RORATE CÆLI: Phoenix rising

Showing posts with label Phoenix rising. Show all posts

The Propers of the Mass, then and now

And the misleading words of the document that introduced the new mass, in 1969, regarding the Graduale.

Conference delivered by Dom Mark Kirby, O.S.B., at the International Symposium: Council and Continuity, held this week in the Diocese of Phoenix and which we mentioned here in August. (Reproduction of entire text authorized by author - also available at Vultus Christi).

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Introduction

Until the approval of The New Roman Missal by Pope Paul VI on 3 April 1969, there had existed for four hundred years a substantial unity between the texts of the Proper of the Mass contained in the Graduale Romanum and those given in the Roman Missal. The Missal, in effect, reproduced the complete texts of those sung parts of the Mass that in the Graduale Romanum are fully notated.

The Missal takes the text of the Chants of the Proper of the Mass from the Graduale Romanum, and not the Graduale Romanum from the Missal. The Missal, in fact, contains the very same texts found in the Graduale, but in the Missal they are printed without the musical notation that allows them to be brought to life in song and, in a certain sense, interprets them in the context of the liturgy. The melodic vesture of the texts functions as a liturgical hermeneutic, allowing them to be sung, heard, and received in the light of the mysteries of Christ and of the Church.

Is there actually an American diocese willing to look beyond the so-called "reform of the reform" to what should rightly been seen as rupture?

The Diocese of Phoenix is holding a Conference on the 1965 Rite. Bishops Olmsted, Cordileone (of Oakland) and Elliot (Auxiliary in Melbourne Australia) will be there, along with some "conservative" liturgists.

It is not a Tridentine Conference but, according to a well-known traditional priest and friend of Rorate, it is his understanding that the underlying message of the conference is that the 1965 Rite was supposed to have been the end of the reform. In other words: a future New Rite was not intended by the bishops in 1963, the reform was dutifully implemented by 1965 - and ulterior developments were, ultimately, a rupture with tradition.

Our priest source also believes this is not a "reform of the reform" conference either. The reform of the reform assumes that the Novus Ordo is the direction, but it just needs to reigned in a bit. This conference, he believes, is very quietly suggesting that the Novus Ordo should not have been.

If true, this could turn out to be a remarkable event, and we will grant any of our readers who attend the event the ability to post a report on this blog. Just send us your report at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com

Also interesting will be, if this gets enough pre-conference press, will it be shut down before it ever takes place ...

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

Blessing of a church and consecration of an altar

Video excerpts of the Rite of Blessing of a Church and Consecration of a Portable Altar celebrated by Bishop Thomas Olmsted, followed by a Solemn Mass and Te Deum in his presence, on December 21, 2010. This church is the Mater Misericordiae Mission of the FSSP in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona.