Pope set to bring back Latin Mass that divided the Church

The Times Online ^ | October 11, 2006 | Ruth Gledhill

[Petrosius]

THE Pope is taking steps to revive the ancient tradition of the Latin Tridentine Mass in Catholic churches worldwide, according to sources in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI is understood to have signed a universal indult — or permission — for priests to celebrate again the Mass used throughout the Church for nearly 1,500 years. The indult could be published in the next few weeks, sources told The Times.

Use of the Tridentine Mass, parts of which date from the time of St Gregory in the 6th century and which takes its name from the 16th-century Council of Trent, was restricted by most bishops after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

This led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences. By bringing back Mass in Latin, Pope Benedict is signalling that his sympathies lie with conservatives in the Catholic Church.

One of the most celebrated rebels against its suppression was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who broke with Rome in 1988 over this and other reforms. He was excommunicated after he consecrated four bishops, one of them British, without permission from the Pope.

Some Lefebvrists, including those in Brazil, have already been readmitted. An indult permitting the celebration of the Tridentine Mass could help to bring remaining Lefebvrists and many other traditional Catholics back to the fold.

The priests of England and Wales are among those sometimes given permission to celebrate the Old Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Tridentine Masses are said regularly at the Oratory and St James’s Spanish Place in London, but are harder to find outside the capital.

The new indult would permit any priest to introduce the Tridentine Mass to his church, anywhere in the world, unless his bishop has explicitly forbidden it in writing.

Catholic bloggers have been anticipating the indult for months. The Cornell Society blog says that Father Martin Edwards, a London priest, was told by Cardinal Joseph Zen, of Hong Kong, that the indult had been signed. Cardinal Zen is alleged to have had this information from the Pope himself in a private meeting.

“There have been false alarms before, not least because within the Curia there are those genuinely well-disposed to the Latin Mass, those who are against and those who like to move groups within the Church like pieces on a chessboard,” a source told The Times. “But hopes have been raised with the new pope. It would fit with what he has said and done on the subject. He celebrated in the old rite, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.”

The 1962 Missal issued by Pope John XXIII was the last of several revisions of the 1570 Missal of Pius V. In a lecture in 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger said that it would be “fatal” for the Missal to be “placed in a deep-freeze, left like a national park, a park protected for the sake of a certain kind of people, for whom one leaves available these relics of the past”.

Daphne McLeod, chairman of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, a UK umbrella group that campaigns for the restoration of traditional orthodoxy, said: “A lot of young priests are teaching themselves the Tridentine Mass because it is so beautiful and has prayers that go back to the Early Church.”

TRADITIONAL SERVICE

• The Tridentine Mass is celebrated entirely in Latin, except for a few words and phrases in Greek and Hebrew. There are long periods of silence and the priest has his back to the congregation

• In 1570, Pope St Pius V said that priests could use the Tridentine rite forever, “without scruple of conscience or fear of penalty”

• Since the Second Vatican Council, the Tridentine Mass has been almost entirely superseded by the Mass of Pope Paul VI

• Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who took the lead in opposing the reforms, continued to celebrate the old Mass at his seminary in Ecône, Switzerland, and formed a dissident group. He was excommunicated in 1988

• The advantages of the Mass, according to the faithful, are in its uniformity and the fact that movements and gestures are prescribed, so that there is no room for “personalisation”

[Bahbah]

I have a missal from the 50's (my mom's). The celebration is much different - it's not just Latin vs English.

So do I and you are right. I am looking forward to this. Thrilled, really.

[Antoninus]

Pope set to bring back Latin Mass that divided the Church

Huh? The Mass in Latin existed for at least 1,900 years--and perhaps more. It was the suppression of the Mass in Latin that divided the Church, not the Mass itself. If anything, the universal Latin Mass--said by all peoples in all lands--is hugely unifying.

As to the suggestion made in this article--Fiat voluntas Tua....

[Antoninus]

I'm a Vatican II baby and don't know a word of Latin

So am I. However, I've been a Latin-o-phile since high school. Knowing the language--even a little bit--enhances your knowledge and facility with English and all the romance languages immensely.

[Betis70]

>>As for myself, I found a good parish here in the Silicon Valley: 'Our Lady of Peace' in Santa Clara, where they celebrate Mass in the manner (as I put it) of "one second after Vatican II". In other words, it is done in English, but done very respectfully, and with sermons that require intelligence and contemplation. I'm happy.

When I go to Mass (not as often as I should) that is where I go. My local parish in Mountain View doesn't kneel at all during the Mass. Same with my brother's parish in Santa Clara.

I feel lost going to Mass here in California, which is part of the reason I stopped attending. Each parish does something different.

[AnAmericanMother]

I bet even in California you haven't run into what I encountered one Sunday when I couldn't get to my parish (I was at a dog show).

I walk into the courtyard in front of the narthex, and there are a bunch of Mexican guys, naked except for loincloths and feather headdresses, crouched on the ground beating on drums and blowing flutes at the top of their lungs.

. . . it was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but that doesn't seem to be a good excuse to me. It was a totally la-la parish. I haven't been back, because I found a good orthodox parish about the same distance from the dog trial venue, but in the opposite direction.

[Puddleglum]

What a crapola of a headline. Not so much describing divisiveness as hoping for it.

Kumbaya

[Puddleglum]

PS - so long as they get to use real tridents it's fine with me.

[Dominick]

"Trent was an infallible council. The Protestantization of the mass and the faith today is partly due to the general disregard for this "meaningless" anathema as you call it."

Balderdash 1.

Trent is an infallible council. The second statement by MurphE is partly a matter of opinion, however the eradication of Latin is proscribed. The Novus Ordo Mass can be said in Latin, and a number of groups do just that.

[murphE]

You stated:

I simply don't understand this gigantic fixation on Latin

I responded with the words of the Church and with the words of one of the most respected authorities on Roman liturgy (whom by the way the Pope Benedict XVI has quoted as well)

Your response:

(I ignored it)

Well, I can't help someone to understand if he desires to remain ignorant.

[trisham]

This is wonderful news. I'm more than thrilled!

[GCC Catholic]

First, why are you dismissing those so quickly and without explanation?

Secondly, and more importantly, Latin is still the primary language of the Latin Rite. Not English, not Spanish, not Italian or anything else.

Have you ever read Sacrosanctam Concilium? Gregorian chant is said to have "Pride of Place" in the liturgy. That being the case, where is it in the majority of parishes?

Then there is paragraph 36 section 1: "Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites." Only after this very direct and straightforward statement are the provisions for allowing vernacular made. It is clear the Council had every intent for Latin to remain the primary tongue of the Church. Several things you won't find include orders to celebrate the Mass versus populum and to completely build a new Mass from scratch.

In addition, in the document Orientalium Ecclesiarum, the Eastern Churches are encouraged to retain and to restore the traditions of their particular rites. In light of that, it simply does not make sense that the Council intended the Latin Rite to abandon all of its traditions.

I have no doubts that the Pauline Mass, celebrated according to the understood norms (versus populum, in the vernacular, etc.) will remain to some degree or another as long as there is a pastoral need for it, with the blessings of the Holy See. However, we certainly can't ignore what the Council directed.

[Talking_Mouse]

I, too, love the English mass, which can be celebrated with splendor and reverence. But the Latin Mass should be --- not obligatory --- but available to all. It is such a rich part of our partimony.

I predict that particularly young adult Catholics will love it. It's -- awesome.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that the TL Mass should be available to all who want to participate in the celebration. I am also encouraged to hear you say that you love the Mass in English also, because I love that Mass too. I agree that young (and some of us not so young) Catholics will love the awesome beauty and reverence of the Latin Mass when it is celebrated correctly. That brings me to my next point.

Do you really think an upstart priestling could ad-lib stuff in Latin, as they all-too-often do in English? Do you realize how damaging improvization is in a sacred rite? At least Father Off-the-Cuff will have more reason to tuck his ego in and refrain from starting Mass by saying "Good morning, folks, glad you could all get here --- some weather, eh?"

Do you really think that many priests are going to stop giving a greeting and opening remarks in English, even if the Mass is in Latin? You have much greater faith then I do. My point is that one of the reasons that people so love the Latin Mass now is that the priests who are currently celebrating it are exacting in their execution of the Mass. This was not always the case before VII, in fact I will go so far as to say it was not often the case before VII.

Now that most American Catholics have heard the Mass in English for much of their lives -- and understand what is going on -- there will be greater application of the Latin Mass then there was when it was the only way most American Catholics experienced Mass. Remember many people prayed the rosary during Mass because they did not understand what was going on.

To those who say that having the missal in both Latin and English is enough, for me at least that doesn't work. I spend way to much time making sure I am saying the words right, or trying to follow where the priest is, to read in parallel what is being said in English. This is why I think that having both the NO and TLM will be very useful for Catholics so that we can praise God and learn of Him more. For those of us who don't learn by reading having experience (and continuing to experience) Mass in English is very useful to understanding the beauty and reverence of the TL Mass.

To come back to my main point, if the priest is not celebrating the Mass correctly, in English or in Latin, it lowers the worship. When, please Lord soon, the universal indult is given, many of the priests who will celebrate the TLM will not be as proficient as those who love the TLM would wish them to be, due to lack of practice. There will be abuses, but not all abuses are malicious. We need to pray for our priests that the Lord enlightens them when they are abusing His Mass, whatever rite they celebrate.

[Jaded]

We have a few places that do this. This is awesome!

[Jaded]

I have my father's old Missal!

[roamer]

EWTN has this link in their news
11-Oct-06: POPE WILL BROADEN USE OF LATIN MASS (F)
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=72164

You can buy a Missal here
The 1962 Daily Missal
http://www.fssp.com/main/publications.html

[nickcarraway]

Actually, every diocese is also considered it's own Church.

[incredulous joe]

I bet that you do know some;

e pluribus unum

adeste fidelis

pater noster

semper fidelis

bona fide

quid pro quo

non sequiter

ad hominun

requiem aeternam dona eis, domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis


I taught Latin in a middle school last year, after only having studied Spanish for 4 years. The kids loved it and they're SAT verbal scores have gone through the roof.


Begin here:


http://www.cambridgescp.com/page.php?p=clc%5Eoa_book1%5Eintro

It's fun. If your church switches over to this you might think about having them start up a class to learn more about Latin, as well as Roman culture and customs.

[rogator]

"I bet Sean O'Malley (as well as a good number of other Bishops) already has his mass mailer set to go just in case."

Then we will know which bishops are on the side of the evil one. It will make it easier for Catholics to know where not to make our contributions.

[nickcarraway]

Almost 40 years later, and they still aren't using a correct translation of the Mass. Interesting, isn't it?

[nickcarraway]

Where did the notion come from that a new Mass could be created? When in Church history has that ever happened?