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The Indult Tridentine Rite of Mass
Prior to the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae (New Order of Mass) by Pope Paul VI in 1970, the whole of the Roman or Latin Rite used the old Missale Romanum, which contains a rite that had existed for nearly two thousand years. This rite of Mass has been called the Tridentine rite since the introduction of the New Mass. The adjective Tridentine refers to the city of Tridentum, or Trent, Italy, where the 19th Ecumenical Council, the Council of Trent, was held in the mid-sixteenth century.
The Council of Trent was convoked to defeat the new Protestant heresy that had begun early in the 1500s with Martin Luther, and also with the creation of the Church of England by King Henry VIII. This heresy which spawned Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, and most of the other non-Catholic Christian sects of today threatened to turn Europe upside-down. Dogmas and disciplines that were central to the Catholic Faith were being challenged at every turn by these heretics that claimed to know more than Holy Mother Church about what God wanted from us. Among the dogmas that were being challenged were primarily these: transubstantiation (the bread and wine were truly and completely changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, leaving only the "accidents" or appearances of bread and wine); "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus" ("No salvation outside the Church", only the Catholic Church was founded by Christ and meant to be His instrument of salvation for all mankind); and a ministerial priesthood (who received the Sacrament of Holy Orders from bishops; this delegated the power to forgive and retain sins, as well as the power to confect the Eucharist). Certain disciplines that had been used in the Church, but were not dogmatic, that were challenged included priestly (and monastic) celibacy, the prayers of Mass only in Latin (in the Roman Rite), and communion by the laity under one species alone, just to name a few. The Pope saw that reform within the Church was indeed needed; however, the reform that was needed was far different than that called for by the so-called "Reformers" who were Protestants. All over Europe, the Mass was said in Latin. However, there were variations between Masses in different locations. Changes to the Mass were often made without approval from Rome, and some of these changes could be seriously detrimental to the Faith, especially if the changes were influenced by Protestants (or any other type of heretic, for that matter).
Needless to say, the Pope realized that a Council needed to be called in an effort to halt these errors and try to bring these heretics back into the fold of the Church. During the Council, it was decided that the Mass would be codified into law, and that all rites that had not existed for at least two hundred years prior to the Council would be forbidden in the West. (Obviously, the Eastern rites of the Church such as the Maronites, who used Aramaic instead of Latin, and other Eastern Catholics were not affected by this.) The Council of Trent was the driving force of the Counter-Reformation, and set the tone of Western Catholicism for the next four hundred years.
In 1570, after the conclusion of the Council of Trent, Pope St. Pius V codified the Mass into the official Missale Romanum with the papal bull Quo Primum Tempore (a.k.a. Quo Primum). This missal became the standard for all Masses in the West, except for very tiny groups such as the Ambrosian Rite, practiced in Milan for over one thousand years and founded by St. Ambrose. This official missal underwent minor changes through the years between 1570 and 1962. Just about anywhere one went in the world, the Mass was the same. While some believed that the universal uniformity of the Mass was too rigid, most Church officials felt that it did what was intended: it ensured the orthodoxy of the liturgy, and it truly made the liturgy universal, just as the Catholic Church is called to be universal ("catholic" means "universal").
In 1965, a relatively major change was made to the Mass: the prayers at the foot of the altar (which begin "Introibo ad altare Dei..." and end before the Sign of the Cross) were omitted. This caused some consternation among Catholics, but the great changes were yet to come. Of course, the year 1965 coincides with a truly great event: the close of the Second Vatican Council, the 21st Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council lasted from 1962 to 1965, and was the largest gathering of Catholic bishops in history. This Council, often called Vatican II, was convoked by Pope John XXIII in order to "update" the Church into the modern world. That does not mean that the moral standards of the Church were ever called into question; right and wrong never change. However, there were disciplines that many felt were antiquated and perhaps needed to be reevaluated. For this resaon, most of the world's bishops met in St. Peter's Basilica and in individual committees to draw up documents relating to the Church in the modern world, four hundred years after Trent, and one hundred after the First Vatican Council. Many great documents on the Church were drafted; they dealt with the liturgy, the participation of the laity, religious freedom and conscience, and even relations with the non-Christian religions of the world. While some ideas were expressed differently than they were in the past, no new dogmas were defined, and nothing in Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture was contradicted (as many today would have one believe). In relating to the liturgy, it was suggested that the laity be given a chance to participate more than they had previously. Also, where necessary, the Mass might be allowed in the vernacular language rather than in Latin. During the Council, Pope John XXIII passed away and was replaced by a new Pope: Paul VI.
Though the legitimacy of the Council CANNOT be called into question (to do so is heresy), there were many problems surrounding Vatican II. In all the "updating" of the Church that was happening, many "progressive" bishops wanted to change the Church in ways the Council never intended. Also, many conservative bishops did not want to implement changes mandated by the Council. There was much debate within the Church that caused great divisions among Catholics that lasts even to this day, over thirty-five years after Vatican II. Many of the directives were misinterpreted, or at the very least, taken to extremes. Many, many terrible things were done to churches that were done purportedly "in the spirit of Vatican II," yet these things were never intended by either Pope that presided over the Council. So-called "renovations" of churches have taken place, and continue to take place, throughout the world. These "renovations" have caused beautiful statues, reliquaries, tabernacles, communion rails, paintings, altars, baptismal fonts, crucifixes, and other fixtures to be destroyed or moved out of sight. This iconoclastic attitude toward many older churches hearkens back to the sixteenth century, when the Lutherans went through Germany destroying sacred art and other sacred objects, calling them "idolatrous". A similar event happened during the Reign of Terror in France, when many churches were vandalized, not the least of them the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, which was dubbed the "Temple of Reason".
The main difference between these two events and the one that is happening in modern times is this: the first events were done by enemies of the Church; the latter event is being done by those who are supposed to be friends of the Church. Another abuse of the "spirit" of the Council was the absolute abandonment of Latin in the liturgy and Gregorian chant. While the Council did allow for the use of the vernacular, it specifically stated that Latin was to remain the official language of the Church and of Her prayers. The vernacular was primarily intended for use in places that did not previously know Catholicism, and would only be used until the Faith was established there. Many bishops, however, said that most people today do not know Latin, and therefore Latin could be abandoned, even in the seminaries, monasteries, and convents. (Instead of correcting the problem, i.e., foster a love of Latin among Roman Rite Catholics, their solution only exacerbated it.) Also, Gregorian chant, which was to be retained as the preferred sacred music of the Mass, was replaced by folk songs and hymns similar to those sung in the more liberal Protestant churches. Note well: the abandonment of Latin and Gregorian chant were not mandated by the bishops (and most certainly not by the Council), yet it was tolerated in most places. In fact, no bishop of the Roman Rite can prohibit the use of the Latin version of the Novus Ordo Missae (which, in fact, is the official version) or the use of Gregorian chant in his diocese, precisely because they should be the preferred usages in the Mass. (On a side note: Some priests, when asked, have told members of their congregations that they do not know where to procure a Latin version of the Mass. I have never known this to be the case because all altar missals have both the Latin and the vernacular translations in one book, as far as I have seen.)
