What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

I posted this last year.  But I put so much work into it that it deserves recycling.

Some time ago, there was a discussion on one of our splendid Catholic blogs making mention of the burial place of St. Jerome perhaps in the Major Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. This is an interesting story and I dug into it a little. This is what I found.

We read in J.N.D. Kelly’s work Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (Duckworth, 1975, p. 333 – emphasis mine) :

Apocryphal lives extolling [Jerome’s] sanctity, even his miracles, were quick to appear, and in the eighth century he was to be acclaimed, along with Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory the Great, as one of the four Doctors of the Church.[2] In the middle ages his works were eagerly copied, read, and pillaged; while towards the end of the thirteenth century the clergy of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Rome, were to persuade the public, perhaps themselves too, that his remains had been transported from Bethlehem to Italy, and could be venerated close to certain presumed fragments of the Saviour’s crib.[3]

Note 2: This was formally ratified by Pope Boniface VIII on 20 Sept. 1295: see Corpus iuris canonici II, 1059 (ed. E. Freidburg, Leipzig, 1879-81). The original number four (the list was later to be greatly expanded) was chosen so that the Doctors could match the Evangelists.

Note 3: The story of their alleged translation, in response to a visionary appearance of Jerome himself, is set out by J. Stilting in Acta Sanctorum XLVI, Sept. VIII, 636 (Antwerp, 1762); it is reprinted in PL 22, 237-40. Stilting also provides a discussion of its date, veracity, etc. on pp. 635-49.

In the Acta Sanctorum for 30 September, under the entry for St. Jerome, we find the following section with its articles:

LXV. Corpus Sancti ex Palestina Romam translatum, depositumque in basilica s. Mariae Majoris. The body of the saint was brought to Rome from Palestine, and put in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
LXVI. Inquiritur tempus quo Sancti corpus Romam delatum. An investigation is made into the time when the body of the saint was brought back to Rome.
LXVII. Corpus Sancti depositum prope aediculam Praesepis, conditum deinde ibidem altare, sub quo positum, ubi mansit usque ad pontificatum Sixti V, quando dicitur clanculum ablatum & absconditum. The body of the saint was placed near to the small chamber of the Crib, established then right at the same altar, under which it was placed, where it remained until the pontificate of Sixtus V, when it is said to have been secretly taken away and hidden.
LXVIII. Corpus Sancti clanculum ablatum & absconditum dicitur, ne transferretur alio a Sixto V: deinde frequenter frustra quaesitum. The body of the saint is said to have been secretly taken away and hidden lest it were to be transferred to another place by Sixtus V: aftward it is frequently sought in vain.
LXIX. An reliquae, sub altari principe S. Mariae Majoris inventae, videantur illae ipsae, quae ut corpus S. Hieronymi ad illam basilicam fuerunt translatae. When the relics found under the main altar of St. Mary Major which had been transferred to that Basilica seem to be the very same as the body of St. Jerome.
LXX. Admodum verisimile & probabile inventas esse S. Hieronymi. Clearly the [relics] found are most like and probably of Saint Jerome.
LXXI. Respondetur ad objectionem ex reliquiis Nepesinis: reliquiae, quae verisimiliter sunt S. Hieronymi sub mensa principis altaris depositae. An objection is answered about the relics at Nepi: relics placed under the main altar which more than likely are those of St. Jerome.
LXXII. Reliquiae Sancti in pluribus civitatibus Italiae, Galliae, Germaniae, Belgii, & aliis provinciis. The relics of the saint in more cities in Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and other provinces.
LXXIII. Cultus S. Hieronymi: festivitates eius & Officia. The veneration of St. Jerome: his feasts and offices.

Here is the page where these articles begin. If you want to have a fuller experience of the joys (the chore) of reading the Acta Sanctorum for any length of time click here for a larger image.

His Excellency Most Reverend John T. Steinbock of the Diocese of Fresno has made a statement about the application of the provisions in the Pope’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

My emphases and comments.

Mass in Latin

Pastoral Message aired on KNXT-TV during October 2007

Bishop John T. Steinbock, Diocese of Fresno

My Dear People of God,

The document Pope Benedict XVI issued on July 7 regarding the use of the Latin Mass, reformed and published with the authority of Pope John XXIII in 1962, took effect in the Universal Church on September 14 of this year.  The Holy Father declared that both this 1962 Latin [grrrrr] Mass, referred to as the Tridentine Mass, [I know people recognize this term, but… grrrrr] and the Mass we now celebrate, [Well… there are those for whom the older Mass is "the Mass we now celebrate".  Hey wait a minute… as of 14 September, the older is really is "the Mass we now celebrate" just as much as the newer form.] the Mass of Paul VI published in 1970, form one and the same Rite.

The Holy Father has given permission to a priest, [This is incorrect.  The Motu Proprio is not constitutive.  It does not give permission.  It declares that priests have the use of either form if he already has permission (faculties) to say Mass at all. The Holy Father is declaring a fact rather than giving a permission.  This stems from the fact that the older form was never abrogated and it forms, at least juridically, part of one unified Roman Rite.] in Masses celebrated without the people, to celebrate the extraordinary form of 1962 in Latin, on his own authority.  He does not need permission of the Bishop.  Masses celebrated without people are private and non-scheduled Masses.  The Holy Father states that Christ’s faithful, with due observance of law, who spontaneously request it, may be admitted to these celebrations.

In parishes where a group of faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition exists stably,[this is still not a great translation, but it is better to say "exists stably" than to say "stable group"] if the pastor is able, he is asked to accede to their requests  [this is well put] for the celebration of the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962.  If a group of lay faithful does not obtain what it requests from the pastor, it should inform the diocesan Bishop. If he cannot provide for this celebration, the Holy Father says that the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei.”

As the Bishop of our Diocese, I have always allowed a Sunday Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Missal, both in the South and the North, the Bakersfield area and the Fresno area, for those people, coming from many different parishes, who have an attachment to the Mass in Latin. [grrrrr… I really think we need to make better distinctions.] I thank those priests who have provided this Mass through the years. [You’re welcome.  I was one of them for a short time when I was in Bakersfield.] It is a reality that there are very few priests left that are able to celebrate the Mass in Latin either in the ordinary or the extraordinary form.  [There will be a lot more real soon!]

I cannot foresee, at this time, a regular Sunday Mass in Latin in any other parishes, unless the pastor of a parish is personally able and willing to celebrate this Mass in Latin.  [This is the key, of course.  It is the pastor who deals with this question.]  Most priests are already celebrating two, three and sometimes four Masses, both on Saturdays and Sundays.  As the Bishop, I also have to tell everyone, quite frankly, that because of the shortage of priests, we are now preparing to have some of our parishes staffed, not by a priest, but by a Permanent Deacon, a Religious, or a Lay Person, who will be called a “Parish Life Coordinator.”  [Ouch.  This is a sad reality in some places.  In these cases, it is understandable that it would be very hard indeed to implement a regular celebration of the older Mass in a parish without a pastor.] This person will be in charge of leading the parish community, with a priest coming to celebrate Mass and hear Confessions when available.

Hopefully, the document of the Holy Father will have a significant impact in Europe, where relatively few faithful are coming to Mass on Sunday.  [Yes… we hope it will have a big impact on Europe.  We also hope that it will have an impact everywhere else too.  The Church everywhere needs renewal.]  Here in our Diocese, our parish churches, with multiple Masses, are filled with people, who experience a vibrant and devotional Sunday Liturgy.  [So wonderful that there can be no benefit from the provisions of Summorum Pontificum?  This makes it sound as if everything is just right in the Diocese of Fresno.  I suspect there are also issues there also.]  We are blest, in so many ways, but we are in great need of priests.  Let us pray for vocations especially from within our parish communities.   +

In the balance, this is a very good statement.  The bishop acknowledges that the pastor is the one who makes determinations about regular public celebrations in his parish.  He doesn’t seek to impose restrictions outside the provisions of the MP.  At the same time, he underscores the hard reality of things: there is a shortage of priests.

At the end, he makes an odd observation.  He seems to be saying that the MP is really intended for Europe, and doesn’t seem to be very relevant for the Diocese of Fresno.  He seems to be saying that the situation is great in the parishes there, which are full and vibrant.  This suggests that the reason the Holy Father gave us the MP was to help Mass attendance in those places where it is low (i.e., Europe, but not the San Joquin Valley).  However, in the previous paragraph the bishop explains that they are actually facing a dire situation: there is a shortage of priests.  It seems to me that things are decidedly un-wonderful where there are not enough priests for parishes.  Things are actually precarious if parishes have to be entrusted to lay custodians in the absence of priests.

I am convinced that the Motu Proprio is very much focused on the priest, his role and his identity.  The priest builds up the Church around himself at the altar.  He shapes the laity who then shape the world.  By renewing the identity of the priest by the derestriction of the older form of Mass, the Holy Father is also offering, I think, another way to increase priestly vocations. 

In any event, it is not my intention to pick at this statement, which is really pretty good.

Let us hope the people of that diocese will encourage vocations to the priesthood and give support to the priests they have.

I tip my biretta to the always engaging Diogenes for the links to what follows. 

Another Episcopalian has decided he can no longer endure the self-destruct mode that Church is vigorously wrapped up in.  So, he is swimming the Tiber.  Here is what he thinks about that.

So it’s off to Rome for me. I do not labor under the illusion all is milk and honey on the other side of the Tiber. It is not, the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the United States, is beset with woes, lousy liturgy and music being among the less egregious. But the Holy Catholic Church possesses something the Episcopal Church does not: sound doctrine, along with a Pope (especially the present one) and magisterium to ensure that it remains so. Sound doctrine will make it possible for me (I pray) to tolerate Masses where the priest sits in the Captain Kirk chair while the miasmal excrescences of Marty Haugen and David Haas [ROFL!] waft into the nave. And while my heartbreak over what happened to the Episcopal Church will remain with me to the end of my days (as I suspect it will for Fr. Kimel), at the same time I look forward with great joy to embracing the full Catholic Faith. I ask your prayers.

You’ve got em, and those of many of my readers. 

Corriere della Sera’s Luigi Accatoli has an article about the possibility of Pope Benedict celebrating Mass in the Basilica of St. Peter with the extraordinary use of the Roman Rite he derestricted with Summorum Pontificum.

Accatoli raises the interesting question of what would be done to substitute the old papal courtiers, abolished by Paul VI. 

Here are a couple excerpts (in my translation):

No Pontiff has usd the old Missal for 40 years: it could happen on 2 December

Luigi Accattoli

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO  – A new direction for culture and rites in the Vatican: Yesterday the Pope nominated Giovanni Maria Vian director of L’Osservatore Romano and consecrated as bishop the Milanese priset Gianfranco Ravasi who will have the role of "minister of culture"; in the next few days there is awaited the nomination of the new "master of ceremonies" to replace Archbishop Piero Marini.  After the arrival of the new master of ceremonies it is "probable" that the Pope will celebrate a Mass with the old rite, in St. Peter’s, obviously entirely in Latin: it could happen in 2 December, the first Sunday of Advent.
...
Nothing precise is known about the Pope’s intention to give bishops an "example" of his own choice to use the older rite, byeond the reception of requests of the faithful, as the Motu Proprio he published in July provides.  The rumor is circulating both on the lips of those who hope in such a gesture, which says that he would definitively clear "through customs" the old Missal which is still encountering resistance in spite of the recent derestriction; and also among those who fear that the Pope is making the gesture because it would be "another step away from the Council".

"Right now it’s only a rumor", says a monsignor who is neither for or against it, "but everyone is talking about it around here and I believe he is going to do it even if he risks stirring up some polemics, because Catholics who are less than 50 years old have never seen a Pope celebrate Mass with his back to the people and speaking the ‘Eucharistic Prayer’ in a low voice."  In the meantime, the ‘court’ which accompanied the Pope in these celebrations was abolished and I really want to see how an old papal Mass would be carried out today!"
....

The Jersey Journal has an article on the implementation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum in

My emphases and comments.

Church celebrates a return to traditional mass in Latin
Monday, September 24, 2007
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

At a solemn Latin Mass yesterday, the Holy Rosary Church in Jersey City heralded the return to favor of the once universal language of Christianity.  [Tell that to the Eastern Churches!]

The Sixth Street church yesterday held its first traditional Latin Mass to be officiated by a bishop [HUZZAH!] in almost 40 years, church officials said. Dom Carillo Gritti, bishop of Itacoatiara, Brazil, presided over the pontifical Mass just over a week after Pope Benedict XVI’s issued a "motu proprio" allowing priests to perform Latin Mass without permission of the bishop.  [Yep.]

The Latin Mass fell out of favor in the 1960s when the Church allowed Catholics to celebrate Mass in their local language. [What a wretched sentence.] The Rev. Rino Lavaroni, Holy Rosary’s pastor, conducts a traditional Latin Mass every Sunday, but this is the first time a bishop has officiated [Second time this word was used.  Odd.] over it since the 1960s.

Gritti sees the Pope’s order as an inevitable return to a centuries long tradition that saw a gap in the last few decades.

"Finally we have started again what was there forever," Gritti said. "We have to see this continuity in the Catholic Church."

"We can start the renewal that will transform our church and that will be the salvation for every person," Lavaroni added. "We are starting a new chapter with great enthusiasm."  [This guy gets it.]

Apart from the language, there are other differences to the service, Lavaroni said, including the fact that the celebrant does not face the people during prayer, because it is not a "social event," but communion with God.  [LOL!   Yep!  He does get it.]

Born in Bergamo in northern Italy, Gritti did most of his training in seminary there. But for more than 30 years, he has been in the Amazons in Brazil. A trained civil engineer, Gritti supervised the construction of his parish church and a local hospital.

Here is an interesting piece from the Pawtucket Times.

My emphases and com[]ments.

09/28/2007
Introibo ad altare Dei (I will go in to the altar of God)
By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

[CLICHE ALERT!] PAWTUCKET - St. Leo the Great Church will be going back in time. Using a 1962 pre-Vatican II missal, the Rev. Kevin Fisette will celebrate Sunday Mass in Latin on Oct. 21 at 5 p.m.
The pastor will be wearing traditional vestments and during much [I hope all...] of the Mass, will be standing with his back to the congregation. Worshippers will have to kneel to receive Holy Communion, and the host will be placed on the tongue.
In one other notable difference, Father Fisette will be assisted by altar boys – no girls allowed.  [Isn’t it wonderful?]
While this hasn’t met with any resistance from parishioners, he did admit that one of his female altar servers, perhaps only half jokingly, responded with "Hey, that’s not fair!" when told of the Latin Mass rules.  [Poor little darlings.  But, perhaps one’s sense of "fair" needs to be adjusted.]
St. Leo’s, at 697 Central Ave., is the second church in Rhode Island to offer the Tridentine Mass. The other is Holy Name of Jesus Church in Providence, which has been offering the Mass for almost a decade by special permission from church authorities.
Earlier this year, Pope Benedict XVI lifted Vatican restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass, paving the way for more parishes to offer the traditional rite. However, as Father Fisette pointed out, there are many specific rules and regulations associated with it, which have been outlined by the Most Rev. Thomas Tobin, Bishop of Providence.  [Ehem… Summorum Pontificum doesn’t impose a lot of regulations.  I don’t think I have seen the "regulations" issued by the bishop of Providence.  Maybe someone will send them to me.]
"Bishop Tobin made it clear we can not mix rites, do a little of the old Mass and a little of the new," said Father Fisette. "Everything will be just as it was in 1962." He added that Bishop Tobin has been "extremely supportive" of his plan.
Father Fisette said he is excited about offering the Latin Mass and hopes that it will generate enthusiasm among his own parishioners, and perhaps attract some that are new.
Noting that weekly Mass attendance among Catholics has dropped about 40 percent in the last 40 years, Father Fisette said, "We have to do whatever we can to bring people back."
Father Fisette, who has been a priest for 26 years, said he realizes there are some who consider the practice a sign of the church going backwards.
He and other supporters of the Tridentine Mass view it as a return to a time of more sacred, traditional church values that were in place prior to the Second Vatican Council.  [I think it is a step into the future, not into the past.]
"Sometimes, I think we have lost a sense of the sacred. It’s all become very familiar," he said. "We would like to bring back the sense of mystery, if you will – back when people were more in awe of the Mass." He added that the Latin Mass celebration offers more in the way of "spiritual drama."  [All good insights.]
Commenting on the longtime practice of the priest turning his back to the congregation, [grrrrr] Father Fisette said that traditional thinking held that the old Mass was, essentially, the "priest’s prayer on behalf of the people who were gathered."
In contrast, the new Mass is centered around the idea that all of the people celebrate the Mass with the priest.  [Hmmm… well… this is true, though, isn’t it?   The baptized participate in their own way in Christ’s priesthood and unite their spiritual sacrifices to those of the priest during Mass, any Mass.]
Father Fisette said he sees the Latin Mass [grrrrr] as providing parishioners with another option of a traditional Catholic Mass.
"The Church is certainly big enough for different types of Masses. It is big enough for everybody’s spirituality," he said. "We have guitar Masses and Gregorian chants, why not the Latin Mass?" [grrrrrr]
Before arriving at St. Leo’s, Father Fisette was pastor of Holy Name Church, where he celebrated the weekly Tridentine Mass for seven years. He said that at Holy Name, there was a great deal of interest in the Latin Mass, even attracting a younger segment of the parishioners.
Father Fisette admits he is no Latin scholar, having only taken a couple of years of the ancient language in high school. However, when he was assigned to Holy Name in 1997, he decided to learn it himself. He said he used his mother’s old missal and watched a videotape as a guide. "I was tongue-tied at first, but I found that it was fairly easy to learn," he said.
He said he still intends to deliver his homily in English, however.  [HAR HAR HAR… insert knee slap here.  What a clever reporter!]
Because of all the different rules and practices involving the Latin Mass, Fisette said he plans to hold an instructional session for parishioners on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 6:30 p.m. in St. Leo’s Church.  [An excellent idea.]
Following the inaugural Mass on Oct. 21, Father Fisette plans to celebrate a 5 p.m. Latin Mass on the third Sunday of each month for one year, to see if it catches on with parishioners. "I feel optimistic that it will," he stated.

All in all very positive news.  I like the fact that the bishop is supportive and that the priest will have sessions for the parish about the older form of Mass.  Also, I like Fr. Fisette’s interest in bringing people back to the Church.   This must be a priority for us now. 

Here is an interesting piece from the nearly ubiquitous John L. Allen, Jr., the former Roman correspondent for the lefty NCR.   Get this.

My emphases.

Benedict XVI’s approval rating in America is 73 percent, poll finds By John L Allen Jr Daily Created Sep 25 2007 – 12:14

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York

Nearly three-quarters of Americans, 73 percent, who say they’re familiar enough with Pope Benedict XVI to offer an opinion have a favorable view of the pontiff, according to a new poll. Benedict scored well not just among Catholics, but also white Evangelicals, black Protestants, and mainline Protestants.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and released today, offers the pope good news ahead of a projected 2008 visit to the United States.

To a considerable extent, the pope’s popularity crosses the normal American partisan divide. While 84 percent of Americans who describe themselves as conservative Republicans have a favorable view of the pope, 59 percent of self-described liberal Democrats also give Benedict XVI high marks. Benedict scored well among virtually every ideological subgroup, from a 68 percent approval rating among independents to 79 percent approval among conservative and moderate Democrats.

There are several fine points, however, that complicate the picture.

First, Benedict’s approval rating is substantially lower than comparable figures for his predecessor, John Paul II, who was viewed favorably by 86 percent of Americans in a 1996 poll. Benedict XVI also trails John Paul’s 1996 numbers in terms of the percentage of Americans who say they have a “very favorable” impression, at 21 percent for Benedict and 32 percent for John Paul II.

The gap is especially evident among Catholics; while 50 percent of American Catholics had a very favorable view of John Paul in 1996, just 36 percent express that impression of Benedict XVI today.

Second, growing familiarity with Benedict has not translated into higher approval ratings. In 2005, just 55 percent of the American public told Pew Forum pollsters that they knew enough about the pope to offer an opinion, while this time 68 percent volunteered an impression. Yet over that time, Benedict’s approval rating actually dropped from 81 percent to 73 percent, suggesting that some Americans who have come to know the pope over the last two years don’t necessarily like what they see.

Third, a plurality of Americans, 46 percent, say that Benedict XVI is doing only a “fair or poor job” in promoting relationships with other religions, while just 38 percent say he’s doing an “excellent or good” job.

Though the Pew Forum report does not draw the conclusion, that result likely reflects continuing fallout from Benedict XVI’s September 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg in Bavaria, which sparked protest across the Islamic world when Benedict quoted a 14th century Byzantine Emperor to the effect that Muhammad had “brought things only evil and inhuman.” It may also reflect negative reaction in the Protestant world to a recent Vatican declaration that the Catholic church remains the lone “true church” founded by Jesus Christ.

A solid majority of Americans, 56 percent, describe Benedict XVI as “conservative" and just 5 percent see him as "liberal." Among college graduates, fully 71 percent say the pope is “conservative.” Likewise, 68 percent of American Catholics describe the pope as "conservative."

LOL!

I once asked Joseph Card. Ratzinger how he dealt with all the negative press all the time.  He responded that if he didn’t read something awful about himself every week, he’d have to examine his conscience.

Pope Benedict has been applying needed medicine to some sick sectors of the Church.  As as St. Augustine described many centuries ago, "The doctor doesn’t stop cutting just because his patient is screaming for him to stop."

That might be a little exaggeration, but the Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli has posted on his blog Sacri Palazzi:

The nomination of Msgr. Guido Marini, of the clergy of Genoa, as head of the Office of liturgical celebrations of the Pope, replacing [Archbishop] Piero Marini (who will be nominated as head of the Pontifical Commission for Eucharistic Congresses) will be announced at the beginning of the coming week (probably even Monday). Guido Marini will take possession of the appointment after 21 October, that is, after the Pope’s visit to Naples. But on that occasion he will already be present together with [his] predecessor.

La nomina di mons. Guido Marini, del clero di Genova, a capo dell’Ufficio delle celebrazioni liturgiche del Papa, in sostituzione di mons. Piero Marini (che sarà nominato a capo del Pontificio comitato per i Congressi eucaristici) sarà annunciata all’inizio della settimana entrante (probabilmente già lunedì). Guido Marini prenderà possesso dell’incarico dopo il 21 ottobre, cioè dopo la visita del Papa a Napoli. Ma già in quella occasione dovrebbe essere presente insieme al predecessore.

As the former Archbishop of Southwark, Most Rev Michael Bowen, once said in response to a rumour, "For all I know, it may very well be true."

Today, as last year, in the chapel of the Sabine Farm, Holy Mass was celebrated with the 1962 Missale Romanum.  The vestments were appropriately angelic and festive. After all, the chapel was filled also with angels.

Here is a little detail woven into the fabric of the chasuble:

Here is a nice article from Catholic New York.

My emphases and comments.

Solemn Joy

Traditional Latin Mass community celebrates pope’s decree

By CLAUDIA McDONNELL

Reverence and devotion filled the air like incense [There is really something very different about the atmosphere of the older Mass, no?  Even without the incense.  Still, you can almost see and smell it in the air.] at the Tridentine Mass Sept. 16 at Immaculate Conception parish in Sleepy Hollow. There was extra joy, too, because of the occasion. The traditional Latin Mass is celebrated there on Sundays and holy days, but this was the first one after Pope Benedict’s decree granting wider permission to celebrate the traditional Mass went into effect Sept. 14.

"It’s wonderful," Anne Meeks said. "We think very highly of Pope Benedict. We’re very grateful." [It is very important to express gratitude to your priests and bishops about the older Mass.  Very important.] Mrs. Meeks, who lives in Croton-on-Hudson with her husband, Michael, and is expecting their third child, attended the Mass with their daughters, Mary, 4, and Katherine, 15 months; her husband was at work.

"We love the Tridentine Mass," she said. "We feel it’s extremely reverent. We love the beauty of it."  [There are a lot more reasons than the beauty, though that is a very good start… and they are tied together.]

The Tridentine Mass is celebrated at a number of other churches of the archdiocese, and several people at Immaculate Conception expressed gratitude to Cardinal Egan for making it available. They also thanked Msgr. Louis J. Mazza, pastor of Immaculate Conception, for welcoming them to the parish.  [Yes… everyone… do thank people.]

"He has always been so good to us," said Amy Kelley of Mount Kisco. "He really recognized the legitimacy of our attachment (to the Tridentine form)...He took us under his wing."

Msgr. Mazza told CNY, "They are a good, loving, Christian community." Though geographically scattered, "when they come together they have a lovely family atmosphere," [There is that unmeasureable sense again.] he said, and the children of some of the families receive baptism, first Communion and confirmation at Immaculate Conception.

Msgr. Mazza expressed support for the pope’s decree and said that interest in the traditional Latin Mass "is not dying, it’s growing."  [Yep.] But, he added, "Not every parish has a priest who can say a Latin Mass."

The regular celebrant at Immaculate Conception is Father Richard Munkelt, a priest of the Diocese of Scranton who teaches philosophy at Fairfield University in Connecticut. He said in an interview that he is "deeply grateful and overjoyed" by the pope’s action in making the Tridentine Mass more available.

"It’s a very important step in the direction of keeping the Church in touch with its liturgical past and heritage," [continuity] he said.

He said that the Tridentine Mass gives worshippers "a sense of the sacred, and a sense of what solemn worship is about…It’s about giving glory to God using our highest talents, in the highest artistic and intellectual manner imaginable."  [We will see a revival of many of our very best traditions of music and of art.  For two millennia the Church was the greatest patroness of the arts there ever was.  Holy Church has given to all humanity two great gifts: art and saints.  Saints express God’s truth and beauty in living, breathing people.  Art is like God’s grandchild, an expression of God’s children about His beauty and truth in the material things around us.  The holiness of saints and the beauty of art flow out of and back into Holy Mass.]

The Mass on Sept. 16 had the solemnity and formality [We must recover a sense of what Dante expresses with the Italian word "cortese", a "courtliness" of noble formality and courtesy in the face of mystery and majesty.] that older worshippers recall, and that most younger worshippers do not—and would likely find unusual and perhaps fascinating. Father Munkelt, wearing emerald-green silk vestments trimmed in gold, marched into the Gothic-style church accompanied by eight altar boys, one of whom held up the edge of the priest’s cape. After going up to the sanctuary, Father Munkelt turned and walked back down the aisle, sprinkling the congregation with holy water. Then he returned to the sanctuary and, assisted by altar boys, removed the cape and put on a chasuble. He then began the prayers of the Mass.

Singing throughout the Mass was the group’s schola cantorum, or choir. It is made up of two professional musicians—including the director, David Hughes—and six volunteers. They sang Gregorian chant superbly. Some of the people joined in the singing of Mass prayers such as the Agnus Dei, as well as the responses to the priest’s prayers. When he sang "Dominus vobiscum" ("The Lord be with you") they responded, "Et cum spiritu tuo" ("And with your spirit").

According to the Tridentine form, the priest celebrates the Mass while facing the altar, that is, with his back to the people, so that all face the same direction, which traditionally is the East, symbolic of the Resurrection. [That covers the bases.] After reading the Epistle and Gospel at the altar in Latin, Father Munkelt read both from the pulpit in English. He then preached a homily in which he called on all to cultivate the virtue of humility and the realization of "our complete dependence on Christ."

Worshippers followed the Mass in attentive and reverent silence; small children were present throughout, but they made little noise. At communion, all knelt to receive the Eucharist on the tongue.

Immediately following the end of Mass, the schola sang the Te Deum in gratitude for the pope’s decree.

Speaking with CNY after the Mass, Father Munkelt, 51, said that his vocation was inspired by the Tridentine Mass. Formerly an Episcopalian, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1983 and began to attend the Tridentine Mass at St. Agnes Church in Manhattan, "out of intellectual curiosity," he said, about the Church’s liturgical heritage. At St. Agnes, he continued, "I felt a calling to the priesthood and the altar." He is in residence at St. Anthony of Padua Chapel in West Orange, N.J., where all Masses, as well as the sacraments, are celebrated according to the Tridentine form. The chapel operates with authorization from the Archdiocese of Newark.

Commenting on the use of Latin, he noted that it is "the historical language of worship in the Roman rite."  [We need more thought about the language of worship.  The great scholar Christine Mohrmann wrote of Latin as a hierarchical language.  I wish I could scare up that reference again.]

"The beauty of Latin," he said, "is that it helps to take the worship out of the world of the ordinary," [Yes!  No liturgy is about the merely secular.] emphasizing its "mystery and sacredness." He remarked that "everyone is capable of understanding the words of the Mass through vernacular translations."

Asked whether making the Tridentine Mass more available could lead to divisiveness in the Church, Father Munkelt said, "The key point in this question is the fact that the Church has always been liturgically pluralistic. It has many rites. There have been different rites and usages within the fold of the Western, or Latin, Church. Divisiveness comes in only when a legitimate expression has been suppressed or frustrated."  ["Legitimate expression".  The Novus Ordo is legitimate expression only when celebrated according to the rubrics.]

Frederic Wolff, 69, told CNY that he still remembers the Latin responses he made as an altar boy. "The Latin Mass, for me, is my mother tongue in worship," [There is that language thing again.] he said.

Joanne Riccoboni, 43, of Brewster attends the Mass regularly with her husband, Gene, and their four children. Like many of the women there, she wore a lace mantilla. She recalled how she felt when she first attended a traditional Latin Mass as an adult.

"Tears just filled my eyes, and I had goose bumps all over," she said. "I had been away from Mass for a long time, and it brought me back. I just felt at home again."

It has been almost a month since the last PODCAzT.  My travels and time restrictions have kept me busy.  But today we listen to St. Augustine of Hippo talk about shepherds in union with Christ.

Also, I have provided a sound recording of my sermon on 14 September about the Exaltation of the Cross and about the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.  It was delivered in Blackfen, Kent, in England at a Solemn Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Church where Fr. Finigan of the blog The Hermeneutic of Continuity is pastor.

A reader of WDTPRS sent in a voicemail question about whether it is necessary for women to wear chapel veils at Mass with the so-called "Tridentine" Missal, the Missale Romanum of 1962.

 

 07-09-28 Augustine on pastors; my Motu Proprio sermon in England; chapel veils [46:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It has been a while since I’ve posted one of these "where are you" entries.  Here is a snapshot of the last few minutes.   These places are not precise.  Someone living in St. Ipsidipsy might actually be registered on the internet backbone through Black Duck, or Tall Tree, if you get what I mean.

Here we go!

New Orleans, Louisiana
Binghamton, New York
Woodstock, Georgia
Vancouver, Washington
Auburn University, Alabama
Munro, Buenos Aires
Tallahassee, Florida
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Cincinnati, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Staten Island, New York
Nottingham
Irving, Texas
Nashville, Tennessee
London, Lambeth
Notre Dame, Indiana
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Jakarta, Jawa Barat
Berkeley, California    
Roma, Lazio  [PONTIFICIO COLLEGIO AMERICANO DEL NORD ter Network]
Emmitsburg, Maryland  [Mount St. Mary Seminary?]
La Storta, Lazio
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Plaistow, West Sussex
Quezon City
Gladwyne, Pennsylvania
Holzgerlingen, Baden-Wu…
Saint Peters, Missouri
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Los Angeles, California
Kansas City, Missouri
Paulo, Maranhao
Leatherhead, Bromley
Pharr, Texas
Moorhead, Minnesota
Colfax, Indiana
Johnston, Iowa
Geneva, Geneve
Poughkeepsie, New York
Saginaw, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Arlington, Virginia
Saint Louis, Missouri [Kendrick-Glennon Seminary?]
Saint Paul, Minnesota [Univ. of St. Thomas…. St. Paul Seminary?]
Leeds
Hyde Park, Massachusetts
Philipsburg, La Massana
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisco…
Bend, Oregon
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Waterloo, Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
San Antonio, Texas
Stamford, Connecticut
Merrill, Wisconsin
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan
Midlothian, Virginia
Gibson, Tennessee
Fort Worth, Texas
Anderson, South Carolina
Cleveland, Ohio
Madrid  
Bloomfield Hills, Michi…
Lincoln, Nebraska
Blacklick, Ohio
Groesbeek, Gelderland
Iowa City, Iowa
Indianapolis, Indiana
South Hadley, Massachus…
Edmonton, Alberta
Palo Alto, California
North Little Rock, Arka…
Daytona Beach, Florida
Mankato, Minnesota
Leavenworth, Kansas
Boston, Massachusetts
Preston, Washington
Columbus, Ohio [Josephinum?]
Hyattsville, Maryland
Philadelphia, Pennsylva… [St Charles Borromeo Seminary?]
New Haven, Connecticut
Tampa, Florida
Bethlehem, Georgia
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Newton Junction, New Ha…
Winnipeg, Manitoba
West Chester, Ohio
Silver Spring, Maryland
Philippine, Benguet
Columbia, South Carolina
Naples, Florida
Seattle, Washington
Dublin
West Des Moines, Iowa
San Jose, California
Saint John, New Brunswick
Washington, District of…
Celina, Ohio
Alexandria, Virginia
Damascus, Maryland
Fayetteville, Georgia
Emmitsburg, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Royal Oak, Michigan
Richmond, Virginia
Singapore, Dakar
Indian Trail, North Car…
Holzgerlingen, Baden-Wu…
Des Plaines, Illinois
Eccles, Trafford
Richardson, Texas
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Kista, Stockholms Lan
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Emmitsburg, Maryland
Ithaca, New York
Front Royal, Virginia
Cincinnati, Ohio [Mt. St. Mary of the West Seminary?]
Chestnut Hill, Massachu…
Johnstown, Pennsylvania