www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Liturgy name in Latin Rite

As far as I am aware in the Western Church
the double bar cross has nothing to do with the East. It simply means that the see is an Arch Episcopal See, the three bar cross denotes a Patriarchal See.
Stephanos I

Dear Alex,
sorry for not having responded sooner. In an earlier post you wrote:

Actually, there already exists a Hispanic Rite in the Catholic Church, it's called the Mozarabic Rite :p . Seriously, no a true "Hispanic Rite" hasn't developed in the U.S. (as far as I know). However, it seems to me that more dioceses and parishes are becoming comfortable with some of these traditions and practices which can either be common to most Latinos or particular to certain countries or regions. Here in California and the Southwest, of course, some places have been observing these traditions for a very long time.

I think the visibility of Latinos in the Church (even though in the Southwest our community has been there right from the start), as well as that of Asians, Native Americans, and African Americans, is something the U.S. Church is still trying to figure out. Also, it's my personal opinion that for various reasons there's a "style" of Catholicism (Latin Rite) in the U.S. that's different from that in Latin America or even much of Europe.

Because of that I think there is still a lot of uncertainty and confusion, especially where this visibility is new and/or strong. I think this is as true for lay people as it is for priests and bishops. Even though we're traditionally Latin Rite, I've discovered online that some non-hispanic Catholics think that apsects of our Catholicism are "strange". That should sound familiar to members of this board.

Not as bad as a young priest I know, who during the consecration in his first ever mass (does the term "new mass" exist in English?) said "He took the cup, broke it, and gave it to his desciples..."
Filipe

Dear Manuel,

Could you share some of the All Souls traditions of the Hispanic Catholic people?

Tammy Kelly made me a beautiful rosary of the dead (skulls and all!). I think I'll greet the children at the door on Hallowe'en with it on my belt . . . I dress up as a Franciscan monk, you know!

Alex

Dear Alex:

At least in Mexico, the All Saints Day is a very old tradition which as a matter of fact is a mixture of prehispanic and Catholic traditions. We usually have it divided in two days: November 1 when we celebrate the All Saints Day in which we basically celebrate the dead infants, put some small Altars of Dead (altar de muertos) where we place the favorite food and toys of those dead infants, and is a small celebration.

On November 2, which is our Day of the Dead (D�a de Muertos)it is the big celebration, usually very early in the morning, people start going to the graveyards to prepare these dead altars (which also are placed at home) which go from a very simple altar on a table with the picture of the departed and some food and cempas�chil flowers (an orange flower) to the more complex altars which may have up to seven levels (each level representing the steps that the soul has to pass to gain its eternal rest).

Each step has special things placed that represent specifit matters, for example, the first step has the Icon or Image of the Virgin or Saint which the dead person was devoted to, the second step represents the souls in Purgatory, the third has some salt for the souls of the infants that may be at purgatory, the fourth has a special bread that, traditionally, was prepared by the family, on the fifth it is placed the dead persons favorite food, on the sixth the Picture of the dead and finally on top of all the Holy Cross. Besides the above-mentioned, the altar has many other things placed on it as paper chains purple and yellow, meaning the union among the living and the dead, and many other things. The tradition says that in this night, our dead relatives come to visit the family and take the substance of the food we have placed. Its a day to recall our departed and also of joy of having them with us in a special way.

The celebration varies a lot within Mexico, there is an incredible celebration in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, in a Lake, with boats and candles. In Oaxaca (South of Mexico) there are carpets made of flowers, etc.

God bless.

Bernardo

Isn't it sad that this year All Saints falls on a Monday, and won't be celebrated as a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States. For any practical purpose, that means it probably won't be celebrated at all.

Dear Alex,
Since this is getting away from the original topic of this thread, I think I'll start a new one in this East-N-West forum, and open it up to others. Bernardo wrote much the same as I was going to write, and I'll add to what he wrote on the other thread.

Cheers,
Manuel.

A while back I was going to weigh in on this one with the oh so intelligent reply that the Latin Mass was based on the Liturgy of St. James...not so intelligent and Lord only knows where I pulled that one out of...but I'm glad I went checking my sources because the history of the Liturgy of St. James is very interesting and of course, has nothing to do with Rome or the Latin Church.

For anyone who is still interested in what the Roman Liturgy is called, here is an informative link http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09790b.htm and once you make heads or tails of it, please explain it to me...

Vie, who knows she will never make a really good scholastic.

The name of the Latin Liturgy is:
Holy Sacrifice of Mass.

The word Mass comes from the Latin word missio,missionis. which means mission. It�s given this name because in the Roman Catholic Liturgy we preach that after feed with the Eucharist we have the mission of leading Jesus to every peeople.