Rites (Latin: ritus), liturgical rites, and ritual families within Christian liturgy refer to the families of liturgies, rituals, prayers, and other practices historically connected to a place, denomination, or group. Rites often interact with one another, such as in liturgical Latinization, and contain subsets known as uses. There are two broad categories which ritual families fall into: Latin or Western rites associated with Western Christianity and Eastern rites associated with Eastern Christianity.[1] The most common rite is the Roman Rite, itself a Latin liturgical rite and further subdivided into uses.[2][3]
The word rite is often used to describe particular Christian rituals. Rite has also come to refer to the full pattern of worship associated with a particular Christian denomination or tradition,[4] typically comprising the liturgies for the Eucharistic celebration, canonical hours, and sacramental rites.[5] Rites typically result from local variations and traditions, sometimes becoming further distinguished as uses of ritual families.[2] Some ritual families originated with the early focal points of Christianity, such as Rome (Roman Rite), Alexandria (Alexandrian liturgical rites), and Antioch (East and West Syriac Rites).[6] The Roman Rite is further subdivided between the liturgies from the post-Second Vatican Council period, such as the Mass of Paul VI and Liturgy of the Hours, and the pre-conciliar liturgies, such as the Tridentine Mass and Divine Office according to the Roman Breviary.[7]
Some Christian denominations encompass multiple ritual families. The Catholic Church utilizes the various Latin liturgical rites of the Latin Church alongside the rites that compose Eastern Catholic liturgy.[7] The use of those liturgical rites are determined by the particular church of the celebrating clergy; other Catholic rites are associated with Catholic religious orders, such as the Dominican Rite and Carmelite Rite.[6] The liturgical rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches are often distinct from the same rites as practiced by non-Catholic denominations, sometimes the result of Liturgical Latinization.[8] Within Eastern Orthodoxy, the Byzantine Rite–including the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and Byzantine adaption of the Liturgy of Saint Mark–is predominant, with some limited usage of the Western Rite.[9]
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