For reference I am Italian, went to mass the other day and was wondering when the whole schedule of a catholic mass was decided ne the things the priest says.
So, first things first, the term for this is a "rite", which in this context the Catholic Church defines as "the whole complex of the services of any Church or group of Churches". In other words, a rite is a specific traditional collection of rituals practiced by a Christian Church. The term "Liturgy" is used to refer to the specific rituals associated with the Mass. (though, Eastern Christians use the term "Liturgy" to refer to both the rituals of the Mass as well as a word for the Mass per-se.) What we are looking for here then, is a history of Latin/Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
It's also worth pointing out that there are multiple "particular churches" in the Catholic Church. By far the most significant one is the Roman Catholic Church, but there are also various Eastern Catholic Churches which have their own hierarchies and use different rites distinct from the modern Latin Rite, but are still considered part of the Catholic Church (ie, they acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope.)
With that in mind, the most recent major reform to the Latin Rite was made in 1963 during the Second Vatican Council. Prior to that Catholic Masses predominantly followed the order set down during the Council of Trent. Prior to that, the history is more complicated.
The liturgy predates the legalization of Christianity by Constantine so it's hard to peg down precise origins of particular prayers. Catholics and Eastern Christian cite the Last Supper story in the bible as its origin and it's clear that the Mass is intended to imitate that story, and there are references in the encyclicals of Paul to this form of worship, for example:
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
However, it's hard to get a precise history of the rituals during this time period in part because Christianity was a semi-underground sect and a lot about the rituals were kept secret at the time. (Christianity at the time followed some of the trope of contemporary mystery cults which kept rituals a secret only for members.) We mostly have to make due with allusions to contemporary practices, rather than descriptions of the rituals themselves.
What we do know, is the by the time of Christianity's legalization in the 4th century, there was quite a bit of diversity in the rites and rituals of the liturgy. Each locality had a slight difference in ritual practice than the one next to it. The late 4th century bishop Ambrose of Milan is reputed to have quiped "When in Rome, do as the Romans do (si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi)" when instructing a subordinate to let him know to adjust his practice to whatever the local practice was.
In non Latin Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox, Byzantine Catholic, etc some of diversity persist, in the form of Liturgical rites such the liturgy of John Chrysostom and others.
During the Middle Ages, the Roman Church pushed for a ritual unity in the west. They slowly suppressed, but did not entirely eliminate, rites different from the one practices in Rome itself. By the time of the Council of Trent, the Latin Rite had been established as the primary, and nearly universal, rite of the Catholic Church.
Bear in mind that the biggest change in this time was a shift from a relatively local understanding of how the liturgy should be ordered to a top down mandate issued by the magisterium and a standardization on the Latin Rite. Trent finalized this process. However, particular churches other than the Roman Church, such as the Ukrainian, Ruthenian, and Maronite still practiced their own rites. In addition, the various Orthodox churches also had their own rites which differed from those of the Catholics.
Between 1570 and 1962, there were a few relatively minor adjustments to the Latin Rite, such as the introduction of 'prayers after low mass' in 1884, as well as changes to the Liturgical calendar (removing and adding feast days, mainly.) In 1962, St Joseph was added to the Roman Canon and the word 'perfidious' was removed as a descriptor of the Jews.
Second Vatican Council was convened in 1962 with the explicit goal of adapting the practices of the Catholic Church to the modern world. There were a number of ideas pushed forward under that aegis during that council but the main one we are worried about here was the idea that there should be more lay (non clerical, or priestly) participation in liturgy.
- Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the "sacrament of unity," namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops [33]
Therefore liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the Church; they manifest it and have effects upon it; but they concern the individual members of the Church in different ways, according to their differing rank, office, and actual participation.
- It is to be stressed that whenever rites, according to their specific nature, make provision for communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful, this way of celebrating them is to be preferred, so far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and quasi-private.
...
- Servers, lectors commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function. They ought, therefore, to discharge their office with the sincere piety and decorum demanded by so exalted a ministry and rightly expected of them by God's people.
Consequently they must all be deeply imbued with the spirit of the liturgy, each in his own measure, and they must be trained to perform their functions in a correct and orderly manner.
- To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes. And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence.
- The revision of the liturgical books must carefully attend to the provision of rubrics also for the people's parts.
-- Sacrosanctum Concilium
Prior to the "Novus Ordo" (the liturgy promulgated by the Second Vatican Council), the "Tridentine" (the liturgy promulgated by the Council of Trent) was done exclusively in Latin and many of the prayers said by the priest would be quiet and inaudible to the congregation. Instances where the congregation joined in prayer were generally few and far between. Mass was largely a spectator affair and there wasn't much to see during a low Mass. (A high Mass had more spectacle.) It was a common practice for parishioners to say their own private prayers while the mass was going on.
The Second Vatican Council changed much of that. The biggest change was a shift away from Latin as the Liturgical language. While Latin was not removed as the main language, allowance for the use of vernacular was explicitly added and so most parishes today tend to use the vernacular rather than Latin.
There was also a major change to increase the variety of scripture read to the congregation during Mass. The older liturgical calendar didn't include the entire Bible so new calendar was adjusted so that the entire Bible would be covered over a three year period if a person attended daily Mass.
There other changes that were since made to the liturgy that were not explicitly mandated by the Second Vatican Council but were said to be "in the spirit of Vatican Two." A good example of this is the obsolescence of the altar rail and rearrangement of the sanctuary so that Mass could be said versus populum (with the priest facing the people) rather than ad orentam (with the priest facing in the same direction of the people.) These changes were not mandated by the Second Vatican Council, but a lot of authority was given to local bishops to determine what was locally appropriate and this resulted in a lot of subtle changes that were not mandated by the council becoming common anyway.
It's worth pointing out that the new 1963 liturgy was controversial among conservative Catholic. The term "traditionalist" when applied to Catholics usually refers to someone who prefers the older Tridentine liturgy. Local bishops were given the authority to allow the continued practice of the old Mass and so some Catholics continued to practice in the old way. Additionally, some Catholics chose to break the rule, sometimes even to break away from the Church entirely, in order to continue the traditional Mass. Others switched to the Eastern Rites in order to avoid the Novus Ordo. These traditionalists were (and still are) a small minority, but in 2007 Benedict XVI issued a "motu proprio" Summorum Pontificum mandating that the Tridentine mass be allowed everywhere.
As a result, there are actually two major rites practices in Latin Rite parishes although the Novus Ordo is by far the most common.
https://books.google.com/books?id=z6V2wb2ckPcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html https://www.papalencyclicals.net/paul06/p6missal.htm Baldovin, SJ., John F., (2008). Reforming the Liturgy: A Response to the Critics. The Liturgical Press. Foley, Edward; Mitchell, Nathan D.; and Pierce, Joanne M.; A Commentary on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. The Liturgical Press.