Dom Guéranger’s "Liturgical Institutions" Published for the First Time in English

The ongoing devastation inflicted upon the sacred liturgy is by no means unique to our time. Since the earliest days of the Church, the liturgy has suffered from the attacks of heresy, schism, and human caprice. Through the ages—whether from the blasphemous Vigilantius, the radical Waldensians of the Middle Ages, the Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century, or the rationalist infiltrators of the Enlightenment—there has always been a persistent, corrosive impulse to undermine, distort, or dilute the sacred rites entrusted to the Church.

In the nineteenth century, Dom Prosper Guéranger (1805–1875), the abbot of Solesmes and founding father of the modern liturgical movement, stood resolutely against a virulent strain of this anti-liturgical spirit.

Back in Print after Nearly a Century: Cardinal Schuster’s The Sacramentary

Traditional Catholic publisher Arouca Press, based in Ontario, has just released an affordable reprint of Cardinal Ildefons Schuster's classic commentary on the Roman rite, The Sacramentary, in both paperback and hardcover, with discount rates for buying the entire 5-volume set directly from Arouca (US $100 for the complete paperback set, and $140 for the hardcover set).

Newly Published: Two Historical Novels by Benson, Two Classic Liturgical Commentaries, and a Great Vocations Pamphlet

I am pleased to announce new reprints of five works that should never have gone out of print in the first place. All are available from Amazon sites; the titles below give the hyperlinks. 

Guest article — The Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy: Reform or revolution?

Rorate is happy to make available an English translation of a lecture given in Vienna by Wolfram Schrems on April 2, 2017, at the launch of the German edition of Peter Kwasniewski's Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis. Schrems is a theologian, philosopher, catechist and pro-life activist and a signatory of the Filial Correction. The text below is a thoroughly revised version of the original presentation (a video of which may be found here). The author would like to thank Mr. Stuart Chessman of the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny for the translation into English.

The Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy: Reform or Revolution? 

Wolfram Schrems

Vienna, April 2, 2017

Reverend Fathers, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Dearest Friends,

Upcoming Lecture with Dr. Peter Kwasniewski at Steubenville, OH

For our readers in the vicinity of Steubenville, Ohio: I will be giving a lecture on Tuesday, October 3, at 7:00 pm, at St. Peter's Catholic Church. After the Q&A, there will be time for informal conversation and the signing of copies of Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness.

More information may be found at the website of Una Voce Steubenville, which is hosting the event.

Paul Claudel at Le Figaro (1955): Mass facing the people means there's no longer an Altar (full translation)

By one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, Paul Claudel, writing for the most important French daily, as the proponents of the "Liturgical Upheaval" that would lead up to the post-Vatican II disasters, especially the New Mass, started to abuse the Traditional Mass with the illicit posture "facing the people".

Paul Claudel

Le Figaro

January 23, 1955

I wish to protest with all my strength against the growing practise in France of saying Mass facing the people.

The most basic principle of religion is that God holds first place and that the good of man is merely a consequence of the recognition and the practical application of this essential dogma.

The Mass is the homage par excellence which we render to God by the Sacrifice which the priest offers to Him in our name on the altar of His Son. It is us led by the priest and as one with him, going to God to offer Him hostias et preces [Victims and prayers]. It is not God presenting Himself to us for our convenience to make us indifferent witnesses of the mystery about to be accomplished.

The novel liturgy deprives the Christian people of their dignity and their rights. It is no longer they who say the Mass with the priest, by “following” it, as the saying very rightly goes, and to whom the priest turns from time to time to assure them of his presence, participation and cooperation, in the work which he undertakes in their name. All that remains is a curious audience watching him do his job. Small wonder that the impious compare him to a magician performing his act before a politely admiring crowd.