Ite, missa est
Ite, missa est ( late Latin for 'Go there, you are sent', literally 'Go, this is the dismissal' or 'Go, she is sent'), in the German version Go there in peace , is the dismissal call at the end the holy Mass in the Roman rite . He is called by the deacon or celebrant ; the faithful answer with “ Deo gratias ” ( “ Thanks be to God ”) or “Thanks be to God the Lord”.
Emergence
It is one of the oldest surviving liturgical formulas in Latin. The in classical Latin uncommon late Latin word form missa (of Latin mittere "send message") in analogy to collecta or Ascensa be interpreted as "dismissal, adoption." The term was also used in the secular area as an expression for the farewell after an audience or a meeting, was in use from the end of the 4th century as a name for the entire liturgical celebration of the Eucharist and has other names in Latin and in most Western languages Holy Mass supplanted.
In the Greek-speaking liturgy, the call for dismissal at this time was Πορεύεσθε ἐν εἰρήνῃ Poreúesthe en eirēnē “Goes in peace” or Ἐν εἰρήνῃ (Χριστοῦ) πορευmen (answer of the parish) “We go in peace” (Christo eirēnē) was Ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου en onómati kyríou “In the name of the Lord.” This formula was taken up again by the Second Vatican Council .
Roman liturgy
Until the liturgical reform in the course of the Second Vatican Council, the dismissal was followed by the final blessing . Then the priest recited the final gospel , the prologue of John's gospel . This process also takes place in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite.
In Masses without Gloria was Ite, Missa est after the year 1000 by the from the Franco-Gallic liturgy originating Benedicamus Domino ( "Let us praise the Lord!") Replaced in funeral services by the call Requiescant in pace ( "May they rest in peace!").
In the ordinary form of the Roman rite , the dismissal call with the announcements and the final blessing belong to the discharge rites of the Holy Mass. Since the liturgical reform, the blessing has been given before the call for dismissal. In the Easter season , the cry Ite, missa est and the answer are appended with a double hallelujah . If the Holy Mass is followed by another liturgical act, the entire closing rites are omitted.
In the German version, the call, following the Antiochene - Byzantine model, is “Go in peace”, to which the congregation replies: “Thank God the Lord!”.
Old Catholic liturgy
In most of the Old Catholic churches , the call for dismissal precedes the final blessing, as in the old form of the Roman rite. Only the Old Catholic Church in Germany has adopted the innovation, but slightly modified the answer. It reads here: “Praise and thanks be to our God!”.
Settings
Since the “Ite, missa est” does not belong to the choir but to a single singer, it was not suitable for setting to music in a polyphonic mass . Only the answer “Deo gratias” was set to polyphonically in several early masses, for example by Guillaume de Machaut in his Mass de Nostre Dame . Due to the brevity of the text, both the discharge call and the answer are missing in almost all mass settings.
literature
Individual evidence
- ^ Adrian Fortescue: Ite Missa Est . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 8, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1910.
- ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 230ff.
- ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 2, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 536.
- ^ Basic Order of the Roman Missal (2007) , No. 166–170.
