• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Screenshots Proving “Versus Populum” Was Allowed By The 1572 Missal

Jeff Ostrowski · February 26, 2015

OT LONG AGO, a Collegeville Liturgical Press blog claimed that special exegesis is required to understand what the current Missal means when it says “turn and face the people” and subsequently “turn and face the Altar.” Moreover, that same blog wrongly claimed that “ad populum conversus” never occurs in the current Missal—an error resulting from a misunderstanding of Latin word order. It was necessary to prove them wrong with screen shots from the current Missale Romanum.

On this blog, we’ve frequently discussed a peculiar reality. The Novus Ordo Missal assumes ad orientem celebration, never mentioning ad populum. However, the Traditional Mass had special rubrics for “Mass facing the people,” although few priests celebrated that way.

I asked readers to send in screen shots of old Missals showing the “versus populum” rubrics. Someone from Indonesia has kindly sent in the following pictures of the 1572 Missale Romanum:

226 Versus Populum

Si Altare sit ad Orientem, versus populum, Celebrans versa facie ad populum, non vertit humeros ad Altare, cum dicturus est Dominus vobiscum, Orate, fratres, Ite, Missa est, vel daturus benedictionem; sed, osculato Altari in medio, ibi expansis et junctis manibus, ut supra, salutat populum, et dat benedictionem.

If the Altar faces the people, the Celebrant does not turn his back to the Altar when saying Dominus vobiscum, Orate, fratres, Ite, missa est, or when giving the blessing, but having kissed the Altar in the middle, there extending and joining his hands, as above, facing the people, greets them and gives the blessing.

227 Ad populum conversus

Si Celebrans in Altari vertit faciem ad populum, non vertit se, sed stans ut erat, benedicit populo, ut supra, in medio Altaris; deinde accedit ad cornu Evangelii, et dicit Evangelium S. Joannis.

If the Celebrant is at an Altar facing the people, he does not turn around, but standing as he was, blesses the people, as above, at the middle of the Altar. Then he goes to the Gospel side, and reads the Gospel of St. John.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ad Orientem, Versus Populum Altars Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Had the Church never spoken on this matter, it would still be repugnant to our Catholic people’s sense of what is fit and proper in the holiest of places, that a priest should have to struggle through the prayers of the Holy Mass, because of such tunes as “Alice, where art thou?” the “Vacant Chair,” and others of more vulgar title, which, through the carelessness or bad judgment of organists, sometimes find their way into our choirs.

— Preface to a Roman Catholic Hymnal (1896)

Recent Posts

  • “Go!” • The Word That Changed My Life Forever
  • Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
  • At the Cross • Stabat Mater
  • Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2023
  • PDF Download • Vespers Organ Accomp. Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent) — 24 pages

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.