The penitential act at the beginning of the mass in the 'Ordines Romani'

Abstract

In dealing on the prayers at the foot of the altar, Righetti distinguishes three groups of prayers or apologies, namely, the antiphon and psalm 42, which form the first group; the reciprocal confession between the celebrant and the ministers, accompanied by the general absolution, which form the second group; and the third group of apologies formed of the preces'. In this paper, however, we shall be treating on the second group, that is better known as the penitential act. And I have purposely stressed the words 'at the beginning of the mass in the Roman Ordinals', since we find other kinds of penitential acts in other places. of the mass and, besides, we find them as well in other liturgical sources and contexts other than the 'Ordines', as we shall later hint at. Moreover, I shall be speaking first on the history and evolution of the second group of apologies at the beginning of the mass, then on its theology and function in liturgy.