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ON SEPT. 23 I walked down the center aisle of our parish church, genuflected and made the sign of the cross while saying, In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Thus began my first Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 more than 22 years after my first experience of celebrating the Eucharist. When Pope Benedict XVI issued his letter of July 7 eliminating most restrictions on the use of the so-called Tridentine Mass, my reaction oscillated between mild irritation (Will this ignite conflict? How will we ever provide such Masses?) and vague interest (Is there perhaps some...

22 November 2007 Vestments for a consistory CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 12:27 pm According to a a communique of the Office of Pontifical ceremonies, on Petrus: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI may use for the Saturday consistory a miter of Pius IX, with images of the Blessed Virgin and the Lord, a cope of guilded silk with a stole coming from perhaps the 16th century, with images of Sts. Peter and Paul.  On the feast of Christ the King, he will use a miter for for him and a chasuble used by John Paul II for...

20 November 2007 Wonderful news from Harrisburrg: Bp. Rhoades treats people like adults CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 6:14 pm I have been catching up on e-mail: it pours in.  I wish I had seen this one earlier! A kind reader sent this.  Enjoy! Edited (the letter was from a scan and had to be cleaned up) with my emphases and comments. Hi Father,   Great news – it finally happened! This morning our vicar general was at St. Lawrence in Harrisburg to read the below letter from Bishop Rhoades. ... There were about 300 people in...

19 November 2007 Archbp. Ranjith interview in L’Osservatore Romano on liturgy CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 12:41 pm His Excellency Most Reverend Malcolm Ranjith, the intrepid Secretary of the CDWDS is in the news a great deal these days.  So much so, with so many interviews and comments that I am thinking he has been purposely set cat-like amidst the progressivist pigeons. Today we also see what a different a new director for the Holy See’s daily L’Osservatore Romano can make.  Signore Vian is having an impact!Here is the whole interview in Italian from the 19-20 November...

Two and a half years after the name "Josephum" came booming down from the balcony of St Peter's, making liberal Catholics weep with rage, Pope Benedict XVI is revealing his programme of reform. And it is breathtakingly ambitious. The 80-year-old Pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away. This recovery of the sacred is intended to draw Catholics closer to the Orthodox and ultimately to heal the 1,000 year Great Schism. But it is also designed to attract vast numbers of conservative Anglicans, who will be offered the protection...

FSSP to Celebrate a Rorate Mass in Hanceville, Alabama, Will be Televised by EWTN 11/13/2007 - PST FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMEDIA ADVISORYCatholic PRWire DENTON, NE (NOVEMBER 13, 2007) – The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) will celebrate a Solemn High Tridentine Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 8:00AM EST. The "Rorate" Mass will be televised live by the EWTN Global Catholic Network. The "Rorate Mass," so called because it begins with the words "Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum..." (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and...

Cardinal George Pell is the first Sydney Archbishop in 40 years to celebrate Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Roman Missal. Celebrated at St Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday morning, the Mass was held to celebrate Pope Benedict's apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum which was published in July. The letter, issued "motu proprio," on one's own initiative, explained new norms allowing for the use of the 1962 missal as an extraordinary form of the liturgical celebration. The norms took effect on 14 September. The Oriens Foundation, which promotes understanding of the Tridentine rite, said the Mass "represented a significant event in...

And is it true? Are the long-held dreams of a thousand bachelor teachers, their shoulders sprinkled with dandruff and chalk-dust, coming to life? Is the great Latin revival happening? After half a century of decline, when the teaching of Latin retreated to a few small brave frontier outposts -- American prep schools, British public schools and the Vatican -- is it back? The answer is -- yes...a bit. The dead language is showing some small signs of recovery; mere glimmers, perhaps, but significant all the same. Chief of the Latin Revival Club is Pope Benedict XVI, who on September 14...

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 1:25 pm The highly estimable Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, His Excellency Most Reverend Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige gave an interview to Bruno Volpe of Petrus where you can find the original Italian. Rorate has their own translation, but here is mine with my emphases: Your Excellency, what kind of reception has Benedict XVI´s Motu Proprio which liberalized the Holy Mass according to the Tridentine Rite had? Some, in the very bosom of the Church, have got their noses bent out of shape… "There have...

Monday, October 29, 2007 New confirmation of old news In the current issue of Italian news weekly Panorama, Ignazio Ingrao confirms some news we had already reported here: -(1) a document is being prepared by the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" explaining some points of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, including what criteria may be used to identify a stably existing group (no specific minimum number) and clarifications regarding the differences between the calendars of both forms of the Roman Rite - the document may be published, according to Ingrao, "in the next few days"; -(2) the possibility of a...

Roman Catholic churches nationwide are rushing to accommodate a surge in demand for the traditional Latin Mass, which is drawing a surprising new crowd: young people. Since July, when a decree from Pope Benedict XVI lifted decades-old restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass, seven churches in the Washington metropolitan area have added the liturgy to their weekly Sunday schedules. "I love the Latin Mass," said Audrey Kunkel, 20, of Cincinnati. "It"s amazing to think that I"m attending the same Mass that has formed saints throughout the centuries." In contrast to the New Order Mass, which has been in use since...

22 October 2007 Fr. Kenneth Baker on Summorum Pontificum and the Future of the Liturgy CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 9:20 pm Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ, editor of HPR has an article on Summorum Pontificum.  My emphases and comments. Summorum Pontificum and the Future of the Liturgy by Father Kenneth Baker We had to wait a long time for the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, to be promulgated, but it was worth it. The document is well thought out and gives some precise juridical norms for the use of the traditional Latin liturgy of the Church. Over the...

I'm sorry. Some weeks ago I wrote a column about the recent "motu proprio" from Rome permitting wider celebration of the Tridentine Mass (The Tidings, Aug. 17). In 20 years of writing columns I never got so much angry mail. The only columns that even came close were about gun control and immigration. On conservative Catholic blogs my name has been mud. I have been called everything from a heretic to a fool. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. And it may surprise my correspondents, but I actually agree with many of them. My previous column was a failure for...

In recent parish bulletins, Father J. Patrick Wissman, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and St. Catherine of Siena Mission in Bolivar, Mo., lashed out at Pope Benedict's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Father Wissman wrote, in part: 'The Pope seems to be out of touch with the ordinary church. He seems to be acting in good will, but giving into the 'letter writers' who have been complaining for years, he will create a shadow church and cause great divisions in every diocese. Such will be that when churches are built, they would have to accommodate both rites and seminarians would...

12 October 2007 Msgr. Perl of the Pont. Comm. “Ecclesia Dei”: we are drafting an instruction on the interpretation of Summorum Pontificum CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 10:26 am There is an interesting piece on Petrus. My translation and emphases. Mass in Latin, a "Petrus" exclusice – Msgr. Perl of the [Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" speaks up: "Too many disobedient bishops and priests, a clarification on the Pope’s Motu Proprio under consideration by Bruno Volpe CITTA’ DEL VATICANO - "It is true, we are drafting an instruction-document on the correct interpretation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum,...

Bp. Trautman issues his own norms for the older form of Mass CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 12:57 am WDTPRS’s favorite critic of the Holy See’s liturgical translation norms, His Excellency Most Reverend Donald W. Trautman, the outgoing Chair of the USCCB’s liturgy office has determined it best to issue his own norms for the use of the 1962 Missale Romanum in the Diocese entrusted to him by the Supreme Pontiff, the Successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ whose own provisions were published for the Universal Church in Summorum Pontificum. The document released by Bp....

Archp Ranjith on bishops who resist Summorum Pontificum: “instruments of the devil” CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:00 pm A kind reader sent me this fascinating excerpt from a talk given by His Excellency Most Rev. Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.  the talk was entitled “Faith, Obedience and Theology” and was delivered at the annual meeting of the Dutch Latin Liturgy Association (Vereniging voor Latijnse Liturgie) in ’s-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) on 6 October 2007. He gave the talk in English, but the person who sent it to me translated...

A 16 year old sets the liturgists straight CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:55 pm I invite you to read this letter from a 16 year old to the edtion of the Georgia Bulletin, the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s newpaper. My emphases and comments. Letter to the Editor Published: September 20, 2007 To the Editor: I am 16 years old, and for the past 11 months I have attended the traditional Latin Mass weekly, while still attending the Novus Ordo Mass during the week. Because of this, I decided to address certain points made by Carroll Sterne in the...

Missale Romanum 1962 By CMAA on October 4, 2007 at 3:37 pm The full Missale Romanum is online, hosted by the CMAA and thanks to a generous gift from Fr. Robert Skeris.

30 September 2007 Benedict’s Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s? Maybe 2 December CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 10:14 am Corriere della Sera’s Luigi Accatoli has an article about the possibility of Pope Benedict celebrating Mass in the Basilica of St. Peter with the extraordinary use of the Roman Rite he derestricted with Summorum Pontificum. Accatoli raises the interesting question of what would be done to substitute the old papal courtiers, abolished by Paul VI.  Here are a couple excerpts (in my translation): No Pontiff has usd the old Missal for 40 years: it could happen on 2...