Ite Missa Est - Meaning

Meaning

The word missa, as used in this phrase is understood to be a late-Latin noun, meaning "dismissal":

It is a substantive of a late form for missio. There are many parallels in medieval Latin, collecta, ingressa, confessa, accessa, ascensa—all for forms in -io. It does not mean an offering (mittere, in the sense of handing over to God), but the dismissal of the people, as in the versicle: "Ite missa est" (Go, the dismissal is made).

In recent decades, attempts were made to understand missa in this phrase as meaning "mission" rather than "dismissal", so that the phrase would mean: "Go, you are sent on a mission." This interpretation lacks foundation and corresponds rather to the alternative phrases in the latest edition of the Roman Missal, Ite ad Evangelium Domini nuntiandum (Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord) and Ite in pace, glorificando vita vestra Dominum (Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life).

Since in classical Latin, missa is the feminine form of the perfect passive participle of mittere (to send), missa est could be taken to mean: "It has been sent", the "it" being something grammatically feminine in Latin, such as communio (communion), hostia (sacrificial victim), oblatio (offering), Eucharistia (Eucharist). This explanation lacks scholarly supporters.

The official English translation is: "Go forth, the Mass is ended."

Read more about this topic:  Ite Missa Est

Famous quotes containing the word meaning:

    Do you know what Agelisas said, when he was asked why the great city of Lacedomonie was not girded with walls? Because, pointing out the inhabitants and citizens of the city, so expert in military discipline and so strong and well armed: “Here,” he said, “are the walls of the city,” meaning that there is no wall but of bones, and that towns and cities can have no more secure nor stronger wall than the virtue of their citizens and inhabitants.
    François Rabelais (1494–1553)

    Delusions that shrink to the size of a woman’s glove,
    Then sicken inclusively outwards:
    . . . the incessant recital
    Intoned by reality, larded with technical terms,
    Each one double-yolked with meaning and meaning’s rebuttal:
    For the skirl of that bulletin unpicks the world like a knot....
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    Every generation rediscovers and re-evaluates the meaning of infancy and childhood.
    Arnold Gesell (20th century)