If liturgical awareness begins about age six, only those of us fifty years and older remember the Latin Mass, which preceded the introduction of the Novus Ordo in November 1969. This introduction, over 40 years ago, would seem to be the major change in the celebration of the liturgy in the past one hundred years. In this essay I propose that two other changes were much more significant.

The first major change in liturgical discipline occurred on 15 August 1910 when Pope St. Pius X lowered age of first reception of Holy Communion from typically the age of twelve to the age of seven. With this change all of the faithful were encouraged to receive Holy Communion frequently.

In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the general habit of the faithful was to refrain from Holy Communion except when the sacrament of Penance had been received the day before, typically at Christmas and Easter. Infrequent reception of Holy Communion was not a sign of indifference to the Faith and the sacraments. This practice was a virtue of the times. It represented the awe and reverence worthy of the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Pope St. Pius X was suggesting that that same awe and reverence worthy of the Blessed Sacrament be expressed by frequent reception.

In the 1940\’s, in addressing the generation before mine, I recall the priest\’s often mentioning from the pulpit that it was not necessary to receive the sacrament of Penance, the day before receiving Holy Communion.

As children we were encouraged to receive Holy Communion each Sunday and to make a confession once a month, usually on the Thursday before the first Friday of the month. In the Catholic grammar school I attended, St. Cyril\’s Carmelite in Chicago, the pupils attended Mass at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesdays in the parish church, but did not receive Holy Communion because there was no time after Mass to eat breakfast before the start of classes at 9:00 a.m. However, on first Fridays, the school children attended the 8:00 a.m. Mass for the sake of their reception of Holy Communion. The extra half-hour provided enough time for breakfast before the start of classes.

In those years the Communion fast was from midnight from all food and drink including water. Sunday Masses were typically on the hour from 6:00 a.m. through noon. From one-half to two-thirds of the congregation received Holy Communion on Sundays at the Masses before 11 a.m. At the eleven o\’clock Mass, perhaps five percent received and at the noon Mass typically no one in the congregation received Communion. The fast from midnight made reception at late morning Mass impractical. There were never any Masses in the afternoon or evening except for midnight Mass at Christmas.

There can be no Mass without the consecration or without the reception of Holy Communion by the priest celebrant. However, the habit of reception by members of the congregation was such that the Communion of the Faithful was a red-bracketed insert into the order of the Mass, to be omitted when Communion was not distributed to those congregated.

In the early 1950\’s, the priest still faced the altar away from the people and would discretely turn his head around to see if anyone in the congregation was approaching the altar rail to receive Holy Communion. If so, the altar boys, who said all the responses, would recite the Confiteor, the confession of sin. The congregation was typically silent at the usual low Mass, except for a hymn or a feast day. The priest would then turn and face the congregation and pronounce absolution:

\”May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life everlasting. (Amen) May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant you pardon, (making the sign of the Cross) absolution and remission of your sins. (Amen)\” The priest would then say the Agnus Dei, the Domine non sum dignus three times, and then, while placing the Sacred Host on the tongue of the recipient, \”May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul unto life everlasting, Amen.\”

The entire Mass was in Latin. This, as well as the silence of the congregation, enhanced the reverence toward the Eucharistic mystery. The Confiteor, the confession of sin, had been said by the priest and then by the altar boys at the beginning of Mass. The repetition of the Confiteor by the altar boys and absolution by the celebrant immediately before Communion emphasizes to what extent the Communion of the Faithful was treated as an exceptional, if not a foreign insert into the order of the Mass.

We routinely think of the pre-Vatican II Church as unchanging, and yet throughout my youth change in the discipline of the Mass and the Sacraments was almost commonplace. As a rule the congregation was silent at Mass. The parish school children attended the 9:00 a.m. Sunday Mass as a group. In 1945 at 9 o\’clock Mass at St. Cyril\’s the missa recitata was introduced, i.e., the congregation recited the responses in Latin along with the altar boys.

The most significant change in discipline came in 1953. It was the introduction of afternoon and evening vigil Masses. For these Masses the Communion fast was set at three hours for food and at one hour for non-alcoholic beverages. In 1957 this fast was made applicable to all Masses. The 1983 revision of Cannon Law set the Holy Communion fast at one hour except for water, which was unrestricted.

The changes in the Communion fast were initiated due to the introduction of the Sunday and Holy Day Vigil Masses. The relaxation of the fast increased dramatically the frequency of reception of Holy Communion, such that, over the years, the reception of Holy Communion by practically the entire congregation at all Masses became commonplace in the late 20th century. Prior to these relaxations, the urging to receive frequent Communion had little effect.

Imagine what a shock it would be today to read in the missal in the pew: “If Communion is not distributed, omit part with red line, Communion of the Faithful.” That is a direct quote from a 1950 missal. It was the introduction in 1953 of vigil Masses, which resulted in removing the red line in the missal by relaxing the Communion fast. Thereby the Communion of the Faithful was reinstated as an integral part of the Mass. In receiving Communion the congregation participates in the sacrifice by consuming the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world by his redemptive sacrifice from sin, which is the Mass.

In retrospect the post-Vatican II, 1969 introduction of the vernacular Mass with the priest facing the people appears almost cosmetic. It did not have as profound an impact on the participation of the congregation in the Sacrifice of the Mass as did the introduction of vigil Masses in 1953, which led to the relaxation of the Communion fast to one hour.