Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Vesting Prayers, Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar and Prayers After Low Mass

Hello everyone. Now that my customer's custom-designed High Mass Altar Cards are being printed, I thought that this would be a good time to point out the supplemental Latin Mass Cards that we offer for the Roman Catholic Tridentine Mass. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the Latin Mass may not be aware that there are several more Mass cards that priests use to celebrate Mass with.

A priest preparing to celebrate the 1,500 year-old Tridentine Mass is akin to a surgeon preparing for surgery on a very important patient is how I picture him.

The celebrating priest takes his responsibility very, very seriously. He prepares himself beforehand in the Sacristy by saying special Hand Washing Prayers. (We have made index card sized Hand Washing Prayers but they are also included on Vesting Prayer Cards.) Then, as he puts his robes on, he says special Vesting Prayers. Pictured here are our red Vesting Prayers which have Latin on one side and English on the other. We also have designed them in blue.

Leaving the Sacristy and approaching the altar with his server(s), the priest and server say the Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar. Remember, the Tridentine is very structured and steeped in tradition. It is truly beautiful. Pictured on the right is our Latin version. By request, we recently designed an English version too.

Please forgive me if I am not explaining this very well. I am a mere layman. Only a priest could really tell this story well.

Anyway, next, the altar cards kick in. The three altar cards have specific prayers on them and recited in a certain order. We have available High Mass Altar Cards (when a priest uses incense), Low Mass Altar Cards (most daily and Sunday use), and Requiem Altar Cards for funerals.

After Mass, and, I'm a little unsure here, but, at least sometimes, priests use the Benediction Prayers. I don't know if they use them all of the time. Although we have designed some, to date no one has requested them.

Next, the priest says the Prayers After Low Mass, also known as the Leonine Prayers after Pope Leo XIII. The Leonine Prayers are very lovely. As I've entered the texts and read them, they are very touching and special. I especially like the short version prayer to St Michael The Archangel. I liked it so much that I researched and found the long version and have made a print of it available.

That's the gist of it from this unknowledgeable layman. I am so unskilled that I can't even read Latin. But, at least you have a bit of an overview. For anyone who would like more information, I'm sure that there are priests near you who would love to share with you some of the intricacies of the Latin Mass.

No comments: