Articles in English – Pagina 2

“Why Latin Is the Right Language for Roman Catholic Worship” — Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Cleveland Lecture

The error that led to the abolition of Latin was neoscholastic and Cartesian in nature—namely, the belief that the content of the Catholic Faith is not embodied or incarnate but somehow abstracted from matter. Thus, many Catholics think that Tradition means only some conceptual content that is passed down, irrespective of the way in which it is passed down. But this is not true. Latin is itself one of the things passed down, together with the content of all that is written or chanted in Latin. Moreover, as we have seen, the Church herself recognized this point on a number of occasions in singling out Latin for special praise, recognizing in it an efficacious sign of the unity, catholicity, antiquity, and permanence of the Latin Church.
Latin thus possesses a quasi-sacramental function: just as Gregorian chant is “the musical icon of Roman Catholicism” (Joseph Swain), so is Latin its “linguistic icon.”

Read the full transcription of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Cleveland Lecture of June 4, 2022 here. Italian translation here.

Pope Francis Mandates Ad Orientem Worship

From New Liturgical Movement website:

Pope Francis settled a dispute by ordering that all (Syro-Malabar) dioceses throughout the Church celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ad orientem, versus Deum. Together, Francis said, priests and people have to look to the East, from where, according to apostolic tradition, the Second Coming of the Lord is expected.

A Reform-of-the-Reform Paladin Throws in the Towel

Denis Crouan, the French founder and president (since 1988 or so) of the organization Pro Liturgia, which promotes “the Mass as Vatican II truly intended it”, with Latin, chant, ad orientem, etc., has declared such efforts to be a “waste of time”, and thrown in the towel. This article (original en français ici) is his Final Message on the site, although he states that its activities will continue in a different form on another site.

In order to get away from this ecclesial situation, which has become delirious and toxic to the point of harming inner peace and the Catholic faith, it has been decided to put an end to the “adventure” of Pro Liturgia. The current situation has no future and is kept up by a partly unstable clergy and laity that have accepted to be so disoriented that they no longer question what they are made to do during the Mass. As such, this situation demands such a decision of us.
The watchword of our bishops is that Masses should be entrusted neither to “traditionalists” nor to the faithful who respect the decisions of Vatican II on liturgy, but only to those who abuse divine worship. Therefore, to try to have a conversation with these mitred pastors, with their impenetrable way of thinking, is a waste of time (and sometimes even of faith).

Pour se détacher de cette situation ecclésiale devenue délirante et toxique au point de nuire à la paix intérieure et à la foi catholique, il a été décidé de mettre un terme à l’«aventure» de Pro Liturgia. La situation actuelle et sans avenir, entretenue par un clergé en partie erratique et des laïcs qui ont accepté d’être déboussolés au point de ne plus s’interroger sur ce qu’on leur fait faire au cours des messes, l’exige.
Le mot d’ordre de nos évêques est qu’il ne faut confier de messes ni aux “traditionalistes” ni aux fidèles qui respectent les décisions de Vatican II en matière de liturgie mais uniquement à ceux qui malmènent le culte divin. Par conséquent, essayer de discuter avec ces pasteurs mitrés dont la logique est impénétrable fait perdre du temps (et parfois même la foi).

Learn Latin and become a citizen of Europe

The Latin Mass Society announces the opening of bookings for the Latin Mass Society’s Latin and Greek Summer School: an intensive course of one week looking at the Latin of the liturgy for beginners and intermediate students, and New Testament Greek for students with the basics of the language. It will take place 8-13 August at Park Place Pastoral Centre in Hampshire.

If Europe one day aspires to develop a European identity beyond national characteristics, and to be something other than a grant-giver and a great regulator, (things that are not criticized in themselves), it must acquire a language which, unlike this laboratory language that is Esperanto, has a rich history, and reflects a historical legacy in which the peoples recognize themselves and under which they can consider uniting.

(Sundar Ramanadane)

More info here.

Mons. Stefan Heid: “Ecco come celebravano i primi cristiani”

Dall’intervista di Luisella Scrosati a mons. Stefan Heid, Rettore del Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana (pubblicata sul Timone n. 213, gennaio 2022, in edicola a Roma e Milano, in spedizione ovunque cartaceo o digitale www.iltimone.org):

A partire dal Concilio si è diffuso l’enorme malinteso che, nella chiesa primitiva, il sacerdote guardasse il popolo. Salvo pochissime eccezioni, non è stato così. Nei primi secoli, l’altare era solitamente posizionato libero ai quattro lati, ma il sacerdote stava davanti all‘altare con il volto rivolto verso oriente. L’Eucaristia ha anche elementi dialogici, ma questi costituiscono solo l’introduzione alla preghiera. La preghiera deve essere sempre rivolta ad est. Ci sono alcune chiese – anche a Roma – con la facciata rivolta ad est, e in questi casi il sacerdote deve stare dietro l’altare e guardare verso il popolo. Ma il punto non è che la comunità debba ammirare la bellezza del sacerdote, ma che il sacerdote debba pregare verso est, verso Cristo, Sole di giustizia. Il modello moderno di liturgia, nello stile di un evento di intrattenimento religioso, ha poco a che fare con la serietà delle prime chiese.

Molta ideologia è oggi ancora in atto, purtroppo. Ognuno sceglie ciò che gli piace dalla Chiesa primitiva. C’è un ampio spazio per la manipolazione, specialmente quando si tratta della nostra odierna comprensione della liturgia, dell’Eucaristia e della Chiesa. Molto di ciò che oggi viene giustificato con la Chiesa primitiva è solo una proiezione moderna. Un piccolo chiarimento storico in più sarebbe molto utile a riguardo.

Ampi stralci dell’intervista qui.

How the First Christians Celebrated the Mass
Luisella Scrosati, interview with mons. Stefan Heid, Rector of the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana (Pontifical Institute of Christian Archeology).
Il Timone, January 2022

Beginning with the Council, the enormous misconception has spread that, in the primitive church, the priest looked at the people. With very few exceptions, this was not the case. In the early centuries, the altar was usually placed free on all four sides, but the priest stood in front of the altar with his face to the east. The Eucharist also has dialogical elements, but these are only in the manner of an introduction to the [Eucharistic] prayer. The prayer itself must always be facing east. There are some churches—even in Rome—with the façade facing east, and in these cases the priest must stand behind the altar and look toward the people. But the point is not that the community should admire the handsomeness of the priest, but rather that the priest should pray towards the east, towards Christ, the “Sun of justice.” The modern model of liturgy, in the style of a religious entertainment event, has little to do with the seriousness of the early churches.
Much ideology is still in place today, unfortunately. Everyone chooses what they like from the early Church. There is plenty of room for manipulation, especially when it comes to our understanding today of the liturgy, the Eucharist, and the Church. Much of what is justified today by appeal to the early Church is just a modern projection. A little more historical clarification would be very helpful in this regard.

More here.

Why did nobody inform me that Latin was abolished?

From Aurelio Porfiri’s website:

Many years ago, in the 1990s, I assisted in a dialogue between a Deacon, and an organist who was trying to ask about the use of the Missa de Angelis setting during the Mass. The request freaked the Deacon out, and, through sweat, he answered that the Council had abolished Latin.
Having listened to this, I started to ponder about the words of the Deacon and asked myself what Council may have abolished Latin: Calcedonia? Nicaea? Trent? Lateran IV? Pistoia?
But instead I learned that it was not Pistoia the Deacon was referring to, it was Vatican II! When and where had this happened? What documents are there abolishing the Latin ‘now and forever’ (et in sæcula sæculorum), amen?

Read the full post here.

Un parroco risponde al suo vescovo che vieta la celebrazione ad orientem

Don Anthony Bus C.R., parroco della chiesa di St. Stanislaus Kostka a Chicago, ha ricevuto dal proprio arcivescovo la proibizione di continuare a celebrare la s. Messa (novus ordo) ad orientem (qui la storia).
Questa è la sua risposta, pubblicata sul sito web della parrocchia:

Father Anthony Bus C.R., pastor of the church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago, has received from his archbishop the prohibition to continue celebrating the (novus ordo) holy Mass ad orientem (story here).
This is his response, posted on the parish website:

Fr Anthony’s Letter on “Ad Orientem“

The Holy Mass is the renewal of our fiat – a renewal of our covenant with the Lord and His Mystical Body. Therefore our primary participation in the Holy Mass and the renewal of our sacred covenant to the Lord is that we offer ourselves “a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God our spiritual worship,” quoting St. Paul. We do this in union with the sacrifice of Jesus, for Jesus, through Jesus, and in Jesus – to the glory of the Father. The Sacred Mysteries offered, “Ad Orientem” facilitates this so beautifully in preparation for Holy Communion, and always in anticipation of the Lord’s coming at the end of all things.

La Santa Messa è il rinnovamento del nostro fiat, un rinnovamento della nostra alleanza con il Signore e con il Suo Corpo mistico. Perciò la nostra prima partecipazione alla Santa Messa e al rinnovamento della nostra sacra alleanza con il Signore è quella di offrire noi stessi «come sacrificio vivente, santo e gradito a Dio (…) il nostro culto spirituale», per citare san Paolo. Lo facciamo in unione con il sacrificio di Gesù, per Gesù, per mezzo di Gesù, e in Gesù, a gloria del Padre. Offerti i Sacri Misteri, “Ad Orientem” facilita splendidamente tutto questo in preparazione alla Santa Comunione, e sempre in attesa della venuta del Signore alla fine di tutte le cose.

The Apocalypse Facing the People

The direction of prayer has had an enormous impact on the style of celebration. Priests celebrating toward the people can see if people are paying attention, like a public speaker or performer. If he is facing away from them, he has little idea of what is going on in the nave. Before Vatican II, this was regarded as a good thing: in the 1962 Mass, even when a priest is told to turn to face the people (for example, when he turns to them to say, “Dominus vobiscum”), he should keep his eyes lowered. He should not be distracted by the congregation from his work of prayer, and the congregation should not be distracted by him.
Where celebration versus populum is the norm, Catholics can get used to priests trying to engage them in what is going on with eye contact, emphasis in what they are saying, and even unscripted remarks. Experiencing Mass celebrated the other way can even be disconcerting. The point of it, however, is to allow the people to do what the priest should be doing: addressing their prayers to God. Above all in the Eucharistic Prayer, a celebrant facing East allows the people to follow what is going on in their own way, and to unite themselves spiritually to his prayer to God, which he leads from the altar.

Read full article by Joseph Shaw here.

Online Latin Course for Clergy, Religious and Laypeople

Do you wish you had better Latin — to follow the liturgy, or immerse yourself in the theology and history of the Church? Since 2020, small groups have been meeting over Zoom to help individuals do just, with the support of an accomplished ancient linguist.

Now, after “Traditionis Custodes“, the Latin of the Roman Canon has become a particular renewed focus for many people. Therefore a special 3-month route, led by Matthew Spencer (MA MSt Oxon) to better linguistic understanding of this ancient text, which unites the vetus and novus ordo, concluded just before Christmas.

A repeat of the course (further details here) will begin in the last week of February 2022 for a limited number of people.

If you would like to be considered for a place on the next iteration of the course, beginning February 2022, please contact matthewjaspencer@yahoo.com

20+C+M+B+22

La benedizione delle case, sulle cui porte vengono segnate la croce del Signore, la cifra dell’anno appena iniziato, le lettere iniziali dei tradizionali nomi dei santi Magi (C+M+B), spiegate anche come abbreviazione di “Christus mansionem benedicat”, scritte con gesso benedetto.

The blessing of homes, on whose lentils are inscribed the Cross of salvation, together with the indication of the year and the initials of the three wise men (C+M+B), which can also be interpreted to mean Christus mansionem benedicat, written in blessed chalk.

La bénédiction des maisons, sur les portes desquelles les fidèles ont placé la croix du Seigneur, le chiffre de l’année qui commence et les initiales des noms traditionnels des saints Mages (C+M+B), qui sont aussi celles de l’expression: “Christus mansionem benedicat“, écrites avec de la craie bénite.

La bendición de las casas, sobre cuyas puertas se traza la cruz del Señor, el número del año comenzado, las letras iniciales de los nombres tradicionales de los santos Magos (C+M+B) [en algunas lenguas], explicadas también como siglas de “Christus mansionem benedicat“, escritas con una tiza bendecida.

Die Segnung der Häuser, deren Türen mit dem Kreuz des Herrn bezeichnet werden: die Ziffer des neuen Jahres, die Anfangsbuchstaben der überlieferten Namen der heiligen Sterndeuter (C+M+B), die auch als Abkürzung von „Christus mansionem benedicat“ (Christus segne dieses Haus) zu erklären sind. Sie werden mit gesegneter Kreide geschrieben.