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Roman Missal is the book containing all the fixed and changeable prayers and readings for the conduct of Roman Catholic
Masses. Before the high Middle Ages priests had to have many books assembled for the Mass -
Sacramentaries with the collected
prayers; books containing the Gospels, whether arranged in excerpted form organized
for public reading or regular Gospel books; and Psalters or collections of the Psalms.
The priests of the Franciscan Order who regularly travelled or were posted in
preaching assignments all over Europe developed a small-format single volume (or multiple volume set divided by the seasons of
the Church year) so that they would never be without all the necessary resources. This practice advanced the habit of
standardization of the Roman Rite by breaking down some local customs; the Franciscans chose the Calendar of Saints as celebrated in the city of Rome rather than adapting
their celebrations to the calendar of each diocese in which they operated.
In 1570, having concluded the revision entrusted to the Pope by the Council of Trent, Pope Pius
V promulgated a version of the Roman Missal which was to become mandatory for almost all of the Roman Catholic Church of
Latin Rite. This authoritative edition, nowadays not infrequently termed the
"Tridentine Mass" owing to the date of its codification, underwent
minor changes by later Popes, but in its essentials remained in active use up to the Second Vatican Council, which asked for a revision. In view of that request, Pope Paul VI promulgated in 1969 a new and revised edition of the Roman Missal,
often called the Novus Ordo Missae, and termed "the new Roman
Missal" in its decree of promulgation. [1] A new edition with minor changes followed in
1975 and a third edition in 2001, published and
aproved by Pope John Paul II.
Like their 1570 predecessor, these latest editions have an authoritative Latin edition, although the Mass is typically celebrated in vernacular languages, for which
end official translations have been made into many languages with the approval of local Conferences of Bishops. Such approvals
require confirmation by the Holy See.
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