Fr. Z's Blog

From a Dominican…

QUAERITUR:

Regarding the Pontifical Mass, there were Dominicans in choir. There is a resurgence of the traditional Dominican Rite.

I am writing to ask if you can point to a source that tells what Dominicans are supposed to do with their hoods during the Pontifical Mass in the Roman Rite.  Do Dominicans follow the same rules as priests with birettas?

Thanks for any clarity or resources you can provide!

Hmmm… what religious do with their hoods, specifically Dominicans.

Dominicans at Mass at a mystery to me.

I am reminded of an old Roman joke, which may not survive translation out of a now outdated but very Roman context.    How does one gauge how “successful” a liturgy is among the different religions families?   It seems that it is successful for the Benedictines if they have sung more than half the notes correctly; for the Dominicans if at least half are still there at the end; for the Jesuits if at least half show up at all; and for the Franciscans if half are still uninjured.

As far as birettas are concerned, the vested sacred ministers wear the biretta in church during the processions in and out.  Others in procession, once they enter the church, remove their biretta and hold it top outward before their breast with both hands.  If they carry a book, they hold the book upright before their breasts, open pages to their left, and they hook the biretta below the book with their fingers.

When seated in choir, unless the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, cover.  Before standing, uncover.  That is, remove your biretta before you stand, not while you rise. Not after you have risen.  Before you rise.   Cover after you sit down.   When the Holy Name is said or sung, you uncover or tip, according to local custom.  Sometimes the Holy Name is used quite often, and constantly uncovering or tipping is untenable.   There is usually a general agreement in places about how this will be handled. For example, in a sermon, the first time uncover and lower the biretta to the right knee, the second time tip, the third time nihil fit.  If someone “reverences” you, with a bow, a liturgical acknowledgement, you tip back.   You bow your head while standing when the celebrant at the altar bows his head, as when during the Gloria the celebrant bows his head during his own recitation when he says the Holy Name or the phrase “…suscipe deprecationem meam…”.  If everyone is seated as the choir sings the Gloria, you uncover at those moments.  You bow your head or uncover as appropriate at the name of Mary and of the Saint of the day.

Also… and this is important….

DO NOT SIT ON YOUR BIRETTA.

That is your basic birettaquette.

Hoods.

There was a Cistercian in the choir with us.  Among Cistercians, only the vested sacred ministers put their hoods up.  Benedictines will vary according to their congregations or monasteries, but in general, they put their hoods up during Matins, but not during the day, and also at Mass during the Epistle, Gradual or Tracts, Alleluia.

Dominicans… I dunno.  But I know that Dominicans will chime in!  I’ll wager that Dominican hoodiquette is not the same as birettaquette.  As far as the other religious who wear hoods (Franciscans) rather than birettas (Norbertines, Augustinians, etc.) are concerned, I am not sure.  They all have their own customs.

After the Mass in at the Shrine, one priest mentioned to me that it would have been helpful to have a card available to tell the men in choro what to do.

For standing, sitting, etc. during a Pontifical Mass.  This is from Stehle, p. 291.

Meanwhile, what do nuns do when they are in choro in their own communities?   Well… women should have their heads covered all the time in church (cf. St. Paul).

For absolutely comprehensive rules for secular priests, see Martinucci.

Some of you might be thinking dissident thoughts such as the always dopey, “But Father!  But Father!  Don’t we have more important things to worry about than your hat during Mass?  Why have a hat anyway?!?  Because YOU HATE THE POOR AND VATICAN II!”

I always enjoy that one.  The general idea is that we can’t do more that one thing at a time.  Libs always use a “zero sum” approach when they flail around for a way to hate on tradition.  If you have a hat, you don’t care for the poor.  If you are using a hat, you are not caring for the poor.   The utter stupidity of that line of thought is amazing.  This is the logic of Judas, the thief.

Firstly, if you are AT MASS you are not on the street with the poor.  But, you could be praying for the poor, strengthening yourself spiritually to help the poor when you go back out of church, listening to a text or a sermon that moves your heart to acts of mercy, etc.

Also, using a hat during Mass doesn’t take anything from the poor.  It does, however, contribute to decorum.   Beauty and decorum, the aptum, the pulcrum, nourishes the spirit.  Beautiful liturgical music and beauty in art and architecture, beauty and solemnity and order in liturgical worship may be the only beauty and order that many hungry souls experience today.  The poorest of the poor alongside the wealthiest of the world should have a way to nourish the soul through beauty.  Archbp. Cordileone made this point in his sermon at the Shrine.  He cited Dorothy Day and her thoughts about how the poor are hungry for beauty and how they can find it in beautiful churches, extravagantly built.  It is a work of mercy to build transcendentally beautiful churches and compose exceptional music and provide lavish vestments and execute dignified and decorous liturgical rites as a service to the poor.

And it is obvious that this is what is needed according to the virtue of Religion.

Another thing.  Men are hardwired and respond well within structure and rank with clear missions.   These marks of identity, the habit, the cassock, the biretta, the dignities and so forth are important for mission and, ultimate, service to all.   This is just axiomatic and needs no further explication because all reasonable people know that this is true for boys and men. If you don’t get that, then just… go away.

Taking them away, downplaying them, denying them when they ought to be used and given is, well, an indication that something is deeply wrong especially when men deny them.  It is a sign that a man is employing the FFLF, the Female Fun Limitation Factor.   I’m only being partially facetious here.   The FFLF is the effect produced on one or more males having fun when a female of any age asks in that special tone of voice, “Do you really think you should be doing that?”, and in all its variations, especially through The Look and other non-verbal signals.   An example: men are horsing around and having fun at something which, admittedly, might be better left undone.  At some point when real fun is being had, a female walks into the scene and, with The Look or some other merriment extinguishing comment snuffs out the activity.   When, in the Church, men start doing that in regard to those things which are clearly important and not “horsing around” at all, when men act like Susan From the Parish Council, then … well… you probably can guess what I think about them.

So, come around with your asinine, “You are more interested in hats than people!” B as in B, S as in S, and you can stick it in your clatfarting hat.

Ritual is foundational for who we are and how we fulfill that all-important duty of Religion: giving God what is due.   Ritual is just that… formal, repeatable, imitable.  It requires rules that can be understood and followed, that can be handed down and followed.   We are our rites.  We convey from generation to generation profound truths through fidelity to and care of our rites.

Sloppy rites, shabby gift, confused identity.

Confused identity… easy pickings for the roaring, prowling Enemy of the soul.

UPDATE:

A tip of the biretta to Garage Logic, btw.    o{]:¬)   I am reminded that a couple of these tropes, like B as in B, S as in S and the FFLF are from a talk radio guy in my native place, Joe Soucheray.  This is from years and years ago.  I don’t know if he still uses those tropes or not, since I haven’t heard him for eons.