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

The other night, at St. Agnes, it was snowing.   It was quite lovely.

 

Here is a piece from Catholic World News about the rumors concerning the explanatory document for Summorum Pontificum.

However, I am sceptical.  I suspect we will not see the document until, perhaps, before Easter.

My emphases and comments.

New Vatican document to clarify Summorum Pontificum

Vatican, Dec. 31, 2007 (CWNews.com) – The Vatican will soon issue a new document clarifying the terms of Summorum Pontificum, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has revealed.

Confirming reports that have circulated around Rome in recent weeks, the Vatican Secretary of State told the Italian weekly Famiglia Cristiana that the Ecclesia Dei commission will issue instructions to "clarify the criteria for the application of the motu proprio" in which Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) broadened access to the traditional Latin Mass.

Cardinal Bertone said that the new document was needed because there have been some "confused reactions" to the motu proprio. In fact some Vatican officials—most notably Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship—have energetically criticized bishops who have failed to accept the papal directive.

Cardinal Bertone took a more conciliatory approach to the disputes that have arisen in the aftermath of the Pope’s move to restore the traditional Mass. The Italian prelate told Famiglia Cristiana that had been widely misinterpreted, and the new instruction from the Ecclesia Dei commission would attempt to clear up misconceptions.

"Some people have charged that the Pope was rejecting the Council’s [Vatican II] teaching," Cardinal Bertone told the Italian magazine, emphasizing that this interpretation is completely unfounded. At the same time, he also dismissed the theory that Pope Benedict hopes to replace the Novus Ordo Mass, making the "extraordinary form" the single liturgical usage of the future. That is equally inaccurate, the cardinal said.

Cardinal Bertone did not indicate when the new liturgical directive would appear. Some Vatican-watchers believe that the instruction from Ecclesia Dei will appear within a matter of days; others have said that it could be several weeks before it is published. 

There is great need for this explanatory document.  It must not be rushed.

 

More and more Pope Benedict’s intentions are being clarified in regard to the Church traditional liturgical expressions.

The Holy Father’s throne is raised high above the floor of the Basilica.  I had heard when I was in Rome from one of the canons of St. Peter that there would be a dias of five steps.

This is a very "Roman" occasion.  The mayor of Rome is present, and the Holy Father in his sermon adddressed the spiritual situation in the diocese, young people, the life of parishes, etc.

Vespers is on EWTN as I write.  It is also available through CTV.

Can you believe that on the EWTN audio feed the speaker, all the way through, read from the English language breviary?  When they were sining the hymn he read a text which had absolutely NOTHING to do with the hymn sung in Latin in the Basilica!  I don’t know if that was EWTN’s audio or if it was coming from Vatican Radio.  If the later, then that was truly embarrassing.  How hard would it have been to get a service booklet, which are available in advance and then do the necessary homework?  In any event, they sang the hymn for vespers of Christmastide, Christe redemptor omnium.  I am not quite sure why they sang that rather than the hymn for 1st Vespers of the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, Corde natus ex Parentis.  Christe redemptor omnium is to be sung during the Octave unless there is a proper hymn, as there is for Mary Mother of God.

I truly detest the explanatory commentary in Italian sister, but … toleratur.

There is something important to notice.  Gregorian chant is being used and not the drippy gooey personal melodies of the present director of the Cappella Sistina.  I am sure he was informed that Gregorian chant shall have pride of place.  I am sure he would like to keep his job.

For those of you inclined stinginess who might think this is too little too late, remember that it takes longer to build than to tear down.  The Holy Father is moving pretty quickly now.

The morse of the cope:

Also, note the medieval image of Mary chosen for the ceremony. 

 

There are quite a few of the curial and other cardinals present.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, to whom those who love the older form of Mass owe a debt of gratitude.



I rather wish that Cardinal deacons would have been the deacons for Vespers, but these two fellows did a serviceable job.



The Holy Father spoke in his sermon about the upcoming ordinations to the priesthood of nearly 30 men for the Diocese of Rome. 

Their Excellencies Piero Marini and Renato Boccardo were preesent, together with their brethren in service of the Holy See.

 

Pope Benedict sings the oration.

OMBRELLINO!

There are some priests who think that having their cope or vestments held as they process is somehow not to be done, perhaps from false humility?

 

 

Adoration.  Perhaps too much organ.  Silence would have been better here.

 

I would have much preferred a traditional Te Deum which is solemnly sung in God’s honor at the end of a year.  I don’t know who wrote the Te Deum used today.  I suspect it of fairly recent composition, since there was a little refrain to encourage congregational singing and you could hear traces of the traditional Te Deum.

As the great Fr. Finigan reminds us:

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful under the usual conditions who devoutly assist at the singing or recition of:

The Te Deum on the lst day of the year to give thanks to God for benefits received during the past year.
The Veni Creator on 1 January to implore divine help during the coming year.

As ever, do see my post Plenary Indulgences not impossible if you are worried about the conditions

Another good look at the back of the cope.

Benediction.

 

 

And the recessional:

 
Judging from the coat of arms on the cope, this may have been from B;. Pope John XXIII, who was a great promoter of vespers for the Roman people.

 

And back out into the Roman evening to find some supper!

 

But wait!  There’s more!

A band and kneeler are set up before the Christmas scene in the Piazza.

Here comes the Holy Father!

The band is comprised of the Swiss Guard and the Vatican police and perhaps also the Roman police.

 

This is a marvelous occasion really.  You see the Holy Father’s dedication to formal liturgical ceremony and also popular devotion, which is also of great importance in the life of the Catholic people.  They strengthen each other, and the Holy Father understands that. 

He is giving a good example as Bishop and chief pastor of Rome to his City and to the world.  The broadcast of vespers and the visit to the Christmas scene in the piazza is his way of showing the bishops and priests of the world how this is to be done.

 

In the near future WDTPRS may have a new look. 

This is the direction I am leaning right now.

 

I got a note via e-mail and I simply don’t have time at the moment to respond directly.  Perhaps you folks can help this person:

Father,

I know you are busy but I am hoping you will be able to answer this question for me.

Can Baptism according to the liturgical books of 1962 be celebrated in the vernacular?

Recently, a friend of mine had thier child baptized according to the older form and the priest who baptized did it in ther vernacular. 

My wife and I are expecting our second child and would like the child baptized in the older form – we asked the priest yesterday and he seemed very hesitant.  He also did not think that baptism could be celebrated in the vernacular according to the liturgical books of 1962.

Blessings in Christ – and a Holy and Happy New Year -

Andrea Tornielli of il Giornale reports that in Milan some 500 signatures have been collected from people who desire to participate at celebrations of Holy Mass in the older rite.

My translation of Tornielli’s piece:

The signatures of 500 people requesting the application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, also in the Ambrosian diocese, have been delivered to the chancery of Milan.  ... As you might recall, a good part of the Diocese of Milan follows the Ambrosian Rite and formally in the papal document only the Roman Rite is cited (the head of the rite for Ambrosian rite is Card. Dionigi Tettamanzi).  On the face of it, the derestriction would be applied only to parishes that follow the Roman Rite.  Even in this matter, however, a notification from Msgr. Manganini, episcopale vicar, dodged the issue by sustaining that in the diocese there do not exist any groups attached the the old Rite.  The position of the Curia of Milan roused up some tempers in the highest floors of the Vatican.  Even if, formally it is on solid ground, in fact the decision of the Curia of Milan certainly does not show any understanding of the intention of the Pontiff.  The more than 500 signatures were collected during the last weeks via the internet.  Among these, the internet site     totustuus, which promoted this initiative, reports that about half (47 percent to be precise) are of people who are less than 50 years.

 

You might remember there was some about this from Card. Castrillon Hoyos, which I posted about in the entry The correction of Milan.   Tornielli said then:

Moreover, it seems to me that Cardinal Castrillòn, President of Ecclesia Dei recently had a conversation (I think by telephone) with one of those people in charge of the Ambrosian Rite, in the course of while he presented the diappointment of the Holy See for the non-application of the Motu Proprio in the Lombard capital.

 

I tip my biretta to WDTPRSer aventicus   o{]:¬)   for this great glimpse of the deathmask of St. Charles Borromeo.

Truly one of the great noses of all time.
 

Many thanks to MF for sending me the book from my wishlist.  Also, I am grateful for the recent donations from you kind readers.  They help a great deal.

Today would have been the 87th birthday of Msgr. Richard J. Schuler, former pastor of St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

I tip my biretta to Cacciaguida       o{]:¬)

A liturgical “octave” is an eight day period following and including the feast. In a way, the Church suspends time so that we can “rest” within the mystery we have celebrated while contemplating it from different angles.

Perhaps you have gone to a museum and seen a magnificent statue, such as Michelangelo’s David in Florence.

Glancing at it for a moment is not enough; you want to spend some time.

Looking at it from one direction is inadequate; you walk around it to see it from various points of view.

Considering our human weakness, a single day per year does not suffice to gather in the different dimensions of the mystery of a great feast. An octave, however, allows us to reflect on a feast in different ways.

For example, Pius Parsh, a prominent figure of the Liturgical Movement during the 20th c., wrote in The Church’s Year of Grace that the feasts of Sts. Stephen, John the Evangelist, and the Holy Innocents permit us to approach Christ, the new born King, first as martyrs, then as virgins, then as virgin-martyrs.

Theologically speaking, an octave anticipates the eternal bliss of heaven in which we will consider God in His glory. Think of it this way. God created the world in six days and on the seventh, the Sabbath, He rested. This cycle of seven repeats itself while the world endures. The eighth day is therefore beyond the cycle of seven. It symbolizes an eternal state, the perfect unending Sabbath of heaven. As a Church, during the octave – perceived as a single continuous day – we imitate the hosts of heaven in their abiding contemplation. Advent prepared us for the coming of the Lamb, both at Bethlehem and the end of time. Christmas too marks both comings. After Christmas we gather around the manger of Bethlehem and contemplate Jesus who is also the Lamb of the book of Revelation. We are like the Magi who adore Him, but we are also like the heavenly multitude of 144,000 who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev 14:4). In both ways we remain in the Lord’s presence.

On 1 January we celebrate the solemn feast of Mary, Mother of God, once called in the traditional Roman calendar (and still so by those using the MR1962) the Feast of the Circumcision, when Christ shed His Blood for us for the first time. Thus, at Christmas the wooden Crib already points to the wooden Cross, and beyond to the goal of heaven made possible now for the children of a common Father. Mary stood at the foot of both. Consequently, it is fitting to celebrate her with great solemnity in the Christmas octave. By her participation in the salvific shedding of her Son’s Blood Mary gives us an important example of sacrificial love.

The place God Incarnate chose to begin manifesting this sacrificial love, which reached its culmination on the Cross, was the family home. Together with Mary and His earthly father Joseph, Christ began to reveal something of the unity of love within the most perfect of communions, the Holy Trinity. It is fitting to celebrate the Holy Family within the Octave of Christmas when we contemplate the coming of the Lord in imitation of that final, perfect communion with God to be enjoyed only by the blessed in heaven. The family is a paradigm of all other human relationships. The Holy Family teaches us, who are still in this world but moving inexorably toward our judgment and final goal, how to live – together – in this present state of “already, but not yet”.

COLLECT - LATIN TEXT (2002MR):
Deus, qui praeclara nobis sanctae Familiae
dignatus es exempla praebere,
concede propitius,
ut domesticis virtutibus caritatisque vinculis illam sectantes,
in laetitia domus tuae praemiis fruamur aeternis.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
Father, help us to live as the holy family,
united in respect and love.
Bring us to the joy and peace of your eternal home.

According to the fine Lewis & Short Dictionary the noun exemplum means, “a sample for imitation, instruction, proof, a pattern, model, original, example….” For the Fathers, exemplum could mean many things. including man as God’s image, Christ as a Teacher, and the content of prophecy. In Greek and Roman rhetoric and philosophy, which so deeply influenced the Fathers, exemplum could have auctoritas, “authority”, which means among other things the moral persuasive force of an argument. When we hear this prayer with Patristic ears, exemplum is not merely an “example” to be followed: it indicates a past event as a reason for hope and an incitement to the spiritual life that leads to being raised up after the perfect exemplum, the Risen Christ. The deponent verb sector (you know the word “sect”) is, “to follow continuously or eagerly… to strive after.” The playwright Publius Terentius Afer (Terence + 158 BC) uses it for followers of a philosopher (Eunuchus 2.2.31). These disciples would take their name from their philosophical master just as we ‘Christians have ours. In the ancient Church there was a gossamer thin distinction between religion and philosophy. In a sense, Christ, the teacher offering His disciples perfect exempla is the verus philosophus for He Himself is Wisdom and Truth, and our faith is vera philosophia. That illam (singular) goes back, necessarily to familia (singular feminine, not the neuter plural exempla). Exemplum is also laden with import in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Praeclarus, a, um, the adjective paired with exempla, signifies basically, “very bright, very clear” and then by extension, “very beautiful (physically or morally), magnificent, honorable, splendid, noble, remarkable, distinguished, excellent, famous, celebrated.” Praeclara …exempla is so packed with information that it is really impossible to render it into English completely without a long excursus, like, “authoritative models for imitation very beautiful in instructive clarity”. Also, the combination of praebere exempla is very common in the writings of the Fathers often for “offering examples for imitation” of virtues or good works. This prayer is laden with philosophical vocabulary revolving around instruction of and conformity of life to wisdom through virtues. This prayer is a new composition for the Novus Ordo based somewhat on the Collect for the Feast of the Holy Family in the 1962MR. Whoever wrote this knew more than his prayers, I can tell you.

The term domestica virtus, is used by ancient authors of philosophical works (e.g., Cicero (+43 BC) and Seneca (+AD 65)) and thereafter by the doctor of the Church St. Ambrose of Milan (+397) in his own works on virginity and on virtues and duties.

This word pairing brings to mind the Second Vatican Council’s description of the family as the “domestic Church”, reprised in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1656 citing Lumen gentium 11:

In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the domestic Church (Ecclesia domestica). It is in the bosom of the family that parents are “by word and example…the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any religious vocation.”

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who deigned to provide us
with the very beautiful models of the Holy Family,
grant propitiously
that we who are eagerly imitating them in domestic virtues and the bonds of charity,
may enjoy eternal rewards in the joy of Your house.

We are asking God implicitly to enable us through grace, building in us the supernatural virtues of faith, hope and especially charity, to imitate the clear examples (praeclara exempla) of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the communion of their earthly household. We are to build communion among ourselves, on their authoritative model, which in turn exemplifies the communion of the Church and of the Persons of the Trinity. Thereafter, our examples, our own families, serve as the building block of a society oriented to God, the “city of God”, not the “city of man”. The reward for doing this faithfully is participation in the heavenly household of God the Father in the new family of the Church triumphant.

What the Holy Family offers us is a real exemplum, authoritative model, of freedom. This is not the false freedom of self-interested satisfaction of appetites, or the freedom to “choose” divorced from consideration of objective truths. This is freedom within, not from the bonds of charity. The more we are implicated or “bound up” in the love of God, giving Him our freedom, the freer we truly are. Vinculum literally means “that with which any thing is bound”, a “fetter”, like a chain. Here it describes effect of real charity, vincula caritatis, the kind of sacrificial love based on obedience to God’s will that the Holy Family had for one another and Christ showed forth perfectly while fixed and bound to the Cross. The “bonds of charity” require sacrifices and the abandoning, or better, transformation of selfish desires. The bonds of the family, and any authentic relationship based on something other than mutual use of each other, seem to modern eyes often to restrict personal freedom. But this is not the case. God’s love and God-like love, charity, makes us freer than we could ever hope to be without it.

The bonds of love and virtues of the Holy Family are foreshadows of the harmony of heaven which we are eagerly striving after. The family, nourished in the faith and sacraments of the Church, is an image of the Holy Family, itself an image of the communion of persons of the Church in heaven and of the Persons of the Trinity. Today’s Collect points to the importance of the “domestic Church.” The family is the first “church” children know. Parents are the first examples of God children experience. Your children first learn who God is by experiencing you. Can anyone wonder why the forces of hell are bending relentless attacks upon the family and the virtues which must be practiced in the home? Through the media, especially cinema, TV, and the internet, there pour into our homes a constant assault on virtue. And it is precisely virtue (not diversity, not tolerance, not inclusivity, not politically correct sensitivity, not freedom of choice unfettered from charity) that makes possible a family and therefore a society. This prayer is a contradiction of worldly ways and an affirmation of the God’s true image in us.

Andrea Tornielli on his blog for il Giornale has a glimpse of an interview with the Cardinal Secretary of State, H.E. Tarcisio Bertone, to be published soon in the weekly La Famiglia Cristiana.  Card. Bertone mentions the instruction on Summorum Pontificum which will be issued by the Pontificial Commission Ecclesia Dei.

Here is my translation:

Concerning the Motu Proprio about the Tridentine Mass: "There are plans to fine tune an Instruction which will settle clearly the criteria for the application of the Motu Proprio.  There have been some distorted reactions.  Some even got to the point of accusing the Pope of having renounced the teaching of the Council.  On the other hand, there are those who interpret the Motu Proprio as authorization for the return of the pre-Conciliar rite only.  Both positions are wrong."On the other hand, there are those who interpret the Motu Proprio as authorization for the return of the pre-Conciliar rite only.  Both positions are wrong."

The instruction, I am told, will probably come out before Easter.   The first part will no doubt deal with overly restrictive interpretations of the provisions of the Motu Proprio.
 

 

I picked this up from the blog of my friend Fr. Raymond Blake (whom I hope to see, perhaps in February).  I think it is worth some attention in the Catholic blogosphere.

My emphases.

I thought you might be interested to know that attempts are being made to shut up a certain Catholic journalist; no it is no-one on the dreadful Tablet, not even the ghastly sneering Bobby Mickens.

Apparently the Cardinal, [His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster no doubt] and maybe others, the Papal Nuncio’s name has mentioned, has made representations to the owner and chairman of the Catholic Herald and the editors of two national newspapers. They want the scalp of Damien Thompson, or at least they want his fingers broken so he can’t criticise the hierarchy, Eccleston Square, inaction on the Motu Proprio, Church bureaucracy, or make suggestions on Cormac’s successor, or criticise the dreadful Tablet.

Damien Thompson, once described as "a blood crazed ferret" by the Church Times, is a commentator on the Daily Telegraph, and Editor-in-Chief on the Catholic Herald, Thompson. He can be outrageous at times, but that in a healthy society, or Church, should be function of a journalist.

I find it truly worrying if senior clergy are trying to silence the press – not of course The Tablet, that is beyond censure by the hierarchy.

I have a couple view on this.

First, I think that over time market forces will take care of most of the stupid or wicked Catholic commentary.   I believe in sort of a reverse Gresham’s Law when it comes to information on the internet: good information will eventually drive bad information out of circulation.  A correlation of this law is that "people are smart".   This last point is the one most frequently violated by liberals, who are far more likely to desire that only one side of an issue have a free voice. 

 

Second, prelates may have a role in "silencing" some Catholic commentators.  However, that would pertain when the commentators were falling into error about issues of faith and morals or creating confusion about the Church’s proper discipline, etc.  For example, I think that it would not be out of the question for the Catholic hierarchy to exercise their office of oversight in regard some dimensions of the National Catholic Reporter.  I believe something was done in relation to the former editor of America.  It is difficult to balance all the elements in this.  However, I think I must come down on the side of freedom to comment and then depend on those "market forces" to sort things out.

I have as working paradigms in this issue the interesting exchanges between, for example, Umberto Eco and Card. Martini, or the press exchange years ago between Cardinals Ratzinger and Kasper.  I also am taking into consideration the way Pope Benedict opened himself to commentary and criticism in the preface of his book Jesus of Nazareth. 

 

At St. Agnes in St. Paul there is always a very fine presepio, or creche, or nativity scene.  Here are a couple images.

And here is one of those details which you just can’t plan:

 

The sanctuary is nice this year:

 

Solemn Mass is sung in the afternoons during the Octave, following sung vespers:

 

Yes, folks, it is possible to renovate without wreckovating.  It is also possible to unwreckovate.  Much can be accomplished with the combination of intelligence, good will, and lots and lots of money.

The Institute of Christ the King, always good at tapping money, has made over a church in Chicago: the former St. Clare, then St. Gelasius,...

 

was gutted….

 

Plans were implemented…

 

And the work was done.