Rorate Caeli

An Oasis for the 1962 Missal in Italy


The blog of the Italian Traditionalist website Messainlatino is reporting that last July 11, 2009, Msgr. Mario Oliveri, Bishop of Albenga-Imperia in Italy, celebrated a Pontifical Mass in honor of St. Benedict at the small parish church of St. Michael the Archangel in Villatalla, a village with some 30 inhabitants. This parish church (and its rectory) is where, last July 2, 2008, the same bishop had installed some monks from Le Barroux who had left that monastery to form the "Benedictines of the Immaculate." The Bishop and the Benedictines were joined by priests from various traditionalist congregations; the cerimoniere of the Mass was Canon Gilles Guitard ICRSS. Due to the small size of the parish church, the Bishop had to pontificate from the faldstool.
Although the Feast of St. Benedict in the calendar of the 1962 Missal falls on March 21, July 11 is marked by French Traditionalist Benedictines as the Feast of the Transfer of the Relics of St. Benedict, in addition to being (in Europe) the Solemnity of St. Benedict, Patron of Europe, in the calendar of the 1970-2002 Missal.

Albenga-Imperia is reputed to be one of the few dioceses in Italy where no obstacles have been placed in the free implementation of Summorum Pontificum. This small diocese has five every-Sunday / feastday and at least two weekday Masses according to the 1962 Missal.