The Position Papers of the International Federation Una Voce published on Rorate Caeli, are subject to revision in light of comments and fresh information, so the versions accessible on the FIUV website are often slightly different from those originally published. This approach has been our policy from the first, and I am very grateful for the comments, including many on this blog, which have stimulated these improvements.
Today I am publishing an unusually substantial addition to the last Position Paper, the one about the Lectionary. Since publishing it there has been a lot of discussion of related issues, and some newly researched information has been made available. Fr Felix Just's longstanding website on the lectionary is very useful; a new entrant to the debate is the British blogger 'Countercultural Father', whose work on the 1969 Lectionary's missing passages has been very directly useful; a fantastic new resource is provided by another blog, 'Lectionary Study Aids', who has put together a comprehensive table of the 1962 Lectionary; I've also been able to consult the relevant chapter of Fr Cekada's 'Work of Human Hands' (which seems to be available to buy only here).
These are two appendices to the Lectionary paper, which provide some factual backing for the two central points of the paper. These are, first, that the old Lectionary has its own value, and should not be assumed to be inferior to the new one just because it is shorter; and second, the old Lectionary is so closely integrated into the 1962 Missal that the idea that a greatly expanded version, or even just the 1969 Lectionary in toto, could in some simple way be swapped in by way of 'mutual enrichment', is a non-starter.
The full paper, including the new appendices, can be downloaded as a pdf here. The whole series can be seen on the FIUV website here. The collected set of papers 1-13, printed as a short book, is available from Lulu here.
Comments can be sent to
positio AT fiuv.org
On 15th July I will publish a paper on the Proclamation of the Lections in Latin in the Extraordinary Form.
The
Lectionary of the 1962 Missal: Appendices
Appendix A: Passages of Scripture
found in the 1962 Lectionary omitted from the 1969 Lectionary
By
using multi-year cycles, the creators of the 1969 Lectionary aimed to include a
much increased quantity of Scripture in the liturgy. It is interesting to note
that, despite this, certain Gospel passages familiar to those attending the
Extraordinary Form on Sundays are not found in any year of the 1969
Lectionary’s Sunday cycle.
In
some cases the 1969 includes a different version of a pericope which the
ancient Lectionary has chosen; in others no parallel passage is included. It
seems worth listing both cases; the latter are emboldened, and where this is
the case it is noted if the passage is not found in the 1969 weekday cycle.[1]
St
Matthew:
6:16-21
‘Fasting: when you fast...’ ‘Do not store up treasures on earth...’ (verses
19-21 omitted from the OF weekday cycle)
8:1-13
Leper healed; Centurion’s servant. (St Mark’s and St Luke’s accounts, respectively,
used)
8:23-27
Calming of the storm (St Mark’s account used)
8:26:
1- 13 Caiaphas plotting; the precious ointment (St Mark's account used)
20:16b
‘For many are called, but few are chosen’ (omited from the Gospel of the 25th
Sunday of Ordinary Time, which stops at verse 16a; the parallel verse from Mt
22:14 is optional on 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time)
St
Mark:
16:14 ‘Later
Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating;’ he rebuked them for their
lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after
he had risen (only in St Mark)
St
Luke:
8:
4-15 Parable of the sower (St Matthew’s account used)
8:11:
14-23 ‘But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils...’ (St
Mark’s account used)
8:24-26
The return of the Unclean Spirit (the corresponding passage from St Matthew is
also cut) (also omitted from the OF weekday cycle)
8:27-28
‘Happy the womb that bore you...’ (St Luke only)
8:14:
15-24 The banquet and guests who refuse to come... (St Matthew’s account used)
18: 31-34
‘The Son of Man to be handed over...’ (cut from St Matthew and St Mark as well)
(also omitted from the OF weekday cycle)
18:35-43
Healing of the blind man at Jericho (St Mark’s account used)
18:21:
29-33 The fig tree (St Mark’s account used)
St
John:
6:59 ‘He
said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.’ (Only in St John)
8:46-59
‘you are a Samaritan, and possessed...’ ‘Abraham saw my day and rejoiced, Before
Abraham was, I AM.’ (only in St John) (omitted
from the OF weekday cycle)
14:
30-31 ‘The prince of this world is on his way...’ ‘I am doing exactly what the
Father told me’ (only in St John) (omitted from the OF weekday cycle)
16:1-4
‘They will put you out of the Synagogue.’ (only in St John) (omitted from
the OF weekday cycle)
16:
5-11 ‘None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ...because the prince
of this world now stands condemned.’ (only in St John)
16-22
‘What does he mean: you will no longer see me, then you will see me?...’ ‘You
are sad now... your hearts will be full of joy...’ (only in St John)
16:
23-30 ‘Ask and you will receive... the Father loves you...Now you are speaking
plainly... the time will come when you are scattered...’ (only in St
John)
A
much longer list could be made of passages which are optional in the 1969
Lectionary, and of verses omitted from readings of the Epistles.[2] A
particularly striking example of the latter is the passage from the First
Letter to the Corinthians (11:27-9) warning against the unworthy reception of
communion, which is read on both Maundy Thursday and Corpus Christi in the 1962
Lectionary, but is not found anywhere in the 1969 Lectionary.
This
list shows that, even in the narrow terms of exposure to the Scriptures, the
replacement of the 1962 Lectionary with the 1969 Lectionary involved loss as
well as gain. More profoundly, it illustrates the difference in spirit between
the two Lectionaries: the ancient Lectionary selects passages on the basis of
different principles, and in a number of ways emphasises what the new
Lectionary wishes to de-emphasise.[3]
This
underlines the general point that each Lectionary is an integral part of its
respective Missal, and reflects its spirit and preoccupations.[4]
Appendix B: Relationship between
the Lectionary and the Chants
An
important factor discussed in the body of the paper in considering any reform
or expansion of the Lectionary for the Extraordinary Form is close relationship
between the Lections in a given Mass Formulary and the other Propers,
particularly the chants. Mass formularies in the Extraordinary Form do not
usually present a single, obvious, theme; as has been noted the cycle of Sunday
Epistles is independent of the cycle of Sunday Gospels, and the various propers
are too concerned with their liturgical function—as processional chants, as the
Secret Prayer introducing the Oblation, and so on—to appear as a unified,
didactic group. Nevertheless, they contain many cross-references, and can often
serve as commentary upon one another.
This
is most clearly the case when chants take their text from one of the readings.[5]
Although the great majority of chants are taken from the Psalms, the exceptions
frequently take their inspiration from the lections of the day. A brief review
of the Sunday cycle reveals that on six occasions the Communion Antiphon is
taken from the Gospel of the day: the 1st and 2nd Sundays
after Epiphany, Palm Sunday, 2nd Sunday after Easter, and 3rd
and 14th Sundays after Pentecost. The Communion is taken from the
Epistle (Acts) on Whitsunday (Pentecost). The Alleluia verse is taken from the
Gospel on 5th Sunday after Easter. Such cross references, whether actual
quotations or not, are still more frequent in the formularies of feast days and
on Ember Days. Similar close connections exist between the Sunday Gospels and
the antiphons of Lauds and Vespers.
A
more subtle and all pervading relationship is described by the great German
chant scholar Dom Dominic Johner, in relation to the Gradual and Alleluia:
The early Church utilized these chants as a means to
impress on the hearts of the faithful the lessons inculcated by the Epistle,
and to make them the more readily susceptible for the Gospel. Clergy and laity
should, without further ado, be enabled to devote themselves entirely to the
contemplation of the chant and its import.[6]
All
things considered, it would be impossible to change the Lectionary of the
Extraordinary Form substantially, without seriously compromising the coherence and integrity
of the Missal.
[1] With thanks to the blogger
‘Counter Cultural Father’
(http://ccfather.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/sunday-gospel-readings-in-ef-omitted.html)
[2] A more comprehensive survey is
made by Fr Anthony Cekada Work of Human
Hands: A theological critique of the Mass of Paul VI (West Chester, OH:
Philothea Press, 2010) pp299-272. Reference to this work does not imply
agreement with the positions defended in it.
[3] The Oratorian priest and schola
Fr Jonathan Robinson, in criticising the multi-year cycle of the 1969 Missal,
remarks: ‘I think the diversity, rather than enriching people, tends to confuse
them… This may be because the selections, as has been noted by others, were
drawn up more to satisfy the sensibilities of liturical scholars than on traditional
liturgical principles.’ The Mass and
Modernity: walking to heaven backwards (San Fransisco: Ignatius Press,
2005) p332
[4] Fr Adrien Nocent, who
collaborated on the 1969 Lectionary, wrote that is was ‘destined in the long
run, but inevitably, to change the theological mentality and very spirituality
of the Catholic people.’ ‘La Parole de Dieu et Vatican II’ in P. Jounel, R.
Kaczynski and G. Pasqualette, eds, Liturgia,
Opera Divina e Umana: studi sulla riforma liturgica (Rome: Edizioni
liturgiche, 1982) p136; quoted in Cekada, op.c cit. p273.
[5] The connections noted below are
of course the result of various historical processes.
[6] Dom Dominic Johner Chants of the Vatican Gradual (English
edition: Collegeville, MN: St John’s Abbey Press, 1940) p6. (First published in
1934; reprinted on Lulu.com.)
