The aim of the Graduale project is to record all of the chants contained in the current Graduale Romanum / Graduale Triplex – see http://gregoriana.sk/graduale/ for description.
Thank you, Marek!
Categoria: Articles in English
Memoriale Domini
These changes [i.e. communion under two kinds] have made of the eucharistic banquet and the faithful fulfillment of Christ’s command a clearer and more vital symbol. At the same time in recent years a fuller sharing in the eucharistic celebration through sacramental communion has here and there evoked the desire to return to the ancient usage of depositing the eucharistic bread in the hand of the communicant, he himself then communicating, placing it in his mouth.
Indeed, in certain communities and in certain places this practice has been introduced without prior approval having been requested of the Holy See, and, at times, without any attempt to prepare the faithful adequately.
It is certainly true that ancient usage once allowed the faithful to take this divine food in their hands and to place it in their mouths themselves.
It is also true that in very ancient times they were allowed to take the Blessed Sacrament with them from the place where the holy sacrifice was celebrated. This was principally so as to be able to give themselves Viaticum in case they had to face death for their faith.
However, the Church’s prescriptions and the evidence of the Fathers make it abundantly clear that the greatest reverence was shown the Blessed Sacrament, and that people acted with the greatest prudence. Thus, “let nobody … eat that flesh without first adoring it” As a person takes (the Blessed Sacrament) he is warned: “…receive it: be careful lest you lose any of it.” “For it is the Body of Christ.”
Further, the care and the ministry of the Body and Blood of Christ was specially committed to sacred ministers or to men specially designated for this purpose: “When the president has recited the prayers and all the people have uttered an acclamation, those whom we call deacons distribute to all those present the bread and wine for which thanks have been given, and they take them to those who are absent.”
Soon the task of taking the Blessed Eucharist to those absent was confided to the sacred ministers alone, so as the better to ensure the respect due to the sacrament and to meet the needs of the faithful. Later, with a deepening understanding of the truth of the eucharistic mystery, of its power and of the presence of Christ in it, there came a greater feeling of reverence towards this sacrament and a deeper humility was felt to be demanded when receiving it. Thus the custom was established of the minister placing a particle of consecrated bread on the tongue of the communicant.
This method of distributing holy communion must be retained, taking the present situation of the Church in the entire world into account, not merely because it has many centuries of tradition behind it, but especially because it expresses the faithful’s reverence for the Eucharist. The custom does not detract in any way from the personal dignity of those who approach this great sacrament: it is part of that preparation that is needed for the most fruitful reception of the Body of the Lord.
Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship – Memoriale Domini (Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion) – 29 May 1969
Constitutio Apostolica “Missale Romanum”
St. Wenceslaus – Wahoo (Nebraska)
St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church
214 East 2nd Street
Wahoo, NE 68066 USA
On October 1st, 2017, we inaugurated ad orientem worship at St. Wenceslaus. Listen now to Father’s homily on why the priest and the people face the same direction at Eucharistic Prayer.
Come accostarsi alla santa Comunione
160. Poi il sacerdote prende la patena o la pisside e si reca dai comunicandi, che normalmente si avvicinano processionalmente.
Non è permesso ai fedeli prendere da se stessi il pane consacrato o il sacro calice, tanto meno passarselo di mano in mano. I fedeli si comunicano in ginocchio o in piedi, come stabilito dalla Conferenza Episcopale. Quando però si comunicano stando in piedi, si raccomanda che, prima di ricevere il Sacramento, facciano la debita riverenza, da stabilire dalle stesse norme.161. Se la Comunione si fa sotto la sola specie del pane, il sacerdote, eleva alquanto l’ostia e la presenta a ciascuno dicendo: Il Corpo di Cristo. Il comunicando risponde: Amen, e riceve il sacramento in bocca o, nei luoghi in cui è stato permesso, sulla mano, come preferisce. Il comunicando appena ha ricevuto l’ostia sacra, la consuma totalmente.
(Ordinamento Generale del Messale Romano)
La Conferenza episcopale italiana, avvalendosi della concessione prevista dal Rito della comunione fuori della messa e culto eucaristico, con delibera della XXXI assemblea generale (14-19 maggio 1989), dopo la richiesta «recognitio» della Santa Sede, concessa con decreto della Congregazione per il culto divino e la disciplina dei sacramenti in data 14 luglio 1989, n. CD 311/89, ha stabilito, mediante decreto dell’e.mo presidente card. Ugo Poletti, n. 571/89 del 19 luglio 1989, che nelle diocesi italiane si possa distribuire la comunione ancheponendola sulla mano dei fedeli.
Il modo consueto di ricevere la comunione deponendo la particola sulla lingua rimane del tutto conveniente e i fedeli potranno scegliere tra l’uno e l’altro modo.
For the USA:
160. The Priest then takes the paten or ciborium and approaches the communicants, who usually come up in procession.
It is not permitted for the faithful to take the consecrated Bread or the sacred chalice by themselves and, still less, to hand them on from one to another among themselves. The norm established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Instruction, Redemptionis Sacramentum, March 25, 2004, no. 91).
When receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the Sacrament as a gesture of reverence and receives the Body of the Lord from the minister. The consecrated host may be received either on the tongue or in the hand, at the discretion of each communicant. When Holy Communion is received under both kinds, the sign of reverence is also made before receiving the Precious Blood.161. If Communion is given only under the species of bread, the Priest raises the host slightly and shows it to each, saying, The Body of Christ. The communicant replies, Amen, and receives the Sacrament either on the tongue or, where this is allowed, in the hand, the choice lying with the communicant. As soon as the communicant receives the host, he or she consumes the whole of it.
For England and Wales:
In the Dioceses of England and Wales Holy Communion is to be received standing, though individual members of the faithful may choose to receive Communion while kneeling. However, when they communicate standing, it is recommended that the faithful bow in reverence before receiving the sacrament.
Permission for Communion in the hand for England and Wales was given 6 March 1976.
Our Lady of Good Counsel Church – North Territorial Road, Plymouth, MI (USA)
Countercultural San Francisco parish attracts growing congregation
Three years after Illo was appointed parish administrator in August 2014, bringing his powerful commitment to traditional Catholic practices to the famously progressive city, Mass attendance and number of parishioners registered have increased about 10 percent each year.
Full report:
Traduzione in Italiano: http://www.iltimone.org/news-timone/un-cattolicesimo-integrale-fondato-sulla-tradizion/
Sito della parrocchia / Parish website: http://starparish.com/
Mass Ad Orientem: A Ten Year Old’s Impression
On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, my ten-year-old daughter went to church with me. The priest at the church regularly celebrates Mass ad orientem, whether he is offering the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin or English. Afterwards, I asked my daughter what she thought of the Mass. Her short but certain answer was “beautiful.”
(…)
The reasons for ad orientem Mass are all very sound and it’s hard to understand why many clergy and lay people still show so much resistance to it. Perhaps we need to look at the issue in a more simple light. If a ten-year-old girl can see the beauty of celebrating Mass in this more traditional orientation, then maybe that’s all the reason we need.
Full article by Terry McDermott here.
Instructio “Musicam sacram”
The Priestly Character of Ad Orientem Worship – Zachary Thomas
The altars were turned around in the first place so that the people could participate more fully in the action of the Mass, so that liturgy would not be only a clerical affair. Paradoxically, however, the understanding of the Mass’s action as it is conveyed in the new ritual prevents such participation in that action by eliminating consciousness of it. That is because the static versus populum posture implicitly denies the priest’s mediating role, and so obscures the Mass’s nature as an efficacious action. If the Mass is physically acted out as if it were only the “proclamation of the Word,” or “a communal meal” in which a past action is celebrated, and not the active, efficacious, dramatic re-performance of the act, its priestly character breaks down. The Mass is then reduced to a clerically imposed tyranny.