What is the origin of the name ‘Mass’? for the Roman Catholic Service?
Name Withheld
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Dear NW,
Nobody is sure of the original origin of the word ‘mass’ as it is applied to service. Many believe it to be derived from the original Latin ‘missa’, identified as one of the prayer services known as ‘officium’ (offices), but specifically the one at which sacrifice was entailed.
This sacrifice of course came to take the form of the Eucharist as the body and blood of Christ, and mass came to be associated specifically with the Eucharist.
Anne