by Monsignor X
Many readers will be familiar with the 1963 Otto Preminger film: "The Cardinal." It takes some license with the eponymous novel of Henry Morton Robinson, but besides being an excellent film, it recreates exactly so much of the beauty of the Liturgy of the Catholic Church on the very eve of its, let us say, "renewal." One of the most ancient and beautfiul ceremonies of the Traditional Liturgy is that of Epsicopal Consecration, and parts of it are beautifully recreated in Preminger's movie.
Not surprisingly, it was hacked away at by the post-Conciliar reforms. Pope Paul VI, leaving nothing untouched, as was his wont, began the change in the ceremonies of Episcopal Consecration even before the promulgation of his New Mass in 1969. At :28 in the accompanying clip from the movie, one can see and hear that part of the traditional ceremony in which the mitre is placed on the head of the newly-consecrated Bishop. Here is the Latin and English of the prayer, said at that moment. It is filled with Scriptural references from the Old Testament, and allusions to the Office of Bishop found in the New Testament:
Imponimus, Domine, capiti hujus Antistitis et agonistae tui galeam munitionis et salutis, quatenus, decorata facie et armato capite, cornibus utriusque Testamenti terribilis appareat adversariis Veritatis; et, te ei largiente gratiam impugnator eorum robustus exsistat, qui Moysi famuli tui faciam ex tui sermonis consortio decoratam, lucidissimis tuae claritatis ac veritatis cornibus insignisti, et capiti Aaron pontificis tui thiaram imponi jussisti.We impose, O Lord, upon the head of this your Bishop and champion a helmet of armament and salvation by which, with his face adorned and his head armed with the horns of both Testaments, may he appear fearsome to the enemies of the Truth; and, with you having poured grace upon him, may he stand out as their robust punisher, You who marked the face of Your servant Moses, decorated by the partnership of Your teaching, with the most shining horns of your clarity and truth; and You who willed that a crown be placed on the head of Aaron your high priest.
In beholding the recent travesty at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the mitre, and its parody, held a prominent place, as did the commentary by the one who actually has a right to wear it. It was all a reminder of the fact that the ceremony of Episcopal Consecration was indeed 'stripped' of the above prayer, and so many other significant prayers.... and we are now left 'naked unto our enemies.'
