On Sunday, October 17th, in Our Lady’s Chapel underneath the Holy Cross Cathedral in downtown Boston, a Latin Rite Mass held using Ge’ez psalms, language, and traditional customs was held for the Ethiopian faithful. This tradition, in some form, has been a staple in the Boston Ethiopian community for 18 years.
In Ethiopia, the Latin and Alexandrian Rites are both held in the Oriental Ethiopian Catholic Church, demonstrating the unity between Rome and this historically Christian nation through ritual worship of God.
According to the 1990 Code of Canons of Oriental Churches, a rite is “the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris.” The Alexandrian Rite is divided into the Coptic and Ge’ez Rites with the main distinction being between the Coptic and Ge’ez languages. The Ethiopian Catholic Church celebrates liturgy using the Ge’ez Rite.
Additionally, the Alexandrian Rite traces its roots back to the Evangelist St. Mark, the first Bishop of Alexandria, whose liturgy is deemed the ‘parent liturgy’ of the Melkite, Coptic, and Ethiopian liturgies. The Alexandrian Rite is still used within the Coptic Catholic Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, and the Eritrean Catholic Church.
“The Holy Catholic Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is made up of the faithful who are organically united in the Holy Spirit by the same faith, the same sacraments and the same government and who, combining together into various groups which are held together by a hierarchy, form separate Churches or Rites,” the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wrote in a decree promulgated by Pope Paul VI in November 1964. “Between these there exists an admirable bond of union, such that the variety within the Church in no way harms its unity; rather it manifests it, for it is the mind of the Catholic Church that each individual Church or Rite should retain its traditions whole and entire and likewise that it should adapt its way of life to the different needs of time and place.”
The Ge’ez language is the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Church and is a Semitic language of the Southern Peripheral group. It is an ancient court language from the time of the country’s Christian beginnings, making it forever intertwined with the worship of the triune God and a budding, Christ-centered society.
Equipped with beautiful wooden ornamentation and statues of various saints behind a well-decorated altar, the uniqueness of the Ethiopian traditions met the Latin Church’s worship setting within the basement chapel in a complementary and unifying way.
Further, the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa or the Black Madonna in the back of the chapel, though dedicated to the people of Poland, demonstrated Our Lady’s and the entire Church’s welcoming of people of all different races into relationship with God.
During the entrance psalm, three Ethiopian men serving as altar servers walked with the priest, dressed in a maroon and golden vestment, accompanying him with a processional canopy and incense filling the room. The choir showcased women singing joyfully in Ge’ez with the upbeat rhythm being set by an electronic synthesizer. This and other hymns throughout the Mass, many of which were accompanied with a liturgical drum, were completely different from those in the Latin Rite, showcasing the amount of ways to bring proper praise in song to Jesus Christ. The music continued as the priest blessed all of the congregation as well as a statue of Our Lady with incense.
The various readings and responsorial psalm were read in Ge’ez while the Kyrie, Gospel, and homily were said in English.
Traditional to the Eastern Churches, the priest practiced intinction, where the Body of Christ is dipped into the Precious Blood, and both the priest and the laity were able to receive the Sacrament on the tongue.
“Everything is my favorite,” Ermios, one of the adult altar servers at the Mass, said following the liturgy when asked about what his favorite part of the Ge’ez language and Latin Rite Mass was.
The one-and-a-half hour liturgy allowed one to focus on both the truth and nature of the timeless words in Scripture and perpetual action of Christ’s sacrifice presented to the faithful, while still calling one to reflect on the ancestors and traditions of the Ethiopian Church.
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
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