What is the Roman Missal?
The Roman Missal is the ritual text for the celebration of Mass in the Roman Catholic Church. It is written in Latin under the title of Missale Romanum. The text is then translated into the
native language of each people or nation for use in local churches. The use of a common book ensures that we are all in unity with the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world.

What is found in the Roman Missal?
The Roman Missal contains the following:
1. The GIRM – The General Instruction of the Roman Missal. This document provides details and guidelines on how the Mass is celebrated.
2. RUBRICS – The Rubrics are instructions or directions to the priest, ministers and people on what to do at each specific part in the Mass. They are called rubrics because they are
presented in red ink; the word ‘rubric’ is the Latin for ‘red’.
3. TEXT – This includes all the prayers and responses spoken during Mass – everything found in the Sacramentary and the Lectionary.

Is the Roman Missal the large red book currently used by the priest on the altar?
Not quite. Let’s explain:
1. The red book that we use at the moment is called a Sacramentary. It contains all the prayers of the Mass – those prayed by the priest and those prayed by the assembly.
2. The Lectionary is the large book which contains all the scriptural readings of the Mass, including the First and Second Reading, the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel.

There are two editions of the Lectionary – the Sunday edition (which is red), and the weekday edition (which is green). The Sacramentary and the Lectionary make up the text portion of the
Roman Missal.