About the Traditional Latin Mass

The Traditional Latin Mass (often abbreviated in the colloquial "TLM") is a term commonly used to refer to Masses offered according to the Missal of 1962, declared "Extraordinary Form" by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum in 2007.  For centuries prior to 1970, this was the way the Mass was celebrated all around the world, the same Mass that nourished the souls of saints and sinners for centuries.  The priest faced the altar with the people, offering a sacrifice to God, present in the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle.  With the exception of the sermon to the people, the Mass was sung, chanted, or spoken entirely in Latin. 

The Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, says "the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites."  Latin, the official language of Holy Mother Church, is our universal language, and is an international standard in our universal Faith.  We pray the Mass with one voice and tongue, in harmony with all the Masses around the world, throughout time.  In the Traditional Latin Mass, or the Extraordinary Form, we offer to God with our unworthy hands His just due of our adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication through the unbloody re-presentation of His Son's one and only sacrifice for us on the Cross.