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

Credit must be given when credit is due!

Trautman to skip graduation in protest of Clinton visit

Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman will not attend the Mercyhurst College graduation in protest over Sen. Hillary Clinton’s visit to campus Tuesday.

Trautman issued a written statement on Monday, the day after the college announced Clinton would be speaking.

The full text of the statement follows:

“I am disappointed in Mercyhurst College for not reflecting the pro-life stance of the Catholic Church regarding abortion. As tangible expression on my disappointment, I have notified (Mercyhurst President Tom) Gamble that I will not be present for Mercyhurst’s graduation. I am open to meeting with Dr. Gamble in the future to ascertain how the Catholic identity of Mercyhurst can be better clarified.”

Clinton favors abortion rights.

Diocesan spokesman Tom McSweeney said in the statement that Trautman would have no further comment on the issue.

Mercyhurst spokeswoman Debbie Morton said she was not sure whether Gamble had received the statement and was not prepared to comment.

WDTPRS applauds Bp. Donald W. Trautman…. (which may be the first time those words were ever written)!

Incidently, the last time I was flying through, I think it must have been in Detroit, I wound up in the NWA lounge sitting next to the President of Mercyhurst College.  Small world.

On this Feast of the Annunciation, which was bumped by the observance of the Easter Octave, we will hear St. Pope Leo I, "the Great" (+461) sermon 22, a Christmas sermon of 441, which is part of the office of Lauds in the older, traditional Breviarium Romanum. 

Last year, I presented what St. Leo said in the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours, and you should really listen to that PODCAzT also to deepen your sense of what this great Father and Doctor of the Church had to say.

I also give you a couple of voicemails left for me through my skpye numbers.  People had questions.  I have my answers! 

http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_03_31.mp3

 

I was recently told that on BBC 4 radio there is a program about Palestrina and the Popes. 

Alas, you can’t hear via internet this outside the UK.

Any chance one of you might have captured it?

Drop me a line if you have.

About that papal skateboard:

Biretta tip   o{]:¬)   to Fr. Blake and the Curt Jester.  

I often wonder what it is that critics of Summorum Pontificum are really objecting to.

Some say that they object to the "out dated" ecclesiology.

Quite often I think their objections go deeper… to Catholic moral teaching.

Traditional liturgy usually goes hand in hand with traditional Catholic teaching on faith and morals. 

I suspect most critics of the older Mass don’t, for one reason or another, want traditional teaching about morals.

"But Father, but Father!",  some of you are  saying, "what set this off?  Did you find some interesting news item that got you thinking about this?"

How well you know me.  Take a look at this.  There will be a series of talks on homosexuality at the very church where I helped out with the Triduum.

A Men’s Forum for Catholic Apologetics

Second Tuesday of the Month, from October through May
Church of St. Augustine, South St. Paul, MN

Father Echert [see here and here for what I have written about him before]
will be giving his presentation,

"Straight Talk on Homosexuality: The Catholic Perspective"
 
The menu 
Appetizer:
Ridiculously Good Smoked Beef Rib Tips and Smoked Salmon
 
Dinner:
Smoked Beef Brisket, and Charcoal Roasted Sirloin Tip (Seasoned to perfection and you can smother it with either one of our two kinds of Sauces, 1st a thick rich peppery red wine herbed mushroom sauce, 2nd a sweet rich robust BBQ Sauce. 
Kent’s Awesome Potato Salad
Sassy Green Beans
Hearty Bread
 
Desert:
Triple Chocolate Cake covered in wild berries served with Chocolate Espresso Ice cream and everything gets smothered in a Chocolate liqueur Sauce.


Tuesday, April 8th
Social at 6:30pm (beverages and appetizers)
Dinner at 7:00pm
Total cost for the evening is $12 at the door [sheesh!  At that price you can’t afford not to go!]

There will be time for you to agree or disagree with our speaker during the Q&A, which starts immediately following dessert.  But you are all encouraged to enjoy the good humor, food and fellowship. We enjoy the company of men from all different creeds and ages.  Priests and seminarians get in for free but are not shown any partiality in debate.  Fathers may bring their sons as long as they accompany them.

St. Augustine Catholic Church
5th Ave. N. & 3rd St. N
South St. Paul, MN     

This event is clear for men only.

Here is an oldie PODCAzT from last year for this Sunday "in albis".

_________

Today is traditionally called Dominica in albis, the Sunday of the white garments which the newly baptized received on the Vigil of Easter.  St. Augustine (+430) preaches about this day, and you can hear some of what he has to say in Latin and English (s. 260A).  I also talk about the Pope’s book Jesus of Nazareth and about the Mass he celebrated today (last year – 2007) in St. Peter’s Square.

 

I got a very useful e-mail which I think it important to pass on to you readers everywhere. 

This is from the Latin Mass Society which is in the UK and, I think, Ireland.

They are stressing that bishops of that region are seriously dragging their feet against the implementation of Summorum Pontificum to the end that they will be able to report to the Holy See that there is little or no interest in the older forms of the sacraments.   Thus, they are undermining the long-term implemention of Summorum Pontificum, not just the short term.

Thus, the LMS is saying that it is important to establish a paper trail, some statistics which may in fact be more accurate than what some bishops put together.

For what my opinion is worth, I think this is a good idea.

Remember, this is for the UK.  Organizations elsewhere may need to be created to see to this for their own regions.

Here is the letter with my emphases and comments.

Dear Latin Mass Society Member,

Provision of the Traditional Mass and Sacraments I am sorry to say the LMS is receiving mixed reports as to the willingness of some bishops to enter into the spirit of the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio, ‘Summorum Pontificum’. While it is early days it is becoming clear that some bishops are ignoring the fact that with the Motu Proprio we have entered a whole new world.  [Some bishops are approaching this issue as is Summorum Pontificum didn’t exist and that they still have the authority to permit and forbid all things having to do with the extraordinary use.]

For instance, it is quite clear that the Holy Father foresees that there should be regular parish Masses on Sundays and Holy Days where these are requested or the parish priest prefers, and that personal parishes should be erected where there is a need. [Problem: That definitely is something that bishops do have the authority to do.. or not do, as they see fit.] Several bishops have also instructed their priests to report to them all requests for the Traditional Mass and Sacraments. [I suppose they have that authority, though it seems likely that this is simply a kind of burocratic harassment.  I suggest that parish priests in fact do report every single request, no matter how small, even when Mrs Joe Bagodoughnuts wants her rosary blessed. Everything, requesting an ancknowledgement for receipt of the letter.]

As you know, the bishops propose to send a report to Rome in three years time and they are already collecting statistics as to the level of demand. [PAY ATTENTION] No requests equal no demand! Hence it is very important that all LMS members and supporters make formal requests, preferably in writing, [Not "preferably", rather: absolutely.  In law, quod non est scriptum non est in mundo.] to their parish priests for regular celebrations of the Traditional Mass and Sacraments.

The procedure as laid down in the Motu Proprio is as follows: [No… yes and no, but what follows is still a good procedure.]

You should approach your parish priest with a request that he offer the Mass and Sacraments to include Sundays and Holy Days. There is NO MENTION in the Motu Proprio of ‘stable groups’ or of minimum numbers, but obviously if you gather together a number of names, [That point is not in the Motu Proprio, but it is entirely reasonable.] this is helpful. Your request to the priest should be in writing, [Again, this is not in the Motu Proprio, but it is not only reasonable, it is necessary I think.] polite and should make no comment about the new rite. [YES!   Don’t be snarky in making the request.  That becomes part of the record too!] The Motu Proprio asks the priest to accept your request “willingly”. If the priest cannot or will not grant your request you should write to the bishop, again remaining polite and making no comment on the new rite. The Motu Proprio states: “The bishop is strongly requested to satisfy [your] wishes.” If he cannot, he is to refer the matter to the Ecclesia Dei Commission in Rome. You should do so as well in writing and politely.

At this stage, if not before, it is important that you copy all correspondence, including priests’ and bishops’ replies, to the LMS office so we can build up a picture nationwide of what is happening.  [Whew!  They are willing to take this on!  In that case send a donation too!]

Note: The Ecclesia Dei Commission is urgently preparing a document to give guidelines on how the Motu Proprio is to be interpreted. They need to know how bishops are currently interpreting the Motu Proprio. Hence, the LMS will shortly send its own dossier to the Ecclesia Dei Commission to help in their preparation of the document. Our dossier will include an analysis of the bishops’ ad clerums [An Ad clerum is an official notice sent by a diocesan chancery to the clergy of the diocese.] and a file of evidence on how individual requests have been treated. When writing to the LMS please state whether you wish your particular case to be copied by us to Rome. It may be that Rome will divulge details of individual cases to the bishop concerned and you should therefore be prepared to be identified. Please note it is important to make your requests and not leave it to others. The bishops will be collating statistics on requests for the Traditional Mass and Sacraments and may well tell Rome that there is little need for extra provision in England and Wales. We must show this is wrong. Don’t forget to copy your requests to priests and bishops to the LMS office. Hearsay is not sufficient!  [That is why it is important to write requests and have zopies of correspondence.]

(You may like to know that the Chairman of the LMS has made a formal request to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for an early meeting to discuss the speedy and full implementation of the Motu Proprio.)

If you need further advice or guidance feel free to contact me in the LMS office.

Yours in Domino,

John Medlin
General Manager

P.S. This letter applies to members in England and Wales only. If you reside in Scotland or Northern Ireland you should liaise with your own national organisation as follows:

Scotland: Una Voce Scotland, Tel: 0131 332 3001
Ireland: Latin Mass Society of Ireland, e mail: plaigh@esatclear.ie

I don’t have a suggestion at this point for a contact organization in the USA.   Perhaps in the discussion that follows something will emerge.

Residents of the USA and of Canada, and other places, please feel free to discuss this point, but make your locations plain so that people can follow what is going on.  If necessary, I can make another entry to clarify what emerges.

 

Here is an excerpt from my WDTPRS article in the current issue of The Wanderer.  The articles are available on line through The Wanderer’s subscription website.

What Does the Prayer Really Say?   “Low” Sunday – “in albis” (1962 Missale Romanum) - Roman Station: St. Mary Major

...

The Pope has something up his sleeve, so to speak.

As Anna Arco points out so well (emphases mine):

Pope Benedict’s renewed use of older forms of liturgical vestments is more than just a taste for showy clothes and is in keeping with his concept of the liturgy, which is informed not by a nostalgia for an older Church or by an elaborate "aestheticism" but by his profound understanding of the reforms instituted by Vatican II and what he sees as their place in both the long history of Church tradition and its philosophical and theological underpinnings.

As the Australian theologian and philosopher Dr Tracey Rowland argues in her excellent new book Ratzinger’s Faith; The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI, beauty plays an important role in Pope Benedict’s faith, not as an optional pedagogical tool or a "question of taste" but as an integral part of his understanding of Christ. While Dr Rowland does not write about vestments, she outlines Pope Benedict’s theology and how it informs his understanding of the liturgy. Beauty and God are inseparable and for Pope Benedict the liturgy is "a living network of tradition which had taken concrete form, which cannot be torn apart into little pieces, but has to be seen and experienced as a living whole".

Summing up Pope Benedict’s attitudes both to some of the liturgical malpractices which came out of certain interpretations of Vatican II and the need for beauty in the liturgy, Dr Rowland writes: "Beauty is not an optional extra or something contrary to a preferential option for the poor. It is not a scandal to clothe silken words in silken garments.  Catholics are not tone deaf philistines who will be intellectually challenged by the use of a liturgical language or put off by changeless ritual forms. However, banality can act as a repellent."

“It is not a scandal to clothe silken words in silken garments.” Well said!

We must “enflesh” the Word who seeks to act in our midst sacramentally.  All the words and gestures of Holy Mass are the dicta et acta of the Risen Lord.  He acts and speaks now as the Head of the Body, the Church, in the person of the priests who is alter Christus, now as the Body joined to the Head in the voices and gestures of the congregation, and then as Christ one and whole, Christus totus, when they both act and speak together.  It may be that the Novus Ordo manifests this reality somewhat more clearly.  The sacred words and deeds should reflect outwardly their inner beauty and power to transform.  They demand from us our very best and brightest.

Pope Benedict has given us a tremendous gift with Summorum Pontificum.  The use of the older form of Mass in more places will help us recover a sense of who we are as Catholics, how we worship, what reverence is.  His choices of vestments of historic cuts, both new and lifted from the too-long locked cupboards of the papal sacristy, his recovery of ad orientem worship and even small details like the seventh candle for papal Masses, all speak to the need for continuity with our deep Catholic tradition.

_______

What we have done in the first seven years of WDTPRS is try to show how we should clothe the “silken words” of the liturgy with…well… silken words and not the lame-duck ICEL sow’s ears. This year in this series we have turned our attention a bit more to the prayers of the older form of Holy Mass, in the 1962 Missale Romanum.  However, we have not lost sight of the need to keep hammering for good translations of the Novus Ordo.  We know that the translation revision is well underway, but it is taking a ridiculously long time. 

In the post-Conciliar calendar this is the “Second Sunday of Easter”.  In traditional parlance today is called “Low Sunday” or   sometimes “Thomas Sunday” because of the Gospel reading about the doubting Apostle.  It is called “Quasimodo Sunday” for the first word of the opening chant, the Introit (cf. 1 Peter 2:2-3).  According to the post-Conciliar way of speaking, it is often called “Mercy Sunday” because of the emphasis on the merciful dimension of God’s redemptive act celebrated at Easter: the new Collect (based on a prayer in the Missale Gothicum) for the begins by calling God merciful.  The newest, third edition of the Missale Romanum of 2002 specifically labels this Sunday: Dominica II Paschae seu de divina Misericordia. 

However, since ancient times this Sunday is called “Dominica in albis” or also “in albis depositis”... the Sunday of the “white robes having been taken off.”  1 Peter 2:2-3 says: “Like (Sicut modo (Vulgate) or Quasimodo (pre-Vulgate Latin) newborn babes (infantes), long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” Some of our antiphons for Mass, such as today’s which starts with the more ancient Quasimodo, reflect a Latin Scripture version predating St. Jerome’s (+420) Vulgate. 

In the ancient Latin Church the newly baptized were called infantes.  They wore their white baptismal robes for an “octave” period after Easter during which they received special instruction from the bishop about the sacred mysteries and Christian life to which they were not admitted before the Vigil rites.  On this Sunday they removed their robes, which were deposited (albis depositis) in the cathedral treasury as a perpetual witness to their vows.  They were then “out of the nest” of the bishop, as it were, on their own in living their Catholic lives daily.  St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) uses the imagery of spring and compares his newly baptized infantes to little birds trying to fly from the nest while he, the parent bird, flap around them and chirp noisily to encourage them (s. 376a).

The Collect found in the Extraordinary Use of the Roman Rite today comes at least from the 8th century and is found in the Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis.  The Gellonian Sacramentary … well… one of these days I’ll get into that. 

COLLECT (1962MR):
Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus:
ut, qui paschalia festa peregimus;
haec, te largiente, moribus et vita teneamus.

The first meaning of perago in our very much present Lewis & Short Dictionary, is “to thrust through, pierce through, transfix”, but it comes logically to mean also “to carry through, go through with, execute, finish, accomplish, complete”. This past tense drives home that are at the end of the Easter Octave.  This prayer survived into the Novus Ordo.  It is found on the Saturday after Ascension in the 7th Week of Easter.  In other words, peregimus points out that Easter season is over. 

SUPER LITERAL VERSION:
Grant, we beg You, Almighty God,
that we who have carried through the paschal feasts
may, You bestowing it, hold to them in morals and in life.

OTHERWISE A BIT LOOSER:
Almighty God, we beg You,
that we who have completed our observance of days of the paschal cycle,
may as You lavish this grace upon us, hold fast to them still in our life and outward conduct.

The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual (Baronius Press):
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God,
that we who have celebrated the Paschal Feast,
may, by Thy bounty, retain its fruits in our daily habits and behaviour.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
Almighty Father,
let the love we have celebrated in this Easter season
be put into practice in our daily lives.

What about the Collect for the Novus Ordo?

COLLECT (2002MR):
Deus misericordiae sempiternae,
qui in ipso paschalis festi recursu
fidem sacratae tibi plebis accendis,
auge gratiam quam dedisti,
ut digna omnes intellegentia comprehendant,
quo lavacro abluti, quo spiritu regenerati,
quo sanguine sunt redempti.

The use of those clauses starting with quo, having no conjunctions (a trope called asyndeton) gives this prayer a very forceful feeling.  I like that sole sunt (with abluti…regenerati…redempti) imbedded elegantly in the last phrase.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God of eternal mercy,
who on this recurrence of the paschal feast
kindle the faith of a people sanctified for Yourself,
increase the grace which You have given,
so that all may comprehend with worthy understanding
by what laver they were washed,
by what Spirit they were regenerated,
by what Blood they were redeemed.

Recursus is “a running back, return, a returning path.”  In reference to sight it is something that has power to bring back an image.  Recursus harkens to the cyclical, “recurring” nature of the Paschal observance.  We have the opportunity to experience the Paschal mysteries each year.  This is more than a memorial or re-enactment.  These mysterious events, historically past, sacramentally take place again each year.  The vast verb comprehendo is too complex to treat here.  This is a profoundly interiorized “grasping” in the sense of true possession. 

A lavacrum is a bath.  In Titus 3:5 we have, “He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy (misericordiam), by the washing of regeneration (lavacrum regenerationis) and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us rightly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life (vv. 5-7, RSV).”  This harks to both the process and effects of baptism.  In our Collect is abluo, “to wash off, wash away, cleanse, purify.”  In classical Latin, abluo is used by Cicero (+43 BC) to describe a calming of the passions coming from a religious rite of washing away of sin (Tusc 4, 28, 60) and even by the poet philosopher Lucretius (+ AD 55) in De rerum natura to describe the removal of darkness by the bringing in of light (4, 378).  Early Latin speaking Christians lacked vocabulary to express their faith.  Abluo was ready made to be adapted to describe the effects of baptism.  Accendo means “to kindle anything above so that it burns downward” and “to set on fire, to kindle, light to light up, illuminate, to inflame a person or thing, to incite, to round up.”  This word evokes the imagery of the fiery Easter Vigil!

In a sermon addressed to the catechumens before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, St. Augustine used images of light and fire to help them understand who they were to become (cf. s. 223 and s. 260c): “Keep the night Vigil humbly.  Pray humbly with devoted faith, solid hope, brightly burning charity, pondering what kind of day our splendor will be if our humility can turn night into day.  Thus, may God who ordered the light to blaze out of the dark make our hearts blaze brightly, that we may do on the inside something akin to what we have done with the lamps kindled within this house of prayer.  Let us furnish the true dwelling place of God, our consciences, with lamps of justice”.

The great Fr. Finigan, hopefully soon to be the next Archbishop of Westminster, has pointed out the existence of Wikimissa, a directory of traditional Masses worldwide.

This could be a very valuable tool.

For example, if this is kept up to date, it could reveal growth in the number of TLM’s being offered.  One of the things critics of Pope Benedict and Summorum Pontificum say is that only  a "tiny minority" of Catholics are interested in the older form of Mass.  Some bishops say that they don’t foresee that anyone in their dioceses will want the TLM.

We should keep track of what is going on!

Now that the intense days of Holy Week have passed and I have begun to catch up on my backlog, I have had some time to review a few back copies of the publication Mass of Ages, which the kind folks at the Latin Mass Society sent for my inspection.

In the November 2007 issue, there is an interesting piece by my friend Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro.  It is also online.

The article touches on some points of recent discussion here at WDTPRS, for example, whether Communion in the hand is permissible at celebrations of the TLM.

Let have a gander with my emphases and comments.

The Implementation of the Motu Proprio

Writing from Rome, Mgr Ignacio Barreiro analyses the ideological objections to the Holy Father’s historic Motu Proprio and anticipates firm action by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to support the Holy Father’s will.

We have witnessed different reactions among bishops, groups of bishops or individuals who have publicly commented on this fundamental new law of the Church. Some of these reactions have been very positive and encouraging, others have been restrictive and erroneous. I am not surprised at this problematic interpretation; many of us predicted that the implementation of the Apostolic Letter, Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007 was not going to be easy.  [That’s for sure!]

A very positive development that needs to be noticed is the appointment of Mgr Guido Marini of the Archdiocese of Genoa, as Master of the Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies. Monsignor Marini, even if he is relatively young at 42, has a very impressive curriculum vitae as a master of ceremonies, canonist and spiritual director. Most of those who know him underline that he is a very serious and dedicated person. It is significant that in the comments he released after his nomination he underlined his admiration for the conservative Cardinal Giuseppe Siri.

Perhaps the most egregious attack on the Motu Proprio has come from Bishop Raffale Nogaro of Caserta near Naples. He is reported as having made very demeaning comments on the Traditional Liturgy of the Church to the leading Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. This bishop has a reputation of being particularly ‘tolerant’ and embracing all sorts of liberal causes, but after the Motu Proprio he has adamantly refused to permit the public celebration of the Extraordinary Use of the Mass. In his reaction we have a perfect case of ‘asymmetry of indulgence’, [Excellent phrase!] which is not unknown in other prelates who share his attitude.

Trying to counter media rumours [ehem… It’s called "spin" ... "damage control".] that some Italian bishops, members of the Permanent Council of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, had strongly criticised the Motu Proprio, Bishop Giuseppe Betori, Secretary General of the Conference, told the ZENIT news agency on 29 September that: “No Italian bishop is against the Motu Proprio; [Ho Ho!] if there is any bishop who refuses the application of the Motu Proprio, he is out of the line of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and even of…the Holy Father.” These comments can be interpreted at two levels; at their face value they are a denial that some members of the Permanent Council objected to the Motu Proprio, but they can also be interpreted as a warning to bishops like Bishop Nogaro who are ready to challenge the Motu Proprio. 

Leaving aside the analysis of the concrete reactions of different bishops or individuals, it is useful to consider the substance of the various objections that have been presented against the Motu Proprio, and the different initiatives that have been put forward by bishops or groups of bishops to diminish the scope of application of this fundamental new law of the Church; this includes some erroneous legal interpretations.

Objections to the Motu Proprio

One of the most preposterous objections against the Motu Proprio is the claim that it is not yet in force because it has not been published in the Acta Apostolica Sedis (AAS), which is the official periodical of the Holy See. [This is now resolved.] This opinion clearly contradicts what is mandated in canon 8§1 of the Code of Canon Law, which, after setting the general principle that a law of the Church enters into force three months after publication in the AAS, establishes that a shorter or longer interval can be expressly prescribed in the new law itself. The Motu Proprio establishes that, “We order that everything We have decreed with these Apostolic Letters issued as Motu Proprio be considered as having full and lasting force, and to be observed from 14 September of this year, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary.” So it is absolutely clear that this law entered into force on 14 September and we do not need to wait for the publication of the text in the AAS.

In the opinion of some commentators, such as Fr Paolo Farinella in his book, The Return to the Ancient Mass, the Motu Proprio is not acceptable because it reintroduces in the Church an ecclesiology that was left aside by the new ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. They underline how in their opinion, each Missal is connected with a different type of ecclesiology. The principle that these authors are unable to demonstrate is that the Council introduced a new ecclesiology in the Church. To state that the ecclesiology of Vatican II is incompatible with the previous theology of the Church would be a form of the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture” that Benedict XVI denounced in his address to the Roman Curia of 22 December 2005. In the same address the Holy Father demonstrates how the constitution of the Church could not be altered by the Second Vatican Council due to the fact that it is unchangeable, because the “essential constitution of the Church comes from the Lord and was given to us so that we might attain eternal life.”

Erroneous views of the twenty-first Council of the Church were denounced by the then Cardinal Ratzinger when he stated: “The Second Vatican Council has not been treated as a part of the entire living Tradition of the Church, but as an end of Tradition, a new start from zero. The truth is that this particular Council defined no dogma at all, and deliberately chose to remain on a modest level, as a merely pastoral council; and yet many treat it as though it had made itself into a sort of super dogma which takes away the importance of all the rest” (Address to the Bishops of Chile, July 1988).

Other critical reactions to the Motu Proprio are focused on the defence of the new lectionary and that the homily should be based on those readings. This can be seen in the brief book by Manlio Sodi, The Missal of Pius V – Why the Mass in Latin in the Third Millennium? or in comments by the Committee on the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [headed then by H.E. Bp. Trautman] on the implementation of the Apostolic Letter, Summorum Pontificum. These criticisms are based on the contemporary assumption that the faithful benefit from the presentation of a wider selection of Scriptural passages  [which to some makes Mass seem rather like a "didactic moment"] than that contained in the Missal of 1962, and that the homily of the Mass should refer mainly to the readings of the Mass. With regard to the use of a wider selection of readings it should be noted that many priests with long pastoral experience point out that few of the faithful, after participating in the Mass of Paul VI, have a clear and precise recollection of the four readings that are normally used on Sundays in this Mass. [Exactly!] With regard to the Sunday homily the code of Canon Law mandates that “the mysteries of the faith and rules of Christian living are to be expounded” (CCL 767). As a consequence, “A homily, therefore, need not necessarily be focused on the Gospel of the day” (Commentary on the Code by the University of Navarre).

Constraining the Motu Proprio

Some bishops have established stringent rules [This is the most troubling point.] as regards permitting priest to use the Missal of 1962. The Motu Proprio only states in art. 5§4 “Priests who use the Missal of Bl. John XXIII must be qualified to do so and not juridically impeded.” It would seem to any objective observer that to request a Latin test and a rubrical exam is to place an excessive requirement on priests. First, we should remember that in accordance with Canon 249 all the priests of the Latin Rite should be well versed in Latin. It should be the duty of bishops to verify that all priests have a sufficient command of Latin and not only those who desire to celebrate the Extraordinary Usage of the Church. [Exactly!  That is why I so hammered at this point for months: they are establishing a punishing double-standard!] Second, these bishops are imposing a type of test that was never demanded by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei when it granted celebrets to offer the Mass in accordance with the Missal of 1962. It is obvious that a priest who offers this Mass has to be duly prepared. But most certainly any certification process, should be handled by persons who are more sympathetic to the Traditional Mass than many local bishops.

Some bishops have prohibited pastors from scheduling on their own initiative [thus micromanaging parishes] public Masses according to the Extraordinary Form. However, the Motu Proprio was promulgated fundamentally to preserve the liturgical treasury of the Church, so as a consequence, if a priest moved by a laudable pastoral zeal, and wishing to partake of this treasury with his flock desires to give to his people the benefit of the Traditional Liturgy, there is nothing in the Motu Proprio to impede him from doing so, indeed the general spirit of this law indicates that the Supreme Legislator would be pleased if a priest took an initiative of this nature. More serious is the prohibition of the scheduling of public Masses, even if a significant group of the faithful have requested them, without the permission of the bishop, which is a clear violation of the Motu Proprio. The letter of this law clearly gives pastors the faculty to decide without seeking permission from the Ordinary. Indeed, in accordance with the law, the bishop can intervene only when the pastor is not able to fulfil this right of the faithful. [And then to see that the people are able to have a Mass with the older Missal!]

Another restriction is to establish a fixed number as the minimum size of the group requesting the Mass. [This is the "stable group" problem, which is, of course, still a bad translation even though the Acta says "stabiliter" and not "continenter".] As is well known, the Supreme Legislator in promulgating the Motu Proprio did not want to establish a minimum number of persons and he has left the determination of that number to the common sense of the parish pastors.

Some bishops have ruled that the Extraordinary Form is not to be celebrated in any way during the Easter Triduum – from the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday through to Evening Prayer of Easter Sunday. This is clearly an erroneous interpretation. Article 2 of the Motu Proprio states precisely that a priest can celebrate Masses without the people on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum. This clearly should be understood in the context that in neither of the liturgical usages are Masses without the people permitted during the Easter Triduum. The Missal of 1962 is very precise in its rubrics for Holy Thursday, forbidding the celebration of other Masses besides the solemn celebration of the evening Mass in Caena Domini. So there is no basis in law to state that the Easter Triduum cannot be celebrated in accordance with the Missal of 1962 in ceremonies with the presence of the people.  [Exactly.  And this is up to the pastor to decide.]

In these various episcopal interpretations we have a clear violation of the rights of the faithful in that we can perceive an evident restrictive intention. A bishop as a particular legislator does not have the legal authority to reduce the rights granted to the faithful by the Supreme and Universal legislator of the Church.  [One of the most important principles of interpretation of canon law is that laws that grant rights or favors should be interpreted as favorably as possible and that laws which place restrictions must be interpreted very strictly, so as to favor people.  The attitude shown by some bishops toward the Motu Proprio clearly violates this interpretive principle.]

Problems of interpretation

The opinion has been advanced [by me] that all the laws of the Church that regulated the use of the Missal and the Sacraments in 1962 have been derogated and the revival of the 1962 Missal does not automatically revive those legal norms. The shocking consequence of this interpretation is that altar girls and the reception of Communion in the hand would be a legal possibility in using this Missal. [That is my position.] This is clearly erroneous for at least six reasons.  [Okay!  Let’s find out what they are!]

[1] First, in the Motu Proprio we do not have a revival of a previous rite which had been derogated, but to the contrary, due to the explicit legally binding declaration contained in Article 1 of this law, we have the very strong affirmation that the Missal of 1962 had never been abrogated. As a consequence, all the norms that regulate the way in which it should be used, are now in force. The contrary opinion is not reasonable because it would mean that the Missal would be in existence without the necessary support of all the norms that regulate its use; it is tantamount to affirming that this Missal exists in a legal vacuum. It is abhorrent to any sane legal interpretation of any law to postulate that something should live in a legal vacuum.  [A good argument.  However, I am fully prepared to believe that that is indeed the case.  There is, in fact, a vaccum!]

[2] Second, we have to consider the basic principle of legal interpretation that states that whoever wishes the principal also desires what is accessory. So if the Supreme Legislator of the Church has decreed that the Missal of 1962 has never been derogated, he is also stating explicitly [?] that all the norms that regulated that Missal were not derogated either. It is evident that the normative corpus that regulates the use of this Missal is an integral accessory to the Missal.  [This is like reason #1.  Perhaps the Holy Father’s clarificatory letter will help with this.]

[3] Third, this law like any other law of the Church has to be interpreted in accordance with the hermeneutic of continuity; in accordance with this interpretative criterion, it is evident that the laws that accompanied the Missal of 1962 at its promulgation, should guide its way now in the present. To propose that it is legally possible to have female altar servers or to give Communion in the hand when using the Missal of 1962 would be a clear case of the hermeneutic of discontinuity which, as I stated earlier, the Holy Father denounced in his address to the Roman Curia.   [Well… okay.  This is like reasons #2 and #3.  But I don’t think this one is a juridical argument.  This is a common sense point, with which I agree.  There should not be altar girls or Communion in the had.  However, I would say that about both uses of the Roman Rite.  But in the meantime they are both tolerated as exceptions.]

[4] Fourth, we have to interpret this law like any other law with a spirit of coherence. It is co-natural with the Missal of 1962 that it is highly regulated in such a way that the celebrant of this Mass is always guided by precise and concrete norms and that nothing is left to the spirit of invention of the celebrant. So it is co-natural with the Motu Proprio that all the legal norms that regulated the 1962 Missal when it was issued, still regulate it now the use of this Missal has been declared to be the right of the faithful.  [This seems rather like #3.]

[5] Fifth, the view that the legal apparatus that supported the 1962 Missal has been derogated is against the spirit of the Motu Proprio, which wishes to preserve the style that governed the celebration of the liturgy in accordance with the Missal of St Pius V and to restore a sense of respectful reverence to divine worship. It is evident that practices such as girl altar servers or Communion in the hand are alien to the spirit and style that preside over the celebration of the liturgy in accordance with the Missal of St Pius V.  [As I said before, I am not favorable about either of those things for either of the expressions of the Roman Rite.  However, they are still legally tolerated.]

[6] Sixth, the erroneous interpretations I have outlined above would be detrimental to one of the purposes of this law, which is to obtain a healing in the divisions that sadly affect the Church in our times. It is evident that such interpretations would not be accepted by different persons or groups (such as the Society of St Pius X) who are currently not in due canonical union with the Church.  [I also agree with this wholeheartedly.  However, this is another argument from common sense, and not really from law.  I don’t think this settles anything.]

As I have shown, we are faced with various problems in the application of the Motu Proprio, but the common denominator is a desire not to fully implement this law for ideological reasons.  In accordance with Summorum Pontificum it will be up to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to establish ways and means to correct these problems. As a consequence, I can confirm that the Commission is now drafting an important document that will solve in an authoritative fashion these difficulties. I sincerely hope that this document will be promulgated soon and that those who oppose the application of the Motu Proprio will be brought to full compliance.

I highly admire my friend Msgr. Barreiro and hold his canonical expertise in esteem.  However, I am not entirely convinced by his six reasons.   The strongest of them, and the one I have to ponder a while, is the argument that whoever wishes the principal also desires what is accessory.  It seems to me that we can’t just leap to the assumption that all those old decrees and so forth from the Sacred Congregation of Rites are all revived with Summorum Pontificum or that canons in the old Code are still in force, for example obliging women to wear chapel veils, etc.

The article was very interesting and thought provoking!  Barreiro’s summation of objections was sound and helpful.  We have examined all of them here on WDTPRS at one point or another.

Fellow patristiblogger Mike Aquilina has this over at his place:

Constanze Witt of the Department Of Classics at the University of Texas posted the following to a medieval list.

Not all sensational finds come out of the ground! Augustine scholars will be delighted at the news of 6 previously unknown sermons’ being discovered through a library “excavation” in Erfurt’s Bibliotheca Amploniana. Isabella Schiller and colleagues from the Austrian Academy of Sciences discovered these works while studying an 800-year-old manuscript in the summer of 2007.

Concealed in a medieval parchment manuscript amongst 70 other religious texts are ca. 26 sermons attributed to Augustine, 3 of them on brotherly love and alms-giving. These were known previously only by their titles cited in Possidius’ Indiculum. One sermon is on the martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, and another on the recently martyred Cyprian, the latter of which condemns the copious drinking that took place on saints’ feast days. The final sermon deals with resurrection of the dead and biblical prophecies.

The 12th c. mss came from England(?) to Erfurt as part of the enormous collection of more than 630 books donated by the physician and theologue Amplonius Rating de Berka to the ‘Collegium Amplonianum’ which he founded in 1412.

For 24 amazing images of this absolutely pristine and gorgeous codex, see here.

The 6 new sermons will be published in Wiener Studien. Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie und Patristik und lateinische Tradition
Sermones Erfurt 1, 5, and 6 in Bd. 121 (2008), pp. 227-284.
Sermones Erfurt 2, 3 and 4 in Bd. 122 (2009)
They can now be viewed on display in the Sondersammlung der UB Erfurt für Foto- und Filmaufnahmen. Several public lectures are
planned in the coming weeks.

This morning I got another confirmation from one of my spies that Bp. Rino Fisichella is being considered for the post of Secretary of the CDF.

That would mean that the Rector position at the Lateran University would open up.  It is said that Enrico Dal Covolo, SDB, would go to the Lateran.  I am fairly sure that Dal Covolo has been helping with the Holy Father’s Wednesday Audiences.

It would also mean that Archbp. Amato would be heading elsewhere, probably as Prefect of Congregation.  The possibilities are Saints, Education and, I suppose Divine Worship.  

I am hoping that Pope Benedict will keep Archbp. Ranjith at Worship as Prefect.

Anyone out there in the UK with fast internet and a Slingbox hooked up to a DVR? 

Drop me a line!

There is rumors of curial changes afoot.  Check the blog of Andrea Tornielli:

The change of the guard foreseen at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Vatican’s "liturgy ministry": Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze (who turned 75 last November) could soon leave his post, and in his post could arrive (and the conditional is important) the Salesian Archbishop Angelo Amato, 70 next June, presently Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  The later’s post would be freed up for Bishop Rino Fisichella, the well-regarded Rector of the Lateran University.  For a while it has been known that Amato, who took the place left by Bertone in 2003, was a candidate for a post usually filled by a Cardinal.  But his arrival at Worship would be a surprise, given that until today his name has been bandied about for the Congregation for Causes of Saints or Catholic Education.  Many, in fact, hold that the "natural" candidate to succeed Arinze would be the present Secretary of the Congregation, the Sri Lankan Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige don, who was already in the Roman Curia as the number two to Cardinal Sepe at Propaganda Fide, and who was then sent to Indonesia as Apostolic Nuncio, and was then recalled to Rome by Benedict XVI who named him to Divine Worship, a ket discastery in Papa Ratzinger’s vision.  Ranjith has never kept his ideas a mystery: about the Motu Proprio which derestricted the Tridentine Mass, about dialogue with Lefevbrites, about litrugical abuses which must be combatted. It is also true that in the usual curial practice only in rare cases does the number two man become Prefect of the same dicastery and that Ranjith has just turned 60.  If this hypothesis winds up happening, Fisichella could be the successor of Amato as number two in the ex-Holy Office.  A crucial and high-profile role.

 

Some of this stuff has been floating around for a while. 

I mentioned some of it last October (... one of the best "insider blogs", remember?).

WDTPRS profoundly hopes that Archbp. Ranjith becomes the Prefect.

A few of you have recently use the donation button on the left side bar, or perhaps on the entries for the PODCAzTs and PRAYERCAzTs. 

Thank you very much! 

I try to send an individual thank you back by e-mail as I am alerted to the donation, but recently someone sent me a note which gave me to believe that my own thanks had been perhaps caught in his spam filter.   So, just in case you didn’t hear back from me, I am deeply grateful and you might double check your spam folders or filters.

Also, a kind soul picked something out for me from my Amazon wish list.  This is a very good and useful book by Hubertus R. Drobner, The Fathers of the Church: a comprehensive introduction. 

Fr. Drobner, who teaches at Paderborn and my own school the Augustinianum is one of the best working patristicists out there.  This book would be of some value in the classroom, certainly, but also for those who want to put their toes in.  It isn’t a full manual (it isn’t complete for scientific purposes), but it is not a text book for student either (it is not very engaging just to sit and read).  It tries to be both manual and textbook, perhaps.  But there is no question that it is useful.  It would be a nice start for someone who has no strict obligation to study theology, but wants a reference for information about the important Fathers that doesn’t get into the depth of a full patristic manual.

Thanks, CJ of MS for sending me that book!