Black Mass
Encyclopedia
Sabbath (witchcraft)
The Witches' Sabbath or Sabbat is a supposed meeting of those who practice witchcraft, and other rites.European records indicate cases of persons being accused or tried for taking part in Sabbat gatherings, from the Middle Ages to the 17th century or later.- Etymology :The English word “sabbat”...
, which was a sacrilegious
Sacrilege
Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things...
parody of the Catholic Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
. Its main objective was the profanation of the host
Host desecration
Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christianity involving the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host— the sacred bread used in the Eucharistic service or Mass...
, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
were obtained or profaned; the most common idea is that they were profaned by means of some ritual related to sexual practices. Authors also disagree on which rites were performed during the ceremony. Some medieval writers believed that the host was replaced by a toad
Toad
A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...
, a turnip
Turnip
The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...
or a piece of dry flesh, but most judges and authors believed that true hosts were given by Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s, who had made diabolical pacts, to the attendants of the Sabbath to be profaned by them.
It is not clear if the Black Mass was ever celebrated in medieval times; the works referring to them are lurid and unreliable sources such as the Malleus Maleficarum
Malleus Maleficarum
The Malleus Maleficarum is an infamous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487...
, and it may have served solely as a shocking act with which to accuse enemies.
Origins and history of the Black Mass
One recent outline of the history of the Black Mass can be found in Richard CavendishRichard Cavendish
Richard Cavendish is a British historian who has written extensively on the subjects of occultism, religion, the tarot, mythology, and English history.-Personal life:...
, The Black Arts (1967) in the section on the Black Mass. Before that, an entire book was written about it, The Satanic Mass, by H.T.F. Rhodes (1954). Additionally, a detailed study was published in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(and since translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) by Gerhard Zacharias, The Dark God: Satan Worship and Black Masses (1964).
Early Christianity
The Catholic Church has regarded the EucharistEucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
as it's most important sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
, going back to apostolic times. In general its various liturgies
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
followed the outline of Liturgy of the Word, Offeratory, Liturgy of the Sacrament, and Benediction, which developed into what is known as the Mass
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
. However, as early Christianity
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
was becoming more established and growing in influence, the early Church fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
described a few heretical groups practicing their own versions of Masses, some of a bizarre sexual nature (such as the Borborites
Borborites
According to the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis , and Theodoret's Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium, the Borborites or Borborians were a libertine Gnostic sect, said to be descended from the Nicolaitans...
). Another early description, containing many traditional details of the Black Mass, is found in Chapter 9 of the Christian apologetic work Octavius
Octavius (dialogue)
Octavius is an early writing in defense of Christianity by Marcus Minucius Felix. It is written in the form of a dialogue between the pagan Caecilius Natalis and the Christian Octavius Januarius, a provincial lawyer, the friend and fellow-student of the author....
, written around 200 AD. There, a Roman pagan describes Christians as worshiping the head of an ass, sacrificing a baby for the Host, and having an orgy in a darkened room at the end of their rituals.
Middle Age Roman Catholic parodies and additions to the Mass
In the Middle Ages, beginning with the Latin writings of the Goliards, the Roman Catholic Mass was drawn from or elaborated upon to create parodies of it for certain Church festivities. Thus, there was a mass parody called "The Feast of Asses", in which Balaam's Ass (from the Old Testament) would begin talking and saying parts of the mass. A similar parody was the Feast of FoolsFeast of Fools
The Feast of Fools, known also as the festum fatuorum, festum stultorum, festum hypodiaconorum, or fête des fous, are the varying names given to popular medieval festivals regularly celebrated by the clergy and laity from the fifth century until the sixteenth century in several countries of Europe,...
. Other Middle Age parodies of the Mass, also written in ecclesiastical Latin
Ecclesiastical Latin
Ecclesiastical Latin is the Latin used by the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in all periods for ecclesiastical purposes...
, were "drinkers' masses" and "gamblers' masses," which lamented the situation of drunk, gambling monks, and instead of calling to "Deus" (God), called to "Bacchus
Bacchanalia
The bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Greco-Roman god Bacchus , the wine god. The term has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry.-History:...
" (the God of Wine). Some of these Latin parody works are found in the medieval Latin collection of poetry, Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana , Latin for "Songs from Beuern" , is the name given to a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces were written principally in Medieval Latin; a few in Middle High German, and some with traces...
, written around 1230. The Catholic Church, however, eventually reacted by condemning them as sacrilegious
Sacrilege
Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things...
and blasphemous
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
.
Additionally, the Rite of the Mass was not completely fixed, and there was a place at the end of the Offertory
Offertory
The Offertory is the portion of a Eucharistic service when bread and wine are brought to the altar. The offertory exists in many liturgical Christian denominations, though the Eucharistic theology varies among celebrations conducted by these denominations....
for the Secret
Secret (liturgy)
The Secret is a prayer said in a low voice by the priest or bishop during religious services.-Western Christianity:...
prayers, when the priest could insert private prayers for various personal needs. These practices became especially prevalent in France (see Pre-Tridentine Mass). As these types of personal prayers within the Mass spread, the institution of the Low Mass
Low Mass
Low Mass is a Tridentine Mass defined officially in the Code of Rubrics included in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal as Mass in which the priest does not chant the parts that the rubrics assign to him...
became quite common, where priests would hire their services out to perform various Masses for the needs of their clients — such as blessing crops or cattle, achieving success in some enterprise, obtaining love, or cursing enemies (one way this latter was done was by inserting the enemy's name in a Mass for the dead, accompanied by burying an image of the enemy). Such practices were condemned by the Church, however, as sacrilegious.
A further source of Middle Age involvement with parodies and alterations of the Mass, were the writings of the European witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
, which saw witches as being agents of the Devil, who were described as inverting the Christian Mass and employing the stolen Host
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
for diabolical ends. The witch-hunter's manuals such as the Malleus Maleficarum
Malleus Maleficarum
The Malleus Maleficarum is an infamous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487...
give details relating to these supposed practices.
Early modern France
Between the 16th and the 19th centuries, many examples of interest in the Black Mass come from France.- 16th century: Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
, the Queen of France, was said by Jean BodinJean BodinJean Bodin was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty; he was also an influential writer on demonology....
to have performed a Black Mass, based on a story in his book on witchcraft. In spite of its lurid details, there is little outside evidence to back up his story. - 17th century: Catherine MonvoisinCatherine MonvoisinCatherine Monvoisin, née Deshayes, known as "La Voisin" , was an French alleged sorceress, one of the chief personages in the affaire des poisons, during the reign of Louis XIV.- Activity :...
and the priest Etienne GuibourgÉtienne GuibourgThe Abbé Étienne Guibourg was a French Roman Catholic abbé who was involved in the Affair of the Poisons.He was the sacristan of the Saint-Marcel church at Saint-Denis, and formerly the chaplain to the Comte de Montgomery. He claimed to be the illegitimate son of Henri de Montmorency...
performed "Black Masses" for Madame de Montespan, the mistress of King Louis XIV of FranceLouis XIV of FranceLouis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. Since a criminal investigation—L'affaire des poisons ("Affair of the Poisons")—was launched (resulting in the execution of Monvoisin and the imprisonment of Guibourg) many details of their Black Mass have come down to us. It was a typical Roman Catholic Mass, but modified according to certain formulas (some reminiscent of the Latin Sworn Book of HonoriusThe Sworn Book of HonoriusThe Sworn Book of Honorius, or Liber Juratus is a medieval grimoire purportedly written by Honorius of Thebes. Its date of composition is uncertain, but it is mentioned as Liber Sacer in the 13th century, apparently asserting a high medieval date...
, or its French version, The Grimoire of Pope HonoriusThe Grimoire of Pope HonoriusThe Grimoire of Pope Honorius, or Le Grimoire du Pape Honorius, is a 18th to 19th century grimoire, claiming to be written by Pope Honorius III. It is unique among grimoires in that it was specifically designed to be used by a priest, and some of the instructions include saying a Mass...
) and featuring the King's mistress (the Marquise de Montespan) as the central altarAltarAn altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
of worship, lying naked upon the altar with the chalice on her bare stomach, and holding two black candles in each of her outstretched arms. The Host was consecrated on her body, and then used in love potions designed to gain the love of the King (on account of the magical power believed to be in the consecrated Host). From these images of the Guibourg mass, further developments of the Black Mass derived. - 18th century: The Marquis de SadeMarquis de SadeDonatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
, in many of his writings places the host and the Mass, monks, priests, and the Pope himself (Pope Pius VIPope Pius VIPope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
in Juliette), in blasphemous sexual settings. - 19th century: Joris-Karl HuysmansJoris-Karl HuysmansCharles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
wrote the classic novel of French Satanism, Là-BasLà-BasLà-Bas is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, first published in 1891. It is Huysmans' most famous work after À rebours. Là-Bas deals with the subject of Satanism in contemporary France, and the novel stirred a certain amount of controversy on its first appearance...
(1891). The characters in the novel have long discussions on the history of French Satanism up to their time, and eventually one of them is invited to participate in a Black Mass, the type of which Huysmans claimed was practised in Paris in those years. Although a work of fiction, Huysmans' description of the Black Mass remained influential simply because no other book went into as much detail. The actual text which Huysmans' satanic "priest" recites, however, is nothing more than a long diatribe in French, praising Satan as the god of reason and the opponent of Christianity. In this way, it resembles the French poetry of Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
(in particular Les Litanies de SatanLes Litanies de Satan"Les Litanies de Satan" is a poem by Charles Baudelaire, published as part of Les Fleurs du mal. The date of composition is unknown, but there is no evidence that it was composed at a different time to the other poems of the volume....
), more than it resembles an inversion of the Roman Catholic Mass.
Late 19th Century and early 20th Century scholarly interest in the Black Mass
Scholarly studies in the Black Mass relied almost thoroughly on French and Latin sources (which also came from France):- The French historian Jules MicheletJules MicheletJules Michelet was a French historian. He was born in Paris to a family with Huguenot traditions.-Early life:His father was a master printer, not very prosperous, and Jules assisted him in the actual work of the press...
was one of the first to analyze and attempt to understand the Black Mass, and wrote two chapters about it in his classic book, Satanism and WitchcraftSatanism and WitchcraftSatanism And Witchcraft is a book by Jules Michelet on the history of witchcraft, published, originally in French, in 1862. The first English translation was published in London in 1863. According to Michelet, medieval witchcraft was an act of popular rebellion against the oppression of feudalism...
(1862). - J G FrazerJames FrazerSir James George Frazer , was a Scottish social anthropologist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion...
included a description of The Mass of Saint-SecaireThe Mass of Saint-SecaireThe Mass of Saint-Sécaire is a ritual supposed to have been performed in Gascony, France. The best-known account of the Mass is that of James George Frazer in his 1890 omnibus The Golden Bough; Frazer's description, in turn, was taken nearly verbatim from a less well-known French book published in...
, an unusual French legend with similarities to the Black Mass, in The Golden BoughThe Golden BoughThe Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
(1890). Frazer was recounting material already found in an 1883 French book entitled Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne ("Fourteen Popular Superstitions of Gascony"), by Jean-François Bladé. - Montague SummersMontague SummersAugustus Montague Summers was an eccentric English author and clergyman. He is known primarily for his scholarly work on the English drama of the 17th century, as well as for his idiosyncratic studies on witches, vampires, and werewolves, in all of which he professed to believe...
discussed many classic portrayals of the Black Mass in a number of his works (especially in The History of Witchcraft and Demonology, ch. IV, The Sabbat, with extensive quotations from the original French and Latin sources). - H. T. F. Rhodes' popular mass market book, The Satanic Mass, published in 1954, was a major inspiration for modern versions of the Black Mass, when they finally appeared. Rhodes claimed that, at the time of his writing, there did not exist a single first hand source which actually described the rites and ceremonies of a Black Mass.
- Zacharias and Cavendish, both writing in the middle of the 1960s, while presenting detailed studies of source material, offer no new sources for a Black Mass, relying solely on material that was already known to Rhodes.
- When Anton Szandor LaVey published his Satanic Bible in 1969, he wrote that:
The usual assumption is that the Satanic ceremony or service is always called a black mass. A black mass is not the magical ceremony practiced by Satanists. The Satanist would only employ the use of a black mass as a form of psychodrama
He went on in the Satanic RitualsPsychodramaPsychodrama is a method of psychotherapy in which clients utilize spontaneous dramatization, role playing and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. psychodrama includes elements of theater, often conducted on a stage where...
. Furthermore, a black mass does not necessarily imply that the performers of such are Satanists. A black mass is essentially a parodyParodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
on the religious service of the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, but can be loosely applied to a satireSatireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on any religious ceremony.The Satanic RitualsThe Satanic Rituals is a book by Anton Szandor LaVey published in 1972 as a companion volume to The Satanic Bible. It is a collection of nine rituals with an introductory essay to each.It was published by Avon Books as a 224-page paperback...
(1972) to present it as the most representatively satanic ritual in the book.
The Modern Black Mass
In spite of the huge amount of French literature discussing the Black Mass (Messe Noire) at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century—no set of written instructions for performing one, from any purported group of Satanists, turned up in writing until the 1960s, and appeared not in France, but in the United States. As can be seen from these first Black Masses and Satanic Masses appearing in the U.S., the creators drew heavily from occult novelists such as Dennis WheatleyDennis Wheatley
Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:...
and Joris-Karl Huysmans
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
, and from non-fiction occult writers popular in the 1960s, such as H. T. F. Rhodes (who provided a title in his 1954 book The Satanic Mass), and Grillot de Givry (author of the popular illustrated book Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy).
A growing interest in witchcraft and satanism in the 1960s inspired the creation of two recordings, both made in 1968, and both called "Satanic Mass":
- The first was a 13 minute recording of a full-length "Satanic Mass" made by the U.S. band CovenCoven (band)Coven is an American rock band formed in the late 1960s, composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Oz Osborne , Chris Neilsen on guitar, Rick Durrett and later John Hobbs on keyboards, and drummer Steve Ross...
. Coven's Satanic Mass, part of their stage show in 1968, was included on their 1969 record album "Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps SoulsWitchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls-Personnel:*Jinx Dawson: Vocals*Jim Donlinger: Guitars, Vocals*Jim Nyeholt, John Hobbs: Keyboards, Organ, Piano*Alan Estes, Oz Osbourne: Bass*Steve Ross: Drums, Percussion- External links :* * *...
", together with the full published text. On the album cover, it is stated that they spent a long time researching the material, and to their knowledge it was the first Black Mass published in any language. The result was eclectic, drawing chants and material from numerous sources, including two medieval French miracle plays, Le Miracle de ThéophileLe Miracle de ThéophileLe Miracle de Théophile is a thirteenth century miracle play written in Langues d'oïl, circa 1261 by the trouvère Rutebeuf....
and Jeu de Saint NicolasJean BodelJean Bodel, who lived in the late twelfth century, was an Old French poet who wrote a number of chansons de geste as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras....
, which both contain invocations to the Devil in an unknown language. These chants, along with other material on the album, could be found in books on witchcraft popular in the 60s, notably Grillot de Givry's Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy (originally published in France in 1929). A large portion of the English dialogue was taken verbatim from Dennis WheatleyDennis WheatleyDennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:...
's 1960 occult novel, The Satanist, in which the female protagonist is initiated into a Satanic cult. Additionally, the recording, while using a couple of the Latin phrases the Church of Satan was already making popular, also added a substantial amount of church Latin, in the form of Gregorian chants sung by the band, to create the genuine effect of the Catholic Latin Mass being inverted and sung to Satan.
- The second was a record album of readings in Satanic ritual and philosophy by the Church of SatanChurch of SatanThe Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.- History :...
, called "The Satanic Mass", which contained material later to appear in their Satanic Bible (published in 1969). In spite of the title and a few phrases in Latin, this album did not deal with the Black Mass.
Soon after Coven created their Satanic Mass recording, the Church of Satan began creating their own Black Masses, two of which are available to the public. The first, created for the Church of Satan by Wayne West in 1970, was entitled "Missa Solemnis
Solemn Mass
Solemn Mass , sometimes also referred to as Solemn High Mass or simply High Mass, is, when used not merely as a description, the full ceremonial form of the Tridentine Mass, celebrated by a priest with a deacon and a subdeacon, requiring most of the parts of the Mass to be sung, and the use of...
" (originally published only in pamphlet form, later published in Michael Aquino's history of The Church of Satan), and the second, created by an unknown author, was entitled "Le Messe Noir" (published in Anton LaVey
Anton LaVey
Anton Szandor LaVey , born Howard Stanton Levey, was the founder of the Church of Satan as well as a writer, occultist, and musician...
's 1972 book The Satanic Rituals
The Satanic Rituals
The Satanic Rituals is a book by Anton Szandor LaVey published in 1972 as a companion volume to The Satanic Bible. It is a collection of nine rituals with an introductory essay to each.It was published by Avon Books as a 224-page paperback...
).
All three of these Satanic Masses (the one by Coven and the two by the Church of Satan) contain the Latin phrase "In nomine Dei nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi", as well as the phrases "Rege Satanas" and "Ave Satanas" (which, incidentally, are also the only three Latin phrases which appeared in the Church of Satan's 1968 recording, "The Satanic Mass"). Additionally, all three modify other Latin parts of the Roman Catholic Missal to make them into Satanic versions. The Church of Satan's two Black Masses also use the French text of the Black Mass in Huysmans' Là-Bas to a great extent. (West only uses the English translation, LaVey publishes also the original French). Thus, the Black Mass found in The Satanic Rituals is a combination of English, French, and Latin.
A writer using the pseudonym "Aubrey Melech" published, in 1986, a Black Mass entirely in Latin, entitled "Missa Niger". (This Black Mass is available on the Internet). Aubrey Melech's Black Mass contains almost exactly the same original Latin phrases as the Black Mass published by LaVey in The Satanic Rituals. The difference is that the amount of Latin has now more than doubled, so that the entire Black Mass is in Latin.
The language of the Black Mass
The French sections that LaVey published were quotations from Huysmans's La Bas. The Latin is based on the Roman Catholic Latin MissalTridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
, reworded so as to give it a Satanic meaning (e.g. the Roman Mass starts "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, introibo ad altare Dei", while LaVey's version, printed in the Satanic Rituals
The Satanic Rituals
The Satanic Rituals is a book by Anton Szandor LaVey published in 1972 as a companion volume to The Satanic Bible. It is a collection of nine rituals with an introductory essay to each.It was published by Avon Books as a 224-page paperback...
, starts "In nomine magni dei nostri Satanas, introibo ad altare Domini Inferi"). There are a small amount of copyist and grammatical errors. For example, "dignum" from the Mass, is once incorrectly spelled "Satanic Rituals
The Satanic Rituals
The Satanic Rituals is a book by Anton Szandor LaVey published in 1972 as a companion volume to The Satanic Bible. It is a collection of nine rituals with an introductory essay to each.It was published by Avon Books as a 224-page paperback...
. Another example, also appearing once, is "laefificat" instead of "laetificat". One of the more obvious grammatical errors is "ego vos benedictio", "I bless you", which should have been "ego vos benedico". Another grammatical peculiarity, is that throughout his version of the Mass, LaVey does not decline
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
the name Satanas, as is typically done in Latin if the endings are used, but uses only the one form of the word regardless of the case. Melech uses Satanus. "Satanas" as a name for Satan appears in some examples of Latin texts popularly associated with satanism and witchcraft, such as the middle age pact with the Devil
Pact with the Devil
A deal with the Devil, pact with the Devil, or Faustian bargain is a cultural motif widespread in the West, best exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, but elemental to many Christian folktales...
supposedly written by Urbain Grandier
Urbain Grandier
Urbain Grandier was a French Catholic priest who was burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft, following the events of the so-called "Loudun Possessions." The circumstances of Father Grandier's trial and execution have attracted the attention of writers Alexandre Dumas, père and...
. Both Black Masses end with the Latin expression "Ave, Satanas!" - "Welcome, Satan!" (expressing the opposite sentiments of the similar statement made by Jesus to Satan in the Latin Vulgate Bible (Latin Vulgate, Matthew 4:10), "Vade, Satanas!" - "Go away, Satan!").
See also
- Ave SataniAve Satani"Ave Satani" is the theme song to the film The Omen composed by Jerry Goldsmith. The Omen won an Oscar for Best Score, with Ave Satani nominated for Best Song, one of the few foreign language songs ever to be nominated....
- Host desecrationHost desecrationHost desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christianity involving the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host— the sacred bread used in the Eucharistic service or Mass...
- The Mass of Saint-SecaireThe Mass of Saint-SecaireThe Mass of Saint-Sécaire is a ritual supposed to have been performed in Gascony, France. The best-known account of the Mass is that of James George Frazer in his 1890 omnibus The Golden Bough; Frazer's description, in turn, was taken nearly verbatim from a less well-known French book published in...
- Parody massParody massA parody mass is a musical setting of the mass, typically from the 16th century, that uses multiple voices of another pre-existing piece of music, such as a fragment of a motet or a secular chanson, as part of its melodic material. It is distinguished from the two other most prominent types of...
- Requiem mass ("Mass for the Dead", sometimes called a "Black Mass" due to the black vestments the priest wears)
- Gnostic massGnostic MassA Gnostic Mass is a religious Mass administered by a Gnostic church. Several such churches exist, each with its own Gnostic version of the Mass. Some of these are:* Ecclesia Gnostica celebrates a Gnostic traditional Mass called The Gnostic Holy Eucharist...
- The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and JestersThe All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and JestersThe All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and JestersThe group is also known by various similarly-phrased titles. Robert K. Massie says, "The Drunken Synod, created when Peter was eighteen, continued its tipsy existence until the end of the Tsar's reign[.]" Peter died in 1725. was a club of sorts...
Studies of the Black Mass
(See especially, Chapter 7, "The Worship of the Devil", section 3, "The Black Mass") (Translated from the German by Christine Trollope)External links
- Black Mass, The - article at the Mystica
- Black Mass Gallery, historical depictions of the Black Mass