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(Redirected from Black mass)
In Satanic tradition, 'Black Mass' is the name given to a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Sabbath, which was a parody of the Christian Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the Host, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts were obtained or profaned (see also host desecration); 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, a turnip or a bit of dry flesh, but most judges and authors believed that true hosts were given by Christian priests that had made a diabolical pact to the attendants to the Sabbath to be profaned by them.
Given the modern practices of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, which permits parishioners to receive the host in the hand, it is possible to steal a host in that manner. Though priests and eucharistic ministers are cautioned to be on the look out for persons who do not immediately consume the host, there are usually too many parishioners at any given Mass or Communion Service to ensure that no hosts are stolen in this manner.
As it was believed that the culmination of this mass was an orgy, the term was later applied to a sexual orgy.
The Satanic Bible, written by Anton Szandor LaVey, states that "A usual assumption is that the Satanic ceremony or service is 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. Furthermore, a black mass does not necessarily imply that the performers of such are Satanists. A black mass is essentially a parody on the religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, but can be loosely applied to a satire on any religious ceremony."
One of the best recent outlines of the history of the Black Mass is found in Richard Cavendish, "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 (and since translated into English), by Gerhard Zacharias, "The Dark God: Satan Worship and Black Masses" (1964).
The Rite of the Sacrifice of the Mass was developed by early Christians. As Christianity, and specifically the Roman Catholic Church, was consolidating, there were different varieties of masses practiced, many of which were quite different from the Roman Catholic Rite which was eventually adopted.
In the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic practitioners were allowed (or allowed themselves to) at times elaborate on the Roman Catholic Mass, and create parodies of it for certain 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 Fools. There were also other parodies, such as "drinker's masses" and "gamblers masses," which lamented the situation of drunk, gambling monks, and instead of calling to "Deus" (God), called to "Bacchus" (the God of Wine). Some of these Latin parody works are found in the medieval Latin collection of poetry, Carmina Burana.
Additionally, the Rite of the Mass was not completely fixed, and there were places where the priests could insert private prayers for various personal needs. As these types of personal masses spread, the institution of the Low Mass 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, 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).
A further source of Middle Age involvement with parodies and alterations of the Mass, were the writings of the European witch-hunt, which saw witches as being agents of the Devil, who were described as inverting the Christian Mass and employing the stolen Host for diabolical ends. The witch-hunter's manual Malleus Maleficarum gives details relating to these supposed practices.
The more recent players in the history of the Black Mass as we know it today, all come from France.
'1500s' Catherine de' Medici, the Queen of France, was the first to be said to have performed a Black Mass, all based on a story by Jean Bodin, in his book on witchcraft. In spite of its lurid details, there is little outside evidence to back up his story.
'1600s' Catherine Monvoisin and the priest Etienne Guibourg were the next players, who performed "Black Masses" for the mistress of the King of France, during the second half of the 1600s. Since a criminal investigation was launched (resulting in the execution of Monvoisin and the imprisonment of Guibourg), there are many details of their Black Mass that have come down to us. It can be seen that it was a typical Roman Catholic Mass, but modified according to certain formulas (some reminiscent of the Latin Sworn Book of Honorius). And most importantly, the mistress of Louis XIV, the King of France, herself (Madame de Montespan), was the central altar of worship, lying naked upon the altar with the chalice on her bare stomach, and holding two black candles in each of her outsretched arms. It is from these images of the Guibourg mass, that further developments of the Black Mass were to follow.
'1700s' The Marquis de Sade, in many of his writings places the Host and the Mass, monks, priests, and the Pope himself, in sexual settings.
'1800s' Joris-Karl Huysmans wrote the classic of French Satanism, Là-Bas (1891). This novel summarizes all of French Satanism up to that point, and includes a new version of the Black Mass, which Huysmans claimed was practised in Paris in those years.
Surprising as it may seem - in spite of the huge amount of French literature discussing the Black Mass (Messe Noire) at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s - 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.
The first actual Black Mass to appear in writing was on a 1969 record album by a U.S. band called Coven. In the notes on their album (called "Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls"), they state that they spent a long time researching the Black Mass, and to their knowledge it was the first Black Mass to appear in writing in any language. Soon after (or perhaps at the same time) that Coven created their Black Mass, the Church of Satan began creating their own Black Masses, two of which are available to the public. One, entitled "Missa Solemnis", (created for the Church of Satan in 1970 by Wayne West) was published in Michael Aquino's huge electronic book about the Church of Satan (entitled "The Church of Satan"), and the second, entitled "Messe Noir", was published in Anton LaVey's 1972 book, The Satanic Rituals.
All three of these early Black Masses used one or two Latin phrases (such as "In nomine Domini Dei nostri Satanae Luciferi Excelsi") found in earlier French writings. Additionally, all three modify other Latin parts of the Roman Catholic Missal to make them into Satanic versions. The two Church of Satan 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.
Finally, 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 increased about five times so that the entire Black Mass is in Latin.
The Latin of Melech and LaVey is completely based on the authentic Roman Catholic Latin Missal - it has just been reworded so as to give it a Satanic meaning. There are some errors, but these are mostly due to typos made by the publisher, who apparently could not read Latin. As for the French sections that LaVey published, they were direct quotes from Huysmans' La Bas, and Huysmans can hardly be accused of writing bad French. Both Black Masses end with the expression "Ave, Satanas!". This is also correct Church Latin, and is a reversal of Jesus' statement to Satan in the Latin Vulgate Bible, "Vade, Satanas!" (Matthew 4:10).
★ Host Desecration
★ The Satanic Mass, Rhodes, H.T.F., , , , 1954,
★ Der dunkle Gott: Satanaskult und Schwarze Messe, Zacharias, Gerhard, , , , 1964,
★ The Black Arts, Cavendish, Richard, , , , 1967, (See especially, Chapter 7, "The Worship of the Devil", section 3, "The Black Mass")
★ The Dark God: Satan Worship and Black Masses, Zacharias, Gerhard, , , , 1980, (Translated from the German by Christine Trollope)
★ Là-Bas, Huysmans, Joris-Karl, , , , 1891,
★ The Satanic Rituals, LaVey, Anton, , , , 1972,
★ Missa Niger: La Messe Noire: a True and Factual Account of the Principal Ritual of Satanic Worship, Melech, Aubrey, , , , 1986,
★ Black Mass, The - article at ''the MYSTICA''
★ Black Mass Gallery Historical depictions of the Black Mass
In Satanic tradition, 'Black Mass' is the name given to a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Sabbath, which was a parody of the Christian Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the Host, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts were obtained or profaned (see also host desecration); 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, a turnip or a bit of dry flesh, but most judges and authors believed that true hosts were given by Christian priests that had made a diabolical pact to the attendants to the Sabbath to be profaned by them.
Given the modern practices of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, which permits parishioners to receive the host in the hand, it is possible to steal a host in that manner. Though priests and eucharistic ministers are cautioned to be on the look out for persons who do not immediately consume the host, there are usually too many parishioners at any given Mass or Communion Service to ensure that no hosts are stolen in this manner.
As it was believed that the culmination of this mass was an orgy, the term was later applied to a sexual orgy.
The Satanic Bible, written by Anton Szandor LaVey, states that "A usual assumption is that the Satanic ceremony or service is 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. Furthermore, a black mass does not necessarily imply that the performers of such are Satanists. A black mass is essentially a parody on the religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, but can be loosely applied to a satire on any religious ceremony."
Origins and history of the Black Mass
One of the best recent outlines of the history of the Black Mass is found in Richard Cavendish, "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 (and since translated into English), by Gerhard Zacharias, "The Dark God: Satan Worship and Black Masses" (1964).
Early Christianity
The Rite of the Sacrifice of the Mass was developed by early Christians. As Christianity, and specifically the Roman Catholic Church, was consolidating, there were different varieties of masses practiced, many of which were quite different from the Roman Catholic Rite which was eventually adopted.
Middle Age Roman Catholic parodies and additions to the Mass
In the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic practitioners were allowed (or allowed themselves to) at times elaborate on the Roman Catholic Mass, and create parodies of it for certain 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 Fools. There were also other parodies, such as "drinker's masses" and "gamblers masses," which lamented the situation of drunk, gambling monks, and instead of calling to "Deus" (God), called to "Bacchus" (the God of Wine). Some of these Latin parody works are found in the medieval Latin collection of poetry, Carmina Burana.
Additionally, the Rite of the Mass was not completely fixed, and there were places where the priests could insert private prayers for various personal needs. As these types of personal masses spread, the institution of the Low Mass 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, 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).
A further source of Middle Age involvement with parodies and alterations of the Mass, were the writings of the European witch-hunt, which saw witches as being agents of the Devil, who were described as inverting the Christian Mass and employing the stolen Host for diabolical ends. The witch-hunter's manual Malleus Maleficarum gives details relating to these supposed practices.
'The Guibourg Mass'
artist ''Henry de Malvost'', in the book ''Le Satanisme et la Magie'', by ''Jules Bois'', Paris, 1903
artist ''Henry de Malvost'', in the book ''Le Satanisme et la Magie'', by ''Jules Bois'', Paris, 1903
France at the end of the Middle Ages
The more recent players in the history of the Black Mass as we know it today, all come from France.
'1500s' Catherine de' Medici, the Queen of France, was the first to be said to have performed a Black Mass, all based on a story by Jean Bodin, in his book on witchcraft. In spite of its lurid details, there is little outside evidence to back up his story.
'1600s' Catherine Monvoisin and the priest Etienne Guibourg were the next players, who performed "Black Masses" for the mistress of the King of France, during the second half of the 1600s. Since a criminal investigation was launched (resulting in the execution of Monvoisin and the imprisonment of Guibourg), there are many details of their Black Mass that have come down to us. It can be seen that it was a typical Roman Catholic Mass, but modified according to certain formulas (some reminiscent of the Latin Sworn Book of Honorius). And most importantly, the mistress of Louis XIV, the King of France, herself (Madame de Montespan), was the central altar of worship, lying naked upon the altar with the chalice on her bare stomach, and holding two black candles in each of her outsretched arms. It is from these images of the Guibourg mass, that further developments of the Black Mass were to follow.
'1700s' The Marquis de Sade, in many of his writings places the Host and the Mass, monks, priests, and the Pope himself, in sexual settings.
'1800s' Joris-Karl Huysmans wrote the classic of French Satanism, Là-Bas (1891). This novel summarizes all of French Satanism up to that point, and includes a new version of the Black Mass, which Huysmans claimed was practised in Paris in those years.
The Black Mass itself
Surprising as it may seem - in spite of the huge amount of French literature discussing the Black Mass (Messe Noire) at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s - 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.
The first actual Black Mass to appear in writing was on a 1969 record album by a U.S. band called Coven. In the notes on their album (called "Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls"), they state that they spent a long time researching the Black Mass, and to their knowledge it was the first Black Mass to appear in writing in any language. Soon after (or perhaps at the same time) that Coven created their Black Mass, the Church of Satan began creating their own Black Masses, two of which are available to the public. One, entitled "Missa Solemnis", (created for the Church of Satan in 1970 by Wayne West) was published in Michael Aquino's huge electronic book about the Church of Satan (entitled "The Church of Satan"), and the second, entitled "Messe Noir", was published in Anton LaVey's 1972 book, The Satanic Rituals.
All three of these early Black Masses used one or two Latin phrases (such as "In nomine Domini Dei nostri Satanae Luciferi Excelsi") found in earlier French writings. Additionally, all three modify other Latin parts of the Roman Catholic Missal to make them into Satanic versions. The two Church of Satan 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.
Finally, 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 increased about five times so that the entire Black Mass is in Latin.
The Latin of Melech and LaVey is completely based on the authentic Roman Catholic Latin Missal - it has just been reworded so as to give it a Satanic meaning. There are some errors, but these are mostly due to typos made by the publisher, who apparently could not read Latin. As for the French sections that LaVey published, they were direct quotes from Huysmans' La Bas, and Huysmans can hardly be accused of writing bad French. Both Black Masses end with the expression "Ave, Satanas!". This is also correct Church Latin, and is a reversal of Jesus' statement to Satan in the Latin Vulgate Bible, "Vade, Satanas!" (Matthew 4:10).
See also
★ Host Desecration
References
Studies of the Black Mass
★ The Satanic Mass, Rhodes, H.T.F., , , , 1954,
★ Der dunkle Gott: Satanaskult und Schwarze Messe, Zacharias, Gerhard, , , , 1964,
★ The Black Arts, Cavendish, Richard, , , , 1967, (See especially, Chapter 7, "The Worship of the Devil", section 3, "The Black Mass")
★ The Dark God: Satan Worship and Black Masses, Zacharias, Gerhard, , , , 1980, (Translated from the German by Christine Trollope)
Sources
★ Là-Bas, Huysmans, Joris-Karl, , , , 1891,
★ The Satanic Rituals, LaVey, Anton, , , , 1972,
★ Missa Niger: La Messe Noire: a True and Factual Account of the Principal Ritual of Satanic Worship, Melech, Aubrey, , , , 1986,
External links
★ Black Mass, The - article at ''the MYSTICA''
★ Black Mass Gallery Historical depictions of the Black Mass
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