How to Serve

In Simple, Solemn and Pontifical Functions

Dom Matthew Britt, O.S.B.

• Publisher: TAN Books
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781618904256
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

The ever increasing interest in the Liturgical Traditions of the Church gives rise to the need for adequately trained altar servers and what better way to assist than to resurrect this classic! This famous handbook is an invaluable resource for all altar boys from beginning to advanced. Though written for Instructors, this manual can also be used for home study, schools and sacristies. Dom Matthew Britt begins by offering specific instructions on common ceremonial actions, including how to make the proper bow, how to light the candles, and how to carry the Missal. He also walks the servers step-by-step through Low Mass (with one or two servers), High Mass, Solemn High Masses, Nuptial and Requiem Masses, Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Contains more than 24 diagrams showing the various actions and positions of acolytes, Thurifer, Master of Ceremonies, Sub-Deacon, and Deacon. Includes servers responses for the 1962 Latin Mass. How to Serve is a brief and clear manual from 1934 that is simply the best book of its kind. It will once again become the standard reference for acolytes, handing on to young servers the disciplines necessary for reverent Catholic ceremonies. Every altar boy "should realize that...he is, after the priest, and in the absence of other priests or Sacred Ministers, the closest one in the whole church to our Divine Savior in the Blessed Sacrament. Occupying this very important position in his parish, an Altar Boy's conduct should be exemplary at all times and in all places." Rev. Joseph W. Kavanagh, author of The Altar Boys Ceremonial

Chapter 1

Common Ceremonial Actions

THE MATTERS TREATED under Common Ceremonial Actions are of very great importance. They are the fundamentals of all good serving. Collectively they comprise the chief rules of conduct which Holy Church prescribes for those who minister before the Eucharistic King. Without a knowledge of them no altar boy can edify others by his presence in the sanctuary. What he is here taught will be helpful to him whether he remains a layman or becomes a priest. In the latter event he will have nothing to unlearn in the days of his priestly ministry.

1. Conduct

An altar boy enjoys a distinct privilege in being allowed to serve at the altar. Every server is a page in God’s house. This being the case, his conduct must be above reproach. In the sanctuary he must be reverent, thoughtful, and attentive. Nor will he ever be an occasion of distraction, much less of scandal, to others. A lack of reverence for sacred things is one of the great sins of the age. Unfortunately, at times it finds its way into the sanctuary, where by contrast it becomes extremely conspicuous.

2. Cleanliness

No altar boy with a sense of self-respect would enter the home of a friend knowing that his face and hands are dirty, his hair uncombed, and his shoes unpolished. Nor will the same boy neglect these proprieties when he enters the house of his dearest Friend, the sanctuary of the Living God.

An altar boy should be scrupulously neat and clean. And this cleanliness should extend not only to his own person but to everything in the sacristy and in the sanctuary. Special attention should be paid to cassock and surplice, the censer, charcoal, match stubs, candlesticks, and to the lighting of candles on the altar.

3. Attention

The server should pay strict attention to the Mass he is serving, and no attention whatever to anything else that is going on in the church, not even to a Solemn High Mass that is being celebrated at another altar. This applies even to such parts of another Mass as the Elevation or the Communion of the faithful.

Attention also implies that the server unite himself in thought and action as closely as possible to the priest whose Mass he is serving. When the priest makes the sign of the cross on himself during the prayers at the foot of the altar, at the Introit, at the end of the Gloria and Credo, at the beginning of each Gospel, and after the Sanctus, the server also signs himself. Nor should he neglect to bow his head when he hears the Holy Name of Jesus read or sung. The degree to which this union with the priest can be carried depends upon the age of the server and the amount of instruction he receives. With young servers these matters should not be too greatly stressed.

4. Vesture

The proper dress for any server is a black cassock and a plain linen surplice.

a) The Cassock. While there is no rubric forbidding the use of red cassocks, their use violates the spirit of the liturgy as does the use of cinctures, birettas, and the vesting of altar boys as miniature prelates. The sanctuary is not a stage.¹

b) Putting on the Cassock. In putting on the cassock the server first puts his right arm into the right sleeve, then his left arm into the other sleeve. Then, and this is most important, he buttons all the buttons, not merely a part of them. It need hardly be said that the cassock should fit the server, that it should be neither too long nor too short. Nor should it be torn, wrinkled, wanting in buttons, or spattered with wax.

c) The Surplice. There are certain kinds of surplices that are not in keeping with the spirit of the liturgy. Among these are the lace surplice, the pleated surplice, and the short surplice of whatever material it may be made. No altar boy is more becomingly vested than one who has on a simple, long, linen surplice, immaculately clean. Moreover, it is preferable that it should have a wide opening at the neck where the fabric is neatly gathered. It is immaterial whether the opening be square or circular in shape. The surplice should have no slit down the front, no ribbons, strings, hooks, or buttons.²

d) Putting on the Surplice. To put on the surplice properly, the server holds it with one hand at the top, and with the other he opens it from below. Then placing both hands in the opening he passes it over his head and onto his shoulders. He then puts his right arm into the right sleeve, and his left arm into the other. He carefully adjusts the garment so that it will hang properly about his person.

In taking off the surplice, the server withdraws his left arm from its sleeve; then, lifting the left side of the surplice over his head, he withdraws his right arm. In putting on or removing the surplice haste should be avoided.

5. The Sign of the Cross

To make the sign of the cross properly, the server holds his left hand open and extended against his breast. It is held a little below the breast, but not too low. Then with the right hand also extended, with the fingers joined and the palm facing the server, he touches with the tips of the fingers his forehead, breast, left shoulder, and lastly his right shoulder. The lines of the cross should be traced fully and deliberately, not hurriedly and thoughtlessly. The rubrics prescribe a generous-sized cross, not a niggardly one.

If the words accompany the sign, they are distributed thus: At the words In nomine Patris he touches his forehead; at Filii his breast just above his left hand; and while passing the hand from the left to the right shoulder he says et Spiritus Sancti. Joining his hands, he says Amen.

At the beginning of each Gospel the server makes three small signs of the cross on his forehead, lips, and breast. The left hand is held as above. The right is extended with the palm facing the server. Then with the soft part of the thumb, not with the nail, he makes the triple sign on his forehead, lips, and breast. The third is made above, not below, the left hand.

6. Genuflections

There are two kinds of genuflections, simple and double. A simple genuflection is made by touching the floor with the right knee near the left heel. The hands are kept joined before the breast. They must never rest upon the knee nor upon any other object. No bow of any kind is made. This genuflection must not be prolonged; the knee must not remain resting on the floor. In making this genuflection, either too great haste or too great slowness is equally improper.

A double genuflection is made by kneeling on both knees and making a moderate bow. This bow is explained in the following Section.

There is an important decree³ concerning genuflections that are to be made before an altar on which the Blessed Sacrament is not reserved. It applies to servers in all Masses whether they be read or sung.

The following quotation contains a translation of the decree and an opinion regarding its application to us. “The decree of Nov. 23, 1906, is the only rule to be observed now, even in this country. Therefore ‘the minister serving Mass at the altar on which the Blessed Sacrament is not reserved, should genuflect on one knee on arriving at the altar, as often as he passes before the middle of the altar, and on retiring from the altar.’ ”⁴

7. Bows or Inclinations

There are three kinds of bows, which may be conveniently designated by their abbreviations. Thus bow P stands for profound bow; bow M for moderate bow; and bow H for simple bow, which is a bow of the head only.

a) The Profound Bow, Bow P. This bow is made by bending the head and body so low that if the hands were extended it would be possible to touch the knees with the tips of the fingers. As this bow is made only while standing, there is no instance, not even during the Confiteor, when an altar boy makes it.⁵

b) The Moderate Bow, Bow M. This is marked inclination of the head and shoulders, but as the name implies, it is less low than the preceding bow. This is the bow that a kneeling person makes while reciting the Confiteor. One who is standing makes a profound bow.

c) The Simple Bow, Bow H. This is made by bending the head only. By some this bow is subdivided into profound, medium, and slight. Unless otherwise specified, the term bow H, throughout this book, signifies a profound bow of the head. It is very common. It is the proper salutation to make to the cross in the sacristy, to the choir or clergy, to the celebrant, and before and after incensing anyone.

8. Bows to the Choir or Clergy

Since most altar boys have no idea of what is meant by the term choir as used in the rules given below, a brief explanation of it will not be out of place. In some churches, where there are a number of clergy, as in religious communities, the members occupy seats or stalls either in the sanctuary or near the sanctuary. These stalls are arranged so that the occupants face one another, one half being at the Gospel side, the other half at the Epistle side. Theoretically these should do all the singing that is to be done; practically, however, they may do only some of it, or none at all. For ceremonial purposes the terms choir and clergy may be regarded as synonymous. The term choir in no sense refers to the body of singers that occupies the gallery above the front entrance to the church. No attention is to be paid to them.

If there is a liturgical choir present, the servers bow to it as indicated in the rules given below. The purpose of rules a and b is to make clear which should come first, the bows to the choir or the genuflection to the altar. Rules c and d state which side of the choir one should bow to first, the Gospel side or the Epistle side. By function is meant Mass, Vespers, etc.

a) On entering the sanctuary at the beginning of any function, if the celebra...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Key to Symbols
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Common Ceremonial Actions
• 2. Prayers at Mass
• 3. Low Mass
• 4. High Mass with Two Acolytes: Missa Cantata (Sung Mass)
• 5. Requiem High Mass with Two Acolytes.
• 6. Solemn High Mass
• 7. Solemn High Mass in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament Exposed
• 8. Solemn High Mass in the Presence of a Bishop Vested in Cope
• 9. Solemn Requiem Mass
• 10. Pontifical High Mass
• 11. Vespers
• 12. Simple Vespers
• 13. Solemn Vespers
• 14. Pontifical Vespers
• 15. Vespers in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament Exposed
• 16. Vespers for the Dead
• 17. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament with Servers Only
• 18. Manner of Serving a Low Mass Celebrated by a Dominican
• Reference List
• Notes
• Back Cover
• A Collection of Classic Artwork
• Confession—Its Fruitful Practice
• Tan Classics
• Become a Tan Missionary!
• Share the Faith with Tan Books!
• Tan Books