Showing posts with label Liturgy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liturgy. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2013

Mozetta Returns --- Was it All a Misunderstanding?



(Vatican) A bright red mozetta  was recently delivered to the Vatican by the Pontifical Household. It was ordered just this morning  in haste at the tailor Gammarelli in Rome.
Tomorrow morning there will be the solemn Pontifical Mass for the beginning of the Petrine ministry of the Bishop of Rome. An inauguration ceremony has replaced the usual once since John Paul I. 1978 replaced the usual  coronation of the Pope with the tiara. "In all probability, the only possible reason to explain the order is that  it will be worn by Pope Francis at the inauguration. It is believed that this will be at the tribute ceremony, where the Pope accepts "the promise obedience of the cardinals,” as Messa in Latino reported.

Papal Mozetta Hurriedly ordered and delivered in the Vatican 

Will  the cover  combined with the choir dress of the pope back sooner than expected? Will its owner be the occupant of the Petrine Office?  Tomorrow we will have clarity. Pope Francis had the papal Mozetta that is not any piece of clothing, but a liturgical robe, rejected with rude words when master of ceremonies Monsignor Guido Marini tried to attire him for his first appearance after the Habemus Papam at the loggia of St. Peter's. The loud confrontation with Monsignor Marini was witnessed by many in attendance. The rejection by the Pope was all the more surprising to see, as the master of ceremonies only did his duty and Francis had worn the Mozetta since his episcopal ordination around 1992, including most recently, those of cardinals during the conclave in the Sistine Chapel. Was it all a misunderstanding in a highly emotional moment for the new Pope after his election?

Will Pope Francis wear tomorrow the vestment he rejected at his election?

Pope as Cardinal Francis with Kardinalsmozetta Peter's SquareMessa in Latino,  who was notified of a near dismissal of the Benedict XVI appointed  master of ceremonies, takes note with satisfaction that Monsignor Marini in any case will direct the inauguration ceremony and coordinate with the altar server Franciscans of La Verna who were summoned to Rome.
The Pontifical Ceremonies has with meticulous precision and dedication prepared everything in detail on the model and the provisions of Pope Benedict XVI. Lauds Regiae and the Pontifical Mass will be celebrated in Latin, the language of the Church. The readings, the Responsorial and the supplications are in different languages ​​including Arabic and Chinese. The Gospel is presented only in Greek, the language of the Church of the East, not in the sacral language, as Pope Benedict XVI. had introduced for solemn papal conventions. It seems to have been the desire to abbreviate the ceremony somewhat. With the same intent, the procession will account for the offertory.

Monsignor Marini XVI had prepared a solemn Pontifical Mass according to the specifications of Benedict.

For the Offertory,  the Sistine Chapel will sing the four voiced,  Palestrina motet Tu es Pastor Ovium which was specially composed for the 1585 coronation of the popes.
Monsignor Marini has compiled Latin / Italian / English program notes  for the inauguration, which was printed for the next day at the Vatican publishing house and will be given to all believers and the present leaders, the diplomatic corps and representatives of the Eastern churches, other denominations and religions . In the Eucharist, the Roman Eucharistic Prayer will be used. After the elevation of the Body and Blood of Christ is explicitly recorded that "the Holy Father kneel in adoration."

Pope will bow in adoration after elevation of the Body and Blood of Christ, the knee?

Pope Francis had in his two Masses in the Sistine Chapel in the parish of Santa Anna, and each made only one bow.
The Communion is kneeling on the tongue, as Pope Benedict XVI. had restored under the current rules of the Church. Pope Francis, however, has not as yet not participated in the Communion. In the Sistine Chapel and Santa Anna he gave Holy Communion, only to the two who were serving as deacons.

No Communion by the Pope

With the Te Deum sung, the liturgical part of the celebration closes.
Gammarelli Tailor is a traditional company, since 1798. Under the Blessed Pope Pius IX. it was in the papal tailor in the  19th. All of the robes of all popes since the Blessed John XXIII. were tailored by them.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Messa in Latino

Judas’ Words Echo Through the Centuries

Edit: interesting that so many commentators are creating a false dichotomy between poverty and glorious liturgy and the beauty of the Church. It summons up an image of Judas and the incredulous disciples:


And when Jesus was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, There came to him a woman having an alabaster box of precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he was at table. And the disciples seeing it, had indignation, saying: To what purpose is this waste? For this might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. And Jesus knowing it, said to them: Why do you trouble this woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.

For the poor you have always with you: but me you have not always. For she in pouring this ointment upon my body, hath done it for my burial. Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her. Then went one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, to the chief priests, And said to them: What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? But they appointed him thirty pieces of silver.

FatherZ expresses this misgiving as he discusses his own ministry in Holy Mass and his own coming to terms with its “trappings”. Indeed, the caricature of humility and poverty from the media, and others who should know better, when they talks about Pope Francis’ simplifications when St. Francis himself spared no expense for the beauty of his church, vestments and appointments. FatherZ passionately writes:

Back when I resisted the liturgical kissing of my hand when being handed a chain, spoon or chalice, I had made the mistake of imagining myself to be more humble by that resistance. That was a mistake. Ironically, my resistance to those gestures turned the gestures into being about me. Submission to the gestures, on the other hand, erases the priest’s own person and helps him to be what he needs to be in that moment: priest, victim, alter Christus. The trappings, the rubrics, the gestures erase the priest’s poor person. Resisting these things runs the risk of making them all about the priest again.

In a sense, I had made the objection of Judas about the precious nard which the woman brought to the Lord. Jesus responded that the precious stuff should be kept for His Body, which was to be sacrificed. People who object that we should have only poor liturgy are falling into the argument of Judas. We must submit to the precious and sublime in recognition of the truth of what is going on. To pit the sublime and complex and precious and beautiful against the low, simple and humble is schizophrenic and not Catholic.

There is no real conflict of the humble and the sublime in liturgical worship
Link to painting a stained glass store.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Italian Blog Quotes Pope, “The time for carnival items is over”.

Is this good-bye Msgr. Marini?

Edit: this is Cathcon’s translation of Katholisches which picks up a lot of stuff in the Italian press and presents it for a Catholic audience in Germany. Here, they’ve quoted the very reliable blog, Missa in Latino, with one person apparently overhearing the Pope tell Msgr. Marini that "The time for carnival items is over”.

It’s also apparent that Msgr. Marini, Pope Benedict’s Master of Ceremonies, is going to be fired.
Monsignor Guido Marini, the Master of Ceremonies of Pope Benedict XVI. and all previous Masters of Ceremony face redundancy. This is reported by the tradition-orientated Messa in Latino . Pope Francis will get for his inauguration ceremony and the associated Pontifical Mass, the Franciscans of La Verna. "A further signal of the Jesuit Bergoglio to present himself as Franciscan on which the media places great value " said Messa in Latino .

Can only panic ensue because of the nature of the statement for which no exact source can be specified? Only a form of incitement associated with traditionalists against the new Pope, as the Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi recently lamented? Traditionalist Catholics are confused by some gestures of the Pope. The return of the "plywood altar" (Paul Badde) as people's altar in the Sistine Chapel was perceived partly with horror.

The Master of Ceremonies of the Pope is associated with the Roman Curia and the leadership of the church as much as a hermit on a high mountain. He is responsible for the central part of the liturgy, from which alone can come the renewal of the Church. If Monsignor Marini should actually be dismissed and it looks like even the first to be dismissed, then the recently so vehemently demanded conversion of the Roman Curia would start with a completely wrong step.
Link to Cathcon...

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Pope’s First Mass is Versus Populum

Setting for Mass Versus Populum

Is the Cafeteria Open?


Edit: according to FatherZ, the new Pope is now saying Mass in the magnificent Sistine Chapel versus populum.  Once you start a ball rolling, it’s hard to stop.  One wonders what other changes will be taking place?  It looks like we’re going back to John Paul II and that Msgr Marini may be looking for a new job soon.

Some of us were brought back to 2006!

Here you can watch the Mass live on EWTN.

One reader asks, “is the cafeteria open?”  Thanks to him for that witty reposte.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Benedict XVI. Made Changes to the Enthronement Rite of the New Pope -- Ferula Papalis and Tiara?

(Vatican)  Osservatore Romano  published an interview with the Minister of Cermonies of the Pope, Msgr Guido Marini in its Saturday edition. On the 18th of February Pope Benedict XVI. received Msgr Marini in audience. On this occasion he made “in the power of his Apostolic authority” some changes in the Ordo rituum pro minister Petrini initio Romae episcopi.

In the interview Msgr Marini explained the proposed changes by the Pope. What was not also mentioned regarding the use of the Ferula Papalis is that Pope Paul replaced it with a cross staff that was characteristic of the pontificate of John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI. returned the old practice with Palm Sunday of 2008, initially by using the Ferula of Pius XI, then from 2009 a lighter custom made Ferula was found for him. Will the Tiara be reserved, a visible expression of papal authority even if it is only placed on special occasions on the statue of the Apostle Peter and first Pope?

First: What is the Ordo Rituum per ministerii Petrini initio Romae episcopi?

As the introduction to the Ordo under Nr. 2 says, it deals with the Rituale, which the papal celebration of the Bishop of Rome  upon the occupation of his See and the places it governs.

In other words the book contains all of the liturgical texts for the celebrations of the new Pope from the moment of the solemn proclamation of his election to his visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

The Ordo was approbated by Benedict XVI. with the rescript Ex audientia Summi Pontificis of 20 April 2005, on the day after his election as Pontifex Maximus. I must also add that the office for the Liturgical celebration of the Pope required at that time great subject knowledge and a large work for study and preparation, in order to bring the Ordo in its form.
Holy Father With Ferula

The Pope has now approved some changes in the same way. Can you tell us the reason?

It seems to me that I can describe two in particular.

First of all the Pope once experienced the celebration at the beginning of his Pontificate in 2005.

This experience and the consequent employment with that ended some interventions from him for the improvement of the texts in the sense of a harmonic development. Second, he wanted to continue in this line, that he had taken the steps toward changes in the papal Liturgy.

In other words: for the better celebration of Holy Mass to distinguish it from other rites which are not directly connected.

I refer for example to the rite of canonization, of the Resurrexit on Easter Sunday and the conferring of the Palium to new Metropolitan Bishops.

What will happen in practice?

As already indicated, the celebration of the inauguration of the Bishop of Rome will be ordered just as also with the enthronement in the Lateran Basilica the typical rites before and outside of Holy Mass and no more within the same. What the celebration of the inauguration of the Bishop of Rome involves, so all of the Cardinals will participate in the oath of obedience.

In this way the gestures which the electing Cardinals will perform during the election in the Sixtine Chapel, will again retain a public dimension and with that include all members of the College of Cardinals and at the same time is an expression of his Catholicity.

It doesn’t involve a novelty, which all well remember at the act of obedience in the beginning of the pontificate of John Paul II, in which all the Cardinals at the time participated. It suffices to think on the famous and moving picture, the embrace of Pope Wojtyla showed with the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as with Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski.

In the interview Msgr. Marini refers to the rite of obedience as reported by Cathcon:


When Pope Benedict celebrated his inaugural Mass in 2005, 12 people were chosen to represent all Catholics: three cardinals, a bishop, a diocesan priest, a transitional deacon, a male religious, a female religious, a married couple and a young man and a young woman recently confirmed.

Among the first acts of the new bishop of Rome, is provided for in the visit to the two papal basilicas of Saint Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major. Are there also some changes in this regard?

In contrast to what was has been envisaged for the Ordo, new pope does not have to do this immediately after the election, but can make it as he deems an appropriate time and do in an appropriate form, be it with a Mass, with the Liturgy of the Hours or special liturgical form, what previously had been required.

Is there anything new in the field of music?

The former Ordo allowed for mostly a new musical repertoire, which was composed on the occasion of the drafting of the Ordo.

The current Benedict XVI approbated version provides more freedom in the choice of the sung parts and allows the rich musical treasure of the Church's history to bring to bear.

Einleitung und Übersetzung: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Wikicommons

Friday, January 18, 2013

Cardinal Canizares Cites SSPX in Need to Reform Liturgy

Edit: Cardinal Canizares cites Archbishop Lefebvre.  "Some of the changes called upon by the Second Vatican Council are still pending..."  This is a possible motive for his reform, which he also says, is not synonymous with change.

Archbishop Di Noia has also sent out a letter to SSPX HQ in Menzigen, which then forwarded the letter to all of the priests of the SSPX.

Hence, so much for those who've not wanted these discussions to be fruitful from the start, especially those Old Liberals in Germany.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Don Siro Cisilino, Guardian of the Immemorial Mass Through Trials and Bans

(Venice) Today it is hardly imaginable any more, what the climate was,  even a few years earlier it considerably more rough. Individual priests who would held to the old Mass were those who were hard pressed by the Diocesan church leadership. One of them was the priest Don Siro Cisilino, for whom it is to be thanked, that the celebration of Holy Mass in the "Old Rite" was never broken in Venice. A short portrait should portray his way. A few months before his election as Pope the then Patriarch of Venice, Albino Cardinal Luciani, forbid in 1978, with a hard line, against the celebration of the "Old Rite" in the city and in his entire Diocese.

The famous "city on the water" had a priest, Don Siro Cisilino, despite the 1965 intervening Liturgical revisions and the following Liturgical reform a few years later, held fast to the Tridentine Rite. The priest and musicologist born in Pantianicco near Udine in Friuli, worked as a pastor in lagoon city. There he wed the beautiful, 1718 classical style overlain on the previous medieval structure of the church of St. Simeon Piccolo. The church is consecrated to the Apostles Simeon and Thaddeus. In order to distinguish it from a nearby parish church, which is consecrated to the Prophet Simeon, it is called the parish church of San Simmeone Grande and the church on the canal is called San Simeone Piccolo. The oldest evidence for both churches traces the back to the 10th century.

Abrupt Liturgical Change: 1965 Introduction of the Vernacular, 1969 New Missal


As with the abrupt celebration of the Mass in the vernacular on March 7th, 1965,  Don Siro did not alter his practice.  He celebrated from then on in Latin according to the Missal of 1962.  The priest had already previously foreseen a radical change with inner disquiet and great sensitivity to the various small liturgical novelties.

As with the first Sunday of Advent in 1969 according to the 1965 translated Missal of 1962 a far deep ranging attack followed and a completely new Missal was introduced, Don Siro refused it.  He did not allow himself through any inducements or threats to celebrate the New Rite.

Exodus and Patience in the Catacombs

The changing times broke on Don Siro Cisilino.  The priest had to leave his church on the Canal Grande because of his refusal.  He took advantage of the Franciscans of the city for a right of sanctuary,  in order to celebrate outside of Mass times, in the truest sense of the word, to be able to celebrate the Old Rite in peace.

As in 1976 the case of Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X he founded "exploded" and the "Traditionalists" were persecuted like sectarians, the Franciscans revoked the guest friendship they offered.  Although Don Siro neither knew Archbishop Lefebvre nor had any contacts to this community, he became a victim of an over eager obedience.  He became too "hot" for the Franciscans.

The priest found a new guest friendship with the Benedictines on the island of San Giorgio near the Palace of the Doge.  In the crypt, which he was allotted by the monks, the Mass of Pius V survived in a certain way in the catacombs.  The Benedictines of San Giorgio were changed to the Novus Ordo, yet continued to celebrate in Latin and preserved the Gregorian chant.  This situation gave them understanding for the homeless priest, to whom they gave asylum.

Ways of Providence and the Return to San Simeone Piccolo

By a fortunate consequence, friends of Don Siro's spoke without hesitation of divine providence, when the famous church musician Carlo Durighello, took part in the humble feast, which was held in July 1977 for the 50th Priestly Jubilee of Don Siro. Durighello had received permission from the Curia,  to use the church, closed since the time of Don Siro's forced departure, for a church music concert.  With great expense, Durighello undertook the necessary renovations.

It was the first time through  this that the church musician and the musicologist met for the first time, and it came that Durighello invited Don Siiro to return again back to his old church.  After the first Mass celebration in August of 1977, the traditional priest was installed permanently on his Mass location at the Canal Grande.  The return meant also a departure from the catacombs of San Giorgio and new visibility for the Old Rite.  Under the general climate of that time, a daring step, which Don Siro did not take lightly.  He suspected new difficulties to come.

Soon word got around, that after years in the city without an available Mass in the "Old Rite" was celebrated.  The number of the faithful, who streamed to San Simeone, was ever greater.

Albino Cardinal Luciani, who later became Pope John Paul I, Forbid the Old Mass

The peace did not last long.  Only a few months later the storm broke.  The then Patriarch of Venice, Albino Cardinal Luciani declared in a document that "the celebration of the ancient Mass in the Church of San Simeone Piccolo and in the area of the whole Diocese, is to be categorically forbidden,"  it said in a private message and without the participation of the faithful.  That was the only notification.

In the official Diocesan paper (Rivista diocesana del Patriarcato di Venezia, edition April-May 1978, P 167)  the curia renewed its proclamation:  "The Patriarch previously forbid that in San Simeone Piccolo -- as has been against the protest of the current pastor, the Vicar and other faithful in the render-vous of the movement Una Voce -- that  the so-called Mass of St. Pius X is celebrated."  At least the ban, that the Old Rite may not be celebrated in the entire Diocese any longer, had fallen away.  Don Siro had to leave San Simeone Piccolo for a second time, but was able at least to return to celebrating Holy Mass on the island of San Giorgio with the Benedictines.

Early Death of John Paul I., Saved the Celebration on Canal Grande

After the death of Pope Paul VI. the Patriarch of Venice became elected the new Pope John Paul I on the 26th of August 1978.  His early death with only a pontificate lasting 33 days was such that the Patriarchal throne as well as the Cathedra of Peter in Rome became vacant.  This double vacancy allowed that the celebration of the Old Mass in San Simeone Piccolo could quietly continue.  Don Siro celebrated Holy Mass in the Tridentine Rite till the end of 1984 in the beautiful church on the Canal Grande right across from the train station of the city.  Becoming very sick, not the least because of his hard struggles of the previous 20 years, he returned to his home in Friauli, where he died on March 4th, 1987.

Liturgical Struggles From Death and Beyond

Even in death the Liturgical peace would be refused him.  The dead priest had never celebrated the Novus Ordo a single time in his entire life.  His wish and desire was to be buried in the traditional Rite. Prepared by past experience, his friends made the Curia of Udine aware of this on many occasions.  But still the former Archbishop of Udine, Msgr Alfredo Battisti, celebrated, without hesitating to violate the last will of the departed, the New Rite and versus populum, which Don Siro had steadfastly avoided his entire life.

Don Siro had never let the thread of the celebration of the Mass in the "Old Rite" in Venice ever break. The Holy Mass in the Tridentine Rite could also continue after his departure, in San Simeone Piccolo, where there were found other priests, who followed the example of Don Siro.  In this way, the classical Rite could continue in Venice uninterruptedly till the year of 2007, as Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated the "Mass of All Times" with the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum" and called it from the catacombs, to which it had been banned.

Don Siro is the Bridge Builder till Summorum Pontifical

Paolo Zolli, early departed Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Venice and Companion described the accomplishment of Don Siro with the words:  "In the harsh times of adversity courageous men are needed, who will carry the torch on further, till God grants better times."  In the implementation of Motu Proprio,  the former Patriarch, Angelo Cardinal Scola, erected the church of San Simeone Piccolo as a personal parish in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, which has been entrusted to Father Konrad zu Löwenstein of the Fraternity of St. Peter.

Link to original...

Monday, October 8, 2012

Benedict XVI: No Unauthorized Changes in the Liturgy

Vatican City (KNA) Pope Benedict has spoke out against unauthorized alterations in the Liturgy. 
Because of the universality of the Church with its "rich tradition and creativity" the Liturgy "is not to be  distorted by communities or experts",  the Pope said this in his general audience at St. Peter's Square. 
(photo:  today in Germany this can be found almost everywhere:  the laity play in sanctuary theater) 
It's not the individual priest or believer who celebrates the Liturgy, but it is God,  who is the center of the Church, he stressed. 
For that reason these forms must be true to the universal Church.  The religious service is about the living presence of Jesus Christ and not for the recollection of something past, said Benedict XVI further. 
If the celebration doesn't proceed with Christ as the center,  then it doesn't concern Christian Liturgy.   The Liturgy of the smallest community also has the entire Church present, the Pope stressed.

An example for alterations in the Liturgy can be found in a video presentation at a Carnival "Mass" in Ochsenhausen.

From the German District Page of the SSPX...

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Episcopal Consecration Celebrated "Facing God" in Italy


(Rome) The news is not new, yet it is subsequently newsworthy. On the occasion of the consecration of the new bishop of the Diocese of Carpi, Italy, Monsignor Francesco Cavina removed the main altar from the chancel and celebrated ad Dominum Cathedral of Imola. This report on tradition is associated website Messa in Latino. The consecration was in the presence of Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State.

The consecration took place on 22 January 2012 in the Cathedral of St. Cassian instead. It must have been a one-time process that is still remarkable, and not least because of the importance of the event. Two weeks ago, Pope Benedict XVI. also celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the Sistine Chapel ad Dominum.
Destruction of the High Altar

Back in 2006 there was an episcopal ordination in Italy ad orientem, as on 25 June 2006, the new Archbishop of Oristano was ordained in the local cathedral. The consecration was before the then President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Camillo Ruini. The Parish Priest Msgr Costantino Usai had decided to end the "provisional solution" of a popular shrine. He justified the decision to the cathedral chapter, among other things, that the initiative that had been was not caused by the Second Vatican Council. The main altar is hindering the full enjoyment of the great dynamic power of the liturgy, and it runs the risk of a reduction in the danger of self-celebration in itself. The outgoing Archbishop Monsignor Pier Giuliano Tiddia had welcomed the decision.


As the newly appointed Archbishop Msgr Ignazio Sanna was consecrated and enthroned, he was forced to celebrate ad Dominum. Immediately after his enthronement the new Archbishop explained then that the "experiment" ad orientem is "not successful" and "this form of celebration" will lead back "to a pre-Conciliar dimension", "which, as I must assure, does not correspond to the sensibility of the people of God." The people's altar was rebuilt, this time the high altar was permanently bricked up and broken off from the possibility of another "restoration trial".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi Images: Messa in Latino / Fides et Forma

Saturday, August 4, 2012

To Boldly Go Where no Liturgy Has Gone Before


Edit: There was a lot of liturgical and architectural experimentation going on before the Second Vatican Council.  Here is one such attempt, sixty years hence.

This is the 60th Anniversay of the 35th International Eucharistic Congress in Barcelona --  this is a monumental altar which is today the Plaza of Pius XII along The Avenue of the Generalissimo (now Diagonal) in Barcelona.  It was the first Eucharistic Congress after World War II.  Courtesy Francisco de Morandé











Monday, July 30, 2012

Petition For Pope Benedict to Say the Traditional Mass Publicly

Young people want a Liturgy that inspires them to be extraordinary Catholics -- not a Liturgy in which they can be ordinary and commonplace -kreuz.,net [whoever he may be]

(kreuz.net)  The Brazilian Attorney Ottavio Demasi has started an Internet Petition.  It aims to move Pope Benedict XVI to publicly celebrate the Rite of 1962.  The petition has been running since early July.  Demasi is active in a southern Brazilian city of 20,000 on the edge of Sao Paulo.

The Only Real Mass

The signatories have the opportunity to justify why they have signed the petition.

Jonathan Sipangkui from Malaysia writes: "Because I am a Catholic".

Or Gabriela Parra from Brazil:

"I have signed because it is the only true Mass, which we have.  The other is a great lie, which was established by evil men, who wanted to destroy the Catholic Church."

Only the Mass Can Defeat the Enemy

Nathan Allen from the USA maintains that it would have been unthinkable for every Catholic before 1969, that the Pope would need a special reason to offer a Holy Mass according to a Mass book, which all of his predecessors had used.

Actually "because we find ourselves in the special situation, in which the enemies of the Church are in its highest positions" was another reason given by Allen.

"The Roman Mass is the offering of the cross and the greatest weapon the Church has against all heresies."

And: "Only the true Mass can defend the Church from so many enemies both within and without."

Activism Instead of Prayer

Elizabeth Fitzmaurice from the USA writes, that she only visits the New Mass in exceptional circumstances:

"I fight the whole time during that, to bring myself to prayer."

Because:  "The New Mass was designed to keep the people occupied, occupied, to keep them occupied, so  that they can't experience prayer, silence and contemplation."

John Polhamus from the USA continued:

"Young people want a Liturgy which inspires them to become extraordinary Catholics -- no Liturgy, which leaves them ordinary and commonplace."


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Bishop Schneider Says: Communion in the Hand is a Great Wound in the Church

A reform of the Church is advanced by an end to Communion in the hand and supper tables.  Proceedings and Old Liberal committees will play a completely subordinate role.
Auxiliary Bishop Schneider
on der Homepage of the
Shrine of Maria Vesperbild.
 

(kreuz.net)  "The more committees, the more proceedings, the more fear of public opinion and the politically correct, the less there will be real reforms in the Church."

This is what Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider from Astana in Kazakhstan said on Pentecost Sunday at the Swabian pilgrimage Maria Vesperbild.

For Msgr Schneider it is "more than clear that the Church has experienced a great crisis."

Communion is Handed out Like Bread

The crisis  shows itself in its most gripping in the declining Liturgy, for the prelate:  "Today's manner of receiving Communion spread throughout the world is a great wound."

The body of Christ has been received "without recognizable sacral gestures of worship".

Hand communion leaves one with the impression as if one is taking a regular meal, which "one puts in ones' own mouth".

The Bible gives a different example of reverence

Msgr Schneider recalled that the angel and prophets in Holy Scripture knelt before Jesus Christ:

"How great is the contrast between  today's widely spread form of handcommunion with the minimalistic signs of reverence on the one side and the glorious examples in Holy Scripture and the examples of Catholics frm the past two thousand years, and  also the edifying examples of our own associates, parents, grandparents on the other side."

The example of the Pope

Msgr Schneider recalled then that Pope Benedict XVI has been distributing Holy Communion in the mouth since Corpus Christi of 2008 to the faithful on their knees:

"A true Catholic, and even more a Catholic Bishop, can not ignore the Pope's  gestures."

That would be a true renewal

For the Auxiliary Bishop it would be a poignant sign of Faith if all the Masses world-wide "were brought back to clear signs of reverence, silence, the holiness of the music".

He criticized the supper table very carefully:  priests and people should interiorly and exteriorly look together upon Christ -- he said.

All faithful should "receive the body of Christ self-evidently in the state of sanctifying grace, having gone too confession, and  to receive it directly in the mouth with the piety of a child."

In this Msgr Schneider sees "powerful sings of a true renewal in the Church".

In such Masses a God fearing man should fall on his knees and say:  "Verily,  God is among you"  [1Cor 14 24-25]

A Church of Believers -- not of Church-tax payers

The Auxiliary Bishop explained in his sermon an example of reform from Kazakhstan.

In the city of Karaganda the Catholics built one Church every 35 years under the Communists.

The authorities allowed only a lowly, utilitarian building without towers or a cross.

For two years the faithful -- also the elderly and the children --- were occupied with the building.

They dug even in the earth, in order to put the church deeper in order to allow for a larger interior space.

Without Discussions or Commissions

After the completion of construction there was no Bishop far and wide who could have blessed the church.

Actually the parish priest -- he was called Pater Alexander Chira by everyone -- promised the faithful that God would send a Bishop.

On the day of the blessing he appeared himself with a mitre and shepherd's staff in the church.  He was a secret Bishop.

According to a woman who witnessed the event, there were even more tears flowing than holy water.

The church blessing is an example for Msgr Schneider "of true reform of the Church without a lot of commissions and discussions."

Link to kreuz.net...


Monday, April 23, 2012

UK Priest Turns Church Into Profane Hall

"When we enter ornate and clean Basilicas, adorned with crosses, sacred images, altars, and burning lamps, we most easily conceive devotion. But, on the other hand, when we enter the temples of the heretics, where there is nothing except a chair for preaching and a wooden table for making a meal, we feel ourselves to be entering a profane hall and not the house of God" -St. Robert Bellarmine (Octava Controversia Generalis, liber II, Controversia Quinta, caput XXXI).
An Anglican So Broad He's Completely Flat

Edit: Jesus might have attended festivities and cheered sinful guests in an edifying way, but he didn't turn the Holy of Holies into a beer garden.  The same priest has used a bar for Mass last year.

Thousands of real ale lovers are being welcomed into an East Yorkshire church for a beer festival.
The Hull Real Ale and Cider Festival is being held at Holy Trinity Church, in the city centre, for the first time.
Pioneer minister the Reverend Matt Woodcock said he thought it was the kind of event Jesus would have enjoyed.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Diminishing Liturgical Latin Invariably Leads to Schism and Separation from Mother Church

Linguistic Nationalism Was the Beginning of the End

The Old Liberal Council Fathers laughed at his sensible voice: "Quickly one leaves the safe >>old way<< -- but the new ideas may tear open before us an abyss."

(kreuz.net) The sensible Bishop Giovanni Battista Peruzzo (1963+) of Agrigento in Sicily gave a remarkable speech at the Second Vatican Council.

Actually, the Old Liberal faction sent him off with laughter.

Historian Roberto Mattei (63) wrote this in his book "The Second Vatican Council. A story untold till now".

The prize winning work appeared in December in German in the 'Edition Kirchlich Umschau'.

The anti-Liturgical Movement



Msgr Pruzzo argues historically in his assertions. He recalled the anti-Liturgical movement, which arose at the end of the 15th Century and the beginning of the 16th century.

It appeared in the circles of a heathen humanism.

The first Italian anti-Liturgists were "true and actual heathens" -- maintains the Bishop

The leadership of the movement was undertaken by humanist Erasmus von Rotterdam (+ 1536).

All anti-Liturgists showed themselves in their erratic faith: "They followed each other as brothers in competition, who would later separate themselves from the Catholic Church" -- explained the Bishop.

Finally, we arrived at the Modernists.

They had no Saints on their side.

Bishop Peruzzo insists that there is not a single sainted Bishop who promoted this movement. On the contrary, they would have bound everything to Latin tradition.

He named St. Charles Borromeo (+1584), St. Antonio Maria Claret (+1870), St. Francis de Sales (+1622) or St. Alfonsus de Ligroui (+1787).

Bishop Preuzzo stressed caution:

"One quickly leaves the >>old way<<, which is secure; but the new ideas, what abysses they loom and make ready for us."

A Prophetic Judgement


Msgr. Peruzzo cited the anti-Liturgical theories of the fallen priest Erasmus of Rotterdam.

This one found it "inopportune and comical, when the simple people and women murmured and repeated their Sunday prayers and Psalms like parrots, while they didn't understand their meaning."

The Parisian University condemned Ersasmus' theses as "Godless, erroneous and encouraging of new errors".

Bishop Peruzzo indicated these incisive condemnations as "excessive". Yet still: "They were prophetic."

Everyone, who promotes a reduction of Latin in the Liturgy, always brings the same argument -- he stated.

It is supposed that the people will "be better instructed, inspired to a greater love of God and be more faithful."

The abandonment of latin after the Pastoral Council should have fundamentally refuted this argument.

The Struggle Against Latin Leads to an Abyss


Msgr Peruzzo asserted that the Germanization of the Liturgy thorugh the Reformers was "the first act of separation from Holy Mother the Church".

He cited the famous Abbot Prosper-Louis-Geueranger (+1875) from the Benedictine Cloister of Solesmes.

He admonished, that the separation of the Liturgical language has in the past, "even if a Papal dispensation is granted, led to schism and complete separation from the Catholic Church".

  Link to kreuz.net original...

Part of a Series:

Cool Headed Council Fathers Warned

Modernists Masked Themselves as the Middle Position

A Prophetic Voice at the Vatican Council

50 Theologians Petition Holy Father



Saturday, February 11, 2012

A Priest Need Not Celebrate "Versus Populum" or Facing the People


Vienese theology professor Feulner: according to accepted Liturgical order, every priest can celebrate Mass at the front side of the "people's altar" while "facing the Lord"


Wien/Vienna (kath.net) "In no document of the Second Vatican Council does it say, especially not in the Constitution on the Liturgy "Sancrosanctum Consilium"(1963), that the priest should or must celebrate the Eucharist "versus populum"." [To the people] This is what the Viennese theology professor Hans-Jürgen Feulner said in a recent interview in the newspaper "Der Sonntag".  Feulner explained then that the foundation for the alteration according to the second Vatican Council is the instruction "Inter Oecumeninici"(1964), in which it states, that the high altar must be separated from the back wall, so that one can easily go around to the back side and say Mass facing the people.

This is to begin with only precautionary clause, which had been quickly introduced, that almost in every Catholic Church so-called people's altars were to be erected, which Feulner describes as constituting "the most obvious achievement" of the Council, although there were before the Council in individual churches such "volks-altars". The designation was later addressed in the "General Introduction to the Roman Mass Book" (Nr. 262) and in the 3rd edition of the Mass book.

The theologian pointed out however on that, that at the same time the Congregation of Divine Rites is said to have clearly ordered, that Mass should not be celebrated to the people. "The rubrics themselves of the past Mass books report indirectly, that the rule for celebration "versus Dominum" ("Facing to the Lord, i.e., not facing the community) is, if it meant to say there, e.g.: "...e (except when he turns to face the people); "...facing the Community.../... turning to face the community" (at the kiss of peace and "Behold, the Lamb of God"); „turn toward the altar” (at the Communion of the priest).", observed the professor of the University of Vienna.

As to the question, why then do priests celebrate today the way they do, turned in most cases to the people, Feulner said that this was often derived from the "Meal character" of the Eucharist and calls by the General Council for "active participation", which required an awareness of what was going on at the altar. "Does this, however, overlook the fact that the meal excludes the sacrificial nature or is opposed irreconcileably to facing each other, rather the Eucharistic sacrifice is complete at least partly in the form of a meal," concluded the theologian and pointed also to the cosmic dimension of the Liturgy an the orientation of prayer "ad orientum". The East is a symbol of the Resurrection on Eastern Sunday, of the assumption into heaven and the coming of Christ at the end of all times (compare Mt 24,27; Offb 7,2).

When asked as to whether the priest may celebrate the Liturgy away from the participants of the liturgy, if there were an [editor: unsightly] people's altar in this church/chapel, Feulner then explained, that both ways of celebration are correct. "According the current valid Liturgical order every priest can thus celebrate at the Euchastic celebration self-evidently (except for the offertory) also stand during Mass at the front side of the altar "facing the Lord", that means, facing the same way as the Community, which corresponds to an ancient tradition of Christians.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Cool Headed Conciliar Fathers Warned Against the Vatican Council

"Countless Interpretations of Sacred Dogmas"
The Mass of All Ages at Vatican II

The far sighted Cardinal James Louis McIntyre of Los Angels warned expressly against intervening in the traditional Rite and a suppression of the language of the Church.



(kreuz.net) Cool headed Conciliar Fathers warned against the Second Vatican Council: A change in the Liturgy means a change in Dogma.

The Italian historian Roberto de Mattei (63) wrote this in his book, "The Second Vatican Council. A Story Untold Till Now."

The prize winning work appeared this December in Germany in "Edition Kirchliche Umschau."

"The Holy Mass Must Stay, as it is."

The far-sighted Cardinal James Louis McIntyre († 1979) of Los Angeles expressly warned of a change in the traditional Rite and the language of the Church.

De Mattei cited the Cardinal's remarkable summation:

"The attack on the Latin language in the Holy Liturgy means an indirect attack, but in the truest sense on the stability of the Holy Dogma, because the Holy Liturgy necessarily contains the Dogma in itself."

The Prince of the Church then recalled that in the language of the people the meaning of words are fundamentally changed.

From that he concluded: "If the Liturgy is degraded in the common language of the people, then the unalterability of doctrine would be endangered.

From that he concluded that the Mass must remain as it is.

The Liturgy is understood visually


In the Preces of the Benedictine Congregation of Beuron, Archabbot Benedikt Reetz, warned against reform in the Liturgy.

He rejected the thesis, that one must use the language of the people, in order for them to understand the Liturgy:

Even the priest doesn't understand everything -- argued the Benedictine.

"The active participation of the faithful consist not so much in singing and prayer, rather in the visual apprehension of things, which happen on the altar."

Symbolic: the humbled Guardian of the Faith


De Mattei took up the enlightening case of Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani († 1979), who as prefect of the Holy Office, had his microphone shut off during the Conciliar negotiations.

Cardinnal Ottaviani criticized the proposals for reform of the Liturgy.

He warned of "excessive alterations", which would harm the faithful, if not even bring them to vexation.

The Cardinal went over his allotted time to speak by ten minutes.

Thereupon the Old Liberal destroyer of the Church, Bernard Jan Cardinal Alfrink(† 1987) of Utrecht in the Netherlands, sounded the bell.

The Supreme Prefect was humbled.

The Old Liberal faction greeted the humiliation with applause.

Next time: The linguistic Nationalism was the beginning of the end.

Link to kreuz.net...

Benedictine Monastery Streams Sung Liturgy of the Hours on Line


Edit: want to help the Church?  Want to see what it's like to be a monk? Pray the Liturgy of the hours on line.




(Le Barroux) The monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Madeleine de Le Barroux have made a special Christmas gift for the faithful.  Over the internet site of the Abbey it is now possible, four times a day, to directly participate in the Divine Office of the Convent.  The monks present the sung Office completely in the Immemorial Roman Rite.  The faithful in the entire world may pray along over iPhone, over iPad in the small hours of Prime, Sext as well as the Grand Hours of Vespers and Compline.




The monk's day begins at 
3.20 and ends at 20.30 hours. The Liturgical day begins at 3:30 with Matins and is complete at 19.45 with Compline.


Live streaming Liturgy of the Hours:


• Prime : 7.45 Uhr oder 8 Uhr (see calender)
• Sext : 12.15 Uhr
• Vespers : 17.30 Uhr
• Compline : 19.45 Uhr
For all who want to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours in the Old Rite itself, the Cloister Store of Le Barroux has a complete Office of the Hour or appropriate Liturgical Calender in a single volume.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Abbeye du Barroux



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tell that to the Pope


Edit:  interesting that this otherwise conservative Bishop needs to clarify the situation.  Other authorities can posit a correlation between "standing" and lack of reverence, though.  


“The proper posture is standing”

Oakland bishop provides detailed instructions on receiving Holy Communion in his diocese

(The following undated “Instructions on Receiving Communion Properly” by Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone have been posed on the website of the diocesan Office of Worship.)

All Catholics, before receiving Communion, are to be free from serious sin and fast from all food and drink (except water and necessary medicine) for one hour before receiving. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1385; Code of Canon Law, canons 916 and 919)

The proper posture for receiving Communion is standing. This is to show the respect that is due the Most Blessed Sacrament (in our culture, standing up shows respect to someone of importance who enters the room); the bow before receiving Communion signifies the humility with which we must approach the Sacrament.

The deeper meaning of this posture, though, is that the position of standing is symbolic of the Resurrection, and so -- as is done in the Eastern Rites of the Church -- we assume this position when we receive the Sacrament of our salvation. 


Link to California Catholic, here...

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Bishop Schneider: The Problem Lies -- Even Without Abuses -- In the Rite Itself


Edit: He stops short of saying for Vatican II what he says of the New Rite of the Mass. He's not just criticizing abuses in the Liturgy, or Communion in the Hand, but the Rite itself.

The new Eucharistic celebration gives the impression of a gathering and not the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. -kreuz.net

Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider
© Marko Tervaportti, Wikipedia,CC

(kreuz.net) Priests and Bishops supposedly had to regard the Liturgical Revolution of Paul VI. († 1978) "with awe", because it had been "formed by the Church".

This is the opinion of Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider (50) of Astana in Kazakhstan at the end of October for the video site 'gloria.tv'.

The Auxiliary Bishop assures that it may be possible to celebrate the new Mass worthily.

A Work of Man

 
The infallibility of the Pope does not correspond to the Liturgical reform -- remarked Msgr Schneider.

No human labor is complete and the Liturigal Reform is a human work.

The Auxiliary Bishop commented in the Pope's declaration in the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum" on the mutual enrichment between the Old Mass and the Eucharistic celebration.

For him the enrichment is if anything, one sided: The new Eucharistic celebration should be enriched by the elments of the Old Mass.

The Meal is only a part of the Mass

Msgr. Schneider is turned against a Mass celebration with the back to God.

There is no precedent for it in Church history.

The Supper Table makes a gathering or a meal out of the Mas. The representation of the Sacrifice on the Cross of Christ disappears into the back ground.

In reality the elements of a meal appear first at the distribution of Communion: "There is the table and the table cloth."

On the contrary, both -- the Communion rail and the Communion cloth -- have been eliminated.

The Problem is in the Rite

In the new Sunday Mass there is -- even without abuses -- the impression of a meeting.

As causes Msgr Schneider described the celebration facing the people and the fact, that laity stand, go into the sanctuary and read readings or accomplish other activities.

In the new Mass, everything is loudly recited. Everything must be seen.

There is too little room for the contemplative, the silence and prayer.

Msgr Schneider believes that the Liturgical Revolution had never been the intention of the Conciliar Fathers.

The true intention of the Conciliar Fathers is still not realized.

Link to original...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Prophetic Voice at the Vatican Council: Bishop Giovanni Battista Peruzzo

Edit: the following is an excerpt taken from the Protocols of the Second Vatican Council. It is taken from Roberto de Mattei's new book on the Vatican Council, Concilio Vaticano II. Una storia mai scritta (The Second Vatican Council: a story which has never been told.). It has met with some controversy, and is not presently available in English.
Wikipedia of Bishop Peruzzo


From the Protocols of the Council

I am the last [who  speaks], but I am old, the eldest in your midst, and perhaps I have understood little; so try to see things my way, if some of my  expressions are distasteful to you.  I have heard many observations and proposals against the sacred tradition of the precious use of the latin language in the Sacred Liturgy and many words have been cause for anxiety and concern.  I would like to shortly contribute something where my remarks will not rest on theological, but on a historical basis.  The anti-Liturgical movement is not so telling because of its origins.   It is more significance importance to be concerned with the noteworthiness of the origins of families, institutions, circumstances and instruction: who is the father, who is the mother and who is the leader.  If the source [of origin] as the beginning is done well, they will easily remain healthy over time.  If the source was contaminated, it will be difficult to clean.  While I draw on these principles, I would like to look the origin of the anti-Liturgical Movement in the eye.

Their fathers, their leaders, this movement was begun at the end of the 15th and as the 16th century began.

The first anti-Liturgists were the humanists, true and real pagans in Italy, better-minded in France and the Nordic countries, led by Erasmus, but all wavering in Faith.   Among them were many of our brothers who joined the contest and later left the Catholic Church.  From them the Jansenists arose, in Italy the participants in the Synod of Pistoia and finally the Modernists: this is the society, who are in many ways comparable.

On the other side is found not a single sainted Bishop who was a promoter of this movement.  From St. Charles Borromeo to Saint Anthony Mary Claret, to St. Francis de Sales to St. Alfons, old as new, all held fast onto the Latin Tradition.  These facts must raise concern about these proposals for novelty.   One quickly leaves the "old way", which is safe; but the new ideas, what voids might we encounter and fall into!

 Erasmus wrote the forward to his Gospel of St. Mathew as follows:  "It seems incongruous and ridiculous that the that the common people and women murmur the Psalms and the Sunday prayers like parrots in a constant repetition, while they do not understand their significance."

The University of Paris condemned this opinion, the simply and justifiably appears as Godless, and promotive of new falsities: one reads in Duplessy.  This condemnation which appears to us as exaggerated, turns out to be really prophetic. All of those, who are of one or another type favoring the reduction of the Latin language, brought to the Liturgy, in the past as today,  the same grounds:  so the people might better understand and come to a stronger faith and greater love of God.

In the Augsburg Confession there was nothing more proposed than that the songs of the people would be  in the common language during the celebration of Mass. But what happened?  The general introduction of the people's language in the Mass was the first act of separation from our Holy Mother the Church.  This harsh statement is not mine, but was that of Abbot Dom Guéranger who is truly the father of the Liturgical Renewal.  So here are his words:

"The separation of the liturgical language for some unexplained motive, which we do not know, has almost always done well in obtaining a dispensation from the Pope, to the schism and the complete separation of the Catholic Church."  
He demonstrates this assertion also, as one can glean this in the 3rd Volume of his "Institutions Liturgique". These words, these facts must make us proceed in this matter very carefully.

I will briefly mention a third evident reason: the loyalty of the bishops, more than any other, have always proved to be to the Holy Father.  Since about five centuries the Popes have steadfastly defended Latin in the Sacred Liturgy against the requests, recommendations and threats.  In more recent times, from Leo XIII. to the reigning Holy Father, they have pronounced on the necessity of the Latin language in the Sacred Liturgy  in various Apostolic Letters.

Bretheren, are these instructions merely suggestions, or do they include an order? Opposing points of discussion are allowed;  actually it will show me right, if  you are content to be silent and in obedient subjugation to the Holy Father.  We all desire that today's men become better Christians. Are we all bent on reaching this goal?  History teaches us in fact that the sanctity of souls is bound with the Liturgy, but it requires that  it, especially our holiness, our strength of faith, heroism of apostolate, prayerfulness, intellect, penitence and also outward devotion would lead people to God.  Please look beyond my vanity and pray for me too!

The Address of Mons. Giovanni Battista Peruzzo, Bishop of Agrigento, a 29 October 1962, quoted from Acta Synodalia sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vatican II: Roberto de Mattei: The Second Vatican Council. A hitherto unwritten story. Ecclesiastical Umschau Edition, p. 278 ff  

[Roberto De Mattei holds to that Peruzzo was ridiculed for this talk by the "progressives" in the auditorium.]

Translated from Elsa's Nacht[b]revier...