The Novus Ordo Missae reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Novus Ordo Missae

"Novus Ordo Missae" (New Order of the Mass) and Mass of Paul VI are names given by its opponents to the revision of the liturgy of the Mass adopted by the Roman Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council.

The "Ordo Missae" (Order of Mass) is the section of the Roman Missal that contains the common prayers and general rubrics for the celebration of Mass, and in English is often called the Ordinary of the Mass. Its title remains unchanged.

Over the centuries alterations were made on various occasions to the Roman Missal in the form in which it was promulgated by Pope Pius V in 1570, seven years after the final session of the Council of Trent. However, the revision promulgated by Pope Paul VI was more far reaching and provoked in some a strong reaction.

Neither in the part denominated "Ordo Missae" nor elsewhere, did the Roman Missal ever oblige the priest to face either towards or away from the people when celebrating Mass. Before the revision, it was customary but not obligatory for the altar to be built in such a way that the priest had his back to the people for most of the Mass; but in Rome itself there were altars in churches large (such as Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican) and small (such as the church of the Four Crowned Saints) at which the priest faced the people throughout the Mass. This was explicitly allowed for in the pre-revision Missal (Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae, VI, 3). After the revision of the Roman Missal, the position facing the people became customary.

Similarly, it was a change in rules external to the Missal that, after the Second Vatican Council, permitted the use of the language of the people, instead of Latin, in the Mass. The Roman Catholic Church changed this rule some years before it promulgated the revised Roman Missal.

Accordingly, the expression "Novus Ordo Missae" is a quite inaccurate way to refer globally to the changes introduced into the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Mass since the Second Vatican Council.

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