Commentary Throughout its history, the Catholic Church developed rich forms of liturgical worship in both East and West, a testament to its universality. In the West, a form of the Mass developed, known as the Latin or Roman Rite. Its origins can be traced back to Apostolic times and its form remained essentially unchanged for centuries, until it was replaced by a Novus Ordo (new form) of Mass in 1969. There is a widespread, and very mistaken, idea in the Church that the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 to 1965, ordered the change to the Mass. This is patently not so. As the Council stated in its document on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy): “Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and foster them in every way.” This …