Text and Rubrics of The Roman Canon - Inaudible Recitation of The Canon

Inaudible Recitation of The Canon

In the Tridentine form of the Mass, the priest says this part of the Canon inaudibly, with only two exceptions: he speaks the phrase "Nobis quoque peccatoribus" in a slightly audible voice, and says or sings aloud the final phrase of the doxology, "per omnia saecula saeculorum", so as to let the server or the choir know when to say or sing "Amen". This silence on the priest's part is associated with the fact that, in the Tridentine Mass, the priest says all parts of the Mass (except such responses as "Et cum spiritu tuo" and "Amen") himself, even if the choir sings them also. It became customary for the priest, having himself said the "Sanctus" quickly, not to wait for the choir to finish singing, but to continue immediately, necessarily not aloud, the rest of the Canon.

This was not always so. The older Roman ordines state that originally "the priest did not begin the Canon until the singing of the Sanctus was over" (Mabillon: In ord. Rom. comm., XXI). And, even in the Tridentine period, when an ordination Mass was almost the only case of concelebration left in the West, all the concelebrants said the Canon together aloud. However, mystic reasons were attributed to the silent prayers of the Canon, as purely sacerdotal, belonging only to the priest, with the silence increasing reverence at the most sacred moment of the Mass and removing the Consecration from ordinary vulgar use.

In the revised form of the Mass, the Canon is no longer said silently. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 147 states: "It is very appropriate that the priest sing those parts of the Eucharistic Prayer for which musical notation is provided." This brings the practice of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite closer to the rites of all the other ancient Christian Churches and to the practice of the Roman Rite itself before medieval times.