What Is a Rorate Mass?
A Rorate Mass is a votive Mass of Our Lady celebrated before dawn during Advent, lit only by candlelight until the Gloria. It takes its name from the Introit’s opening words, “Rorate caeli desuper” — “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above.”
An early morning Rorate Mass where plainsong from the Book of Isaiah fills the church is truly a Eucharistic encounter. We await the coming of the Messiah made manifest on the altar as in Bethlehem. Christ’s light penetrates the darkness and gives our faces form.
Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just
Aperiatur terra et germinet salvatorem
Let the earth be opened and send forth a Saviour
View the 2007 video of the Rorate Mass from the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.
http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/missa-solemnis/missa-solemnis-rorate-ewtn-2007.html