In many places, Catholics cannot go to Mass because of the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many pastors have responded to this situation by offering Mass online to allow at least a spiritual participation. One option, however, has at first been absent: an opportunity to participate in daily Mass in Latin, the official liturgical language of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. Latin Masses online do exist for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (also known as the Tridentine Mass). Not so for the Ordinary Form (or Novus Ordo), which was introduced after the Second Vatican Council and is now commonly celebrated in the vernacular.
However, there is now an opportunity to follow the Daily Latin Mass on YouTube. Fr. Andreas Kramarz, professor of humanities and spiritual director at the Legion of Christ College at Cheshire, Connecticut, is celebrating every morning at 6:45 am EDT (time of New York) the daily liturgy, including Sundays, introduced with a brief reflection in English and Spanish. The Celebration of the Eucharist is streamed live and can be accessed afterward for those who cannot participate at the scheduled time. Fr. Andreas has produced a short explicatory video that can be found in English here, in Spanish here, and in German here.
For almost two millennia and until just about 50 years ago, the Roman liturgy was commonly celebrated in Latin and is capable of bringing together faithful of any nation, language, or culture, thus expressing the universal nature of the Catholic Church. The last council teaches (in Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 36), that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.” Some further interesting reflections about the value of the Latin Mass have been published by the Vatican Office of the Liturgical Celebrations and can be accessed here.
