CDF DECREE: New SAINTS for the Extraordinary Form (TLM) liturgical calendar

Huge news for the use of the traditional Missale Romanum, the Extraordinary Form.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith absorbed my old office, the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“.  Thus, the CDF has charge over matters of the Extraordinary Form.

The CDF issued a decree concerning the liturgical celebration of saints in the Extraordinary Form. HERE and explanation  HERE   Scroll down for English (and other languages).  (There are typos in the Latin.  Can you spot them?  Believe me, this is not the fault of the “Ecclesia Dei” section.  The Press Office Secretariate of State makes the Bolletino.  Someone didn’t turn off the Italian spell checker.)

In another decree they also approved new prefaces.  I’ll leave that for another post.

This move closes a big gap between the calendars of the Novus Ordo and the TLM.   There are more recently canonized saints, after 26 July 1960 – that’s a great many saints – who were not easily celebrated using the TLM.  This decree makes honoring them at the altar easier… when the level or “class” of the day permits in the older calendar.  1960 was the last updating of the Roman Martyrology, before 1962.

The decree makes it possible to celebrate these saints on these days, not obligatory.

Users of the TLM should remember that all along the way, Popes added saints to the calendar as they were canonized and added Mass formularies ad libitum.  This is not a radical innovation.  As a matter of fact it demonstrates that the Extraordinary Form is here to stay.

The CDF decree has a list of some 70 feasts of the III Class which can be (not must be) used, all things considered. Think about that for LENT. We can honor St. Thomas Aquinas on his traditional Feast, 7 March, even if it is in Lent, or the Archangel Gabriel can have more than just a commemoration in a III Class Lenten Feria.

Here is the list of saints for the TLM calendar:

Elenchus dierum festorum III classis qui non impediri possunt

Ianuarius
17 S. Antonii Abb.
20 Ss. Fabiani Papae et Sebastiani Mm.
21 S. Agnetis Virg. et Mart.
24 S. Timothei Ep. et Mart.
25 In Conversione S. Pauli Ap.
26 S. Polycarpi Ep. et Mart.
27 S. Ioannis Chrysostomi Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
29 S. Francisci Salesii Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
31 S. Ioannis Bosco Conf.

Februarius
01 S. lgnatii Ep. et Mart.
05 S. Agathae Virg.et Mart.
06 S. Titi Ep. et Conf.

Martius
06 Ss. Perpetuae e Felicitatis Mm.
07 S. Thomae de Aquino Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
09 S. Franciscae Romanae, Vid.
12 S. Gregorii I Papae, Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
21 S. Benedicti Abb.
24 S. Gabrielis Archang.

Aprilis
11 S. Leonis I Papae, Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
14 S. Iustini Mart.
30 S. Catharinae Senensis Virg.

Maius
02 S. Athanasii, Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
04 S. Monicae Vid.
05 S. Pii V Papae et Conf.
09 S. Gregorii Nazianzeni Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
25 S. Gregorii VII Papae et Conf.
26 S. Philippi Nerii Conf.

Iunius
05 Bonifatii Ep. et Mart.
11 S. Barnabae Ap.
13 S. Antonii de Padua Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
14 S. Basilii Magni Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
21 S. Aloisii Gonzagae Conf.
30 In Commemoratione S. Pauli Ap.

Iulius
07 Ss. Cyrilli et Methodii Epp. et Cc.
14 S. Bonaventurae Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
19 S. Vincentii a Paulo Conf.
22 S. Mariae Magdalenae Paenitentis
29 S. Marthae Virg.
31 S. lgnatii Conf.

Augustus
02 S. Alfonsi Mariae de Ligorio Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
04 S. Dominici Conf.
05 In Dedicatione S. Mariae ad Nives
08 S. Ioannis Mariae Vianney Conf.
12 S. Clarae Virg.
20 S. Bernardi Abbatis et Eccl. Doct.
28 S. Augustini Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
29 In Decollatione S. Ioannis Bapt.

September
03 S. Pii X Papae et Conf.
12 Sanctissimi Nominis B. Mariae Virg.
16 Ss. Comelii et Cypriani Ep., Mm.
27 Ss. Cosmae e Damiani Mm.
30 S. Hieronymi Presb., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.

October
02 Ss. Angelorum Custodum
03 S. Teresiae a Iesu Infante Virg.
04 S. Francisci Conf.
06 S. Brunonis Conf.
14 S. Callisti I Papae et Mart.
15 S. Teresiae Virg.

November
04 S. Caroli Ep. et Conf.
11 S. Martini Ep. et Conf.
14 S. Iosaphat Ep. et Mart.
18 In Dedicatione Basilicarum Ss. Petri et Pauli App.
22 S. Caeciliae Virg. et Mart.
23 S. Clementis I Papae et Mart.
24 S. Ioannis a Cruce Conf. et Eccl. Doct.

December
03 S. Francisci Xaverii Conf.
06 S. Nicolai Ep. et Conf.
07 S. Ambrosii Ep., Conf. et Eccl. Doct.
11 S. Damasi I Papae et Conf.
13 S. Luciae Virg. et Mart.
[00410-LA.01] [Testo originale: Latino]

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15 Comments

  1. Antonin says:

    As someone who works in a department negotiating legal and other disputes, the harmonizing of liturgical calendars is a very reasonable accommodation that brings the TLM in line with the universal Church and ultimately makes the use of the TLM less problematic. Or at least it eliminates one very strong (and reasonable) objection from those opposed to the the TLM – namely the different calendar positioned the TLM outside the liturgical boundaries of the Latin Church. The EF is not and cannot be considered a separate “rite”. Benedict made this distinction clear. The TLM is another form of a single rite. [JURIDICALLY.] I think this was largely correct. And this move of harmonizing calendars (and only calendars not prayers, structure, etc.) maintains the substantive integrity of the TLM.

  2. Pingback: CDF DECREE: New PREFACES for the Extraordinary Form (TLM) liturgical calendar | Fr. Z's Blog

  3. Sonshine135 says:

    This is outstanding news! I am happy to see the calendar being updated to include some of the Saints post-1962. We need this, because it takes away the argument that those in favor of the older form of the Mass are somehow trying to freeze the church in time.

  4. William Cody says:

    So now priests can, without any trace of irony, celebrate the traditional Latin mass for Pope St. Paul VI.

  5. Vince K says:

    Where can one find a list of saints canonized since 1960 with their corresponding feast days?

  6. ProfKwasniewski says:

    Father, am I misreading the decree? It seemed to me that the point of the long list of III Class saints was to say that those CANNOT be supplanted by the more recent saints…

    Whereas you wrote: “The CDF decree has a list of some 70 feasts of the III Class which can be (not must be) used, all things considered.”

    [Sure, but we are not obliged to use them at all on Ferias of Lent, even though we can.]

    Also, to those who too quickly bring up “St. Paul VI,” I simply say: Fat chance that priests who love the TLM are going to inflict that feast on any congregation. And if they do… that’s what pitchforks were invented for, at least in part.

    [I love aetiology.]

  7. Fr. Timothy Ferguson says:

    It’s interesting in many ways, but I find it curious that Ss. Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux are merely commemorated as Virgins, when they have been made Doctors of the Church.

    [I find this strange. However, the explanation could be that they maintained the titles as they were in 1960, rather than update them.]

  8. Imrahil says:

    Rev’d dear Fr Ferguson,

    I think that’s just the technical issue: Let no one get the idea to use the Commune Doctorum on them (which rather distinctly is a formular in honor of a male saint).

  9. Fr. Timothy Ferguson says:

    which is a good point. It’s troubled me, in praying the Liturgy of the Hours that there is still no formula for women doctors

  10. There’s no Commune Doctricum… yet.

    Deus, qui populo tuo aeternae salutis beatam Teresiam ministricem tribuisti: praesta, quaesumus; ut, quam Doctricem vitae habuimus in terris, intercessricem habere mereamur in caelis. Per Dominum.

    Don’ ‘zacly flow off the tongue trippingly.

  11. BillG says:

    Perhaps I am misunderstanding the Class III saints that cannot be overridden, but does the list above mean that, on 12/04, St. Peter Chrysologus, doesn’t “make the cut”? This Doctor of the Church becomes optional on Advent feria days but St.Nicolas is fixed on 12/06.

  12. Marius2k4 says:

    No Padre Pio 9/23?

  13. Bthompson says:

    I was confused at 1st too, but after I read the explanation I think what is going on is that the list is saints that are already in the 1962 missal that cannot be overridden if one were to “import” a saint from the OF calendar.

    As I understand it, the list of modern saints that can now be used optionally in the Extraordinary Form IS (more or less) the OF calendar, but with the caveat that the III and IV class days on the EF calendar listed above may not be displaced by new Saints (but the new saint may be commemorated)

  14. Imrahil says:

    Interestingly this is something like the reintroduction of the duplex-feast, now called “feast of the III class which cannot be replaced by the feast of a newer saint”. And this in a decent amount; that looks rather great. It is no secret that duplex-overcrowding was a problem of the up-to-1954 (and up-to-1911) calender and that getting-rid-of-the-doubles-entirely may have been by comparison the better thing but was quite the loss all the same.

    It is very good, also, that at least the greater feasts can be (but needn’t be) celebrated in Lent, at least outside Ember Days. (For one thing, this rids us of the need to find ever so many ways to consider St. Thomas Aquinas a local patron…)

    That being said, I rather wonder why they included the Holy Name of Mary, as I had always had the impression that this was a II class feast anyway (or is that German-speaking-area specific, due to the Siege of Vienna?). I guess (I really do) that it was mere oversight that St. Raphael in October is missing; I’d rather have loved to see if they had included (to which I wouldn’t say “mere oversight”) the Immaculate Heart in August and St. Catherine in November (whose feast, if you look at her specific oration and the general Virgins gospel, is rather elaborately interwoven with the closing-of-the-year theme). On the other hand, I can’t help but think “what does St. Callistus do in the list”. But hey, that’s just detail and, even more importantly, just me.

  15. Imrahil says:

    Dear BillG,

    yes. St. Peter Chrysologus does remain a III class feast, but a certain type of votive Mass will be allowed on such III class feasts now, while remaining forbidden on the specific 70ish feasts mentioned. This certain type of votive Mass is the Mass for other feasts in themselves impeded, or mentioned in the martyrology (not, actually, only new ones). You might call it “demotion to semidouble”. (An additional rule allows priests who celebrate some such “votive Mass” to also pray a “votive Office” to the Saint in question, but it must be entire.)

    What this practically means for St. Peter Chrysologus is that he will, yes, be* always reduced to a commemoration (he will have his commemoration) at least in Germany (where I am from), facing the “competition”, as it were, of both popular St. Barbara and of at least locally immensely important Bl. Adolph Kolping.

    [* I am, for simplicity’s sake, glossing over the kind people who, while they might agree to the change in itself, won’t use it, at least where not threatened with sin to, because they just distrust present Rome.]

Comments are closed.