Vestment makers and missal publishers must feel like it’s Christmas in July. The motu proprio means the hunt is on for old vestments and ritual books:

A Web site, helpline, DVDs and a training course at Oxford are among resources springing up for priests who want to celebrate the old-style mass but aren’t sure which vestments to wear or where to get them, when to genuflect, how deep to bow, or how to clasp their hands in prayer.

“There will be priests who will say: ‘Oh my God, I want to celebrate the old rite but I’m not sure of one or two things’,” said Pietro Siffi, a 37-old Italian devotee of the old Latin rite who plans to offer free online and phone support.

“We will help them find the answer.”

Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Catholic mass was an elaborate ritual led in Latin by a priest who faced east with the rest of the congregation, meaning they faced his back.

Vatican II reduced the formality and had the priest face the faithful to pray in their local language.

The old rite also includes hair-splitting specifics on which vestments can be used, what material they must be made of, where the candles should be placed on the altar, and the precise position of the priest’s hands at various points in the liturgy.

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMSEW) is planning a three-day “major training conference” at Merton College at Oxford University in late August: “There has been an explosion of interest,” its general manager John Medlin said.

“The aim is to give a firmly grounded taster in how to celebrate the traditional mass and the background information you need to do it with knowledge and devotion,” he said by phone.

As more than a few priests have pointed out to me: the old rite was often celebrated as sloppily as the new, and sometimes was even worse. The difference is that nobody in the pews could tell. Now they can.

Too bad no one has taken the time and energy to make DVDs about how to celebrate the Paul VI mass properly.