In the
Order of Mass of the
Roman Rite, which is the most widespread
liturgical rite in the
Catholic Church, the introductory part of
Mass normally includes a Penitential Act after the making of the
sign of the cross and the priest's greeting. The
Roman Missal provides three forms. The priest begins each with an exhortation to acknowledge one's sinfulness as preparation for celebrating the sacred mysteries and he ends it with the prayer, "May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life", a deprecatory
absolution, as distinct from the declarative or indicative absolution, "I absolve you from your sins". Between these two interventions by the priest, sinfulness is acknowledged in one of three ways; • Recitation of the
Confiteor; • A short prayer, beginning with "Have mercy on us, O Lord", recited alternately by priest and people; • A short litany spoken or sung, not necessarily by the priest, to each of whose three variable invocations or
tropes the people respond with the acclamation
Kyrie, eleison or
Christe, eleison (Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy) The Penitential Act is followed by the
Kyrie eleison chant (unless the third form of the Penitential Act has been chosen) and on solemnities and feasts by the
Gloria. If certain celebrations are combined with Mass, then the Penitential Act and other parts of the Introductory Rites are omitted or performed in a different way. An example is the Mass of
Ash Wednesday, in which the Penitential Act is replaced by the blessing and imposition of ashes after the homily. "On Sundays, especially in the Season of Easter, in place of the customary Penitential Act, from time to time the
Blessing and Sprinkling of Water to recall Baptism may take place."
Tridentine Mass The
Tridentine Roman Missal (editions from 1570 to 1962), which does not use the term "Penitential Act", has an equivalent, within the
Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, in the
Confiteor: The priest says: {{verse translation|lang=la Deacon and subdeacon at a
solemn Mass, server(s) at a
low Mass, or server(s) and people at a
dialogue Mass respond: {{verse translation|lang=la The
Confiteor is then repeated by the others, replacing
vobis fratres and
vos fratres (you, brethren) with
tibi pater and
te pater (you, Father). The priest responds with the '
is spoken by the priest replacing ' with '
, ' with '
, and ' with ''
. The priest responds with two prayers: Misereátur vestri omnípotens Deus, et dimíssis peccátis vestris, perdúcat vos ad vitam ætérnam
(May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins and bring you to everlasting life) and (making the sign of the cross) Indulgéntiam, absolutiónem, et remissiónem peccatórum nostrórum, tríbuat nobis omnípotens et miséricors Dóminus'' (May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins). In the original Tridentine Roman Missal (1570), the
Misereatur prayer added the adjective
omnibus ("all") to the phrase
dimissis peccatis tuis/vestris ("forgive you [all] your sins"). ==Usage in Lutheranism==