To understand what the Church is trying to accomplish with the new translation, it might be helpful to start by asking an often overlooked question: What exactly is the Roman Missal? 

The Roman Missal 

Put simply, the Roman Missal is the text used primarily by priests in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Its major divisions begin with those prayers associated with the liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, the Sacred Triduum, Easter and Ordinary Time. In addition to these prayers, the first section contains prayers associated with those solemnities of the Lord celebrated during Ordinary Time. These include Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Christ the King. Following these prayers is the Order of Mass itself, including the Eucharistic Prayers and the Solemn Blessings that may be prayed over the people. This section is followed by the Proper of Saints, involving the prayers associated with the various saints’ days on the liturgical calendar. After the saints comes the Commons, Ritual Masses and Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, providing prayers as their names suggest for ritual Masses (baptism, weddings, confirmation) as well as Masses for a variety of needs. The final two primary sections offer various Votive Masses (Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary, Precious Blood) and Masses and Prayers for the Dead. The one missal with its prayers, rubrics and particular structure provide a cohesive and unifying dynamic to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

History of Liturgical Books 

At the beginnings of her life, the Church did not have fixed books that contained prayers. As the liturgical books developed they were often structured according to the various ministries exercised during the celebration of the sacraments. There were created slowly — for example, formularies for prayers associated with the various rituals performed by the priest, such as baptism and the reconciliation of penitents. So, too, these liturgical books were often structured in order to facilitate the use of the various ministers: a book of lessons (Lectionary) for the lectors, antiphons and psalms for the cantor, and the Gospels to be chanted for the deacons. There also emerged books to be used by the bishop in celebration of ordinations, consecration of churches and confirmation. 

Over time, compilations were made of the various sources that were collected into a book of the sacraments that would have various prayers and rubrics for their celebration but that would not contain everything that was needed. These early so-called sacramentaries have been attributed to two popes, St. Leo the Great (r. 590-604) and Gelasius I (492-496), and served as the beginnings of a long process of bringing all these disparate sources into one place. Since the only means to achieve this was to copy everything by hand, mistakes were often made in texts, in prayers and in the rubrics themselves, corrected sometimes in the margins and then passed on for use by another local church. At various stages of this history, the Church in the person of the pope or particular bishops would intervene to provide clarity to the rubrics, to guarantee the orthodoxy of prayers and conformity to the theology of the faith, or to provide affirmation for existing liturgical practices. 

Focus on Unity 

The Roman Missal as we now know it traces its origins to the uniting of the prayers, readings and rubrics into one text in the middle of the 15th century. The Council of Trent (16th century) made the use of such a book, entitled Missale Romanum, obligatory for the whole Latin Church. Since the promulgation of the Missale Romanum there have been eight editions set forth by popes, reflecting the organic development of the liturgy and the responsibility of the Church to oversee this development for the sake of orthodox teaching and prayer. While the exercise of this oversight has varied throughout history, the Church has always sought to guarantee that the manner in which we prayed reflected what it is that we believe as a Church. Because of this, the history of the books themselves and the intervention of the magisterium throughout history display a respect for the organic development of the liturgy as well as a desire to safeguard the authentic teaching of the Church. The history also reveals the great, sometimes painstaking, efforts made by the Church to provide for the well-being of the faithful by guaranteeing and giving to them a faithful liturgy which adheres to that which Christ intended for us. 

No one, of course, would dispute the responsibility of the Church to govern how she prays; indeed, it would manifest some degree of neglect if the Church did not take a particular interest in how the faithful under the guidance of her priests gathered together for the celebration of the sacred mysteries. If all aspects of the liturgy fall within the competence of the Church, then this includes the language that is used. The new translation is an expression of the Church’s desire to preserve authentically her heritage, to foster the unity of those who profess faith in Christ and His Church, and to invigorate the celebration so that it facilitates a true, fruitful and vital adoration of God and allows for the sanctification of man. 

It would appear to be asking a great deal of one text to perform such a task, holding together the diverse peoples, languages and cultural experiences that comprise the Roman (Latin-rite) Catholic Church. It is precisely because of this rich diversity that the Church insists upon faithful translations and adherence to these translations. This unity is accomplished in a particular way through the proper and faithful celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a vernacular that reflects the dignity and solemnity of what is being celebrated. 

In the next issue, we will look closely at the new text itself to help appreciate further the beauty of the new translation. We should all anticipate with joy what the Church is providing for her faithful children: inspiring language for us to communicate with our loving God by a celebration of the Paschal Mystery of our Savior sustained by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit! TCA 

Msgr. C. Eugene Morris, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, serves as director of Sacred Liturgy for the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.