My First Mass in France

On Sunday, July 7th, I went to my first ever Mass in France! It was at Saint-Séverin, at noon (I first talked about this church in my July 4th blog post). I convinced Emily to join me for this Mass (buddy system!).

Here are my thoughts about the Mass:

Ringing Bells

Before we went into the church, we were talking to a family at Odette, a pastry shop near the church. About 10-15 minutes before the Mass was to start, we heard the church bells go off. It was calling us to go to the church!

The Church

The church itself is so beautiful, and it has a wonderful organ. I’ve never attended Mass in such an old church before. It’s so cool to think that I was at Mass where others have been going to Mass for centuries!

Length of the Mass

The Mass was about an hour long, or a little under. That is about as long as the typical Mass in the US. The reason why the Masses take the same amount of time is because they follow the same steps at the same time-the Order of Mass (see below for more).

Language and Order of the Mass

Overall, I both understood what was going on, but at the same time I didn’t. This was my first ever Mass that was not in English. While I took French for 4.5 years (all 4 years of high school and a semester in college-I passed French 202), I am certainly not fluent. On the song pamphlet they had, I could read and understand some of the words and phrases, but not all. What I could not completely understand, I could guess the meaning based on context and what I could imagine would be said, knowing the religion and wording of religious songs. Although, it was hard to follow along, as sometimes the songs being sung I had a hard time finding on the pamphlet, if I could find them at all.

The Order of the Mass (what happens during Mass and when) was the same as in the US, and I’d imagine the wording is too, just in a different language. In this way, I could follow along pretty easily.

The only part that I could not understand, and have no hope of knowing what was said, was the homily (what is called a sermon in other denominations). Since it was all in French, I have no idea what the priest was saying. Homilies are unique to priests (priests can and do reuse their old ones, if applicable) and I doubt this priest has put this homily anywhere I could find and use Google Translate.

Tourists and Lateness

We were definitely not the only tourists. Looking around at others attending the Mass, others looked confused and/or were also desperately trying to find the songs on the pamphlet too. In addition, some were kneeling when everyone else wasn’t (see the section on Kneeling down below for more about this)

However, there were tourists walking around looking at the side chapels in the middle of Mass! It’s something I’ve never seen before, though to be fair none of the other churches I’ve been to have had side chapels. I found it quite rude and distracting. To Catholics, Mass is the highest form of worship. It seems rude to me to walk around when others are using the space in that way.

Throughout the Mass, people who were walking around sat down and started to pay attention to the Mass. Normally, you come and sit down before the Mass starts, not in the middle of it! There were also people who came in late and sat down (which is quite normal, to be fair). Since many came in late, the church did fill up more than what my picture above shows!

Size of Mass

This Mass was definitely smaller than the 10:30, which we had seen the end of, since we got to the church early. The 10:30 had multiple priests and alter boys. There was also a procession out of the church, so I’d assume there as a procession into the church as well.

At this Mass, there was only one priest, and no alter boys. There may have been less people attending too, though I don’t know how many were at the 10:30. Not all of the seats were full at the noon Mass (most of the front, some of the sides, and not many of the back seats).

Communion

Speaking of few people at Mass, even fewer people went up to receive Communion (the Eucharist). There was also some disorganization. There were no ushers, like at my old home parish, to direct rows to get up, so people all just shuffled out of their rows to get in line. There were ushers there, to handle the money baskets and going up to each row with them (which is something I’ve seen at every church, in some way, shape, or form), but they didn’t usher during the receiving of Communion. Part of the disorganization may also be because many weren’t getting up, leaving those behind them to try and figure out if those in front of them are getting up, so they should wait, or if they aren’t, so they should get up and get in line.

The communion wafers (“hosts”) were also different to the ones in the US. The ones I have had in the US have been thinner and more wafer-like. They kind of dissolve in your mouth. The one I had at Saint-Séverin was much thicker. Like the others, it was unleavened, though.

Kneeling

Connected to Communion is kneeling. Before receiving Communion and then after, the congregation kneels. At my parish growing up, as well as others I’ve been to, there are pews and connected the pews kneelers to kneel on. Even at the Saint John Bosco Center at UMW, which had foldable chairs like Saint-Séverin, we kneel on strips of carpet. However, at Saint-Séverin, people did not kneel. A few did, just on the ground. Most people did not, though. From my basic background knowledge of churches and kneeling, early and even medieval churches did not have pews, and kneeling is more recent too. Perhaps that is why, at this medieval church, there is no kneeling. That, or it is just different cultures from the confused tourists there, clashing.

Ringing Bells Before Communion

During the Mass, the church bells rung again, three times, when the priest raised the consecrated Host. Then, the bells rang again, three times, when the consecrated Chalice was raised. At other churches I’ve been to, there are alter boys who ring bells when it happened. However, as I said before, there were no alter boys at this Mass. Honestly, I think the ringing of the church bells was neat. I am not sure if others, outside the church, could hear them, but if they could, I think its cool that others can hear, and, if they’re Catholic, know what was just going on inside the church. Namely, that the bread and wine turned into Christ’s Body and Blood by the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Christ.

Overall Thoughts