by Matthew Hazell
If there be any time in the Year, when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should excite the heart of the Christian to devotion, it is Passiontide. [1]
The last two weeks of Lent in the Roman Rite are kept as Passiontide, when the Church intensifies her preparations for the Triduum and Easter celebrations. Crucifixes and images of our Lord and the Saints are covered; Iudica me is heard as the introit of Passion Sunday for the last time until Easter; the Gloria Patri is omitted at the Asperges, the introit, and the lavabo; the Lenten preface changes to that of the Holy Cross; the readings focus more and more upon the Passion and Death of the Lord.
Well, all this is the case in the traditional Roman Rite. Unfortunately, much of this was cast aside in the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms when Passiontide was, for the most part, abolished by Pope Paul VI on the recommendation of the Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de sacra Liturgia. How and why did this happen?
The Consilium was the organism set up to apply Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the sacred liturgy. The work of the liturgical reform was divided among many different coetus (study groups), each made up of a relator, a secretary, and various experts and advisors, who would work on one part of a given liturgical book. These coetus would prepare and draft the various schemas detailing the proposals for reform, which would be further discussed and revised by the relators and consultors, and then examined by the full members (mostly Bishops) of the Consilium. Once the members had expressed their satisfaction with the work that had been done, the Pope would then sign off on it, and promulgate the reformed liturgical books as and when all necessary sections were ready.
The reform of the Calendarium Romanum was assigned to Coetus I. Annibale Bugnini, C.M., was the relator of the coetus, and Ansgar Dirks, O.P., was its secretary. The other experts in the group were Agostino Amore, O.F.M., Pierre Jounel (who would become the group’s relator in 1967), Rembert van Doren, O.S.B., Aimé-Georges Martimort, Herman Schmidt, S.J., and Johannes Wagner.
After a number of meetings in early 1965, where the coetus agreed on the general principles of the calendar reform, they met again that December and discussed some aspects of the reform in more detail. For Passiontide, the group proposed the following:
Passiontide, as it is now, is to be abolished, in order that a series of six Sundays in Lent may be kept, with the sixth named “Passion or Palm Sunday”. The veiling of images, currently in effect in Passiontide, is to be suppressed. [2]
The same proposal is carried over into two subsequent schemata of 1966, with very slight changes to the Latin text. [3] We are, however, given the first explanation of the group’s thinking behind the abolition of Passiontide, albeit brief:
Just as the last ten days of Eastertide have the particular character of waiting for the Holy Spirit, so in the week that precedes Holy Week the Church’s attention is concentrated on the Passion of Christ, but the designation of Sunday I of the Passion is abolished as well as Passiontide, as it constitutes a time distinct from Lent. [4]
However, Coetus I wanted to have their cake and eat it too. Though Passiontide was to be abolished, along with its “rubrical characteristics” [5] such as the veiling of images (though it was proposed that Bishops’ Conference could maintain this if desired), the group wanted to keep its prayers, chants and readings:
That to be maintained: Everything else: the chants and orations; the ferial readings that highlight the great figures of the suffering Christ in the Old Testament, and the chapters of Saint John that depict the duel between the light and the darkness. [6]
By March 1967, the coetus had deemed the suppression of Passiontide necessary “to preserve the internal unity of Lent”, though again with the provision that its prayers, chants and readings be preserved, [7] and in November that year this desire was once more stated for what would be the final time:
Finally, in order to better safeguard the unity of Lent, Passiontide is suppressed, in the sense that – as is obvious – it is already included in the forty days of Lent. As a result, the 1st Sunday of the Passion will recover its progressive enumeration, thus becoming the 5th Sunday of Lent.
However, the principal texts, chants and readings of Passiontide will, of course, be retained, so that in the last weeks of Lent the piety of the faithful is oriented towards waiting for and contemplating the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. [8]
This does all rather beg the question: if the group wanted the final weeks of Lent to fulfil the same function as Passiontide in the mind and practice of the faithful, then why abolish it in the first place? Why be so concerned about Passiontide being “a time distinct from Lent” when, at the same time, the difference and distinction that comes as part of these weeks was actually desired? The overly-rationalist logic of the reform came up against the traditional piety and practice of the Church – and, unfortunately, rationalism triumphed.
At this point, some readers familiar with the work of Dr Lauren Pristas may be experiencing a sense of déjà vu. In her book The Collects of the Roman Missals, she tells us that:
Most of the consultors assigned to the Calendar coetus seemed to have been of two minds about Septuagesima. Most voted to suppress the penitential elements, and most voted to preserve the formularies… The votes to retain the formularies, then, seem to have been votes to retain some kind of liturgical preparation for Lent. And, indeed, the coetus schemata witness to a continuing desire to preserve a period of pre-Lenten preparation.
The Calendar coetus, however, had no jurisdiction over formularies. When they failed to design a calendar in which Lent would be preceded every year by the same liturgical weeks, however these might be designated, they effectively closed off the possibility of preparatory formularies being included in the new missal because they provided no place to put them. [9]
Effectively, the same thing happened with Passiontide. Coetus I abolished the nomenclature and external elements (such as the veiling of images), but still wanted to preserve the liturgical and devotional intensity of Passiontide by retaining its orations, readings and chants. As with pre-Lent, however, this was not in the group’s remit, for other coetus had responsibility for these aspects of the liturgical reform – Coetus XI for the Mass lectionary, Coetus XVIII bis for the orations and prefaces of the Missal.
So, what happened to the Passiontide corpus of Mass propers? The outcome here was not quite as stark as for pre-Lent, for which none of the orations survived the reform, but it is still striking. Of the twenty-seven Collects, Secrets, Postcommunions and Prayers over the People [10] we find in the 1962 Missal for Passion Week, only seven have been retained in Week 5 of Lent in the reformed Missal [11]:
• Tuesday in Passion Week, Postcommunion (CO 1023 b)
• Tuesday in Passion Week, oratio super populum (CO 906 B)
• Wednesday in Passion Week, oratio super populum (CO 182 B) [12]
• Thursday in Passion Week, oratio super populum (CO 2450 bC) [13]
• Friday in Passion Week, Secret (CO 4377)
• Friday in Passion Week, Postcommunion (CO 5614 D)
• Friday in Passion Week, oratio super populum (CO 767 C) [14]
With the exception of the oratio super populum of Tuesday in Passion Week, which became the Collect for Tuesday in Week 5 of Lent, the above prayers would be used in the same ways on their equivalent days in the reformed Missal.
Four more of the Passiontide orations would be retained in the post-Vatican II Missal, but assigned to different days in Lent:
• Monday in Passion Week, Secret (CO 675 b): this would become the super oblata for Tuesday in Week 3 of Lent. [15]
• Monday in Passion Week, oratio super populum (CO 993 aB): this would become the oratio super populum for Friday in Week 2 of Lent.
• Wednesday in Passion Week, Postcommunion (CO 554 eA): this would become the postcommunion for Thursday after Ash Wednesday. [16]
• Saturday in Passion Week, oratio super populum (CO 5975 bB): this would become the oratio super populum for Monday in Week 3 of Lent.
One more oration would be partly retained in the post-Vatican II Missal, outside of Lent: the Secret of Tuesday in Passion Week (CO 2985 b). This would be centonised with another prayer, [17] and made into a super oblata for the Common of Holy Men and Women, formulary II.C (“For a Nun”).
This leaves fifteen orations in Passion Week that were not retained in the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms:
• all seven of the Collects (so Passion Sunday through to Saturday in Passion Week);
• the four Secrets of Passion Sunday and Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday in Passion Week;
• the four Postcommunions of Passion Sunday and Monday, Thursday and Saturday of Passion Week.
More than half of the orations of Passion Week thus disappeared completely from the reformed Roman Rite. These are prayers that are all well attested in the tradition; each one is used in at least eighteen and at most forty-eight extant manuscripts during Passiontide or Week 5 of Lent. [18] In eighteen of the extant sacramentaries and Missals, ranging from the ninth century onwards, all or nearly all of this corpus of twenty-seven prayers is used in Passiontide [19]; for another eleven manuscripts, also from the ninth century onwards, more than half of these prayers are used at this time of the liturgical year. [20] In the reformed Missal, however, we are given a body of orations that has not adopted a pre-existing tradition of usage, but rather one that is novel and unique in its highly selective use, arrangement and editing of liturgical source texts.
As Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in The Feast of Faith:
The new Missal was published as if it were a book put together by professors, not a phase in a continual growth process. Such a thing has never happened before. It is absolutely contrary to the laws of liturgical growth… The Catholic liturgy was thus reduced to the level of a mere product of modern times. [21]
* * *
When we turn our attention to the twelve ferial readings of Passion Week, things do not improve much. Coetus XI preserved only two of the readings in Week 5 of Lent in the reformed lectionary. The Gospel of Friday in Passion Week, John 11:47-54, is moved to Saturday in Week 5 of Lent and slightly expanded (vv. 45-56 are read), and part of the Gospel for Saturday in Passion Week, John 12:10-36, is read on the 5th Sunday of Lent in Year B (vv. 20-33). [22]
Being as generous as possible, we can say that six of the Passiontide lections have been moved elsewhere in Lent, though for all but one of these, the division of verses has been changed:
• Jonah 3:1-10 (Monday in Passion Week) is moved to Wednesday of Week 1 of Lent, with no change in the verse division. [23]
• John 7:1-13 (Tuesday in Passion Week) is moved to Friday in Week 4 of Lent, but with a very different verse division (vv. 1-2, 10, 25-30), and this means that vv. 3-9 and 11-13 are never read in the reformed lectionary.
• Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-19a, 25b (Wednesday in Passion Week) is moved to Monday in Week 1 of Lent, with vv. 1-2, 11-18 read. [24]
• John 10:22-38 (Wednesday in Passion Week) is moved to Friday in Week 5 of Lent, with vv. 31-42 read. [25]
• Daniel 3:25a, 34-45 (Thursday in Passion Week) is moved to Tuesday in Week 3 of Lent, with vv. 25, 34-43 read. [26]
• Jeremiah 18:18-23 (Saturday in Passion Week) is moved to Wednesday in Week 2 of Lent, with vv. 18-20 read; this means that vv. 21-23 are never read in the reformed lectionary.
Two more of the Passiontide readings have been moved in the reformed lectionary to outside of Lent:
• Part of John 7:32b-39 (Monday in Passion Week), is read on the Vigil of Pentecost (vv. 37-39; this means that vv. 32b-36 are never read in the reformed lectionary). [27]
• Luke 7:36-50 (Thursday in Passion Week), also read in the 1962 Missal on Ember Friday of September and the feast of St Mary Magdalene (22nd July), has been slightly extended to 7:36–8:3 and is read on the 11th Sunday per annum in Year C. [28]
Finally, there are two of the Passiontide readings that are never read in the reformed lectionary – so much for the aspiration of “more scripture” behind Sacrosanctum Concilium 51! [29]
• Daniel 14:27, 28b-42 (Tuesday in Passion Week): earlier in the lectionary reform, Coetus XI had preserved this lection on Tuesday of Week 5 of Lent, [30] but at some point after July 1967 it was removed, and the rough parallel in Daniel 6:12-28 was added on Thursday of Week 34 per annum (Year I). No explanation is given for these changes.
• Jeremiah 17:13-18 (Friday in Passion Week): Coetus XI perfunctorily declared that this lection was “not possible to keep”. [31] It is very likely that we have here an example of ‘difficult’ texts being removed during the reform process (see v. 18c, “bring upon them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction!”)
As Dr Peter Kwasniewski has previously noted, the evaluation of the merits or otherwise of the reformed lectionary cannot only, or even principally, focus on the amount of scripture contained within. It is a question of “Not Just More Scripture, But Different Scripture”. [32] One can be as charitable as possible, and say that, behind the omission of texts such as Jeremiah 17:13-18, perhaps the liturgical reformers had good intentions. But charity does not require the suspension of judgement or criticism. These omissions and edits in the reformed lectionary and elsewhere in the liturgy (such as the reformed psalter of the Liturgia Horarum), [33] which at times seem to be ideologically motivated, are in the long run not healthy for the life and faith of the Church.
* * *
Like pre-Lent, Passiontide seems to have been a season that the Consilium did not quite know what they wanted to do with. The outcome was that it was mostly abolished, with its prayers and readings either scattered across the liturgical year or removed from the reformed Roman Rite entirely, contrary to the desires of Coetus I. Certain aspects, however, were kept as optional, such as the veiling of images, and it is also worth noting that Preface I of the Passion of the Lord [34] is used in the Ordinary Form during Week 5 of Lent rather than one of the four Lenten prefaces. This does preserve a small part of the intensification of these last weeks of Lent, though if one is in a parish where the priest has decided not to veil images and the visual cue this provides is therefore lacking, the use of this Preface on its own is likely to pass one by quite quickly.
It would also be fair to say that Passiontide, again like pre-Lent, was the victim of an overly rationalist approach to the liturgical reform. As it is “already included in the forty days of Lent”, it is potentially confusing and distracting for the faithful, so (the logic went) it would better to abolish it. But this approach is not consistent across the reformed Missal. Special Mass propers and readings were assigned to the last few days of Advent (17th-24th December), to give extra emphasis to the end of this season and assist the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s first coming. Clearly, the Consilium did not think this extra emphasis affected the unity of Advent, or could have been confusing for the faithful. Why, then, did Coetus I think that keeping Passiontide would affect the unity of Lent or be confusing?
Thankfully, this special time in the Church’s calendar, along with other occasions such as pre-Lent and the Octave of Pentecost, are maintained in the usus antiquior, as well as the liturgy of the Ordinariates in Divine Worship: The Missal. As time goes on, it seems that more of the faithful are discovering the spiritual benefits and great treasures of the traditional Roman Rite, in its calendar and liturgy, as well as its beauty and solemnity. In this discovery, and in the ongoing reassessment of the liturgical reforms that took place after Vatican II, it is to be greatly hoped that both clergy and laity may “preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and… give them their proper place.” [35]
NOTES
[1] Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year, Volume VI: Passiontide and Holy Week (Dublin: J. Duffy, 1870), p. 38.
[2] Schema 132 (De Calendario, 7), 3rd December 1965, p. 3: Tempus Passionis, prouti nunc viget, aboletur, ita ut habeatur series sex domenicarum [sic] in Quadragesima, quarum sexta vocatur “In Passione seu in palmis”. Velatio imaginum tempore Passionis nunc vigens, supprimitur. All of the schemata of Coetus I are reproduced in José Antonio Goñi Beásoain de Paulorena, La reforma del año litúrgico y del calendario romano tras el Concilio Vaticano II (Rome: CLV-Edizioni Liturgiche, 2011), pp. 395-739.
[3] Schema 174 (De Calendario, 10), 1st August 1966, p. 3; Schema 188 (De Calendario, 11), 22nd September 1966, p. 3: Tempus Passionis, prouti nunc viget, aboletur, ita ut habeatur series sex dominicarum in Quadragesima, quarum sexta vocatur “In Passione seu in palmis”. Velatio imaginum tempore Passionis supprimitur.
[4] Schema 188, Addendum (De Calendario, 11), 22nd September 1966, p. 3: De même que les dix derniers jours du temps pascal revênent un caractère particulier d’attente de l’Esprit Saint, ainsi la semaine qui précède la semaine sainte concentre-t-elle l’attention de l’Eglise sur la Passion du Christ, mais le dénomination de Dominica I Passionis est abolie, ainsi que le temps de la Passion en tant qu’il constitue un temps distinct du Carême.
[5] Schema 188, Addendum, p. 5: Seraient supprimées, avec le titre de temps de Passion, les caractéristiques rubricales de ce temps…
[6] Schema 188, Addendum, p. 6: Ce qui serait maintenu: Tout le reste: les chants et les oraisons; les lectures fériales mettant en lumière les grandes figures du Christ souffrant dans l’Ancient [sic] Testament et les chapitres de saint Jean décrivant le duel de la lumière et des ténèbres.
[7] Schema 213 (De Calendario, 12), 1st March 1967, p. 2: Ad tuendam demum interiorem unitatem quadragesimae, tempus Passionis aboletur et dominica prima Passionis erit Dominica quinta quadragesimae; sed praecipui textus, cantus et lectiones, servantur ut pietas fidelium hebdomadibus posterioribus quadragesimae ad Christi passionem spectandam dirigatur.
[8] Schema 260 (De Calendario, 16), 30th November 1967, p. 4: Finalmente per salvaguardare meglio l’unità interna della Quaresima viene soppresso il Tempus Passionis, nel senso che esso – come è evidente – è già incluso nei quaranta giorni del Tempus Quadragesimae. Di conseguenza l’odierna Domenica prima di Passione dovrà riprendere la enumerazione progressiva diventando così la quinta Domenica di Quaresima.
Beninteso, tuttavia, che i principali testi, canti e letture del Tempus Passionis verranno conservati affinchè nelle ultime settimane di Quaresima la pietà dei fedeli si orienti verso l’attesa e la contemplazione della Passione di nostro Signore Gesù Cristo.
[9] Lauren Pristas, The Collects of the Roman Missals: A Comparative Study of the Sundays in Proper Seasons before and after the Second Vatican Council (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013), p. 111.
[10] Note that the Lenten orationes super populum were only added back into the reformed Missal in 2002 as part of the editio typica tertia, and that they are designated for optional use.
[11] References will be made to E. Moeller, J.M. Clement & B. Coppieters ‘t Wallant (eds.), Corpus orationum (CCSL 160-160M; Turnholt: Brepols, 1992-2004), a series of volumes that presents the text of every oration in over 200 extant liturgical manuscripts from before the reforms of Trent, and allows us to see in which manuscripts individual orations appear, how and on what occasions they were used, and any textual variations.
[12] This prayer was edited slightly for its inclusion in the reformed Missal: nostris is replaced with populi tui, for which there is no precedent in the manuscript tradition.
[13] This prayer was edited by Coetus XVIII bis in a curious manner: ut, quae tibi non placent has been changed to ut, de die in diem, quae tibi non placent, which is a variation that exists solely in the Leonine Sacramentary (n. 664; see CO 2450 a). One could perhaps see this as a restoration of a more authentic text, except that the Leonine oration has an extra clause added at the end of this prayer (et, mortalis vitae consolationibus gubernati, proficiant ad immortalitatis effectum) that was not carried over into the reformed Missal. The effect of this ‘half-restoration’, then, is that in the post-Vatican II Missal this well-attested prayer now has a text that does not match anything in the manuscript tradition!
[14] Again, this prayer was edited slightly for its inclusion in the reformed Missal: ut, qui protectionis becomes ut famuli tui, qui protectionis, an edit for which (again) there is no precedent in the manuscript tradition.
[15] The other extant variation of this prayer (CO 675 a) is the one used in the reformed Missal, but it should be noted that the historical use of this variant is almost always in Time after Pentecost rather than Lent.
[16] This prayer was edited slightly before its inclusion in the reformed Missal: nobis et sacramenti is changed to nobis semper et indulgentiae. The addition of semper is attested only in the version of the prayer that is in the Leonine Sacramentary (n. 255; see CO 554 a), and the change of sacramenti to indulgentiae is not witnessed in the manuscript tradition. Note also that this is an example of the elimination of duplicate prayers in the reform, as this oration is also used in the 1962 Missal on Thursday after Ash Wednesday.
[17] “Centonisation” was the term the reformers used to denote the creation of effectively new prayers from parts of pre-existing ones. In this case, the first part of CO 3496 (Munera tibi, domine, nostrae devotionis offerimus), a Secret used in the 1962 Missal on All Saints’ Day as well as numerous other days in the Proper of Saints and in the Common of Martyrs, and the second half of CO 2985 b (quae temporalem consolationem significent, ut promissa non desperemus aeterna) are edited and combined to make the following new prayer: Devotionis nostrae munera, Domine, in beatae N. commemoratione tibi sacranda deferimus, qui temporali consolatione significas, ut promissa non desperemus aeterna.
[18] Many of these prayers, often with slight textual variations, also have traditions of use during other times of the liturgical year, for saints’ days, etc.
[19] Namely, the following manuscripts (with the century following): Adelpretianus (XII), Aquilea (XVI), Bec (XIII), Benevent2 (X-XI), Cantuariensis (XI-XII), Curia (XIV), Gemmeticensis (XI), Gregorianum (IX), Herfordensis (XVI), Lateranense (XIII), Leofric (XI), Mateus (XII), Nivernensis (XI), Pamelius (IX-X), Panormitanae (XII), Praemonstratenses (XII-XVI), Triplex (XI), Udalricianus (XI).
[20] These manuscripts are as follows: Arbuthnott (XV), Benevent6 (XI), Fulda (X), Ménard (IX), Padova (IX), Ratisbonnensis (X), Ripoll (XI-XII), Rossianum (XI), Sarum (XVI), Trento (IX), Westminster (XIV).
[21] Joseph Ratzinger, The Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), p. 86.
[22] Another part of this lection (vv. 12-16) is an option for the Gospel reading at the procession on Palm Sunday (the other option is Mark 11:1-10). Verses 23-28 are an option for Funeral Masses and All Souls’ Day. Verses 24-26 are read on the feast of St Lawrence (10 Aug), as well as being an option for the Gospel reading in the Common of Martyrs, and the suggested reading for Ss Christopher Magallanes & companions (21 May), Ss Augustine Zhao Rong & companions (9 Jul), St Maria Goretti (6 Jul), St Januarius (19 Sep), and St Ignatius of Antioch (17 Oct); they are also an option for the Gospel reading for Ritual Masses IV (Holy Orders) and VII (Consecration of Virgins).
[23] In the reformed lectionary, this lection is also read on Tuesday of Week 27 per annum (Year I), and is also an option for one of the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions (38. For the Forgiveness of Sins).
[24] Verses 1-2, 17-18 are also read on the 7th Sunday per annum in Year A, and are also one of the options for use in the Common of Holy Men and Women.
[25] Verses 22-30 are read on Tuesday in Week 4 of Easter, and verses 27-30 are read on the 4th Sunday of Easter in Year C.
[26] Daniel 3:25, 34-43 is also an option in the reformed lectionary for the following eight Masses for Various Needs and Occasions: 19. For Persecuted Christians; 34. In Time of Earthquake; 35. For Rain; 36. For Fine Weather; 37. For an End to Storms; 43. For Those Held in Captivity; 44. For Those in Prison; 48. In Any Need.
[27] John 7:37-39 is also an option for one Votive Mass (9. The Holy Spirit). Verses 37b-39a are also given as an option for Ritual Masses I.3 (For the Conferral of Baptism [of Infants]) and I.4 (For the Conferral of Confirmation).
[28] Although Luke 7:36-50 is provided as an optional short form for this reading. Luke 7:36-50 is also read on Thursday of Week 24 per annum, and given as an option for one Mass for Various Needs and Occasions (38. Forgiveness of Sins).
[29] I leave open the question of whether praestantior pars here means “more representative portion”, as the Vatican’s English translation of SC 51 has it, or “more important parts” as per the Vatican’s German (die wichtigsten Teile) and French (la plus importante) translations of the same.
[30] Schema 176 (De Missali, 25), 25th July 1966, p. 45.
[31] Schema 176, p. 45: Epistola actualis, Jr 17.13-18, non potest servari.
[32] Peter Kwasniewski, “Foreword” to Matthew Hazell (ed.), Index Lectionum: A Comparative Table of Readings for the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite (Lectionary Study Press, 2016), pp. vii-xxix (also at https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2019/01/not-just-more-scripture-but-different.html).
[33] Indeed, Pope Francis has made his own, slightly opaque, criticisms of the psalter of the reformed Office: see Address, Penitential Liturgy for Clergy of the Diocese of Rome, 27th February 2020: “Perhaps as priests we are too “proper” in our relationship with God and we do not dare protest in our prayers, as instead the psalmist very often does — not only for ourselves but also for our people; because the pastor also carries the bitterness of his people — but the psalms too were “censored” and rarely do we make our own the spirituality of protest.” (http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2020/february/documents/
papa-francesco_20200227_clero-roma.html)
[34] This preface is different to the one used in the 1962 Missal, the Preface of the Holy Cross. In the post-Vatican II Missal, the Preface of the Holy Cross is used only on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, or at the Votive Mass of the Mystery of the Holy Cross (n. 4). Preface I of the Passion of the Lord is a new composition, taking as its inspiration part of St Leo the Great, Sermo 59, 7 (Traxisti enim, Domine, omnia ad te, et cum expandisses tota die manus tuas ad populum non credentem et contradicentem tibi, confitendae maiestatis sensum totus mundus accepit).
[35] Benedict XVI, Letter on the occasion of the publication of the Apostolic Letter “motu proprio data” Summorum Pontificum, 7th July 2007 (http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070707_lettera-vescovi.html)
