High Mass

High Mass may mean:

  • Solemn Mass, a Tridentine Mass celebrated with deacon and subdeacon (international and general United States usage)
  • Missa Cantata, a sung Tridentine Mass without deacon and subdeacon (usage among United States Catholics)

The renowned liturgist Adrian Fortescue declared that the Missa Cantata "is really a low Mass, since the essence of high Mass is not the music but the deacon and subdeacon".

Famous quotes containing the words high and/or mass:

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    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.”
    —Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)