ABSTRACT
There can be no doubt that in the missionaries’ view the celebration of the mass and the sacrament of communion that formed part of it, were considered the most sublime and solemn of all Christian rites. Believers were obliged to attend mass at least once a year, but were encouraged to do so as frequently as possible. The very nature of the mass liturgy may have been responsible for this lack of appeal. Unlike baptism, confession and extreme unction, all of which were single sacramental acts aimed at the salvation of the individual believer, the mass liturgy was enacted in front of the congregation as a complicated ritual consisting of a sequence of dozens of sacral acts and Latin texts, culminating in the consecration of the host and the communion. Although it is nowhere stated explicitly, the mass sacrifice was an in-group meeting to which in principle no outsiders were admitted.
