Whenever Catholics attend Mass, whether it is in the Roman Rite, in the Byzantine Rite, the Chaldean Rite, or any other approved Rite of the Church, everyone should dress modestly and in a manner that is suitable to the occasion. One should avoid coming to Mass dressed in attire that is physically revealing, vain or especially casual. It is always most edifying to note that gentlemen wear a coat and tie to Holy Mass. Going back to the tradition of the early Church, many women, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, choose to wear the chapel veil (i.e. mantilla), as a way of expressing their modesty and femininity. From Sancta Missa

On average, a typical Sunday Low Mass with a sermon/homily is from 45 minutes to 1 hour. A Sunday High Mass sung with Gregorian Chant and with a sermon/homily is usually 1 hour to 1 hour and ten minutes. If the choir sings a polyphonic Mass setting the Mass be 10 to 20 minutes longer, perhaps. This, of course, will vary with the number of communicants approaching the rail during the distribution of Holy Communion and with the length of the priest’s sermon. From Sancta Missa

Some people are surprised at how many young families choose to attend the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Typically, it is the large families in a parish who crave the Latin Mass most. While young people are the largest group that attends the Tridentine Mass, adults are returning today to be spiritually fed by the Mass of their youth. The Latin Mass must be available to any Catholic who wants to enjoy its rich spiritual fruits.  – From Sancta Missa

Catholics of any rite can fulfill their obligation for Mass on Sundays and Holy Days at the Roman Mass in the Extraordinary Form. The traditional Latin Mass, of course, was the norm for centuries and as Pope Benedict XVI has stated, it has never been outlawed (i.e. abrogated).

In light of the proper understanding of the documents of the Second Vatican Counsel, and the clear teaching of Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Ponficum, who today would dare question the validity, excellence, or spiritual benefits of the Mass that for centuries nourished the souls of the great saints and martyrs!

Mass in the Extraordinary Form (1962 Missale Romanum) fulfills the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, and there is no reason to doubt the authenticity or legality of the Mass that is our proud heritage. – From Sancta Missa

The first part of the Mass is a kind of introductory service, made up of chants, prayers and lessons (i.e. readings from Holy Scripture) — namely, the Introit, the Kyrie, the Collect, the Epistle or Lesson, and the Gospel. On certain days the Gloria and the Nicene Creed are added.

This first part of the Mass is called the Mass of the Catechumens, while the remaining part is called the Mass of the Faithful. These names have their origin in the discipline of the early Church. In the first ages of Christianity, persons desiring to become Christians were obliged to undergo a course of instructions preparatory to baptism. They were called “catechumens,” a Greek word meaning “one whose is being instructed.” Catechumens, not yet fully initiated in the teachings and practices of Christianity, were customarily dismissed before the Offertory.

Likewise public sinners who had not yet been absolved were ordered to leave the church before the Offertory. The Sacrifice of the Mass was considered too holy for the presence of notorious sinners; likewise, it was thought to be too mysterious for catechumens. Only those who were baptized, — “the Faithful” — could take part in the actual Eucharistic Sacrifice. The Church, during the course of centuries, modified her discipline in this regard, and all are now permitted to remain.

The Mass is one continuous action, reproducing in a mysterious way the Life, Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. The structure of the Mass is as follows:

§ The Preparation – beginning with the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, the Introit, Kyrie and Gloria.

§ The Instruction — including the Collect, the Epistle, Gradual, Alleluia, (or Tract, and on certain feasts the Sequence), the Gospel (usually followed by a sermon), and the Credo.

§ The Offertory — which includes the Offertory antiphon, the offering of bread, the pouring of water and wine into the chalice, the offering of the chalice, the washing of the hands, the prayer to the Blessed Trinity, the “Orate fratres” and the Secret.

§ The Consecration — including the Preface and the Canon of the Mass, embracing the prayer “Te igitur,” the Memento of the living, the Communicantes and the other two prayers before the Consecration and Elevation, the three prayers after the Consecration, the Commemoration for the Dead, the “Nobis quoque peccatoribus” and the Minor Elevation.

§ The Communion — including the Pater Noster, the Libera, the Agnus Dei, the three prayers before the Communion, the “Domine non sum dignus,” and the Communion of the Priest and the Faithful.

§ The Thanksgiving–which includes the Communion antiphon, the Post- communion prayer, the “Ite missa est,” and the Last Gospel.  – From Sancta Missa

When the priest enters the sanctuary, he begins the Holy Sacrifice with the immortal words Introibo ad altare Dei (‘I will go unto the altar of God’). Hearing these treasured words, every Catholic knows he is present at one of the oldest and most venerable rites of Mass in the Catholic Church.

In the Traditional Latin Mass, the Church sets forth in a fully explicit way her doctrine of the Communion of Saints. The doctrine of the intercession of Our Lady and the Saints whose merits can win grace for our souls is given frequent prominence in the Ordinary and the Propers of the traditional Latin Mass.

The Offertory prayers of the Ancient Form of the Roman Mass are now unique in the Church for their doctrinal richness, employing sacrificial terminology of great rhetorical beauty. This is an important spiritual preparation for the moment of Consecration and has been handed on to us as a precious heritage of Catholic piety through the centuries.

The Consecration is the culminating point of the Traditional Latin Mass. It is because of the supremely sacred nature of this Sacrifice that it is celebrated with solemnity and devout veneration. All the words and gestures of the priest are meticulously regulated by the rubrics (laws) of the Mass, which include multiple genuflections, to ensure the greatest possible reverence in worship.

The 1962 Missale Romanum omits nothing that may serve to remind us that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice on Calvary mystically re-enacted on the altar. Hence the many Signs of the Cross made over the Sacred Species and the eastward orientation of the priest towards the altar of Sacrifice. – From Sancta Missa

The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary made present on our altars in an un-bloody manner (Council of Trent). Therefore, as the pre-eminent Liturgy of the Church, it is of utmost importance that its celebration by regulated liturgical law.

All the prayers, ceremonies, laws and customs that have developed organically over time exist to guarantee its stabile and unchanging quality. These liturgical regulations (i.e. rubrics) provide the clergy a clear guide to the reverent celebration of the Liturgy. Furthermore, St. Thomas Aquinas stated that: “It is absurd and a detestable shame, that we should suffer those traditions to be changed, which we have received from the fathers of old.” During the English Reformation Catholics would say: “It is the Mass that matters.” – From Sancta Missa

Yes. In 1988, Pope John Paul II issued his binding instruction Ecclesia Dei Adflicta. The Pope ordered: “Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition by a wide and generous application of the directives already issued by the Apostolic See.”

This instruction grants a privilege to Catholics under Canon Law. Cardinal Mayer, the former head of the Vatican Commission Ecclesia Dei, said the Pope had spoken of the “lawfulness” of the Tridentine Mass and of the “legitimate aspiration” of Catholics to celebrate or attend that Mass. “Hence a privilege in the canonical sense of the term was granted to the faithful by the supreme legislator of the Church,” said Cardinal Mayer. “Once a privilege is duly granted, the subject indeed has the right to benefit from it.”  –  From Sancta Missa

There are numerous reasons why Mass in the Extraordinary Form is offered in Latin. Professor of Philosophy at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, D.Q. McInerny, provides the most direct answer to this question: “Because this is what the Church herself wants.” In the very first document published by the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, whose subject was the liturgy we read: “The Use of the Latin language, with due respect to particular law, is to be preserved in the Latin rites” (SC 36. 1). Recently canonized Saint Pope John XXIII who convened the Second Vatican Council wrote an Apostolic Constitution, “On the Promotion of the Study of Latin” wrote: Latin serves as “a most effective bond, binding the Church of today with that of the past and future in wonderful continuity . . . Latin is the Church’s living language.”

Saint John XXIII further states, that he is “fully determined to restore this language to its position of honor . . . so as to ensure that the ancient and uninterrupted us of Latin be maintained and, where necessary, restored.”

Saint John XXIII in this document also stated that the Church “values especially the Greek and Latin languages in which wisdom itself is cloaked, as it were, in a vesture of gold.” The Holy Spirit chose three languages in which to proclaim Christ as King when no one else would. On the day of His Crucifixion Hebrew, Greek, and Latin were the languages that proclaimed, “Jesus Christ, King of the Jews” on the inscription over the Cross (John 19:19-20). All three of these languages are used in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

Latin is particularly salutary on account of its universality and its unchanging nature. The use of Latin in Catholicism across the globe fosters unity and establishes among all the Faithful in the Universal Church a link to Rome making one family of God out of many nations separated by diversity of tongues, ethnicities, and races (2). Saint John XXIII wrote: “Of its very nature, Latin is most suitable for promoting every form of culture among peoples” and “it gives rise to no jealousies. It does not favor any one nation, but presents itself with equal impartiality to all and is equally acceptable to all . . . For the Church, precisely because it embraces all nations and is destined to endure to the end of time, of its very nature requires a language which is universal, immutable, and non-vernacular. Modern languages are liable to change, and no single one of them is superior to the others in authority.”

Moreover, the mass is more of an action than a prayer (2). What is more important is to know what the priest and us are doing – and the people join the priest more in action than in word (2). Thomas à Kempis in his book My Imitation of Christ advises us the proper manner to approach the altar: “Christ: so neither can it please Me whatever you give, as long as you offer not yourself. Offer yourself to Me, and give your whole self for God and your offering will be accepted.” In the Old Law, the people sometimes could not see what the Hebrew priest was doing, much less hear anything being said, yet they joined in the action of the priest with his own prayers, each for his own needs (2). Similarly, the people who assist at Mass unite with the priest in the one Great Act of offering the Most High the saving Victim, like Mary, St. John, and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross (2): “If, therefore, you desire to be My disciple, offer up yourself to Me with all your affections”(6).  – From Shower of Roses Blog