The liturgical rite of the Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite, usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that is sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West, and within which, though the Roman Rite has now been almost universally adopted, liturgical rites other than that of Rome have been and still are in use.

Like other liturgical rites, the Roman Rite has grown and been adapted over the centuries. The development of its Eucharistic liturgy can be divided into three stages: Pre-Tridentine, Tridentine, and Post-Tridentine.

While other rites use more poetic language, the Roman Rite is noted for its sobriety of expression. In its Tridentine form, it was noted for its formality: the Tridentine Missal minutely prescribed every movement, to the extent of laying down that the priest should put his right arm into the right sleeve of the alb before putting his

The Roman Rite no longer has the pulpitum, a dividing wall characteristic of certain Medieval cathedrals in northern Europe, or the iconostasis or curtain that heavily influences the ritual of some other rites. In large churches of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance the area near the main altar, reserved for the clergy, was separated from the nave (the area for the laity) by means of a rood screen extending from the floor to the beam that supported the

Western ears find the traditional chant of the Roman Rite, known as Gregorian chant, less ornate than that of the Eastern rites: except in such pieces as the graduals and alleluias, it eschews the lengthy melismata of Coptic Christianity, and, being entirely monophonic, it has nothing of the dense harmonies of present-day chanting in the Russian and Georgian Churches. But, when Western Europe adopted polyphony, music at the Roman-Rite Mass did become very elaborate and lengthy. While the choir sang one part of the Mass, the priest said that part quickly and quietly to himself and continued with other parts, or he was directed by the rubrics to sit and await the conclusion of the choir's singing. Another peculiarity was that, while in all the other ancient rites, the liturgy was chanted throughout, in the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite and for some centuries before, the priest normally merely spoke the words of the Mass, to a large extent silently. Chanting by the clergy was usually confined to special occasions and to the principal Mass in monasteries and cathedrals.

Comparing the Roman to the Eastern rites, Adrian Fortescue has here been reported (without quoting the source) to have said, "No Eastern Rite currently in use is as ancient as the Roman Rite." However, the information given in the article of the Catholic Encyclopedia on the Liturgy of the Mass makes it clear that it was Saint Gregory the Great (Pope from 590 to 604) who "finally recast the (Roman) Canon (of the Mass) in the form it still has." The Anaphora or Eucharistic prayer normally used in the Byzantine rite is attributed to Saint John Chrysostom, who died in 404, exactly two centuries before Saint Gregory the Great. And the East Syrian Eucharistic Prayer of Maris and Addai, which is still in use, is certainly older than that. The Catholic Encyclopedia article actually states: "at Rome the Eucharistic prayer was fundamentally changed and recast at some uncertain period between the fourth and the sixth and seventh centuries."

See also

• Roman Catholic Church
• Latin Rite
• Latin liturgy
• Eastern Rite
• Pre-Tridentine Mass
• Tridentine Mass
• Post-Tridentine Mass
• The Mass