Curious... Why do priests talk so quickly in TLMs?

[newtolatin]

I have heard several Masses on video, recordings, and only a few IRL, but two different priests.

Why do they all seem to talk so fast? They seem to zip right through those words! When we pray the Rosary, I am trying to slow my children down because it seems more reverent to me.

[HMiS]

Some priest do it quickly, some slowly. I think one should not make words too long, neither slip words from the tongue, or swallowing halve lines just because of the speed of speaking.

 

I have been at a 20 minute Mass (Low) once, but also once a priest did 50 min. for a Low Mass without sermon.

 

Padre Pio took 3 hours for a Sung Mass.

 

But then that was due to visions etc.

 

I think a Low Mass without chant should take 25 min, and speaking should be quick, but not too fast. Please note some people loose their concentration after 20 min. of intensive prayer, which is what Mass is.

[Mornac]

I find that at an average Mass the priests speaks at about the same rate that I read the text from my Missal. That seems to be about right because the priest is addressing God and no one else hence he should be speaking at about a conversational rate (slightly slower in reverence to the Almighty). This may seem a bit out of the ordinary to those who are used to the NO where the priest feels he is addressing everyone and uses a more oratorical style.

 

I remember when I was young our parish had four or five Masses on weekday mornings. The longest would be no longer than ½ hour. I’ve spoken with WWII vets who said that a priest on a battlefield was capable of saying a Mass in 15 minutes. That of course was borne of particular circumstances.

[Sophia]

I've been to low Masses that were said quickly, and some that went on forever.  Often times, I believe that the reason for saying the Mass quickly is because the priests are just so very busy running this way and that: visiting the sick, counseling people, preparing others for the sacraments, teaching children.  It is the weekday Masses that they say quickly, and not usually Sunday or Solemnity Masses. 

These men also pray the rest of the Divine Office, so it is not as if they are trying to get their duty "over with."  Their whole lives are one prayer, filled with sacrifice. 

[nicollette]

I was under the impression that if a priest knew the latin well it would be spoken quickly (similar to listening to people speak fluent spanish if you don't know a word of it).  If you speak the language well it flows and therefore seems to be spoken quickly but it's only the natural flow of the language.  

I don't speak latin fluently, or at all really, so I don't know how true this is.  But I've found that the priests who could speak it fluently breezed through a low Mass and the priests who have a hard time with latin take their time speaking it, making the Mass longer.  Maybe this has something to do with it?

[DominusTecum]

Very likely, Nicollette. I've been to a few Low Masses that seemed to take a very long time, this was mostly at Diocesan Indult type stuff... when I go to the SSPX, (or Ecclesia Dei) the Mass tends to go much faster. My old parish priest can say a Low Mass (with sermon) in 50 minutes, and I know another priest who says weekday Masses faster than I can read the English in my Missal. I don't even bother looking up the propers, because I need the time he takes saying the propers to catch up on my own reading of the ordinary (and I am a fast reader.) So yeah, there's definitely some speed there. We can thus see two options: these men are fluent in Latin and understand it, have been praying the Mass every day of their lives for the last decade or two since their ordination, and thus know it intimately and can say it devoutly and quickly, or these men are horribly impious and rush through the most monumental act on earth just to get it over with so they can go have breakfast. Given that, in the vast majority of cases, we know the men in question to be living saints, we can say with full certainty that the former explanation is assuredly true, and makes much more sense.

 

[francis]

I find that at an average Mass the priests speaks at about the same rate that I read the text from my Missal. That seems to be about right because the priest is addressing God and no one else hence he should be speaking at about a conversational rate (slightly slower in reverence to the Almighty). This may seem a bit out of the ordinary to those who are used to the NO where the priest feels he is addressing everyone and uses a more oratorical style.

I came to a similar conclusion some time ago: noting that a speed that would seem hurried if one was addressing a public forum, actually seemed about right if one imagined an intimate conversation between two people.

These days we are used to the more  orotund style of either protestant services or NO masses addressed ad populum.

That said, my own TLM priest takes about 40 minutes for a weekday low mass without creed or sermon.

[Kenny]

It seems to me the reasons offered for priests saying the TLM in speedfire Latin also apply to the, uh, speed of praying the Rosary. I tend to get a little impatient (mea culpa) when I pray the Rosary with a group of faithful who say it extremely slowly. I normally finish saying my Rosary within ten to fifteen minutes, but some people can take up to almost half an hour. I know it's an attempt to be reverent when addressing Our Lord and Our Lady in prayer, but they say the words ridiculously slowly. I like to think of prayer as intimate conversation, so I would tend to pray at the rate I normally would in such a conversation.

By the way, I noticed almost everyone's got some sort of special title! Can I be known as the Man Eating Fish?

[OrlandoCatholic]

It doesn't bother me at all as more often than not the priests are praying in a pious manner as mentioned above. On a strictly time basis it's nothing unusual. Here in Orlando, they have taped Novus Ordo Masses (with the guitar player looking like Esteban in the background) in English and Spanish that run 30 minutes on a Sunday & that includes a few advertisements, announcements, and a brief sermon.

[batteddy]

I'd only be suspicious of foul play if the silent parts seem to be taking shorter time than the spoken.

 

If it takes 3 minutes to go through the creed...and then 3 minutes also to go through the canon...you know something is amiss...