A Catholic Life: Traditional Roman Catholic Sunday Mass Propers

1962 vs. Pre-1955 Mass Propers

To those Catholics looking for the Traditional (pre-Vatican II) Sunday propers, look no further than the below list. Do note: these are from the 1945 Missal and represent the Mass as it was said up until the changes made in 1955 by Pope Pius XII. The changes in the cycle of Sunday readings, outside of Holy Week, only really affected Sundays that previously had commemorations of Octaves. So you will notice commemorations of the Octave of the Sacred Heart, Corpus Christi, and the Ascension which are not retained in the 1962 Missal. We can in a greater way help preserve Catholic Tradition by keeping and praying these traditional Octaves and keeping the older readings that were part of the Faith for centuries.

The most significant changes to the Missal in 1955 concern Holy Week but most of the readings remained the same except for the Easter Vigil, although the rubrics changed significantly. Notes on the differences between the Pre-1955 Readings and the Post-1955 readings are noted on each post.

Temporal vs. Sanctoral Cycle

The Proper of Seasons, called the Temporal Cycle, traces the earthly life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It consists mainly of Sundays related to the various liturgical seasons. This maps onto the 7 liturgical seasons contained in the two cycles we previously discussed: the Christmas Cycle and the Easter Cycle. It starts with Advent then goes through Christmas, Epiphany, Septuagesima, Lent, Easter, and Time after Pentecost.

There is also the Proper of Saints, called the Sanctoral Cycle, which is the annual cycle of feasts not necessarily connected with the seasons. We commemorate and ask the intercession of those holy men and women who set a marvelous example that we should all strive to imitate. We also commemorate various events and mysteries of the faith in the Sanctoral Cycle.

The following are the traditional proper for the temporal cycle of readings in the Traditional Latin Mass for Sundays and select other holy days.

ADVENT

First Sunday of Advent
Second Sunday of Advent
Third Sunday of Advent
Fourth Sunday of Advent

CHRISTMAS

Christmas Day
Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity
Octave Day of the Nativity
Most Holy Name of Jesus

EPIPHANY

Feast of the Epiphany
Feast of the Holy Family

First Sunday after Epiphany
Second Sunday after Epiphany
Third Sunday after Epiphany
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

LENT