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

Posted on 25 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which absorbed my old office, the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“) issued a decree making it possible to celebrate saints canonized after 1906 using the traditional Missale Romanum.  HERE

In another decree they also approved new prefaces.  HERE and explanation HERE

These new (for the TLM) Prefaces are taken from the Novus Ordo Missal, which in turn were mostly from ancient sources.  The standard traditional conclusions are imposed on them.   Also, there are three old texts from French and Belgian sources were were in use before Vatican II.  They can – not must – be used when celebrating Mass with the traditional Missale Romanum, much like even now we can use the so-called Gallican Prefaces (e.g., for Advent).

Again, these can be used.  They are not obligatory.  They add something, rather than taking something away.

I think this is of far less consequence or interest than the addition of possible celebration of more recently canonized saints.

Also, it doesn’t touch the body of the Missal.

Also, it is a good sign that the Extraordinary Form is here to stay.

Of interest among these Prefaces are texts for Angels and for St. John the Baptist.  There are Prefaces for Martyrs and for the Feast of the Dedication of a Church, which is theologically and liturgically important the identity of a parish and those who belong to it.  There are Prefaces for All Saints and Holy Patrons, and for the Most Blessed Sacrament, which might underscore the occasion somewhat better than the Common Preface.  Also there is a preface for Marriage, which goes way back to the most ancient Sacramentaries (e.g., the Gelasianum Vetus).

Both this decree and the decree concerning saints will have an impact on the use of hand missals.

However, depending on the sensibilities of the priest and of the congregation these prefaces can be used.  They are not obligatory.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , , , , , ,
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CDF DECREE: New SAINTS for the Extraordinary Form (TLM) liturgical calendar

Posted on 25 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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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A great “wartime” Sunday Mass in my native place. Fr. Z kudos.

Posted on 24 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Michael Matt of The Remnant posted a super video of a Mass celebrated by my old friend Fr. John Echert, of my native place in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Michael also posted THIS. Well done.

Posted in Be The Maquis, Fr. Z KUDOS, Just Too Cool, Semper Paratus, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm | Tagged ,
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Of bells and virus bell curves. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 24 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You would be surprised at how long and complex the rite is for the consecration of a bell.  They are “baptized”, as it were, by a bishop.  They are washed with holy water, anointed with the Oil of the Sick and Sacred Chrism, filled with smoke from burning thyme (or really thymiama, the recipe for which – equal parts of galbanum, stacte, frankincense and onycha) is, given by God to Moses, is a little hard to make now… but that’s another story), frankincense and myrrh, and then solemnly given a name.  Bells move and speak to us.  They speak with joy and they call us to joy, prayer and action.  They mark the passing of time. They warn us when there is danger.  They cry to the heavens when we suffer.  They mourn when we mourn.  Their silence can be deafening.

The rite of the consecration or “baptism” of a bell speaks to their use.  They are intended to thwart the snares of enemies, increase our devotion, avert hail and storm and mitigate the wind, and “lay low the powers of the air”.

“Lay low the powers of the air lay low the powers of the air, so that hearing this bell they may tremble and flee before the standard of the holy cross of Thy Son depicted upon it.”

Click

We want to “flatten the curve”, right?  Isn’t that’s what people are saying?  “Let’s flatten the curve!  Anfractum complanemus!”   We want to produce by our human efforts (and non-efforts) a right-skewed bell curve.

Just as we are body and soul together, so too all the stuff of the cosmos is intertwined with the invisible realm, which when we recite the Creed we profess that we believe exists.   Great writers have surmised that an angel guides each thing that moves.  That’s a lot of angels.   Also, Scripture points to the number of fallen angels: a third.  That’s a lot of demons, including the greatest of all the angels.

Politicians will do what they do in this time of pandemic, and doctors will do what they do.   Should not bishops and priests do what they alone are ordained to do?   Rather than acting as if they are representatives of the CDC, the sacerdotes of the Church should wield the mighty spiritual weapons the Church has in her arsenal, crafted and refined from the experience of centuries.  We’ve been here before and the Church has her ways of dealing with threats, both spiritual and physical.  It is not by chance that virtually all the of the Church’s proposed blessings in the traditional Rituale Romanum ask God for health of both soul and body.

I am not a huge fan of the Archbishop of Chicago.   However, I can definitely get aboard one thing that he did (after cancelling all Masses and closing all churches).  He asked that the bells of the many churches of the archdiocese be rung to call people to prayer five times a day.  HERE

Hmmm… something from a tower sounding to call people to prayer five times a day.

Here’s the list.

  • 9 a.m. – Prayer for those infected with the virus and all those who are ill
  • 12 p.m. – Prayer for healthcare workers and those attending to the sick
  • 3 p.m. – Prayer for first responders and essential workers
  • 6 p.m. – Prayer for people of every nation and their leaders
  • 9 p.m. – Prayer for those who have died today

Okay, pretty good.  If I were a bishop I would have said for 12 Noon and 6 PM, “The Angelus for….” And if we go into Eastertide, “The Regina Caeli for….”

Also, I note that some places will have electronic or recorded bells.  A shame, but that’s what happens.

Nevertheless, it is good to use our bells, even recorded bells.

Finally, I’ll repeat…

  1. Bishops should immediately give all their priests permission publicly to use Title XI, Ch. 3 of the Rituale Romanum.
  2. Priests should exorcise the entire grounds where they are, and the buildings and, afterwards, bless them with Holy Water and the proper blessings in the Rituale.
  3. Bishops should pronounce the exorcism in Title XI, Ch. 3 over their entire dioceses.  One bishop I heard of went to all the deaneries of the diocese, with the diocesan exorcist, and blessed the whole territory and people under his care.

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Here are the bells of Notre-Dame in Paris, which had its fire about a year ago.

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ACTION ITEM!, B as in B. S as in S., Be The Maquis, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Save The Liturgy - Save The World, Semper Paratus, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged ,
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ASK FATHER: A priest wants to be able to celebrate Easter in the Extraordinary Form

Posted on 23 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a priest…

QUAERUNTUR:

I am the parish priest at ___.   I’m going to use the suspension of public masses to work on my Latin. [Oorah!] Thank you for encouraging and providing resources for this. Could you please send me chapter 3 of title XI. [Will do.]

I have had a desire to learn the traditional Latin Mass for several years, but have have been concerned about not being able to use it consistently enough to stay sharp with the rubrics and Latin. Now, with all private masses, I certainly have the consistency. I would like to be able to celebrate Easter Sunday in the Extraordinary Form. From your PRAYERCAzT page I downloaded the audio files of the prayers at the foot of the altar and the last Gospel, which have already been helpful. Do you have similar recordings available for the rest of the ordinary of the Mass? [I can make more.]

Several years ago I was one of the recipients of the Birettas for Seminarians project. [More on that HERE] Would any of your readership be interested in sponsoring something similar for priests learning the TLM? [Good question.] I have several good priests who able to help coach me, but I don’t have access to most of the equipment I would need. The unofficial word out of our Chancery today is that clergy and laity are looking at a 30% reduction in salary while public masses are suspended. Any small gift is helpful to build the foundation to celebrate the TLM.

This is an interesting idea.   I would be glad to entertain some ideas about what that would look like.   Off the top of my head, perhaps the mechanics of the Biretta Project could be used.  However, perhaps the great John at Leaflet could create a check list of things that are needs, the basics and form several packages.  Priests could sign up for individual items or packages and people who want to participate could review – maybe – a website with the requests.

Meanwhile, Fathers, you might let me know what you need recorded (after checking the PRAYERCAzT page).

I make an appeal to priests and to bishops.   If you don’t know the TLM, LEARN IT.    Priests should know their Rite.  If you don’t know the traditional Roman Rite, Fathers, you don’t know yourself.

WE ARE OUR RITES.

There are so many things to learn about yourself as a priest at the altar (our most important place) through using the traditional Roman Rite.

Try it!  This is an opportunity.

Don’t just drift or settle into the status quo ante.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Mail from priests, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Turn Towards The Lord |
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Francis: Coronavirus is nature’s “revenge”, “tantrum”, “cry” for help

Posted on 23 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am not making this up.

This is not The Onion.  Neither is this Eye of the Tiber.

From Breitbart:

Pope Francis: Coronavirus Pandemic Is Nature ‘Throwing a Tantrum’

ROME — Pope Francis told a Spanish journalist Sunday that nature never forgives and the coronavirus pandemic is nature’s cry for humans to take better care of creation.

Asked by a Spanish journalist via Skype whether the COVID-19 pandemic is nature’s way of taking “revenge” on humanity, the pontiff suggested that nature is calling for attention.

“There’s a saying, which you have heard: ‘God always forgives. We sometimes forgive. Nature never forgives,’” the pope said. “Fires, earthquakes … nature is throwing a tantrum so that we will take care of her.”

The pope was also asked whether he is “optimistic” about the future of humanity in dealing with the coronavirus.

“I don’t like that word, because optimism sounds like makeup to me,” Francis replied. “I have hope in humanity, in men and women, I have hope in nations. [… God…] I’m very hopeful. People who are going to draw lessons from this crisis to rethink their lives.”

“We are going to come out of this better… fewer, of course. Many are left along the way and it’s hard. But I have faith: we will come through this better.”

[…]

By the way… it is in itself interesting that Francis was on Skype.

Nature doesn’t forgive because nature isn’t a self-aware rational being.

But wait!   Maybe it isn’t wrong to ascribe these feelings of revenge, etc. to nature.  Right?

We read in the CCC…

400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay”. Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground”, for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.”

Okay, that seems like an endorsement of nature as a sentient force.   But, instead, it isn’t

Nature isn’t a person.  Nature isn’t a runaway AI which has evolved.

I remind the readership that globalists and population control fanatics are all over the Vatican these days.   Under Francis, people like Paul Erlich and Jeffrey Sachs are invited.

I picked up from my friend @BreeDail that Francis uttered these thoughts in the wake of the same thing from the infamous ex-priest Leonardo Boff, of Marxist Liberation Theology fame.  HERE   Boff wrote:

We are capable of foolish and demented conduct; from now on you can fear everything, everything, including the annihilation of the human race; it would be the right price for our follies and our cruelties

[…]

Not without reason James Lovelock, the formulator of the theory of the Earth as a self-regulating living superorganism, Gaia, wrote a book “ The revenge of Gaia ” (Intrinsic, 2006). I estimate that current diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, zica virus, sars, ebola, measles, the current coronavirus and the generalized degradation in human relationships, marked by profound inequality / social injustice and the lack of minimal solidarity are a reprisal of Gaia for the offenses that we inflict continuously on you.

[…]

Want some Gaia?  Here’s some Gaia.

In October a wooden statuette of an earth/mother/goddess (read: demon) was venerated in the Vatican Garden and then a bowl dedicated to the worship of that demon was put, at the order of Francis, on the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica above the bones of the first Vicar of Christ.    In April, there will be no worship of God for the Triduum and Easter in Rome’s Cathedral St. John Lateran and in St. Peter’s.

 

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CQ CQ CQ: Ham Radio in Pandemic – ZedNet is ACTIVE!

Posted on 23 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In this time of being shut in, I’ve been checking on the bands.

I’ve had a couple of emails from folks saying that, just before the Coronavirus flare, they obtained their Technician license and had received their call signs.   While you are at home, think about studying for your exam.

I’ve also been on ZedNet today, talking with a couple of guys, one a priest, the other my long-distance Elmer, who set up ZedNet.   This is a DMR thing.

More HERE.  And, to get yourself going, WB0YLE gave me a Bill of Materials.  A list of what you need.  HERE  I built a DMR hotspot with a Raspberry Pi and got it working with no problems.   If necessary we can get you some tech help here for programming.

We should figure out some schedules.

As I think ahead, and contemplate some possible problems resulting from things in society getting broken, ham radio could be important.

Anyway, if some of you hams out there are into DMR, you might find us.

What are we doing with this?  Not much right now, but who knows.  And it’s fun to make it work.

Also, I got Echolink running on my new computer.  Check out  554286 – WB0YLE-R

I created a page for the List of YOUR callsigns.  HERE  Chime in or drop me a note if your call doesn’t appear in the list.

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Supply chain, Truck Divers and YOU! Something you can do to help. ACTION ITEM!

Posted on 23 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Practically everything already have or you need is at some point moved by a truck, which means a truck diver.

I heard a good idea from a friend.

Think about the drivers.  They need to have places to rest, refresh, and get food.

That means drive-thru restaurants.

But they can’t take their big rigs through those drive-thru lines and the lobbies are closed.   With social distancing, it is difficult to for truck drivers to walk up to a drive-thru window.  In some cases, that’s not allowed.

Depending on your ability to move around, if you see a truck near a restaurant with a drive-thru, or you see a driver trying to get something…

… offer to help.  Offer to buy it for him from your car, which can go through the line.

There may be other things that you creative people can think of.  That’s just one.

Another thing: DON’T OVER BUY!

Practically everything already have or you need is at some point moved by a truck, which means a truck diver.

If trucking shuts down, for any reason, think about what will happen.  In a matter of days there will literally be blood in the streets.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, ACTION ITEM! |
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ITALY: At least 60 Italian priests have died after contracting coronavirus.

Posted on 23 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From CNA:

At least 60 Italian priests have died after contracting coronavirus

Rome, Italy, Mar 23, 2020 / 10:07 am (CNA).- In the past week alone, more than 3,000 people have died in Italy after contracting the coronavirus. Among the dead are at least 60 priests this month, according to local media reports.

“I pray to the Holy Spirit to give us the gift of light and strength. Everyday I do the Via Crucis asking the Lord … to carry this cross with us,” Bishop Gianni Ambrosio of Piacenza-Bobbio said in an Italian interview.

Avvenire, the newspaper owned by the Italian bishops conference, published the names of 51 diocesan priests who died after contracting COVID-19, and noted that religious communities in Italy had also reported nine coronavirus related deaths.

The majority of the deceased were over the age of 70 years old, and some of these priests had underlying health conditions.

CLICK

The youngest priest to die from COVID-19 in Italy was Fr. Paolo Camminati, who died in the hospital on March 21 at age 53.

[…]

“It is a tough trial. We are dismayed. We feel great suffering,” Bishop Ambrosio told Avvenire.

“It is a darkness that we must face, but with the hope that God never abandons us, that he himself has gone through all the suffering to overcome it,” the bishop added.

[…]

Bishop Antonio Napolioni of Cremona has recovered after being hospitalized for 10 days with severe respiratory symptoms after contracting COVID-19. He returned to his home March 16.

[…]

“I experienced minute by minute the dramatic crescendo of problems in the situation and the workload on doctors, nurses and all the staff,” Bishop Napolioni recalled of his time in the hospital.

“It is an absurd Lent,” he said. “But in a certain sense perfect. Jesus is in the desert for forty days, fighting with the devil. Lent is not about the beauty of custom, but the profound mystery of the evil, death and despair that exist. But also of the Lord who is there. We must recognize His presence.”

Posted in Four Last Things, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged ,
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ACTION ITEM – In this time of mostly private Masses, priests should use the Traditional Latin Mass, the Extraordinary Form!

Posted on 22 March 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a priest …

QUAERITUR:

All priests in many countries are now just doing private masses. How about saying them in ef? Thats my plan. [kudos!]

Same time every day in the parish church.

Can’t get more obviously private than a low mass where holy communion is not distributed to faithful.

If people do turn up then they get more used to the old mass. Over 3 or 4 months they good even grow to appreciate it a little.

This whole time is a great opportunity for priests to teach themselves the old mass and start saying it every day.

In a way, Father, I would have thought it was obvious to priests who are truly, or who say they are, interested in the Traditional Roman Rite.

But, maybe it has to be said.

Fathers.  If you are saying private Masses… NOW is the time to apply the Extraordinary Form to great effect.

This could be the time to LEARN it.

This could be the time to deepen your comfort and knowledge of it.

Fathers!   Say Mass privately, by all means.  And use the Traditional Roman Missal!

What an unparalleled opportunity to do much on a broad spiritual plane.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ACTION ITEM!, Mail from priests, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood |
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