What was the liturgy like before the Pope Pius reform in the sixteenth century?
Before the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic liturgy varied from place to place but was always celebrated in Latin with the priest facing the altar rather than the people. Various other “rites” existed, most notably the Mozarabic Rite in Spain, the Sarum Rite in England, the Norbertine Rite in the Low Countries, etc. The goal of the Council of Trent was to impose uniform belief and practice on the entire Roman Church in order to prevent further infiltration by Protestant sects. The order of mass that was championed by the Council in the sixteenth century and which later became known as the “Tridentine Mass” was actually the localized form of the Roman Rite, celebrated throughout Italy and dating back to Pope St. Gregory the Great and beyond. Though the Council of Trent imposed uniform worship on diocesean churches, older rites of 200 years or more – thereby free of Protestant influence – were permitted to continue to be celebrated by the various monastic communities and regions that
