Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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TRIDENTINE MASS

The Eucharistic liturgy celebrated in the Latin Rite according to the Roman Missal promulgated by the apostolic constitution Quo Primum of Pope Pius V on July 14, 1570. A revised missal was decreed by the Council of Trent in order to unify what by then had become a variety of "Roman Rites" that had proliferated since the Middle Ages. "For four centuries it furnished the priests of the Latin Rite with norms for the celebration of the eucharistic Sacrifice, and heralds of the Gospel carried it to almost all the world" (Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution, promulgated the Roman Missal revised by decree of the Second Vatican Council, April 3, 1969). (Etym. Latin Tridentinus, from Tridentum, ancient form of Trent.)