Text and Rubrics of The Roman Canon - Te Igitur

Te Igitur

In the Tridentine form, the priest begins this prayer by raising his hands a little, joining them, looking briefly up to heaven, and then bowing deeply before the altar and resting his hands on it. He then says: "Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per Iesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus, ac petimus" (To you therefore, most merciful Father, we make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord). Then he kisses the altar, joins his hands before his breast and continues: "uti accepta habeas, et benedicas" (that you accept and bless). Next he makes the sign of the cross three times over the host and the chalice, while saying: "haec dona, haec munera, haec sancta sacrificia illibata" (these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices). He then opens his arms, not into the position of prayer represented in paintings in the Catacombs (the "Orantes" posture), but, as prescribed in the Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae, V, 1, keeping his hands before his breast, neither higher nor wider than his shoulders, with fingers joined and the palms facing each other, and he continues: "in primis, quae tibi offerimus pro Ecclesia tua sancta catholica: quam pacificare, custodire, adunare, et regere digneris toto orbe terrarum: una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N. et Antistite nostro N. et omnibus orthodoxis atque catholicae et apostolicae fidei cultoribus" (which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church. Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together with your servant (Name) our Pope and (Name) our Bishop, and those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith).

In the Roman Missal as revised in 1970, the text remains exactly as before, but the rubrics have been simplified: the priest opens his arms immediately and, since he is not being obliged to keep them before his breast, may adopt the "Orantes" posture; he joins his hands at the same point as in the pre-1970 text, but makes only one sign of the cross (the only one in the whole course of the Canon) over host and chalice, and then opens his arms again.

This prayer is not, strictly speaking, a prayer for the Pope and the Bishop. It uses the expression "together with" (una cum) not "for". This "together with" may be linked either with the verbs "pacificare" etc. begging God's favour for the Church as a whole, or with the verb "offerimus", indicating that the priest is offering Mass in union with the Pope and the Bishop.

Past variations of this prayer included the once universal mention of the civil ruler (emperor or king), which Pope Pius V removed in his 1570 revision of the Missal, but which continued in use in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 and later in the Austrian Empire until 1918. The prayer also included, at one time, a special mention of the priest himself, though not by name.

The "Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae" section of the Tridentine Missal laid down that, in the prayer for the Pope, the priest should bow his head at the Pope's name. The Missal as revised in 1970 requires such a bow only "when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honour Mass is being celebrated" (General Instruction", 275).

Even in the Tridentine Missal, which envisages Mass celebrated by one priest only, verbs such as "offerimus" are in the plural form (we offer). Some interpret this as a relic of the time before concelebration ceased (until after the Second Vatican Council) to be used in the West.