DECREE ON CELEBRATION OF THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL
VATICAN CITY, 30 MAY 2008 (VIS) – The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments today published a decree authorising the celebration, on 25 January 2009, of Mass for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which falls on that Sunday, the third in Ordinary Time.
The decree, signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith, respectively prefect and secretary of the congregation, explains that the authorisation has been given because of the Pauline Year, due to be inaugurated by the Holy Father on 28 June 2008 to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of the Gentiles.
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Has this happened before???
Here the text of the document:
DECRETUM
quo facultas peculiaris de celebratione Conversionis Sancti Pauli apostoli in anno iubilari, quo bismillesimum anniversarium ortus eius recolitur, datur.
Sanctum Paulum, apostolum, qui, iam persecutor, Evangelium Christi ad gentes, uti veritatis in universo mundo praeco, omni studio et ope nuntiavit atque omnium christianorum unitati ac concordiae fovendae strenuam dedit operam, christifideles peculiari necnon assiduo cultu prosecuti sunt et adhuc prosequuntur, praesertim hoc vertente anno, quo bismillesimum anniversarium ortus eius recolitur, quemque Summus Pontifex Benedictus XVI iubilarem constituere voluit.
Proinde, vigore facultatum huic Congregationi a Summo Pontifice BENEDICTO XVI tributarum, conceditur, ut, indole extraordinaria occasionis perpensa, venturo die 25 ianuarii anno 2009, quae Dominica III «per annum» occurret, in singulis ecclesiis una tantum Missa iuxta formularium In conversione Sancti Pauli, apostoli, ut in Missali Romano exstat, celebrari possit. Hoc in casu lectio altera Missae e Lectionario Romano pro Dominica III «per annum» sumitur atque symbolum seu professio fidei dicitur.
Quae gratia, de speciali Summi Pontificis mandato, solummodo in anno 2009 vigeat.
Contrariis quibuslibet minime obstantibus.
Ex aedibus Congregationis de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum, die 25 mensis ianuarii anno 2008, in festo Conversionis Sancti Pauli, apostoli.
Franciscus Card. Arinze
Praefectus
Albertus Malcolmus Ranjith
Archiepiscopus a Secretis
Does this also apply to the Extraordinary Form? (Please, Ecclesia Dei, hurry up with the clarification document for Summorum Pontificum already!)
The document allows for “one Mass only” of the feast. Imagine the ironic possibility…”one Mass only”, and let it be Tridentine, everywhere.
I think this has happened before. I’ve been playing the organ in Catholic churches for40 years, and I’ve seen changes in these rubrics. Please correct me, Father Z, if I’m wrong. But I think there was an adjustment about 10 years ago that allowed for a few more of the higher ranking Feasts and Solemnities to be observed when they fell on a Sunday in “Ordinary Time”. I like the practice. The vast majority of people today either cannot or do not make regular weekday Mass, and they totally miss the beauty of the Sanctoral Cycle.
Yes, please provide some more guidance on the EF Mass soon. I will take this opportunity again to state that I am not the least bit bothered by either multiple Kalendars or multiple options within each of those Kalendars. I provide music (and sometimes worship aids) for both English and Latin Masses, and in multiple venues. This weekend in particular, I have one priest saying Pentecost III, and the other observing the External Solemnity of the Sacred Heart – both out of the realm of the OF Mass. Not only is it not a bother to me, but I think it actually enriches my life! So, please, let’s not tamper with the EF Kalendar any more than absolutely necessary! The rubrics for both OF and EF Masses provide numerous options, and both priests and musician-liturgists need to simply understand them better.