URGENT: An International Appeal in Defense of Summorum Pontificum

A wide scale international appeal to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has been organized to defend the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum against those who would want to restrict its application.

MOTU PROPRIO APPEAL

READ, SIGN, SHARE AND MAKE IT KNOWN

Pro Defunctis

Mass on All Souls Day in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite celebrated by Rev. Father Michell Joe Zerrudo at the Parish of the Lord of the Divine Mercy, Sikatuna Village Quezon City.

Important Clarifications from the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei

From the New Liturgical Movement:

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei has recently answered some important questions regarding the application of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum submitted by the moderator for the faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form of the diocese of Rzeszów, Poland. The answers, however, are applicable generally. The original questions (in German) and answers (in Italian), published by Nowy Ruch Liturgiczny are reproduced below. Here is an NLM summary; questions 2 and 3 have easily the biggest impact:

1. If there is no other possibility, because for instance in all churches of a diocese the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum are already being celebrated in the Ordinary Form, the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum may, in the same church in which they are already celebrated in the Ordinary Form, be additionally celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, if the local ordinary allows.

2. A Mass in the usus antiquior may replace a regularly scheduled Mass in the Ordinary Form. The question contextualizes that in many churches Sunday Masses are more or less scheduled continually, leaving free only very incovenient mid afternoon slots, but this is merely context, the question posed being general. The answer leaves the matter to the prudent judgement of the parish priest, and emphasises the right of a stable group to assist at Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

3. A parish priest may schedule a public Mass in the Extraordinary Form on his own accord (i.e. without the request of a group of faithful) for the benefit of the faithful including those unfamiliar with the usus antiquior. The response of the Commission here is identical to no. 2.

4. The calendar, readings or prefaces of the 1970 Missale Romanum may not be substituted for those of the 1962 Missale Romanum in Masses in the Extraordinary Form.

5. While the liturgical readings (Epistle and Gospel) themselves have to be read by
the priest (or deacon/subdeacon) as foreseen by the rubrics, a translation to the vernacular may afterwards be read also by a layman.

Year of Priests - Clergy Conference 2009

Clergy Conference: January 4 to January 8, 2010

From the website: http://www.yearforpriests-clergyconferencerome2010.org/programme.htm

The programme includes the daily celebration of Holy Mass in the great basilicas, and on some days Vespers and Benediction. Our celebrants will include: His Eminence, Antonio Cardinal Canizares, His Eminence, James Cardinal Stafford, and His Excellency Archbishop Raymond Burke. We hope to be at the Holy Father's Mass on the Solemnity of the Epiphany.

As part of the programme, on January 7 at 5pm, his Eminence, Antonio Cardinal Canizares, will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical High Mass according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at the Lateran.

Deo Gratias!

Summorum Pontificum

Thank you your dear Holiness for unlocking the chest containing this great treasure of our Holy Mother the Church. I pray that this new year of motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, the Year for Priests, more priests would begin to see the immense value and appreciate what the Holy Father's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum has given for the whole Church.

Sacrament of Matrimony in the Extraordinary Form: Feast of St. Joseph

Photos by Ms. Claire Navarro

On the Feast of St. Joseph last March 19, 2009, Ms. Maria Rosita Bumanglag and Mr. Vincent Dinoso exchanged their vows in the Sacrament of Matrimony according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, the Antipolo Cathedral. The wedding ceremonies used the customs inherited by the Philippine Church from Spain. The Traditional Latin Nuptial Mass was celebrated by Father Michell Joe Zerrudo and assisted by the servers of the Ecclesia Dei Society of St. Joseph. Congratulations and best wishes to Ochie and Vince!

Divine Worship Prefect to Celebrate TLM

Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments will be celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite on April 21 at the Cathedral of St. John the Lateran in Rome. How fitting and significant to all of us that this prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments be celebrating in the Cathedral of Rome what Msgr. Moises Andrade of blessed memory called , in reference to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, "...once more to be the guiding principle in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

Tip: Rorate Caeli

SSPX Bishops' Excommunications Lifted

Source: Vatican News Service

CONGREGATIO PRO EPISCOPIS

Con lettera del 15 dicembre 2008 indirizzata a Sua Em.za il Sig. Cardinale Dario Castrillón Hoyos, Presidente della Pontificia Commissione Ecclesia Dei, Mons. Bernard Fellay, anche a nome degli altri tre Vescovi consacrati il giorno 30 giugno 1988, sollecitava nuovamente la rimozione della scomunica latae sententiae formalmente dichiarata con Decreto del Prefetto di questa Congregazione per i Vescovi in data 1° luglio 1988. Nella menzionata lettera, Mons. Fellay afferma, tra l'altro: "Siamo sempre fermamente determinati nella volontà di rimanere cattolici e di mettere tutte le nostre forze al servizio della Chiesa di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo, che è la Chiesa cattolica romana. Noi accettiamo i suoi insegnamenti con animo filiale. Noi crediamo fermamente al Primato di Pietro e alle sue prerogative, e per questo ci fa tanto soffrire l'attuale situazione".

Sua Santità Benedetto XVI - paternamente sensibile al disagio spirituale manifestato dagli interessati a causa della sanzione di scomunica e fiducioso nell'impegno da loro espresso nella citata lettera di non risparmiare alcuno sforzo per approfondire nei necessari colloqui con le Autorità della Santa Sede le questioni ancora aperte, così da poter giungere presto a una piena e soddisfacente soluzione del problema posto in origine - ha deciso di riconsiderare la situazione canonica dei Vescovi Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson e Alfonso de Galarreta sorta con la loro consacrazione episcopale.

Con questo atto si desidera consolidare le reciproche relazioni di fiducia e intensificare e dare stabilità ai rapporti della Fraternità San Pio X con questa Sede Apostolica. Questo dono di pace, al termine delle celebrazioni natalizie, vuol essere anche un segno per promuovere l'unità nella carità della Chiesa universale e arrivare a togliere lo scandalo della divisione.

Si auspica che questo passo sia seguito dalla sollecita realizzazione della piena comunione con la Chiesa di tutta la Fraternità San Pio X, testimoniando così vera fedeltà e vero riconoscimento del Magistero e dell'autorità del Papa con la prova dell'unità visibile.

In base alle facoltà espressamente concessemi dal Santo Padre Benedetto XVI, in virtù del presente Decreto, rimetto ai Vescovi Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson e Alfonso de Galarreta la censura di scomunica latae sententiae dichiarata da questa Congregazione il 1° luglio 1988, mentre dichiaro privo di effetti giuridici, a partire dall'odierna data, il Decreto a quel tempo emanato.

Roma, dalla Congregazione per i Vescovi, 21 gennaio 2009.

Card. Giovanni Battista Re

Prefetto della Congregazione per i Vescovi

Decree of the Congregation for Bishops
(Translation from Rorate-Caeli)

By way of a letter of December 15, 2008 addressed to His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Mons. Bernard Fellay, also in the name of the other three Bishops consecrated on June 30, 1988, requested anew the removal of the latae sententiae excommunication formally declared with the Decree of the Prefect of this Congregation on July 1, 1988. In the aforementioned letter, Mons. Fellay affirms, among other things: "We are always firmly determined in our will to remain Catholic and to place all our efforts at the service of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Roman Catholic Church. We accept its teachings with filial animus. We believe firmly in the Primacy of Peter and in its prerogatives, and for this the current situation makes us suffer so much."

His Holiness Benedict XVI - paternally sensitive to the spiritual unease manifested by the interested party due to the sanction of excommunication and faithful in the effort expressed by them in the aforementioned letter of not sparing any effort to deepen the necessary discussions with the Authority of the Holy See in the still open matters, so as to achieve shortly a full and satisfactory solution of the problem posed in the origin - decided to reconsider the canonical situation of Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta, arisen with their episcopal consecration.

With this act, it is desires to consolidate the reciprocal relations of confidence and to intensify and grant stability to the relationship of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X with this Apostolic See. This gift of peace, at the end of the Christmas celebrations, wishes also to be a sign to promote unity in the charity of the universal Church and to try to end the scandal of division.

It is hoped that this step be followed by the prompt accomplishment of full communion with the Church of the entire Fraternity of Saint Pius X, thus testifying true fidelity and true recognition of the Magisterium and of the authority of the Pope with the proof of visible unity.

Based in the faculty expressly granted to me by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, in virtue of the present Decree, I remit to Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta the censure of latae sententiae excommunication declared by this Congregation on July 1, 1988, while I declare deprived of any juridical effect, from the present date, the Decree emanated at that date.


Rome, from the Congregation for Bishops, January 21, 2009.



Card. Giovanni Battista Re
Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

A Canonistic Notes on Summorum Pontificum

From the New Liturgical Movement

The first 2008 issue of Liturgisches Jahrbuch ("Liturgical Yearbook") contains some very clear and sound notes from a canonist's perspective on the implications of Summorum Pontificum. This is all the more surprising and gratifying as Liturgisches Jahrbuch is a quarterly edited by the German Liturgical Institute (Deutsches Liturgisches Institut), the centre of German liturgical "officialdom" maintained by the German Bishops' Conference. The article (Liturgisches Jahrbuch 1/2008, p. 3 ff.) is written by Prof. Norbert Lüdecke who teaches Canon Law at the University of Bonn. A summary of the article is given in the current issue of Una Voce Korrespondenz, the quarterly of the German Una Voce association (4/2008, p. 371 ff.), of which a summary appeared, on December 1st, 2008, on the website kath-info.de, which we present to you here in an NLM translation:

1. The bishops may issue "annotations and instructions for the implementation" of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, but they may not add "new mandatory content" (cf. the analysis of the "guidelines" of the German Bishops' Conference by Prof. Georg Muschalek).

2. The "guidelines" of the German Bishops' Conference of 27 September 2007 are not binding upon the individual diocesan bishop.

3. The celebration of the Missa sine populo is, except in the case of insurmountable obstacles, to be allowed "at any legitimate place". "Restrictions of the usus antiquior to certain places or times by particular law are (...) inadmissible."

4. In a Missa sine populo (literally translated: "Mass without people") the faithful may participate sua sponte (i.e. without compulsion). They may also advert other faithful to this Holy Mass.

5. For a group, which according to the Motu proprio is a prerequisite for the celebration of a Holy Mass with the people, the number of three persons is sufficient. The diocesan bishop cannot establish a higher minimum number.

6. The parish priest must not discriminate against Masses according to the old use "by keeping them secret or scheduling them at times difficultly accessible".

7. "The Pope has not ordered that the parish priest could meet the request of interested faithful. He has mandated that the parish priest must do so"(Lüdecke).

8. Faithful whose right to Holy Mass in the older use is being denied by the parish priest do not only have the possibility, but the duty to inform the diocesan bishop about this.

9. "Applications" for the traditional liturgy are "not petitions of grace or favour." "Parish priests as well as diocesan bishops are legally held to meet this request" (Lüdecke).

10. The consent of the bishop to a Holy Mass according to the old use instituted by a parish priest according to the desire of faithful is not required.

11. Laypeople as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and women as altar servers are not allowed in the traditional liturgy.

....

Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos: "Not many parishes - all parishes"

Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos says that the TLM should be celebrated in "not many parishes - all parishes."

Story by Damian Thompson in the Telegraph here.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos on the TLM Instructional DVD

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei provided an introduction to the new FSSP training DVD. In the introduction, he explains what the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum is and what the Pope wants to accomplish in promulgating, of his own will, spontaneously, the universal law, the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Parish Lord of the Divine Mercy Tridentine Mass

Parish of the Lord of the Divine Mercy
Maamo cor. Madasalin Sts. Sikatuna Village, Quezon City, Philippines

Traditional (Tridentine) Latin Mass, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

Schedule:
Private Low Mass of Fr. Zerrudo: Daily 8:00AM
Missa Cantata: Sundays 1:30PM

Spirituality of the Tridentine Mass

A nice resource about the spirituality of the Tridentine Mass with materials written by Dom Prosper Gueranger, Cardinal Alfons Stickler, Dietrich Von Hildebrand, and many more.

Sancta Missa: Spirituality of the Tridentine Mass

Learning the Tridentine Mass

Thanks to Kuya Dennis (Maturan) of Traditional Roman Catholic Philippines for sending this through email.

Original Post can be found at Unity Publishing.

Learning the Tridentine Mass

by Richard Salbato

5-16-2007

In order to prepare my own family for the return of the Tridentine Mass, I sat down with my children and grandchildren and explained to them what to expect and how to attend the old Mass. Then we went to their first Tridentine Mass and although it was almost a two hour drive each way, all my grandchildren were so impressed that they want to make the trip every week from now on.

They were worried about not being able to speak or read Latin and not knowing what to do. However, with a little explanation ahead of time, they were quite comfortable and impressed with the difference. It is because of this very small preparation I gave them and because of some emails I have had from priests that made me see a need for this Newsletter. At least 11 priests have written to me after my newsletter, “Get Ready for the Tridentine Mass”.

http://www.unitypublishing.com/liturgy/TridentineInWeek.htm

They wanted information on what to do to prepare for the Tridentine and how to learn to offer it. None of these priests ever learned Latin. I am going to show here that the people do not need to understand Latin at all and the priest only needs to be able to read it.
Preparing Your Church

Because of some of the architectural changes made to churches, there might be some physical changes to the church that will have to be made in order to offer the Tridentine Mass.

1. The most important thing is that the priest must face the altar (the back wall) so he must be able to stand in the front of the altar. In many cases the way the altar has been altered he cannot do this now because the steps are too close for the priest to stand in front. This altar must be moved back at least far enough for the priest to stand in front. Since the Novus Ordo will probably also be offered in the same church, there should be room for the priest in the front and the back. However, in the Novus Ordo you do not have to face the people, so if the altar were moved to against the back wall (where it should be) it would not be a problem.


2. The altar rail should be replaced so that people can receive communion kneeling. Even for the Novus Ordo, I cannot think of any logical or religious reason for removing it in the first place.
   


3. Vestments, altar clothes, candles, a crucifix, patents, etc. are strictly outlined in the Rubrics, so a priest should check on these things before offering the Mass.


4. The Tridentine Mass is more visual than verbal, so all that can be done to decorate the altar should be done: candles, statues, flowers, etc. St. Francis believed in poverty but he never spared the gold for the altar.


5. If your church now allows the choir to be on the altar, it must be removed and completely out of sight, either in the back of the church, up in the choir loft, or in a side altar. No one but the priest and altar boys should be on the altar.


6. If possible you should move the Pulpit off the altar, so that even the readers do not go on the altar. I prefer that this be raised up high so that the priest can see into the eyes of everyone as he talks.


7. A patent needs to be held by the altar-boy when passing out communion, so if the church does not have patents it needs to buy them.


8. Although not required, an altar rail cloth should hang from the back side of the altar rail. Just before communion this cloth is flipped over the altar rail and when people come up for communion they put their hands under the cloth. This is added protection in case a host or peace of host drops past the patent.


9. Start recruiting more altar-boys (no altar girls) because it is traditional to have four or more altar-boys at each Mass. This will also increase vocations to the priesthood because this is where God touches boys with this grace. If your altar is big enough, there is nothing wrong with having 10 or 12 altar-boys.


10. Having the Tabernacle on the altar would be a great blessing because you will now be facing the altar, and in truth, you should face the altar even in the Novus Ordo.

What the priest needs to learn
I have at the end of this document the Latin and English of the Tridentine Mass. A priest only needs to have to be able to read the Latin of the Mass as he can see the English translation and knows what he is saying. In time he will know the meaning as he says the words over and over. It would be better to learn Latin but at first it is not necessary.

1. Be able to (at least) read Latin


2. Study the Rubrics of the Tridentine Mass


3. Watch videos of the Tridentine (on the internet or DVDs available – see below) to see movements and postures


4. Do not shout prayers like you do in the Novus Ordo, but speak to God. It does not matter if the people hear you. Only the altar-boys have to hear the words.


5. After washing you hands in holy water, hold your forefinger and thumb together, not touching anything with them except the host and chalice. Turn the pages of the Sacramentary with your small fingers.


6. Do not pass out communion in the hand or with someone standing. Always wait for the altar-boy to have the patent under the chin of the communicant.


7. After communion, sit down in private prayer for at least 5 minutes. Only soft music is appropriate at this time.


8. Come in and out of the church from the vestibule and do not great the people after Mass. If you have a separate building for coffee or breakfast, you can meet the people there.


9. Train altar-boys to keep their hands folded like Our Lady of Fatima and to bow down low at each elevation of the Body and Blood of Christ. The people will have the same reverence as the altar boys.


10. Never pass out the Blood of Christ except in weddings to the bride and groom. The bread is the Body and Blood of Christ. So what is the logic in it?


11. Never, ever use extraordinary ministers (so-called Eucharistic Ministers). See Papal teaching –
    http://www.unitypublishing.com/liturgy/VaticanMass2004.htm


12. Except for personal friends, do not get too personal with the parish because it makes it harder for them to go to confession with you. You are in Persona Christi and should make sure there is respect for you and your hands.


13. Pick a choir by ability to sing and not because someone thinks they can sing. Have them learn to sing Gregorian Chants in Latin and preferably without microphones. Never use twangy instruments or music with any kind of beat. Music with a beat alters minds and does not calm the soul. None of the old church music has a beat.

What the people need to know
The first thing people need to know about the Tridentine Mass is that it’s emphasis is silent prayer and quiet reflection. This means that from the moment you walk into the church, you change all your actions from social to prayerful.

Movements should be reverent and slow. Absolutely no talking, not even a “Hi!” Treat the Mass is if you were at the foot of the Crucifixion of Christ, silently watching Him offer is sacrifice for your sins, because that is what the Mass is, even the Novus Ordo Mass. Treat the Tabernacle is if you were being presented face to face with the Triune God in Heaven for the first time, because that is who is in that Tabernacle. Christ said to Saint Gertrude: “One idle word in church is worth a hundred years in Purgatory.” Of course, “idle” means unnecessary but what words are necessary?

1. Dress as if you have died and were about to see God face to face in Heaven.


2. Men should never go to Mass in shorts or short sleeve shirts.


3. Women should dress modestly and feminine (not like men)


4. Women should use veils as is traditional but not mandatory. See “Woman, God’s Last Creation” for the reason.
   http://www.unitypublishing.com/apr1_99.html


5. As for standing or kneeling during Mass, just follow the other people or the altar-boys.


6. Music should be sung like a whisper. The choir is taught to sing to God and not to the people. Unless the church is very large, even speakers are not used because the music should sound like Heavenly background to prayer and not something that beats up the ears and brain, preventing prayer. If there is a choir there is no reason to sing along with them. They should be well trained and any singing along should be done very quietly so as not to interrupt the trained singers.


7. Follow along with the mass in the Missal that is placed in the pews (English on one side and Latin on the other). If the church has not purchased the missals yet or cannot afford them, you can buy them on the internet. See below!


8. After reading the words of the Tridentine (see below) you will see that most of the Mass is the priest praying to God and only when he turns and faces the people does he speak to the people. This is the high priest (Christ) praying to the Father for us. It is Christ offering His sacrifice for us, and we are just there watching and thanking God.


9. Remember that people are there to pray, so do not fidget with your rosary or make sounds or movements that would distract others from prayer. Just use common Church etiquette, which means making others comfortable around you.


10. When going to communion stay in line and go to the next space at the altar rail and kneel down and wait for the priest to come to you. If there is a communion cloth over the altar rail, but your hands under it. The priest will say, “May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul unto everlasting life.” You will receive communion on the tongue, bow your head a moment and get up and go back to your pew. Remain kneeling until the priest starts the final prayers of the Mass.


11. After Mass leave the church without talking because a great many people will remain inside praying and you do not want to interrupt God. After some distance from the front door, it is time to socialize and share your faith with others. It would be good if the church has a dinning hall with coffee and donuts because Catholics should get to know each other but not in church. In the past everything was done at the church and boys and girls met there, husbands and wives met for the first time at church. Friends were made there. Faith was shared and taught at the church. Socialization builds a parish but prayer builds faith.


12. If you want to teach the parishioners an easy way to share the faith with non-Catholics or fallen away Catholics, write to me and I will show you how to do it even if you do not know your faith well or think that you cannot talk. Future Newsletter!

Best Reference source
http://www.sanctamissa.org
http://www.sanctamissa.org:80/EN/rubrics/
IPSO, Information Piety Society of Orthodoxy Sign up for free Newsletter.
Comparison of Tridentine and Novus Ordo
Latin-English Translation of Tridentine
Location of Tridentine Masses

Tridentine Web Sites:
The Vatican benedictxvi@vatican.va
The Papacy of Pope Benedict XVI
Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri
PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF SAINT PETER
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

Rev. Fr. John Trigilio, Jr's Website

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy
Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei
Una Voce America

Understanding the Mass

1962 Missal Summorum Pontificum Edition (Baronius Press) at Totus Bookstore

The Roman Missal of 1962 (Summorum Pontificum Edition) from Baronius Press will be made available at Totus Bookstore. The Missal is order basis at the moment.

For orders and reservations:

Totus Bookstore & Publishing House
2nd Floor Red Ribbon Building
Conneticut cor. Missouri Sts., Greenhills,

San Juan, Philippines

Email: info@totusbookstore.com
Tel.: 723-4326

Summorum Pontificum and Hermeneutic of Continuity

Disclaimer: I am not an expert, nor do i have credentials to make a scholarly opinion, I just would like to share my views.

The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum given motu proprio generated mixed reactions from the faithful, some welcomed the motu proprio with great joy while others dismissed it as something unimportant or irrelevant. I see that the opposition to the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII will be in existence for many years in much the same way as those who are opposed to the Missal of Pope Paul VI no matter how it is celebrated, may it be in line with tradition or not.

In present Vatican celebrations (with the new Master of Ceremonies, Fr. Guido Marini), we can see a glimpse of what is to come, little by little, slowly but surely...the normative liturgy being celebrated in much the same way as the extraordinary liturgy is celebrated. Those things that makes the extraordinary liturgy beautiful and spiritually edifying carried over to the normative liturgy. After all, this is the dream and vision of the current Vicar of Christ: hermeneutic of continuity.

I see that (again just from my own point of view) the position of the Supreme Pontiff is mainly focused on the deformations of the normative liturgy as it is currently celebrated and he wishes us, all Roman Catholics, to learn and grow through the extraordinary form since he said that liturgy should not be frozen in time but should be allowed to grow. I believe that this is one of the many reasons why the extraordinary form should be generously celebrated all over the world. It is just logical: how can we learn from it if we do not practice or experience it.

In this way we will see the normative liturgy sprouting forth from the extraordinary liturgy. The normative will no longer be described as fabricated but truly a continuity of the extraordinary.

Within the context of the Mass, Catholics with traditional views will see it as the new edition of the Roman Missal of Pope St. Pius V, while ordinary Catholics will see it as a new edition of the Mass of Pope Paul VI celebrated with traditional elements.

Document clarifying the terms of Summorum Pontificum: Soon

Vatican, Dec. 31, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican will soon issue a new document clarifying the terms of Summum Pontificum, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news) has revealed.

Confirming reports that have circulated around Rome in recent weeks, the Vatican Secretary of State told the Italian weekly Famiglia Cristiana that the Ecclesia Dei commission will issue instructions to "clarify the criteria for the application of the motu proprio" in which Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) broadened access to the traditional Latin Mass.

Cardinal Bertone said that the new document was needed because there have been some "confused reactions" to the motu proprio. In fact some Vatican officials-- most notably Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship-- have energetically criticized bishops who have failed to accept the papal directive.

Cardinal Bertone took a more conciliatory approach to the disputes that have arisen in the aftermath of the Pope's move to restore the traditional Mass. The Italian prelate told Famiglia Cristiana that had been widely misinterpreted, and the new instruction from the Ecclesia Dei commission would attempt to clear up misconceptions.

"Some people have charged that the Pope was rejecting the Council's [Vatican II] teaching," Cardinal Bertone told the Italian magazine, emphasizing that this interpretation is completely unfounded. At the same time, he also dismissed the theory that Pope Benedict hopes to replace the Novus Ordo Mass, making the "extraordinary form" the single liturgical usage of the future. That is equally inaccurate, the cardinal said.

Cardinal Bertone did not indicate when the new liturgical directive would appear. Some Vatican-watchers believe that the instruction from Ecclesia Dei will appear within a matter of days; others have said that it could be several weeks before it is published.

Pre-Vatican II Tridentine Mass in Cebu

I found this photo in Skyscrapercity forum of a Tridentine Mass (Low Requiem Mass) taken before Vatican II. The photo was from John Ada and posted by arnold_carl . It's amazing to find discussions of the Traditional Mass in such an unusual place.



Carlos Palad made some very good observation that helped determine that the above picture was definetely pre-Vatican II:

The picture is definitely pre-Vatican II.

Looking at it, I can pick out the following details which help me date this picture:

1) There is no free-standing altar. Only the ad orientem high altar occupies the sanctuary

2) The communion rail is covered with an elaborate houseling cloth, which was obligatory in the Mass until made optional by Bl. John XXIII in 1961

3) The pulpit midway down the church is still in use, and is apparently decorated with fine fabrics

3) ALL the women are wearing veils, and the veils are predominantly black, which is really the tradition (only unmarried young women wore white veils; black veils are for the married and widowed)

4) The catafalque in the middle of the church is very tall and elaborate, something not often seen even in contemporary traditionalist liturgies. The candles around it are also very tall.

Kuya Dennis helped identify it as a Low Requiem Mass while Armand sent us photos on how the church looks today:

Sermon (Transcript) of Fr. Calvin Goodwin, F.S.S.P. Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross

I would like to thank maryz who posted her transcript available here. It saved me a lot of time transcribing the remaining 30%. The audio is available here for download courtesy of EWTN.

First of all, we members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter whom you see at the sanctuary today would like to thank Mother Angelica, Mother Vicar, and the Poor Claire community for their gracious invitation to celebrate this Mass here today in this magnificent church. We are particularly grateful to Bishop Folley of the Diocese of Birmingham for supporting our presence here today and to the members of the EWTN staff and board of directors of this tremendous enterprise born of Mother Angelica’s faith and wisdom and which has been so fruitful for the needs of the church all around the world now for a quarter of a century.

There are so many things that can be said on this momentous occasion of the coming into full legal power in the church of the Holy Father’s motu proprio on the traditional Mass. I will do no more than offer a few reflections as the least of all the members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. There are many who would be able to offer more eloquent and apposite thoughts. My comments reflect only my own poor grasp of the gift that the successor of Peter offers to the Church in his teaching and his decrees in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. I could never claim to represent the Priestly Fraternity as a whole or any other ecclesial body, just me.

Father Trigilio said to me this morning before Mass, he was looking at this preaching stole and he said “Wow! That’s really beautiful.” And I said. “Yes. Our theory is if the preaching can’t be good at least it can look good.”

Today marks a moment, a great moment in the history of the Church in modern times. This Mass offered today for the needs and intention of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, is a concrete and visible token of that interior reconciliation within the church which the Holy Father has both called for and made possible through his recent motu proprio which restores the traditional liturgical rights of the church to a central place at the heart of the church’s life.

Certainly no one, now, is unaware of the painful confusions and divisions which afflicted the church’s interior life during recent years. The Supreme Pontiff bears poignant witness to these afflictions when in the letter to the universal episcopate which accompanied the motu proprio “I am speaking from experience since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusions and I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy cause deep pain to the individuals totally rooted in the faith of the church.” And so the Vicar of Christ making use of that personal authority which binds the Universal Church and which is his alone has determined that the healing of those painful wounds must begin and it must begin at the heart of the Church, in the sanctuary, in the Holy Sacrifice which makes present on the altar that very exultation of the saving passion of Christ which is commemorated in the feast which we celebrate here today. So, therefore, let any spirit of suspicion which has led to divisions of amongst Catholics be banished once and for all by this proclamation of the vicar of Christ were he says “What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us too and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful” and we cannot fail to note that the ancient feast which we celebrate today here bears witness to the fact that out of the most abject suffering that the world has ever witnessed, the ignominious passion and death on the cross of the Son of God there emanated reason for joy and exultation, a joy and exultation that will endure so long as this world endures and indeed is crowned for all eternity in heaven so too, though the Church has witnessed contradictions and conflicts throughout her history, she the unspotted bride of Christ always emerges intact to continue her mission for the honor God and the needs of souls. Out of this conviction, the Vicar of Christ offers to the whole church an invitation to what he calls an interior reconciliation much needed and long awaited and so deeply appreciated by faithful Catholics everywhere.

Still, it is not sufficient to take advantage only of the joy of this great moment. We must apply ourselves to the task of appreciating more fully the substance of the mind of the Church as articulated by the successor of Peter. What, then, does the Holy Father had in mind as he restores the immemorial rite of Mass along with all the traditional liturgical rites and uses of the Latin rite? What does he expected to achieve in the life of the Church?

Well without attempting to speak for him, let us briefly look at the rite itself so as to glean from its evident nature and character what it is that the Supreme Pontiff wishes to offer through its restoration to the attention of the whole church. Certainly, we will find there in the rite itself the elements revelatory of the essence of authentic Catholic liturgy for as Pope John Paul II of blessed memory reminded us just a very few years ago “…in the Roman Missal so called of St. Pius V, one finds the most beautiful prayers with which the priest expresses the deepest sense of humility and reverence before the Sacred Mysteries. These reveal the very substance of what liturgy is.”

No doubt, much of the ceremony of today’s Mass will be unfamiliar to many. Two things in particular will probably stand out. One, is that the Mass is celebrated entirely in Latin. The other is that for much the greatest time of the ceremony the priest celebrant prays facing the altar. These phenomena are by no means the only significant ones but they are both immediately different to what many have become accustomed in the liturgy as most often celebrated in recent times. Yet these phenomena, however much they may bring with them the shock of the unfamiliar, are none the less integral to the most central principles of liturgical prayer in the Catholic Church and they are hallowed by an unbroken tradition which, as the Council of Trent solemnly defined, is rooted in the liturgy of apostolic times. Still, given the more common liturgical practice of recent times, it should cause no surprise if good and sincere people simply ask “Why is the Mass in a language that I don’t understand and the rites in a configuration which makes it impossible for me to see what’s going on?” It should be made clear then.

This venerable rite of Holy Mass in no way has in its goal the obscuring of the elements of the Mass, just the opposite. It is so constructed as to be eminently revelatory as Pope John Paul said “…of the very substance of that liturgy is.” There is no need nor would it remain to the context of a sermon in order to analyze elements which may have contributed to certain confusions and anomalies during the time of tumultuous change in the Church’s life. For his part, and this is surely sufficient for us, the Holy Father clearly comprehends the historical context and does not forebear to draw certain difficult but unavoidable conclusions when he says “…in many places the new Missal actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear.” Beyond that, it is surely our priority to note, first, the profound compassion with which the Vicar of Christ seeks to bind up the wounds of those who have suffered and then the sober and insistent fashion in which he summons the whole church -- bishops, priests and faithful to that interior reconciliation without which our service of God, liturgically or otherwise, would be gravely impaired.

All the varied rites of the Church stand together in offering to God the same worship which His human creatures owe to Him and all this rites, singly and together, are equally bound constantly to reflect upon the fidelity and constancy with which they do so. The texts of today’s Mass, of today’s feast, reveal to us, as well as any, a great deal about the authentic essence of liturgical prayer. In the Introit we read “May God have mercy on us and bless us. May He cause the light of His countenance to shine upon us.” What do we perceive here, if not the reality that in this world we are threatened by a darkness, a darkness founded in elements of sin and error and further the acknowledgment that it is God’s merciful action that we must await to effect the dispelling of that darkness.

In the Gospel we read just how that darkness is dispelled. It is through Christ alone, Christ our Light and it is Christ Himself who guides us by the light of truth, that light which saves. “Whilst you have the Light, believe in the Light that you may be children of Light.” What is our response to the action of God who saves us in Christ, the Eternal Light? It must be to believe in that Light. Thus in Holy Mass everything builds on that belief in the Light, but, and this should lead us to a profound reflection, the initiative is God’s and Christ alone is, in the Incarnation, the means of that initiative.

Just a few days ago at the beginning of this week, the Holy Father gave an elocution in Germany in which he reflected upon the essential elements of Catholic liturgical prayer. These are his words: “In all our efforts on behalf of the liturgy, the determining factor must always be our looking to God. We stand before God, He speaks to us first and then we speak to Him. I ask you to celebrate the sacred liturgy with your gaze fixed upon God within the communion of saints, the living Church, of every place and time.” The liturgical prayer of the Church is therefore first of all something given to us by God, something which we receive, something to which we are obliged faithfully and humbly to conform ourselves, our hearts, our minds. What is obscure in a world so convinced of its self sufficiency is made plain in the eyes of faith turned and lifted toward Him. It is given and revealed to us, in fact by God, through an unbroken tradition of rites which embody that tradition that stretches back directly to the Apostles themselves. The world’s cultural inclinations and fashions pass and fade away -- but the Light remains constant.

The ancient character of the Church’s liturgical actions, its words, gestures and ceremonies reflect this enduring Light in a concrete and sensible way. The words pronounced at the altar today are, to a very significant degree, the same words, the gestures and motions are the same as those used by Blessed John XXIII and St. Pius V, by St. John Vianney and St. Dominic, by St. Miguel Pro and St. Edward Campion, by the martyrs of North America and the martyrs of the Crusades, by St. Maximillian Kolbe and St. Augustine of Hippo. Hallowed words, hallowed gestures, hallowed action, hallowed not only by use but by where they come from, that precious and holy tradition that has sanctified individuals, made devout families, given abundant vocations and martyrs to the Church and to the honor of God for almost two millennia. As the Holy Father states in Summorum Pontificum “…it is evident that the Latin liturgy has stimulated in the spiritual life of very many saints in every century of the Christian age and strengthened in the virtue of religion so many peoples and made fertile their piety.”

You know that in the Eastern rites when people come in to the church there is a wall called the iconostasis, beautifully decorated, which separates their gaze from what is transpiring in the sanctuary. In the ancient times of the church, when it is time for the most central part of the Mass to begin, a curtain used to be drawn, across the sanctuary, in order to withhold from profane gaze the Sacred Mysteries. No longer is such a curtain drawn, it is not needed, because God, in the Holy Ghost, has guided the Church to that same reality represented in the Eastern church by the iconostasis with a sacred language, a none-everyday, special language devoted only to the Church’s holy endeavors. It serves as a verbal curtain drawn over the mysteries being carried out at the altar to remind us that, yes, there is a wide and fathomless gap between the incomprehensible majesty and holiness of God on the one hand and our human sinfulness and smallness on the other. It is a gap which cannot be breached by human presumption or initiative or comprehension. It is a gap unbridgeable by anything we do and is overcome only by what God does in our Lord Jesus Christ and which we receive from Him.

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, has repeatedly warned against the tendency in modern times for prayer, liturgical prayer for the community to drift towards a celebration much of itself and Pope John Paul II insisted in a pointed analysis of elements on dignified and inappropriate to liturgical prayer that “…it is necessary to purify worship of deformations, of careless forms of expression, of ill prepared music and text which are not very suited to the grandeur of the act being celebrated.” In all the several liturgical rites and uses of the Church, then, all of them, we are in common urged to seek only those elements which authentically and worthily reflect the august sacrifice they embody.

Thus today in the ancient Roman Rite, we bow as did our fathers in the Faith, we kneel as those before us did many centuries ago, we prostrate ourselves before the awesome re-presentation on the altar of the Sacrifice of the Cross. The Epistle of today’s feast reminds us that even at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those that are in heaven, on earth and under the earth -- the Church Triumphant, the Church Militant and the Church Suffering. If this is the appropriate action to the mention of the Holy Name, how much more reverence and devotion should inform our acknowledgement of His actual Presence on the altar? Nothing casual, but instead a communal turning “toward the Lord.” Once again, the words of our Holy Father, “A turning to the Lord in gratitude, love and awe, for what is donated to us by a merciful God and which we could never achieve on our own or make happen for ourselves.” And by this humble submission, we are united, as St. Paul reminds us, to the Church Triumphant in heaven and the Church Suffering in purgatory and offering to God our common homage.

The first thing, then, that we have to understand, is that this Mystery takes us beyond the limits available to unaided human understanding. It cannot be grasped or encompassed by puny human intellect alone, darkened as it is by the inroads of sin. We can find our way to it only through a humble and reverent and faith-founded attentiveness. Not a passivity, mind you, but an attention which is in fact the activity most essential to our participation in Holy Mass. As Pope John Paul II put it, making his own the words of St. Augustine from so long ago, but still wholly normative for all authentic Catholic worship. “The highest music is one that arises from our hearts.” It is precisely this harmony that God wants to hear in our liturgies. The most perfect participation in that Sacrifice is in fact exemplified by Our Blessed Lady at the foot of the Cross. And what is it that Our Lady does there, at the foot of the Cross? Nothing in fact that mortal eyes can perceive. What does she say there, at the foot of the Cross? Nothing that mortal ears can hear. And yet no human being ever was or ever could be more fully or more intimately involved in that Sacrifice than she was at that moment, because her heart and soul and being were united to her Son and to what He was doing for us all. As always, she shows us the Way.

Thus, with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, we too can only be present and wonder, asking ourselves in union with the prayer of the priest at the altar, Quid retribuam “what return shall I make to the Lord for all that He hath given unto me?” This is both the beginning and the goal of participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Everything that fails to lead to that reverence and interior union, or which impedes it, impedes authentic participation, and all the elements of exterior participation consonant with these principles will inevitably have the character of authenticity. And when that Sacrifice is crowned in the moment of Holy Communion, what is it that we do? We receive. We receive what we could never fashion or make for ourselves, but which is freely and mercifully and lovingly given to us by a loving and merciful God in His Son, our Savior, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Son of God, a moment above all for devout and humble receptivity.

This is the moment of Mt. Tabor, when the apostles are rapt in silent wonder, their heads bowed low in awe and holy fear, until, as St. Matthew tells us, Jesus came and touched them and then, looking up, they saw only Jesus. That is a text in which the early Christians, and Christians of all time, will certainly have recognized their own rite of Holy Communion. Through this rite of Holy Mass and not infrequently without particular verbal comprehension, saints and martyrs have been raised up in the Church. Simple people and children have entered into heroic holiness, not because they grasped or saw, but because they revered and believed. How we need today -- how young people need that simple and humble faith of a Therese of the Child Jesus, who said at the very end of her life, “I always sought only the Truth.” How we need that simple and humble faith of a Bernadette, who attested, when questioned by the priest, that she did not understand the awesome message -- I use the word “awesome” several times in this sermon in honor of Mother Angelica -- that she did not understand the awesome message that Our Lady had chosen her to convey, but nevertheless her faith in our Lady was real and wholly unshakable. And thus that faith became richly fruitful for her own relationship with God, as well as for the mission that had been entrusted to her. Yet how many have forgotten that their first responsibility in this world is to know God through the exercise of the virtue of faith? The world’s modalities are insufficient in themselves for Divine Worship. We must surrender to the Christ, our Light who alone guides us beyond the world’s deceptions to the realm of divinely given revelation. And that revealed truth is made present here today and every day that Holy Mass is celebrated in all the approved rites of the Church through the renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

Finally, let us be clear: No one here has the slightest intention of proposing the immemorial liturgy as some solution to the Church’s trials or troubles. The purpose of liturgical prayer is, in any case, not to fix things in the Church but so to unite us to Christ our Lord that we can navigate this troubled sea of this world, always oriented towards -- and one day finding our repose in Him. But the Church will surely benefit so much from the reintegration into her life of this “most beautiful thing this side of heaven,” as Fr. Faber once memorably described the ancient rite of Holy Mass. Priests will benefit in their interior life, and countless souls will benefit from that silence in which alone the voice of God may be discerned. No, this Mass is not a challenge to the Church, nor an act of condemnation, nor an act of politics, but an immeasurable enrichment of the Church’s life. It is a sign of restoration, a sign of renewed vigor and self-awareness for and in the Church. We should familiarize ourselves with the provisions that the Holy Father has made in Summorum Pontificum, ponder them for the wisdom they embody beyond their immediate practical prescriptions.

The Sacrifice of the Cross in this ancient and venerable form is to be exalted, as is the Cross itself, in this ancient and venerable feast that we celebrate today.

Online Tutorial on the Latin Mass (1962 Missale Romanum)

Priests wanting to say the Traditional Latin Mass can check out an online tutorial of the ordo and rubrics complete with video and images. It will also have tutorials for altar servers and sacred music soon.

www.sanctamissa.org

Brought to us by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.