What is a missal?

The Church supplies Roman Catholics with spiritual nourishment, and we can experience the love of Jesus Christ through the liturgy. Catholic missals help us to better engage in the celebration of the Eucharist and worship more fully.

A Catholic missal is a liturgical book containing music, Lectionary readings of sacred Scripture, Mass settings and the Order of Mass. It may also feature sections for the liturgy of the hours, Mass propers, prayers and devotions, Catholic daily readings and content from other liturgical texts. And with guides for celebrating Holy Week and various feasts throughout the liturgical year, missals contain a wealth of material for Catholic devotion. But aside from the definition of a missal, where do we get the text of the missal?

A brief history:
In the Middle Ages, there were several books used in the Mass. One would often find a Sacramentary, a book of Scriptures, antiphons, chants and prayer books. Individually, none of these “church supplies” truly matched our current definition of a missal, but were later combined to form one large book called a Missale Plenum (Full Missal). However, the Catholic missal had yet to be standardized, and variations of the Missale Plenum could be found all throughout Europe.

In the 13th century, Pope Nicholas III chose to implement a single form of the missal within the boundaries of Rome. Its use began to spread throughout Europe, but many were filled with inconsistencies due to the printing process (in 13th-century Europe, printing was still in its infancy). By the 15th century, the first Missale Romanum was published — though not officially at the request of the Holy See for use within the Roman Catholic Church. Several editions followed in the coming decades, and by the 16th century, at the Council of Trent, it was decided that the Church would adopt one standard and absolute Roman Missal. The decision made at the Council of Trent was implemented by Pope Pius V, and the first official Missale Romanum was published.

Over the years, slight revisions were needed to create a more consistent and accurate resource for the Church. But perhaps the biggest change to the Roman Missal stemmed from the Second Vatican Council when it was ruled that the Mass could be celebrated in the vernacular. This left dioceses all over the world scrambling to create a missal in their native tongue. The Roman Missal in the U.S. was quickly assembled, so that parishes could begin celebrating in English as soon as possible.

When Pope St. John Paul II approved the Missale Romanum, Editio Typica Tertia for use within the Roman Catholic Church, it became clear that the United States would need a revised English translation in order to remain faithful to the original text during the celebration of Mass.

So, for the first time in around 50 years, the Roman Missal was revised. This was, of course, difficult for many to get used to, as parishioners had grown accustomed to the verbiage of the previous edition.

Yet, one unfortunate side effect of the revision to the Roman Missal was that personal prayer books like the St. Joseph Sunday Missal became out of date and unusable. These second-hand missals are now filling the shelves of shops selling used Catholic books and Catholic gifts, right under the shelves of greeting cards and holy water bottles. Permanent missals of this nature like Daily Roman Missals, aside from being quite cost prohibitive for a parish and difficult for the average parishioner to use, run the risk of becoming out of date with subsequent updates to official texts.

It’s important to note that each OCP missal is updated in accordance with the revision to the Roman Missal, Third Edition — approved for use by Pope Benedict XVI.

Latin resources and more

Looking to celebrate the Latin Mass? Or for Gregorian chant? OCP offers numerous additional resources like Graduale Romanum, Graduale Triplex and Gregorian Missal — containing Mass propers for the liturgical year, the ritual and votive Masses for Saint Joseph, Saint Paul the Apostle, the Holy Spirit, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, plus Masses for the Dead and more.