Last Saturday, the Archbishop of Toledo, H.E. Braulio Rodríguez Plaza, celebrated Mass in the Mozarabic Rite in St Peter’s Basilica, as part a pilgrimage to Rome sponsored by his archdiocese. The liturgy was celebrated in both Latin and Spanish, with the Mass Propers and Ordinary sung in Latin by a small but talented schola. (I had an opportunity to speak with the Archbishop before the ceremony, and he mentioned that at the principal home of the Mozarabic Rite, the Capilla del Sacramento in Toledo Cathedral, the Mass is still celebrated daily in Latin.) This was only the 4th time the Rite has been celebrated at St Peter’s, the others being in 1963, during Vatican II, in 1992, when the revised books of the Rite were promulgated, and in the Jubilee of 2000; St John Paul II was the celebrant of the one in 1992. Rome Reports
has posted an interview with Fr Salvador Aguilera, a priest of the archdiocese and expert on the Mozarabic Rite, who served as the Master of Ceremonies. The archdiocese has a large photo album available, from which I have made the following selection, focusing on the particular rituals of the Mozarabic Rite. Most notable among those visible in the photographs, the Evangeliarium is carried under a veil at the Gospel procession, and the veiling of the Eucharistic elements at the Offertory. You can see the complete photo album
by clicking here.
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| The acolytes wear amice, alb, and cincture, as was commonly done in the Middle Ages also in the various Uses of the Roman Rite. |
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| The celebrant recites a prayer similar in thought to the traditional Roman Rite’s Aufer a nobis, but (as is generally the case with the Mozarabic Rite) rather longer. |
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| The thurible is swung in a manner more like that of the Ambrosian Rite than the Roman, with a number of small circles as the celebrant goes around the altar. |
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| At the Gospel procession, the deacon carries the book to the pulpit with a humeral veil; after the Gospel, he carries it back with the same veil to be kissed by the celebrant, as seen below. |
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| The incensation at the Offertory |
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| After the incensation at the Offertory, the Eucharistic vessels are covered with a veil, which is then removed before the Eucharist prayer. |
