The Ancient Mass according to the Saints

In an interview with Fr. Thomas Crean, Ignatius Insight discusses the Father's new book, The Mass and the Saints. To my mind, Father Crean explained well the reason he wrote the book in this short statement:

I wanted to offer my own contribution to the "liturgical debate" which is prominent in the Church today; it seemed to me that those who had participated in the sacred liturgy with the greatest love—the saints—were best able to teach us how to think about it.

Considering the fact that great numbers of modern Catholics hold the "Mass of the Ages" in derision, if not outright contempt, I often wonder how much thought is given to the fact that the "Mass of the Ages" was also the "Mass of the Saints." What would you imagine the Saints might think of the "reformed" liturgy? This is a question for which all modern day Catholics ought to be able to provide a satisfactory answer.

Here's the text of the interview:

Ignatius Insight: What inspired you to write this book, a compilation of quotes by saints (and near saints) about the Mass?

Fr. Crean: It started off as a translation of St Albert the Great's commentary on the Mass, a long work called De Sacrificio Missae, which as far as I know has never been translated into English. Part way through I realised that St Albert's style was too prolix for modern tastes and that a simple translation was unlikely to appeal to a wide authorship.

Nevertheless, I had discovered many passages which I found striking or beautiful, and which I did want to make available in English. At the same time I had been thinking of putting together a compendium of Eucharistic quotations from St Thomas Aquinas' writings, illustrated with pictures. The two projects merged, and then I realised that there was no reason to stop with St. Albert and St. Thomas, but that I could try to find as many different "voices" as possible, to produce something like a symphony in words. My inspiration was the Catena Aurea: the commentary on the four gospels which St Thomas put together out of the works of the Fathers and some slightly later writers such as Alcuin of York. I say this was my inspiration: it would be presumptuous to say that it was my model.

More generally, I wanted to offer my own contribution to the "liturgical debate" which is prominent in the Church today; it seemed to me that those who had participated in the sacred liturgy with the greatest love—the saints—were best able to teach us how to think about it.

Ignatius Insight: How did you go about selecting the various quotes? Did you have a certain criteria in mind?

Fr. Crean: I made use of what I had to hand, first in the library of the Dominican priory where I was living, then in the library of the University of Cambridge. The standard reference books on the history of the Mass helped me to orient myself, especially in regard to the Fathers of the Church; other works I came across by chance, for example the sermons of St Vincent Ferrer.

I was looking for quotations that would be beautiful or striking. As I wrote in the preface, I wanted to produce a book that would aid "meditation and devotion". I was also looking to show the continuity of the Church's faith through time, so I made a point of trying to give quotations from every century. At the same time, I gave a certain preference to the earlier centuries, as having more innate authority, and to the doctors of the Church. Again, I was looking both for quotations that would give a straightforward account of why some phrase or ceremony appeared in the Mass, and for quotations which would give a more mystical interpretation of the action of the Mass, as the Catena Aurea gives both a literal and mystical commentary on the gospels.

I also included some quotations to show how some problems that we might think of as particularly modern were not unknown in the past, for example chatting in church. So, there were a number of different criteria in play.

Ignatius Insight: In addition to well-known saints such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Augustine, there are many names that aren't nearly as familiar. Who are some of those authors? Do you have some personal favorites?

Fr. Crean: Two non-canonised authors who appear quite a lot are Amalarius and Durandus. Amalarius was a ninth-century bishop who had studied under Alcuin of York. He had a particular gift for giving mystical interpretations of the ceremonies of the Mass. He is not popular with everyone, but I found him inspiring. Durandus was a great compiler. He lived in the thirteenth century, and wrote a massive work called the Rational of Divine Offices, where he gives exhaustive explanations, both literal and mystical, for all that is done in the Mass, the sacraments and the liturgy of the hours. It's a treasure trove, but only a small part has ever been translated into English.

A much more famous author, but one whom I hadn't studied before preparing this book, is St Robert Bellarmine. I particularly appreciated the care with which he explains the words of the Roman Canon, in his defence of the Mass against the early Protestants.

Very short descriptions of all the authors cited are given at the back of the book, along with references to the principal sources used. Sometimes I made discoveries that surprised me. Isaac of Stella, for example, appears in the modern breviary, and I had always supposed that he must have lived somewhere in the Middle East. In fact he was a monk from the north of England!

Ignatius Insight: Obviously there is much to be learned about worship, the Mass, and the Eucharist from the saints. What are some of the essential lessons they can either teach us or remind us of?What are some of the notable differences between how, say, a thirteenth-century or sixteenth-century Catholic approached the Mass and how Catholics generally approach it today?

Fr. Crean: I suspect that many Catholics come to Mass today to listen to the readings (and sermon) and to receive Holy Communion. Those are both excellent reasons, of course, but neither corresponds to what is most proper to the Mass, since one can listen to Scripture and even receive Communion at other times. What is most proper to the Mass is that it is the sacrifice which is offered to God under the New Covenant. I think that this was better understood in past times. I hope that some of the quotations included in the book can help to renew an understanding of this: that was why I began with a section called "the Sacrifice", before passing to the various parts of the Mass itself.

Ignatius Insight: What are some of the reoccurring or prevalent themes that emerge in these texts? Are there any that might be new or even surprising to modern-day readers?

Fr. Crean: One prevalent theme that might be surprising to modern readers is the very idea of a "mystical sense" to the Mass, the idea that the Mass is a recapitulation of the life of the incarnate Word, from the nativity to the Ascension, or even a recapitulation of the whole of sacred history. So the introit, for example, would represent the desire of the fathers for the coming of the Redeemer, the Gloria his birth, the Gospel his public preaching and so on. This idea is worked out slightly differently by different authors, but there is a basic unity of approach within the Church's tradition.

As I indicated above in connection with Amalarius, some 20^th Century liturgists did not like this idea, rejecting it as arbitrary or whimsical; but I think that in doing so they miss part of the full splendour of the Mass as willed by God. Such mystical interpretation, incidentally, lends itself more to the usus antiquior than to the Mass of Paul VI, because of the more unchanging nature of the former; also, the mystical interpretations were largely fixed by the mediaeval writers, who were commenting, of course, on the pre-Vatican II Ordo.

Ignatius Insight: Having studied and reflected on the many thoughts of saints and doctors about the Mass, what do you hope readers will gain from your book?

Fr. Crean: I hope that they will grow in love for the holy Mass, the product, as Blessed Isaac of Stella puts it, "of divine power and human care". And if they do, perhaps they might say a prayer for me when they take part in the mysteries.

Lady Immaculate’s Latin Mass a Trip into the Past

The Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, Oak Park, Illinois published this report a few days ago and here's the way the story starts off:

As if Vatican II never happened: At Our Lady Immaculate Church, the Mass is in Latin, the priest faces the altar and all the women wear veils. Sound familiar? The altar sits against the wall, unlike those at the Vatican-approved Catholic churches where the priest faces the people.Radically traditional. Our Lady Immaculate’s Latin Mass is a trip into the past.

The article is a little longer than average but overall is well written and balaned and it sure does make for an interesting read. That's not to say that I agree with all that's been stated in the article. Since the story revolves around an SSPX parish, there is always the possibility of some controversial positions taken. Here's one quote for example:

Their critique begins with "the new Mass." They feel that Novus Ordo Missae - i.e. the Mass after the reforms of Vatican II with its use of the vernacular, changing the emphasis of the Eucharist (communion) from a sacrifice to a meal, moving altars away from the wall and omission of many rubrics in the Tridentine Mass - represents not only a "dissimulation of Catholic elements" and a "pandering to Protestants" but also "a danger to our faith, and, as such, evil." (Questions, p. 27)

Moving from liturgy to relations with other religions, SSPX contends that Vatican II has fostered an attitude of acceptance of religious pluralism that undermines the exclusive truth contained in the Catholic faith.

Of course anyone who claims to be faithful to the Pope could not make the bold charge against the new Mass, the Novus Ordo, that it was evil, although many other criticisms may be quite valid.

I must say I admired the statement made by the posted signs at the entrance of the Church:

"Out of respect for our Lord and for the edification of our neighbors we beg visitors to appear in church modestly dressed. For men, norms of modesty are not met by jeans, open shirts or tennis shoes. For women, they are not met by mini-skirts, sheer blouses, slacks or sleeveless or low cut dresses. Women are further asked to cover their heads [with "modesty veils"]. Your cooperation is evidence of your love for our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and respect for the House of God."

Go ahead and read the whole article. You'll learn something of the dynamics of the liturgical struggle.

Gregorian Chant Fosters Peaceful Reflection and Contemplation

Staff writer George Myers Jr.of the Kennebec Journal Augusta, ME, is carrying an engaging report on Gregorian chanting. Every reader can learn something from this one! Entitled "Gregorian chanting helps renew his faith," here's the story:

The member of the Corpus Christi Parish, a Roman Catholic parish in Central Maine, sings Gregorian chants when he's called to and to where he's led.

The Ecclesiastical Latin chanting, which dates back earlier than the 10th century in Western Europe, consists most commonly of a single, unaccompanied melodic line -- a direct line to God, some might say -- that accompanies the celebration of Mass and other Christian rituals.

The Colby College graduate paused from his avocation, as well as his duties as a commercial lender at TD Banknorth's Augusta and Waterville offices, to answer some questions about a spiritual art and craft, also called plainsong, that seems largely neglected in the 21st century.

Q: How is such an old art form relevant to today?

Violette: The oldest chant melodies were created by the early Christians, and these traditional hymns and psalms form the basis of today's Catholic liturgy. In fact, Gregorian chant remains to this day the official music of the church. Plainsong chant continues the ancient traditions of our Catholic heritage and underscores the universality of the church.

Q: What is the chant intended to do for the listener?

Violette: Foster contemplation. It "clothes" the liturgical text, and is an art form that possesses qualities of holiness and beauty. Chant has been described as "speech half asleep or song half awake," and others have said that experiencing it makes a "listening silence" possible. Chant fosters a meditative environment and opens one's mind to cultivate peaceful reflection on the mysteries of Christ.

Q: And for the singer?

Violette: I am happy to be able to play a small role in restoring plainchant to its original place of perfection and purity. Chant is essentially verbal music, which has no existence without the underlying words. We try to keep our voices free of vanity, lacking in affectation and self-effacing. The singing of chant should be done with modesty, as the church is not a theater but a temple.

It is the soul, full of religious feelings, that lends sacred melodies their emotional power and hence creates a powerful spiritual effect. Saint Augustine expressed this well: "I will sing with my mind, I will sing also with all my soul ... not seeking the sound which flatters the ear but the light which enlightens the heart."

Q: And what is plainsong intended to do for God?

Violette: When chanting, we are liturgically praising God and praying for those who both sing and hear it. The presence of God should be reverently felt as we raise our voices as a prayerful sacrifice to him.

Q: Is Gregorian chanting on a kind of "endangered list?"

Violette: After medieval times, Gregorian chant ceased to be appreciated and it was replaced by complex harmonization, polyphony and orchestral music. It lay dormant for many centuries as musical tastes changed in favor of constant rhythms and melody. I don't mean to suggest that Gregorian chant should replace our modern music altogether. I'm hoping for the recovery of this lost art form for the benefit of those who are interested in this type of contemplative music, where the primary focus is on singing to God and not to man.

Q: The sheet music isn't commonly found in music shops. Where do you find it?

Violette: I first became interested in Gregorian chant several years ago, and my research led me to the Solesmes Benedictines, who were instrumental in the revival of Gregorian. I was able to obtain some recordings and written forms directly from them. Interestingly, I discovered that this area is rich with the heritage of chant.

My mother grew up in Fairfield, where each morning she and her eight siblings trundled off to sing a full mass for the souls, complete with Gregorian chant. She had kept her books from that time, and those books continue to be my richest source of the original chants. My wife's grandmother, who was an organist for many years in Great Barrington (Mass.), passed on to us several hard-to-find organ accompaniments that have been very useful.

Q: Gregorian chants originated in monastic life. Have you ever lived such a life?

Violette: No. My wife, Mary, and I have an active household of six children. I do believe, however, that a portion of one's life should be devoted to prayer and intimacy with God, and that we are all called to give back to the church in our own ways. Gregorian chant fulfills this pursuit for me.

George Myers Jr.

If you're itching for more on Gregorian chant, here's an interesting article.

First Latin Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine

WKBT in La Crosse, WI includes the very nice video clip above and reports on the first ever Easter Sunday celebrations at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe which opened to the public last July.

It looks like a beautiful little retreat and pilgrimage center with a weekly Latin Mass at 9:30AM Sunday. And if you check out this page and scroll to the bottom you'll note an extensive history of association with Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, starting with this entry:

July 1999: Bishop Raymond L. Burke announces plans for the construction and establishment of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to be located in La Crosse.

Who would've guessed?

According to the preceding video and news report (below), Jack Socha, the spokesman for the Shrine, seems to have long term plans for the celebration of Mass at the Shrine.

Easter Sunday took on an extra significance for one local parish.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated its first ever Easter Sunday.

They marked the occasion by having two masses, a special Latin mass in the morning, and a normal Easter mass in the afternoon.

The masses were all part of an Easter celebration that also included some family activities.

Shrine officials say its great to see how well the shrine has done so far.

Jack Socha is the spokesman for the Shrine. He says, "Every day I see the shrine growing and people coming here from literally all over the country, it feels good. It feels good to see an easter celebration here and to think that 300 hundred years from now, on Easter sunday, we'll still be celebrating with the same music, the same lighting, the same marble."

The Shrine had a few other activities today besides mass.

They also had their first annual Easter egg hunt.

Children were able to search along the path leading up to the Shrine for the eggs.

They found prizes such as candy, special medals, stickers, and rosaries.

Organizers say the idea was to bring families together for Easter.

Egg Hunt Organizer Pat Krause says, "We are rejoicing in the family day together, the holiday together and at a religious shrine which is perfect for who we are."

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine opened to the public last July.

Shrine officials hope the masses and the Easter egg hunt will both become Easter traditions.

A Prodigal Daughter in Praise of Tradition

Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. - Jeremiah 6:16 (RSV)

So quotes Catholic revert blogger Mary Rose, in a posting entitled In Praise of Tradition, where she explains her love for the Latin Mass.

Now that I have returned to Catholicism, I can see the value of "the ancient paths." Some Catholics have been trying to mimic some of these non-denominational approaches toward church and have been busily filling up their Mass with all types of activities. But do these activities bring peace? Or insecurity?

This is one of the reasons I love the Traditional Latin Mass. It is a Mass that has been around for quite some time. It has withstood the trends and fads and keeps to the basics. To me, it is a rich treasure trove of "ancient paths." But the "New Mass" still has those paths, too. It depends upon the leadership of the pastor and if he has the backbone to buck controlling personalities in a liturgical committee. It depends on if the people view the Mass as a time to focus on God instead of "expressing" themselves. It depends on many things, but it can be found.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is our Holy Father's intent - to return the Church to her ancient paths and bring stability. In a way, it is almost like setting broken bones. The cast at first seems too rigid, but it is there to protect the healing. Perhaps our Church, in all her brokenness, is in the midst of this healing. And after the healing, we will be able to walk with strength. That, most certainly, should be cause for rejoicing.

Read the full posting and see things from Mary Rose’s perspective…away from Mother Church for 25 years searching for answers in non-denominational “churches.”

He Is Risen! Alleluia!

BELLINI, Giovanni: Resurrection of Christ 1475-79
[image source]

Father Raymond J. De Souza on Composers and the Mass

Father Raymond J. De Souza writes a piece for the National post today entitled Conscience and the Mass. The statement that struck me strongest was this one:

Why did the great composers lavish such attention on the Mass? For much of the period in question the great patrons of music were the ecclesiastical and the royal courts, and so Masses were commissioned for coronations and anniversaries and such. More fundamentally, there are the universal and profound themes of the Mass itself. For believing Christians, the Mass is nothing less than the story of salvation and redemption, incarnation and resurrection, made liturgically present for us now. There simply is no greater material, no greater story, to inspire the composer.

For those devoted to the ancient rite of Mass, the Extraordinary Form, the “story of salvation and redemption, incarnation and resurrection, made liturgically present for us now” deserves nothing less than a compendium of the whole heart and history of Mother Church, i.e. the Mass of the Ages.

Here’s the full text of Father De Souza’s article:

Conscience and the Mass

It’s unusual for a performance to be held in Kingston on its way to Lincoln Center, but last week we had that honour. It helped that the composer is one of our own, John Burge, director of the Queen’s School of Music. Professor Burge, fresh off winning a Juno award for his musical setting of the poem In Flanders Fields, was getting set for the American premiere of his Mass for Prisoners of Conscience, which occurred this past Sunday in New York. A few days before, with choirs from Queen’s and the University of Toronto, we had what I suppose was something of a final dress rehearsal on campus before the entire ensemble headed south.

The Latin texts for the Mass are simple: The Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei only take about three minutes to recite. Yet the greatest composers have provided the most extraordinary settings, so much so that the history of music could not be properly told without the great Masses. Friends far more expert in music than I suggest that Bach’s Mass in B Minor is the greatest musical composition ever — equivalent to what Shakespeare did for the English language or Dante for Italian.

Why did the great composers lavish such attention on the Mass? For much of the period in question the great patrons of music were the ecclesiastical and the royal courts, and so Masses were commissioned for coronations and anniversaries and such. More fundamentally, there are the universal and profound themes of the Mass itself. For believing Christians, the Mass is nothing less than the story of salvation and redemption, incarnation and resurrection, made liturgically present for us now. There simply is no greater material, no greater story, to inspire the composer. For many composers, a Mass setting is itself an audacious venture, a way of touching the divine not dissimilar to an act of worship. Soli Deo gloria — to God alone be the glory — is how Bach would annotate his scores.

I don’t know if Professor Burge had any of that in mind, but listening to his Mass for Prisoners of Conscience in Holy Week is something like a liturgical act. The Mass sets the texts of the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei – there is no Gloria. But in addition to the liturgical texts, Burge’s Mass includes musical settings of letters gathered by Amnesty International — the testimony of those unjustly deprived of liberty, those tortured and their families. Their suffering echoes the suffering servant of in the Book of Isaiah, of the innocent Lamb of God, of the crucified messiah.

The texts to bring to mind the Stations of the Cross, which Pope Benedict will preside over tomorrow night at the Colosseum in Rome, another site where martyrs of conscience were made. The hidden drama of the Stations of the Cross is that it is the prisoner, the condemned, the suffering, the crucified one who renders the true judgment. In the trial of Jesus, it is his accusers and judges who are actually on trial. His suffering and death is his testimony, the final confirmation that truth and love are stronger than the mere assertion of power. The contest between power and love, domination and sacrifice, is the drama of Holy Week — and the drama of the Mass.

“It is not an easy thing to torture people,” we hear during the Agnus Dei in Burge’s Mass. “For torturing requires inner participation. In this situation, I turned out to be the lucky one. For although I was humiliated, at least I did not humiliate others. I was simply bearing a profoundly unhappy humanity on my aching back. Whereas the men who humiliate you must first humiliate the notion of humanity within themselves.”

Today is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. For Catholics it is the day of the Eucharist, of the priesthood, of the Mass. In the Mass is made present the cross and on the cross is lifted up all the suffering, all the injustice, all the iniquity of all time — from the dawn of creation to the torture chambers of our own day. Every Mass setting ends with the same words of hope: dona nobis pacem. Grant us peace. So it was then; so let it be now.

Youth Survey: Teens Lose Faith in Droves

In an article entitled Youth Survey: Teens lose faith in droves, Macleans magazine reports on a survey by Reginald Bibby, University of Lethbridge sociologist.

According to new data from Project Teen Canada, more teens now identify as Muslim than Anglican, United Church of Canada and Baptist combined. As a group, the percentage who adhere to so-called “other faiths”—including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism—has grown fivefold since Project Teen began its surveys in 1984, while the percentage of teens who identify as Roman Catholic has declined by one third, and the percentage who identify as Protestant is down by almost two-thirds.

There is some very sobering data in this report, most of which points to the fact that many teens—from nominally Christian homes—are “rejecting religion entirely.”

For Canada’s Christian teens, meanwhile, the community is shrinking like never before. Since 1984, the percentage of teens who call themselves Christian has almost been cut in half while the number who call themselves atheist has grown to 16 per cent, up from just six per cent in the mid-1980s. Just as the boomers shifted toward agnosticism, teens are now going a step further and rejecting religion entirely. “Belief is learned, pretty much like the multiplication table,” Bibby writes. “So is non-belief.”

Bibby is concerned that since religion is a “source of stability” and “moral compass of sorts” this trend could begin to adversely affect our society’s ethics and behaviour.

I’ll come out and say this very clearly: In my opinion, all that’s keeping our civilization safe and manageable—as opposed to disintegrating into chaos and barbarism—is the Christian religion. But we’re fast approaching the tipping point and since the heartbeat of the Christian religion is the Catholic faith, unless there is a sweeping move of repentance and revival within the Catholic Church we’ll likely all be plunged into a worldwide cataclysm of the magnitude warned of by Our Lady of Fatima. How right it appears she was!

Again, in my opinion, the spearhead of any such revival is the Mass of the Ages, accompanied by a strict and faithful adherence to the Tradition of Mother Church and to the message of the Virgin of Fatima.

[cross posted to Contra|Diction blog]

French Priest Moves to Ireland to Meet Demand for Latin Mass

The Irish blog Clerical Whispers is reporting that:

A French priest who travels to Limerick once a month to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form has decided to move to Ireland because of the increase in demand for the service.

Canon Wulfran Lebocq, of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, has been travelling to Limerick from his seminary in Italy to celebrate Mass every third Sunday in St Patrick's Church.

The Institute has been working in the area for the last three years, with the consent of Bishop Donal Murray. It is believed that about 100 people now attend the traditional Mass.

Once he settles in Limerick next year Canon Lebocq hopes to celebrate a weekly Mass.

Weekly Mass

''It depends on the number of ordinations we have this year. Whether we increase our number of services is also entirely at the will of the bishop, but we would like to get to a point where we have weekly Masses.''

Upcoming masses

The Institute of Christ the King will be holding Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St Patrick's Church, Dublin Road, Limerick on April 19, May 17 and June 21 at 11.15am.

Founded in 1990, the Institute works to promote the use of the traditional Latin Rite Mass.

The Institute of Christ the King was obviously delighted with this development and is eagerly promoting their New Apostolate in Ireland...and rightly so.

In a recent post, I noted the hard work that had been done on the Emerald Isle to re-establish the Latin Mass. This is more exciting evidence of a shift that will bring health and healing to the Irish culture.

Nice to see Mother Church giving back to Ireland, after all the contributions made by Ireland throughout the ages.

Douglas McManaman on "Reading the Word Sotto Voce"

Deacon Douglas McManaman is a Religion and Philosophy teacher at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy in Markham, Ontario, Canada. He is currently the President of the Canadian Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. He maintains the following web site for his students: A Catholic Philosophy and Theology Resource Page, in support of his students.

His latest article, short but powerful, "Reading the Word Sotto Voce" appeared in the Catholic Education Resource Center this week.

Subtitled "Reading the word of God in the context of a Mass is radically different from public speaking," allow me to whet your appetite for the full article:

Seminarians of a previous era were often instructed to say Mass sotto voce (Italian: 'under voice'), that is, in low voice (not low in volume, but 'low in profile'), because there was a real appreciation for the opus operatum of the entire liturgy, and a corresponding appreciation for the minister's duty to become less and less ostentatious, after the manner of John the Baptist's "He must increase; I must decrease" (Jn 3, 30). To stress engaging eye contact, intonation, inflection, and to seek to move and emote are all rooted in a basic theological error that regards the written word of God as a dead letter that stands in need of a grandiloquent orator to bring it life. But it is the word that brings life to man, not vice versa: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4, 3).

I doubt that Deacon Doug had the ancient liturgy in mind when he wrote this article and I'm really not sure whether he has "traditionalist" sympathies. I suspect so. In any case I see in his brief instruction an extremely strong case for the power of the Latin Mass.

I'll leave it to someone else much more qualified than myself to explore this article along those lines. Perhaps Fr. John Zuhlsdorf might be interested in doing just that. But suffice it to say that Mass in the Extraordinary Form does not easily accommodate dramatization, ostentation, or a "stealing of the show."

I think, without intending to do so, Deacon Doug strikes to the heart of why the Latin Mass is not given over easily to such things:

Finally, when readers look up periodically, they must address the congregation as a single entity, not making eye contact with individuals within the congregation; for eye contact only makes the reader unfittingly self-conscious, and causes a degree of self-consciousness unbecoming of the faithful, who do not need to be engaged as if they were unmotivated adolescents passively waiting to be animated. They engage themselves through an active readiness to lose themselves in the proclamation of the word.

Isn't that exactly the case? I have found that devotees of the Mass in the EF predominantly "engage themselves through an active readiness to lose themselves in the proclamation of the word," indeed in the entire liturgy.

And think about the following statement for a moment in light of the variety of outrageous displays one often finds in the ordinary form of the Mass.

The more a reader puts himself and his own personality into the word he proclaims -- that is, the more he increases -- , the more he stifles the Holy Spirit of God (cf. 1 Thess 5, 19) by distracting the listener, turning him from a prayerful attention to God's word towards the talent and idiosyncrasies of the reader.

But the reader must forget himself. He must read sotto voce, albeit slowly, clearly, and with sufficient volume. Indeed, poor reading in its turn can distract the listener, making it difficult for him to concentrate, but poor reading does much less harm than even a slightly theatrical reading; the former merely hampers concentration, the latter "steals the show", which is what the liturgy often becomes for those with a flare for the dramatic.

Thanks for this, Deacon Doug!

Breakfast With Cherie

Image: Cherie Blair enjoyed an impromptu audience with Benedict XVI in 2006 [image source]

The Times of Malta yesterday published a television interview with Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which she once again flouted Church teaching on condoms and contraception.

Here’s a clip of the highlight of the interview. Go here for the full video.

Ms. Blair’s is a high profile history of dissent and collaboration with the culture of death. Yet many in the Catholic hierarchy, as far away as Rome, are quite comfy with her presence and offer her platforms with which to bewitch and poison the minds of listeners. Nevertheless, Cherie Blair is not the enemy.

What then can account for such scandal? In a word, modernism.

It’s the elephant in the closet. And it’s an elephant which, despite its enormous size, goes virtually unnoticed or ignored. A host of other secondary evils are blamed for the current sickness in the Body.

What is the solution for this pervasive evil which a hundred times daily pierces the heart of the serious minded, faithful Catholic? In my opinion, the only solution is a return to orthodoxy and tradition by means of a New Offensive.

Pope Benedict XVI is leading us in the New Offensive, I believe. And the spearhead of the New Offensive is the restoration of the ancient liturgy, the “Mass of the Ages,” to its rightful place in the life and practice of Mother Church.

Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.

Cherie, do you know Latin?

____________________

UPDATE: Damian Thompson of Holy Smoke blog reports that Tony Blair, husband of Cherie Blair, has also been busy despoiling Catholic teaching:

Tony Blair has given an interview to the gay magazine Attitude in which he calls for Pope Benedict to rethink the Church's "entrenched" attitude on homosexuality. Well, the Pope would rather like Mr Blair to rethink his entrenched support for abortion, but he hasn't done so, has he?

Tony and Cherie Blair are two Catholics who are representative in their thinking of multiple millions of today's Catholics.

Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump ? I Cor. 5:6

[cross posted to Contra|Diction blog]

Traditional Latin Mass in Patton, PA

Latin Mass leaders in Patton PA report that their local paper published an article today about their Traditional Latin Mass (actual photo above) at Queen of Peace Church in Patton PA. They were reasonably happy with the reporting, although they did cite some inaccuracies.

The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown PA had a fairly extensive write up on the Mass of the Ages.

________________________________

Patton church brings back all-Latin Mass

BY TOM LAVIS

The extraordinary Mass, also known as the traditional liturgy of the Roman rite, is being reintroduced in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Patton is providing the all-Latin Mass, the only church in the diocese to do so.

Many supporters of the traditional Tridentine Mass are convinced that it is a priceless gift that must never be forgotten.

Brian Kopp of Johnstown is proud of the love he has for the old Mass because it offers him and his family many spiritual benefits.

“After the Second Vatican Council, in the mid-1960s, the traditional Latin Mass only was permitted to be celebrated privately by priests,” Kopp said.

But in July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI set in motion an initiative allowing the traditional Latin Mass to be offered publicly. Diocesan Bishop Joseph V. Adamec gave permission to the Rev. Ananias Buccicone, OSB, to celebrate the extraordinary Mass at Queen of Peace on Sunday afternoons.

“We are the only parish between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh to offer the all-Latin Mass,” Kopp said.

“We have had people come from as far away as State College, Indiana, Johnstown, Somerset and even people from the Greensburg Diocese.”

Buccicone, who was ordained in 1993, is required to understand and speak Latin, as well as perform the precise hand movements.

“Not being born before Vatican II, I took it upon myself to learn, because I had a desire to learn the old way,” Buccicone said.

Since Pope Benedict offered the opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary Mass, many seminaries have reintroduced Latin into their curriculums.

Unlike the new or ordinary Mass, in the extraordinary Mass, priests face the altar, not the people. It appears as if the priest is turning his back to the congregation. But Buccicone said the purpose is for the priest to face God.

“The priest is facing liturgical east, facing toward God, and he is acting as the mediator between God and man,” Buccicone said. “It’s like a general leading his troops into battle.

“I don’t view it as turning my back on the people. I view it as leading the people to God and heaven.”

People are invited to attend the extraordinary Mass at 1 p.m. Sundays. On the first Sunday of the month, a high Mass is celebrated with Schola, or choir, singing and Gregorian chant.

On the other Sundays of the month, a low Mass is said, which is the more solemn Mass.

“Anyone desiring to experience the rich liturgical traditions of pre-Vatican II, this is an opportunity to do so,” Buccicone said.

He said priests must be qualified in both the Latin language and the rubrical (text) requirements to properly celebrate the extraordinary form of the Roman rite.

During the high Mass, Gregorian chant and other ancient sacred music and clouds of incense fill the church during the liturgy.

The extraordinary Mass is much different than the ordinary Mass in its silence and lack of response from the congregation.

There is no singing and the congregation does not respond to the priest vocally.

“The silence is overwhelming,” Buccicone said.

“There is much more time for mediation, and it offers an opportunity for contemplation.”

About 150 people attend the extraordinary Mass. The sanctuary has a capacity of nearly 400.

The solemn Mass, which is said completely in Latin, attracts different types of people. Older Catholics enjoy it because it is the Mass of their youth; younger people, including some with families, appreciate the silence and mystery of the Mass.

“Ironically, older people started coming out of a spirit of nostalgia, but they discovered a reverence for the deep and sacred character of the old Mass,” Kopp said.

And younger families have found that the old Mass teaches the centrality of Christ in the Catholic faith.

The focus of the old Mass is God, not man.

“The new Mass is so busy with active participation that no one has time to pray,” Kopp said.

“The old Mass has a sense of mystery and awe that gives participants a time to pray silently and understand the reality of the Mass.”

Buccicone said the majority of people attending the extraordinary Masses are young and middle-aged people.

“They enjoy the solemnity of the Mass and the mysteries that are inherent in the old rite,” he said.

During Holy Communion, communicants must kneel at the rail and take Communion on their tongue.

No one is permitted to touch the host with their hands other than the priest.

The communicant also does not say “amen” after receiving the host, as is now done in the post-Vatican II era.

Instead, the priest says, “May the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, bring your soul unto everlasting life. Amen.”

Some women in the congregation have returned to the practice of wearing chapel veils, a head covering that displays reverence to the Lord and modesty.

Even the priest’s vestments and acolytes’ cassocks are in the old style.

“I have received calls from priests and convents who have offered me the old vestments that have been stored in closets,” he said. “They are beautiful with some being over 100 years old.”

Upon entering the church, the congregation has access to Latin-English missals, which display both versions.

“The Latin is on the left and English on the right, and people can follow along easily,” Kopp said.

He said the missals help people keep pace with the celebrant as he recites the Latin words. There is no need to actually learn Latin because the translation is already made for the participant.

But learning Latin pronunciation is key to the acolytes who serve the Mass.

Kopp’s 16-year-old son, Michael, said it took about three months to learn the proper Latin pronunciations verbatim.

“There are cards that we can read, but once you do it for a while it becomes natural,” Michael said.

“I would like to see a lot more churches do this because I think a lot of young people would find it gratifying. It takes people to a higher level in realizing that they are in the presence of God, and we are with him at the Mass.”

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Latin Mass Society of Ireland

About a week ago as I was doing an internet search for Latin audio I found a link to the Latin Mass Society of Ireland. They've done a very nice job on their website... it's quite simple and straightforward and includes helpful articles and some great audio.

If you visit the website you’ll see an impressive schedule of Latin Masses taking place on the Emerald Isle and the folks involved are to be congratulated for their efforts and perseverance. I discovered today that one of our Latin Mass devotees receives email updates from this group and credits much of their success to a man named Peadar Laighleis who is currently listed as the President of the Society.

On the homepage of the website three really interesting, practical and in depth articles on the basics of Latin Mass are offered. Take a look at each title below:

What is the Tridentine Mass?
Why Latin?
Text of the Mass

Finally, here's an useful summary by Peadar Laighleis on the state of the Latin Mass in Ireland which I found on the Derry Latin Mass website forum.

The Derry Latin Mass initiative is to be commended.

There are only a handful of dioceses that can be said to be anyway generous: Tuam, Dublin, Raphoe (notwithstanding the Raphoe thread), Cork & Ross and Limerick. That leaves a further twenty-one, though things are happing in Kilala, Down & Connor and Galway - and at a slower pace in some of the more rural dioceses.

But let's face it - the LMSI is about getting the Extraordinary Form in every diocese on at least a Sunday and Holy Day basis. In some dioceses, the work is well underway (though offers of help will be gratefully accepted, thank you). In others, we could do with volunteers on the ground - which is why I think this initiative is so good.

In any event, we begin from an American rather than a European perspective - not 'when are they going to give us the Latin Mass', but 'what are we going to do about getting a Latin Mass'. Just remember, the liberals have been telling us that 'we' are the Church.

Peadar Laighleis

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The Latin Mass Is Not A Cause For Contention

Here's a very well written news article on the resurgence of the Latin Mass under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI. It appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 07/21/07.
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The Latin Mass is not a cause for contention
By Lorraine V. Murray

In the sixties, hippies shunned their elders' traditions, including their approach to paying bills, which involved jobs. With time, however, many hippies traded love beads for suits and realized that working beat living on the streets.

Hippies are long gone, but the anti-tradition crowd lives on and reared its head recently when Pope Benedict XVI announced that the Latin Mass would be more widely offered to Catholics.

Some folks protested that the Church was moving backward instead of forward, but what's wrong with that?

First, a little background: The liturgy of the Tridentine Mass, usually celebrated in Latin, dates back to the sixth century.

And it was the only option for Catholics until the Second Vatican Council rolled out an updated Mass in the vernacular in the 1960s.

Although the Latin Mass was still celebrated after that, it became rarer than the proverbial hen's tooth and today might exist in one parish among hundreds of others.

That one parish for Atlanta's Catholics is in Mableton, where the pews at St. Francis de Sales are filled with parishioners from all over the city, as well as adjacent states.

Clearly, there are people who love this reverent and ancient liturgy and will travel far to find it.

Which may baffle advocates of the newer Mass.

After all, isn't a Latin liturgy confusing and unintelligible? And doesn't the priest show disrespect to the congregation by turning his back toward them during these Masses?

No on both scores: Catholics who cherish tradition find beauty in Latin, which is an unchanging language. And even children follow along at Latin Masses without confusion, since the missals post the vernacular side by side with Latin.

Another wonderful thing about the Latin liturgy is that Catholics can attend Mass anywhere in the world and worship God just like at home, since Latin remains fixed in Nigeria, Paris or Idaho.

As for those critics who claim the priest is disrespecting the people in the pews: He and the entire congregation traditionally faced East, which symbolizes the risen Christ.

I grew up with the Latin liturgy, and when I stepped into the sanctuary, I entered another dimension entirely.

One that was serene and dignified, fragrant with incense and echoing with Gregorian chant.

Before long, I knew all the prayers in Latin by heart, so when the priest said, "Dominus vobiscum," I knew he meant, "The Lord be with you."

Unfortunately, the post-Vatican II Mass has led to some egregious problems.

Traditional Gregorian chant gave way in some parishes to awful, folksy, feel-good music. Organs gathered dust, while guitars and drum machines took center stage.

Obviously, I favor the traditional Mass, but I see no reason to turn Benedict's proclamation into a war between conservatives and liberals. Instead of girding for battle, let's look at the larger picture.

For one, the pope is not doing anything radical. He is merely giving Roman Catholics greater access to something that is their birthright, since the Latin liturgy was standard for many centuries.

After Vatican II, it took a bishop's permission for such a Mass to be offered, but, thanks to Benedict, all that's needed now is a willing pastor in one's local parish.

People who favor Mass in their local language are not being asked to give it up. But those who have sat longingly in the pews, missing the powerful liturgy their ancestors enjoyed, now can have their day. In a church that prides itself on being universal, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Lorraine V. Murray is the author of "Grace Notes. Embracing the Joy of Christ in a Broken World" and "Why Me? Why Now? Finding Hope When You Have Breast Cancer." She works in the Pitts Theology Library at Emory University. Web site: www.lorrainevmurray.com