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A Black Mass is a ceremony typically celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms and is directly based on, and is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous mockery of, a Catholic Mass. In the 19th century the Black Mass became popularized in French literature. Modern revivals began with H. T. F. Rhodes' book The Satanic Mass published in London in 1954, and there is now a range of modern versions of the Black Mass performed by various religious groups.
The Catholic Church regards the Mass as its most important ritual, going back to apostolic times. However, as early Christianity became more established and its influence began to spread, the early Church Fathers encountered heretical sects practicing their own versions of the Mass. Some of these rituals were of a sexual nature.