missa privata

Latin

Etymology

“Low Mass” is the original sense, from prīvātus, “deprived”. The sense “private Mass” is probably from conflation with later cognates of prīvātus, e.g. English private, French privé.

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.sa priˈva.ta/, [ˈmisːä priˈväːt̪ä]

Noun

missa prīvāta f (genitive missae prīvātae); first declension (Ecclesiastical Latin)

1. Low Mass (Mass that is not sung)
   • 1883, “Ordo Servandus in Oratione Quadraginta Horarum, in Dioecesi Baltimorensi”, in The Pastor, volume 1, number 9, page 212:

     Si vero ob aliquam causam Missa in cantu non celebratur, Missa privata SS. Sacramenti legi poterit in iis diebus in quibus per rubricas licet, nempe quocumque die officium non est duplex, aut de Dominica, aut dies in qua prohibetur fieri de festo duplici.

     But if for some reason a sung Mass is not celebrated, a Low Mass of the Holy Sacrament may be read on those days on which it is licit according to the rubrics, whenever, of course, the office of the day is not a double, or that of a Sunday, or a day on which it is prohibited to be of a double feast.

2. private Mass (Mass with no congregation present or communicating)

Declension

First-declension noun with a first-declension adjective.

	singular	plural
nominative	missa prīvāta	missae prīvātae
genitive	missae prīvātae	missārum prīvātārum
dative	missae prīvātae	missīs prīvātīs
accusative	missam prīvātam	missās prīvātās
ablative	missā prīvātā	missīs prīvātīs
vocative	missa prīvāta	missae prīvātae