Low Mass (Latin Missa Privata), p. 45. is a Mass celebrated by a priest without the assistance of sacred ministers (deacon and subdeacon). Before the 1969 reforms, a sub-distinction was also made between the sung Mass (), when the celebrant still chants those parts which the rubrics require to be chanted, and the low Mass () where the liturgy is spoken.
In a low Mass, the priest may be assisted by altar boys (acolytes) rather than deacons, and use appropriately simplified rubrics.
A full sung Mass celebrated with the assistance of sacred ministers is a High or Solemn Mass.Missa in cantu porro, si celebratur cum assistentia ministrorum sacrorum, appellatur Missa solemnis: si celebratur absque ministris sacris, vocatur Missa cantata" (Code of Rubrics, 271); "a sung Mass, when celebrated with the assistance of sacred ministers, is called a solemn or High Mass (Missa solemnis); when celebrated without sacred ministers, it is called a Missa cantata (translation by Rev. Patrick L. Murphy).
The celebration of Low Mass in the Roman Rite decreased with the 1969 reforms in the Catholic Church, but continues in Lutheranism and parts of Anglicanism.
History Low Mass originated in the early Middle Ages as a shortened or simplified form of Solemn Mass. In the early church, as in the Eastern Orthodox church today, all services were chanted, and there was no equivalent to the Roman Low Mass or to the Anglican "said celebration"., p. 15.
Masses without solemnity in early Christianity Alongside the public solemn Masses, the practice developed from the 4th century onwards, of smaller private Masses for smaller groups of believers. These masses were often celebrated in the catacombs, for the deceased or on a special anniversary. An example is provided by Saint Augustine:
Medieval origins of the Low Mass Christian practice had been that there was, at most, one Mass in a monastery or parish church each day. At Cluny in the 11th century a lay-brother (conversus) was summoned to serve any priest-monk who wanted to celebrate; rules and obligations, as the reading of a Sequence, during the celebration of the private Masses gradually fell, for reasons of convenience. This history of liturgy shows how "out of the private Mass grew the read Mass – the low Mass"., p. 229.
In the late Middle Ages, with a growing awareness of the infinite value of the Mass, came a growing desire to multiply its celebration. Spiritual, as well as material reasons were at hand. The most pronounced result of the multiplying of Masses was the increase in low Masses, since most of them were for private requests and had no public character. This trend to the private and the subjective, to an independence from the grand order of things was also displayed in another abuse, namely, setting aside the arrangement of the ecclesiastical year and confining oneself to Votive Masses either chosen at will or arranged according to the rules of the Mass series., p. 131. Over time it became necessary for a variety of reasons to celebrate more than one on the same day. It also became customary for monasteries to ordain most of their monks, though originally monks were almost all laymen, and for every priest to say a daily Mass. For a while, concelebration, whereby several priests took a full priestly part in offering Mass, provided all with the possibility to celebrate Mass each day, but this custom died out. Low Mass is considered to be a necessity that falls short of the ideal, which is Solemn Mass.
The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 describes the result as follows:
By the end of the Middle Ages, critics had grown more numerous, and mystics, such as Nicholas of Cusa, or bishops, attempted a spiritual and disciplinary reform, to avoid scandals of botched Masses and abuse of stipends. A special work of Martin Luther's deals with "the abomination of the low Mass called the canon" (Von dem Greuel der Stillmesse so man Canon nennet, 1524). His criticisms were such that priests, who had been living on Mass stipends, could no longer do so as easily, even in staunchly Catholic areas as the Archbishopric of Salzburg., quoted by Jungmann.
Tridentine Reform The Council of Trent was concerned above all with the "Low Mass" (that is, with a liturgy that was recited and not sung), which had become the ordinary form of the Eucharistic celebration in the parishes. The Roman Missal revised after the Council of Trent appears as a work that defines, above all, the rituals of "Low Mass" or the "private Mass". Some have argued that in giving priority to the "Low Mass", a practice developed of making the Eucharistic celebration an act of private devotion by the priest, whereas the faithful were simply invited to attend the Mass and to unite their prayers with it as sincerely as possible as a certain individualism developed alongside the devotio moderna..
Those who during the Counter-Reformation attempted to rebuild religious life had to look for different ways and means to enable the faithful to participate in a devout manner. One of the ways was to encourage vocal prayer during Mass, to meditate on the mysteries of the life of Christ by praying the Rosary, a practise which had existed locally since the Middle Ages, but which become popular under the influence of the popular missions organized by the Jesuits., p. 145. The German Singmesse, which added sung hymns to the Low Mass, gradually won great popularity, to the place that it began to take over the Solemn Mass., p. 156.
By the mid-20th century, a new form of the Low Mass, the missa dialogata, appeared as a new mode of encouraging the participation of the faithful. In the Low Mass, the alternation of functions between priest, lector, singing choir and people had been leveled off to a uniform speaking by the priest alone. However, the Low Mass had acquired such a great preponderance over the various forms of high Mass that without further ado it was used as the groundwork for the development of the dialogue Mass. In essentials nevertheless, the High Mass had to set the norm. Various local churches went in various directions and the so-called Betsingmesse ("pray and sing mass") very quickly gained recognition since its first trial use at the Vienna Catholic Day in 1933., p. 163. No changes affected the Missale Romanum, neither its texts nor its rubrics, as the changes concerned the participation of the faithful solely.
The Tridentine Mass defined officially in the Code of Rubrics included in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal is a Mass in which the priest does not chant the parts that the rubrics assign to him."Missarum species duae sunt: Missa in cantu et Missa lecta. Missa dicitur in cantu, si sacerdos celebrans partes ab ipso iuxta rubricas cantandas revera cantu profert: secus dicitur lecta; "Masses are of two kinds: sung Masses (in cantu) and low Masses (Missa lecta)).
Modern Catholic writer Stratford Caldecott has suggested that the Low Mass is so influential it may now be considered the real model of the post-Vatican II Mass., p. 78.
In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI introduced an optional novelty into the traditional Low Mass: in Masses with a congregation celebrated according to the 1962 Missal, the vernacular language, and not Latin alone, may be used in proclaiming the Scripture readings, provided that the translation used comes from an edition approved by the Holy See.Pope Benedict XVI, motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 6
"Private Mass"
"Private Mass" (in Latin, Missa privata or secreta, familiaris, peculiaris),William Edward Addis, Thomas Arnold, A Catholic Dictionary, p. 555 which is now understood as Mass celebrated without a congregation (sine populo), formerly meant any Low Mass, even with a large congregation."Private Mass. Formerly the same as Low Mass. Now applied to the Mass that a priest says privately, without a congregation" (John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary (1980)"At first the expression 'private mass' meant what used to be called a 'low mass', i.e., one without the normal solemnity and not considered the celebration of the entire community. Only later in the period did it come to mean masses celebrated by the priest alone" ( Paul Bernier, Ministry in the Church: a historical and pastoral approach, p. 298)"The variations in the ceremonies practised in the celebration of the Eucharist make a division into two heads easy: missa solemnis and missa privata" (Edward Godfrey Cuthbert Frederic Atchley, Percy Dearmer, John Wickham Legg, Edmund Bishop, Essays on Ceremonial, p. 68) In editions of the Roman Missal earlier than that of 1962, "Missa privata" was still contrasted with "Missa solemnis".For example, in Rubricae generales Missalis, XVI, which deals with what parts of the Mass should be said aloud and which parts so quietly that only the priest himself can hear. In 1960 Pope John XXIII, who in 1962 removed from the Roman Missal the section headed Rubricae generales Missalis, replacing it with his Code of Rubrics, decried use of the term "Missa privata": "The most sacred Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated according to the rites and regulations is an act of public worship offered to God in the name of Christ and the Church. Therefore, the term 'private Mass' should be avoided."Rubricae Generales Missalis Romani, 269) When applied to Low Mass in general, the word privata indicated that that form of Mass was deprived of certain ceremonies.The Rosary Magazine, 1908, p. 665
Structure of the Low Mass
The Eucharistic celebration is "one single act of worship" but consists of different elements, which always include "the proclamation of the Word of God; thanksgiving to God the Father for all his benefits, above all the gift of his Son; the consecration of bread and wine, which signifies also our own transformation into the body of Christ;1 Corinthians 10:17 and participation in the liturgical banquet by receiving the Lord's body and blood".
Low Mass, celebrated in exactly the same way whether a congregation is present or not, was the most common form of Mass before 1969. In the 1970 edition of the Roman Missal a distinctionOther distinctions include that, within Mass celebrated with a congregation, between Mass with a deacon and Mass without a deacon (see General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 120-186). was made between Mass celebrated with a congregation and Mass celebrated without a congregation.General Instruction of the Roman Missal (1970 edition), Chapter IV: "I. Mass with a Congregation ... III. Mass without a Congregation" No such distinction was made in earlier (Tridentine) editions of the Roman Missal, which only distinguished between Solemn Mass and Low Mass (calling the latter Missa lecta or, as in the Rubricae generales Missalis included in pre-1962 editions, Missa privata).
The structure of the Tridentine Low Mass was generally the same as that of the Solemn High Mass. However, prayers after Mass, including the Leonine prayers, were added. The main celebrant is not assisted by a deacon nor subdeacon, nor is he answered by a choir, but one or two altar servers follow their duties as acolytes, and answer the responses in Latin. All prayers are recited and no singing is expected. The incensement rite is not included. The faithful were expected to kneel for most of the Mass, except for the proclamation of the Gospel., p. 117.
Variations National variations Originally, Low Mass was sung in monotone. Thus we read of priests in the Middle Ages going to sing their "Missa privata" or "Low Mass". This custom of singing died out in the 18th century. Much of the Tridentine Low Mass is said in a voice audible only to the celebrating priest and the server(s).