LITURGY - Pope Francis: the Master of Irony

Pope Francis:  the Master of Irony

I read with great interest the remarks of Pope Francis to the members of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline before their annual plenary assembly.  What particularly struck me were Pope Francis” words:  “Without liturgical reform there is no reform of the Church.”

As I pondered these words I was overtaken by a sense of confusion. Was the Pope referring to the document Sacrosanctum Concilium promulgated by the Second Vatican Council and the reform of the Liturgy that occurred in the years after the Council?  And if so, what is the precise meaning of the word “reform” here?  How are we to understand the use of the word?

Sacrosanctum Concilium at 60: Still Dead and Buried

As we all remember, just a few short days ago we had the grand celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the promulgation of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (4 December 1963), the magna carta of the liturgical reforms that followed the Council, and that faithfully implemented its provisions.

Traditional Liturgy: How many Faithful in France? And in the World? "Many of today's Catholics are 'Hidden Traditionalists,' waiting for a Mass worthy of the name."-- An Interview

By Paix Liturgique

October 4, 2023

Although we haven't published a review of traditional liturgy in France and around the world since 2019... we felt it necessary to return to the question of the number of Catholic faithful who wish to live their faith to the rhythm of traditional liturgy. We asked Christian Marquant, who has been interested in this subject for many years, to return to this theme which, as we shall see, remains a burning issue.

***

Louis Renaudin - Dear Christian, why is it important to ask the question of the size and therefore the number of the Catholic faithful who are attached to the traditional Roman liturgy?

Christian Marquant - In theory, it doesn't matter... no one, apart from learned researchers, is going to be interested in the number of Syro-Malabar or Syro-Malankar faithful... nor in the number of priests and faithful who still participate in the Ambrosian (reformed) rite in Milan, or the Mozarabic (cobbled-together) rite in Toledo and Salamanca, because in all these cases there is no controversy or underlying problem. However, when we consider the number, and therefore implicitly the importance, of those who wish to remain attached to the usus antiquior, i.e., to the Mass that has been the Mass of all Latin Christendom for over 1,000 years, we immediately find ourselves in a polemical field whose stakes are quite considerable for a large number of pastors and for members of the "modern" lobby. We are touching on the great division that has afflicted the Church since Vatican II, and to which the Holy Father indirectly alluded at the last consistory in his appeal for unity. A pathetic appeal to an almost empty St. Peter's Square...

Louis Renaudin - What division are you referring to?

“Innumerable miracles”, reduced to none: Saint Nicholas in the Traditional and Modern Roman Missals

Today is the feast day of Saint Nicholas, and his collect in the traditional Roman Missal alludes to his Greek title of "wonderworker", and the "innumerable miracles" he worked during his life: 

Deus, qui beátum Nicoláum Pontíficem,

innúmeris decorásti miráculis:

tríbue, quǽsumus;

ut eius méritis et précibus

a gehénnæ incéndiis liberémur. (CO 1463)

O God, who made the holy Bishop Nicholas

renowned for innumerable miracles,

grant, we beseech you,

that by his merits and prayers

we may be saved from the fires of hell.

Intentions Abandoned and Ignored: Cardinal Montini at Vatican II, Sixty Years Ago Today

The 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (11th October 1962) has recently passed, accompanied with the usual panegyrics and plaudits, this time round with the addition of so-called "synodality". Indeed, we should, so the Pope says, "return to the Council's pure sources of love... rediscover the Council's passion and renew our own passion for the Council."

“Poetry is perhaps a little too much for our rather practical spirit”: Saint Alphonsus and the odore suavitatis

Today in the traditional calendar of the Roman Rite is the feast of Saint Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori, the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), and Doctor of the Church. [1] In the Secret prayer for Saint Alphonsus (addressed to the Son), one will notice a lovely poetic echo of the offertory prayers from just a few moments before in the Mass (addressed to the Father): [2]

Order of Mass: Offérimus tibi, Dómine, cálicem salutáris, tuam deprecántes cleméntiam: ut in conspéctu divínæ maiestátis tuæ, pro nostra et totíus mundi salúte, cum odóre suavitátis ascéndat. Amen.

Guest article: “The Old Liturgy and the New Despisers of the Council”

The following article was written by an anonymous diocesan priest in Germany and published under the title "Die alte Liturgie und die neuen Konzilsverächter: Als Kardinal Frings fassungslos war" at Katholisches.info. It partly draws its content from my article at OnePeterFive, "Daringly Balanced on One Point: The New Papal Letter on Liturgy" of June 29, with much additional valuable content. It has been translated for Rorate.--PAK

Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi: An Admission of Failure

Contemporary results of liturgical formation in the Novus Ordo, February 2022 (Holy Family, Inverness, Archdiocese of Chicago, USA) 

 

I do not see how it is possible to say that one recognizes the validity of the Council — though it amazes me that a Catholic might presume not to do so — and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform born out of Sacrosanctum Concilium... (Desiderio desideravi, 31)

So writes Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, released today, on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, which acts as yet another indicator - if any more were needed! - that the generous, forward-looking vision of Benedict XVI has been replaced with a miserly and insular ignorance masquerading as "listening, dialogue and participation." Remarkably, on the same day he reaffirms Traditionis custodes, the Pope had this to say in his morning homily: 

Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Talk on the Superiority of the Old Lectionary over the New

The following lecture, sponsored by the Coalition for Canceled Priests, was given at Velocity All Sports in Mokena, Illinois, on March 7, 2022. The video also includes an extensive Q&A.—PAK 

Mythbusting: Why the TLM’s Lectionary Is Superior to the New Lectionary

Peter A. Kwasniewski

While almost every other aspect of the liturgical reform following Vatican II has been the target of serious and sustained criticism, the revamped multi-year lectionary is the one element consistently put forward as a notable success, an instance of genuine progress. A popular Catholic author writes: 

Ember Days in the Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms: An Accidental Elimination?

This week in the traditional Roman Rite, we have one of its most ancient celebrations, the Ember Days. The Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of the first week of Lent are one of the four times during the liturgical year (hence the Latin title Quattuor Temporum) specially set apart by the Church for fasting and abstinence, as well as prayer for farming and harvests. The Ember Days also have a traditional association with the conferral of Holy Orders. Their antiquity is attested by Pope St Leo the Great in, among other places, one of his Pentecost sermons:

To the present solemnity, dearly beloved, we must also add that devotion, so that we might celebrate with holy observance the fast which conforms to the apostolic tradition. This ought to be numbered among the great gifts of the Holy Spirit, that, against the desires of the flesh and the snares of the devil, the protection of the fasts has been set up for us. By these we may overcome all temptations with the help of God. Let us fast on Wednesday and Friday. On Saturday, however, let us celebrate the vigil with the blessed apostle Peter as advocate for our prayers, that we might deserve to obtain the mercy of God in all things through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. (Sermon 76)

An Unwanted “Gift” from Cardinal Cupich

The blog PrayTell has recently published an article from Blase Cardinal Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, in which His Eminence makes some rather strange and bizarre claims in order to justify what he sees as the "The Gift of Traditionis Custodes". Firstly, the Cardinal makes the following rather odd analogy:

The Prayers for Saint Luke in the Traditional and Reformed Roman Missals

As today is the feast of St Luke the Evangelist in both the traditional and reformed Roman calendars, it seemed worthwhile to compare the prayers assigned to St Luke in the traditional Missal with those of the post-Vatican II Missal. One might have thought, given the very long-standing veneration given to the Evangelists, that their prayers would not have been changed in the course of the liturgical reform, but unfortunately this is very far from the case.

Firstly, it should be noted that the collect, secret and postcommunion assigned for St Luke in the traditional Roman Rite have a long history of being used together: the Corpus orationum (CO) [1] tells us that thirty-five extant liturgical manuscripts, ranging from the 8th to 16th centuries, keep these orations together as a set. Of course, the reformed Roman Rite not only splits up this Mass formulary, but discards one prayer entirely and only keeps the other two in an edited fashion (one minor, one major).

Miniature of Saint Luke from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany
(1503–1508) by Jean Bourdichon

"All the Elements of the Roman Rite"? Dispelling the Myths of the Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms

Over the last decade in particular, the figure of 17% has been quoted as the proportion of prayers that survived intact from the traditional Roman Missal into the novus ordo of Paul VI. [1] However, in the wake of Traditionis custodes, with renewed attention being given to the comparison of ‘forms’ of the Roman Rite as well as the canonical and theological controversy over what counts as its lex orandi, [2] it seemed opportune to build on some of my previous efforts and revisit this percentage through a careful and exhaustive analysis of all the orations. By doing this, not only can we arrive at a definitive number, but we can also now have all the relevant data freely and easily accessible in the public domain, so that everyone can see which prayers were preserved, edited or discarded. [3]

The result of this work not only vindicates the labours of those such as the late Rev Fr Anthony Cekada, but it also shows the figure to be too generous. For the actual number, unbelievably, is only 13%.

The Orations of the Traditional Roman Rite in the Reformed Roman Rite:

Lists and Texts of the Identical and Edited Prayers (PDF download)

Yes, a mere 13% (165) of the 1,273 prayers of the usus antiquior [4] found their way unchanged into the reformed Missal of Paul VI. Another 24.1% (307) were edited in some way before their inclusion. A further 16.2% (206) were centonised with other prayers - effectively combining parts of multiple prayers together into a new oration. Fully 52.6% (669) of the prayers in the traditional Roman Rite have been excised from the modern liturgy, memory-holed by the Consilium ad exsequendam. [5] How has this happened? And how did so few notice at the time?

Figure 1: Orations of the 1951/1962 Missal in the 1970/2008 Missal
(duplicates excluded)

The Prayers for the Feast of St Lawrence in the Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms

The martyrdom of St Lawrence, from the late 13th-century frescoes
on the walls of San Lorenzo ‘in Palatio’ at the Lateran 

Today's feast of St Lawrence gives us yet another example of the differences, both great and small, between the prayers of the traditional and reformed Roman Rites. [1] The collect in the 1962 Missale Romanum (CO 960) reads as follows:

CO 960: Da nobis, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: vitiórum nostrórum flammas exstínguere; qui beáto Lauréntio tribuísti tormentórum suórum incéndia superáre.

 

(Grant us, we pray, almighty God, to extinguish the flames of our sins, just as you granted Saint Lawrence to overcome the fires of his tortures.)

This collect, well attested in forty-nine extant manuscripts from the eight century onwards, is universally used for St Lawrence, and almost always on his feast day itself (a handful of manuscripts use this oration on the vigil or octave). The only textual variation in this prayer is the addition of martyri after Laurentio, in five manuscripts.

On the other hand, the collect in the post-Vatican II Missale Romanum is a new composition, centonised from three pre-existing sources (two collects and one preface):

The Eastertide Collects in the Post-Vatican II Missal: A Problematic Reform

One obvious difference between the two Eastertides of the usus antiquior and usus recentior is the size of each of them. The 1962 Missal has proper Masses for each Sunday after Easter, as well as each day in the Octave of Easter and for the Ascension. In the 2008 Missal, however, all the Sundays and weekdays within Eastertide have proper Masses assigned to them, with collects unique to each day. [1]

Given this, one might have thought that the corpus of Eastertide orations in the older Missal would have been carried over directly into the newer Missal, and supplemented with other Eastertide prayers from the vast repository of the Church’s liturgical tradition. However, as seems to be the case with so much of the post-Vatican II reforms, this is at best only half-true. Some prayers have been edited in ways completely unknown in their manuscript history; others with a long tradition of use in particular times of the liturgical year have been moved to where they have never been used before; still others have been freely combined with one or more other prayers to create novel and original texts.

The Fate of Passiontide in the Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms

 

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. 

The Four Qualities of Liturgy: Validity, Licitness, Fittingness, and Authenticity (Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Lecture)

Below is the full text of a lecture given at Queen of Peace Parish in Patton, Pennsylvania, on September 21, 2020 (video at YouTube). If we want to overcome the impoverished state of liturgical discourse, which results from focusing on only two categories (validity and licitness) and arrive at a fuller, more accurate picture, we must also consider fittingness and authenticity/legitimacy, which are two other irreducibly distinct perfections of liturgy. At the end, I offer a chart that categorizes liturgies — Eastern and Western, Catholic and Protestant, old and new, etc. — in terms of the four qualities. The text was first published at New Liturgical Movement; the chart, however, has been updated.

Los cuatro postes (Ávila)

The Four Qualities of Liturgy: Validity, Licitness, Fittingness, and Authenticity

Dr. Peter A. Kwasniewski

Queen of Peace Parish, Patton, PA

September 21, 2020

The celebration of the traditional Roman Rite Mass is becoming more and more common; it seems that its popularity has been an unintended consequence of both the chaos of the current pontificate and the disappointment of many Catholics with their pastors and parishes during the COVID pandemic. “Enough is enough!” is a frequently heard reaction. People are looking for worship that is reverent, prayerful, God-oriented, and deeply refreshing, and for priests who are truly committed to the care of souls. This, of course, is the work of the Holy Spirit, tugging at the heartstrings of baptized and confirmed Catholics, in whom there was planted the seed of Trinitarian life, which urges us to enter into the divine mystery.

However, there are certain difficulties in our situation, too. A vast amount of information, good, bad, indifferent, and inaccurate, circulates on the internet. Lay Catholics are seldom equipped to be able to understand what they’re reading about, especially when we get “into the weeds” of liturgical history and reform. How are blogs going to equip us with the ability to navigate thorny questions about the pope’s authority, the Church’s fidelity to tradition, the duty of obedience (and the limits thereof), and so on? There is a great need for careful, thoughtful, well-informed presentations on liturgical matters, so that we can deepen our understanding of the complex issues involved, without losing the simplicity of our faith, or the spontaneity of our interior life as we strive to be the saints Our Lord is calling us to be.

After many years, I have come to the realization that a lot of the time, people are talking past one another in liturgical discussions, and that is because they are talking about different aspects or properties of the liturgy, while failing to make the necessary distinctions. There are, in fact, four properties that are always supposed to belong to any liturgy: validity; licitness; fittingness; and authenticity. All of them are important, none of them is dispensable. They are meant to work together, in harmony, to bring us the fullness of divine worship intended by Christ for His Church. The problems we have experienced in recent decades have a lot to do with an exaggerated emphasis on one or another of these qualities, at the expense of the rest. I will begin by defining each one, and then talk about how they are related.

BOMBSHELL: New historical evidence emerges in support of Bugnini’s association with Freemasonry — Names are named

The latest edition of the magazine of the Latin Mass Society of England & Wales, Mass of Ages, contains a review by Kevin Symonds of Taylor Marshall’s book Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within. (The review as published may be viewed in a PDF of the magazine, starting at page 40, as well as on the author’s personal website; it has been reproduced in full here.) 

Pursuing hints in the book, Symonds goes much beyond the conclusions of Marshall regarding Bugnini, having uncovered new material on Bugnini that decisively moves the question of his association with Freemasonry from the realm of shadowy speculation, where it remained even as recently as the scholarly biography by Yves Chiron, to the level of reasonable certainty. Instead of “unnamed sources,” where the matter was left by Michael Davies, we finally have named sources, with a plausible paper trail.

New Evidence on the Freemasonic Membership of Annibale Bugnini

Kevin Symonds

In this book, Taylor Marshall firmly maintains that the Catholic Church has been literally infiltrated by her enemies, thereby experiencing a massive campaign of disruption and distortion. A particular area in which Marshall advances this thesis pertains to the influence of the Vincentian priest, and later Archbishop, Annibale Bugnini (1912-1982) in the liturgical reforms of the mid-twentieth century. This review focuses on Marshall’s presentation of Bugnini’s influence upon these reforms and in particular of Marshall’s claim that Bugnini was involved with Freemasonry. It will be argued that, despite his eagerness to find evidence of ‘infiltration’ and his animus against Bugnini, Marshall actually misses some important evidence in favor of Bugnini’s membership of the Italian Freemasons.

“A Half-Century of Novelty: Revisiting Paul VI’s Apologia for the New Mass”

This lecture was given in Wagga Wagga on March 28, in Melbourne on March 30, and in Hobart on April 3, during Dr Kwasniewski's visit sponsored by the Latin Mass Society of Australia. The full text is presented below, in a Rorate exclusive. UPDATE: The video of the lecture as given in Melbourne may be found here.

A Half-Century of Novelty: Revisiting Paul VI’s Apologia for the New Mass

Peter A. Kwasniewski

April 3 of this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae by Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum, the provisions of which were to go into effect on November 30, the first Sunday of Advent.

The Benefits and Beauties of Liturgical Repetition

(Delivered at St. Mary’s parish, Norwalk, Connecticut, on Thursday, February 14, 2019, sponsored by the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.)

Poets, Lovers, Children, Madmen—and Worshipers:

Why We Repeat Ourselves in the Liturgy

Peter A. Kwasniewski

Repetition in the liturgy is a profound topic, and I am under no illusions that I will be able to offer a comprehensive or definitive account of it. Rather, I would like to suggest some ways of thinking about repetition that may help us to appreciate its positive value, over against the assumptions that stood behind the far-reaching simplification of liturgical rites in the 20th century.