Q: Origin of the term "mass".

[Lora Harris]

Trivia question - where did the term "mass" for the service including
communion/Lord's Supper/eucharist come from? A friend was asking, and so far
has had three people give her the same answer with the disclaimer that they
weren't sure of it.
-Lora

[Brad Kaiser]

Lora Harris asks:

It comes from the words which dismiss the congregration:

"Ite, missa est."

(Literally, "Go, [she, the church] is sent.")

To which the response is:

"Deo gratias!"

("Thanks be to God!")

"Missa" is the passive voice feminine of "mitto, mittere, missus est",
"to send".

The service came to be known as "Missa" in Latin, hence, in English,
"Mass".

Brad Kaiser
(bradk%isd...@rtsg.mot.com)

"Hatred destroys. Only love creates."
-- St. Maximilian Kolbe, shortly before his arrest and
martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis.

[A16...@iteso.bitnet]

Lora,

English 'mass' is equivalent to spanish/latin 'misa' The term was used at
the end of Eucharist by the first christians:

'Ite Misa est' = 'Go, Mass is finished'

I don't know the extact meaning of the word.

Shalom,
Memo.

[carol nemec]

According to Webster, mass is from the Latin verb for 'to dismiss'.
I always thought mass was from to be born, as in Christmas.
There must be different origins.

Carol Nemec

[Steve Creps]

It's actually a misnomer. The Latin for "Mass" is "Missa." It comes
from the words of the priest at the end of the Eucharist, "Missa est" ("it
is sent"). Today the American English text for this in the Latin Rite is
"the Mass is ended; go in peace to love and serve the Lord...". In other
words, the word "Mass" comes from the ancient words that sent the faithful
forth to spread Christ to the world after celebrations of the Eucharist.

--Steve

- - - - - - - - - -
Steve Creps, Indiana University
cr...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu

[Marty Helgesen]

Carol,

You've got it backwards. Christmas meant Christ's Mass, that is, the
Mass on the feast of Christ's birth. I think that's the only such
usage now common in the United States, but in Britain people still
speak of Michaelmas (the feast of St. Michael the Archangel), Martinmas
(the feast of St. Martin) etc.

Marty Helgesen

[Steven E. Hoell]

From Newton's Law:

Force = Mass x Acceleration.

You've got this mass of people being spiritually moved (accelerated) under the
Force of the Holy Spirit... "Blessed is the Kingdom..." and you're off!

Sorry.

Steve Hoell s...@neutron.physics.arizona.edu

[Ronald David Stieger]

carol nemec <YA...@FERRIS.BITNET> writes:

Actually, I believe you have this backwards. Christmas is a "mass"
celebrating "Christ." Hence, "Christ" + "mass" = "Christmas". Looking
back, you can also see feasts of Michaelmas, etc.

--Ron Stieger

--
--Ron Stieger
sti...@cco.caltech.edu

Would you believe me if I said the opinions expressed here were not

[FR...@law.ucla.edu]

> From Newton's Law:
>
> Force = Mass x Acceleration.
>
> You've got this mass of people being spiritually moved (accelerated) under the
> Force of the Holy Spirit... "Blessed is the Kingdom..." and you're off!
>
> Sorry.
>

Steve --

Nothing to be sorry about. A wonderful daffy-nition. May I
use it sometime?

Frank