined. They have been suppressed by the Consilium.
 


"Pope Paul's New Mass" (Published  by The Angelus Press, 1980) by Michael Davies