Summary
At the CIEL conference on February 5, 2026, Prof. Dom Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., presented his latest work titled “The liturgicals book of the Roman Rite.” His first intervention examined the typology and history of the Ordo Missae in the Roman tradition, focusing on its evolution from the Middle Ages to the post-conciliar period. Prof. Folsom defined the term Ordo Missae as a flexible sequence of private prayers and gestures of the celebrant during the rites of entrance, offertory, and communion. He argued that this material stabilized in the Ordinarium Missae by the 13th century, which culminated in the Roman Missal of 1570. Folsom noted three major types of Ordo Missae: the apologetic type from the Carolingian period, characterized by long penitential prayers for the priest’s interior preparation; the Frankish type with organized sequences and brief rubrics; and the Renanian type, which developed in the area around the Rhine (such as Saint Gallé, Reichenau, Magonza). The Renanian Ordo Missae became more integrated into the Mass flow and less dependent on apologetic elements. From 1570 to 1962, changes were minor, but with the issuance of Inter oecumenici (1964) and Tres abhinc annos (1967), followed by the publication of the Missale Romanum in 1970, the Ordo Missae’s nature changed significantly. It no longer primarily expressed the personal piety of the priest but became a structure involving both the priest and congregation explicitly. Folsom reduced apologetic prayers, symbolic gestures, and sacrificial allusions during the offertory in favor of linear, functional participation by the laity.
Key Topics
Medieval Rite, Liturgy Book, Ordo Missae
