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Although modest compared with the later Missal of St. Paul VI, the 1962 Missal still differs in important respects from the older pre-1955 usage. These changes reveal the Church’s priorities at the time: pastoral accessibility, rubrical simplification, and a cautious renewal of the liturgy in anticipation of larger reforms. The difference is not simply a matter of “old versus new,” but of two distinct stages in the Roman Rite’s twentieth-century evolution.
An Altered Canon
For nearly 1500 hundred years, the Roman Canon remained unchanged, always understood as one of the most inmutable parts of the Mass. However, in an update to the Missal, this element was altered. It originally read as below:
Communicántes, et memóriam venerántes, in primis gloriósæ semper Virginis Maríæ, Genitrícis Dei et Dómini nostri Jesu Christi: et beatórum Apostolórum ac Mártyrum tuórum, Petri et Pauli, Andréæ, Jacóbi, Joánnis, Matthæi, Simónis, et Thaddai: Lini, Cleti, Cleméntis, Xysti, Cornélii, Cypriáni, Lauréntii, Chrysógoni, Joánnis et Pauli, Cosmæ et Damiáni, et Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and ómnium Sanctórum tuórum; quorum méritis precibúsque concédas, ut in ómnibus protectiónis tuæ muniámur auxílio. Per eúndem Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen.
The updated text of the Canon reads as follows:
Communicántes, et memóriam venerántes, in primis gloriósæ semper Virginis Maríæ, Genitrícis Dei et Dómini nostri Jesu Christi: sed et beáti Joseph, ejúsdem Vírginis Sponsi, et beatórum Apostolórum ac Mártyrum tuórum, Petri et Pauli, Andréæ, Jacóbi, Joánnis, Matthæi, Simónis, et Thaddai: Lini, Cleti, Cleméntis, Xysti, Cornélii, Cypriáni, Lauréntii, Chrysógoni, Joánnis et Pauli, Cosmæ et Damiáni, et Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and ómnium Sanctórum tuórum; quorum méritis precibúsque concédas, ut in ómnibus protectiónis tuæ muniámur auxílio. Per eúndem Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen.
Although a small change, it reveals a difference in mindset that was present in the Church at this time. The older version, keeping revernce for the ancient as something to be cherished, versus justifying changes based on modern thought. Throughout the majority of history, tradition in the liturgy has been thought of as organic and natural, always arising through the soul of the church.
The Commemorative Last Gospel
The commemorative Last Gospel, in the usage of the pre-1955 Roman Missal, stands as one of those quiet yet truly profound symbolic moments that reveal the Church’s deep liturgical soul. At the close of Mass (after the distribution of Holy Communion and the final blessing) the priest would proclaim the Gospel of a secondary feast or commemoration, ensuring that no saint or sacred mystery passed unhonored on its appointed day. In this well-thought reflection of the liturgical calendar, the Mass became not only the feast at hand but a living tapestry of the Church’s memory, weaving together the primary celebration with the remembrance of another holy event. Thus the commemorative Last Gospel allowed the faithful to linger for a brief moment in the radiance of a second mystery, uplifting hearts to the manifold graces bestowed through the communion of various saints and celebrations. Though later suppressed in the simplifications of the 1962 Missal, it remains a cherished testament to how the older rite enfolded the fullness of Catholic devotion, inviting the soul to dwell just a little longer in the embrace of God’s living Word.
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