I have posted this video before (below my comments here). Many of you new to the blog probably do not realize that the folk music as entertainment model during the Mass did not start with the Ordinary Form. It began prior to it around 1965 or so and with the Extraordinary Form and its minor alteration in the 1965 missal that allowed for an all vernacular EF Mass except for the priest's quiet prayers and the Roman Canon, which had to be prayed in a low voice in Latin and with the EF rubrics for it.
But very quickly decrees on music were coming out for the 1965 missal and a variety of music in the vernacular. This was first applied to the Low Mass, which was still called such as well as the Sung Mass (high) and Solemn Sung (Solemn High with deacon and subdeacon). The rubric for the Low Mass is that nothing of the Mass is sung, but hymns are allowed for the entrance, offertory, communion and recessional. But the official propers still had to be recited by the priest which are the Introit, Offertory and Communion antiphons. If Mass in this period was a sung Mass in either of its two forms, all the parts of the Mass, including the Propers, had to be chanted following the rubrics of the 1962 missal but now with an option in English, which the 1965 missal contained for the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Pater Noster and Lamb of God, but not for the Introit and offertory and Communion antiphons which still needed to be chanted from the Roman Gradual, either simple or complex in Latin since the Gradual had not be translated with musical notation.
So here is where banality began, around 1966 when this movie was filmed, which reflects the actual practice and guidance that someone in the Church must have given the movie directors. In fact I wonder if the priests in this Mass, the old codger and the younger celebrant aren't actual priests who advised the director in this movie. The old guy captures the sentiments of the older generation at that time in a most marvelous way and the worship aid that the old ladies hold and complain about are exactly what we used in my parish in Augusta at this very same time so that we could say our parts for the Tridentine Mass but in English. And yes, we responded "And with your spirit" not the later "And also with you" and Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only speak the word and my soul shall be healed." The 1965 missal allowed for an offertory procession:
26 comments:
That was Sister Act. Also notice, everyone is sitting during the processional. The sexual tension is great between Elvis and MTM.
It doesn't appear there was a Catholic consultant on the crew of this film. According to the cast list, none of the priests in the film are played by actual priests.
If you want to see a timely Mass, watch the opening scene of Eric Rohmer's My Night at Maud's. Made in 1970, the film includes a nearly complete Mass in the vernacular (French) in the opening scene, if I recall correctly.
Fr Karras also celebrates from the '65 Ordo in The Exorcist.
Father, your headline is misleading in that the Extraordinary Form is the Missal of 1962, not the various alterations in the rite that occurred between 1964 and 1969, and which by 1967 had effectively destroyed the Roman Rite (not my opinion, but that of Joseph Gelineau SJ, a close collaborator of Bugnini who boasted of it in that very year).
When Cardinal Heenan secured an Indult for England and Wales in 1971 allowing for the occasional celebration of the Old Mass, the letter (signed by Bugnini) insists that this be the Mass as modified in 1965 and 1967, which is of course not the Old Mass at all. However, Heenan had had the foresight to secure an Indult in 1967, before the Novus Ordo was introduced, which allowed for the use of the 1962 Missal. So all the Indult masses celebrated in England in the 1970s and 1980s were according to 1962.
Since the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum in 2007 all the distortions of the 1964-1969 period are no longer permitted and rightly so. They were merely a softening-up exercise for the Novus Ordo. Both Inter Oecumenici and Tres Abhinc Annos cheerfully admit this. Can we please stop regarding the 1965 interim Missal as the Mass the Council wanted?
The only "Tridentine Mass in English" was one used by extreme Anglo-Catholics at the beginning of the 20th century. By the time English came into the Catholic Mass, it was no longer the Tridentine Mass, but a bastardized version of it, now thankfully consigned to the dustbin of liturgical history. Give me the Novus Ordo any day, and let it stand or fall on its own merits or demerits. I'll still prefer the Roman Rite.
Not really misleading, except by 1967 when the 1965 missal was morphing into the 1970 missal, meaning that the Latin canon with it's 1962 rubrics was replaced even before 1970 with the English version and 1970's rubrics and II, III and IV were added. The 1965 Roman Missal altar edition I have, has an insert for the new Eucharistic Prayer and rubrics in English and the Latin version Roman Canon with EF rubrics to be removed or cut out with a razor from the book.
But what I describe took place with the 1965 missal which is basically an English translation of the 1962 missal in its entirety with only Psalm 42 excised from the Prayers at the foot of the altar and the per Ipsum rubric change to what we have in the OF and the Last Gospel removed, but just as so many say that the confiteor prior to the people's Holy Communion in the 1962 missal can still be said today, I would suspect that would be the same for the things slightly adjusted in the 1965 missal too, the old could have remained including the Last Gospel.
The answer to abuse, of any sort, is to condemn and correct, not to approve and support.
If one were to apply to mindset of the liturgical reformers to other forms of abuse, one clearly sees the problem. Then again, one could argue that the approve and support mentality did extend not only to liturgical abuse, but to child abuse as well, especially under the soon-to-be canonized former pontiff.
The Mass shown in The Exorcist is quite tolerable to me.
Father Allan,
Go and read Inter Oecumenici, the first major pronouncement of Bugnini's Consilium. You will then see the 1965 interim missal in its real context and true light. In any case, the Elvis clip was from 1969 and the only anomalies about it are that the priest is ad orientem and the nuns are in full habit.
Jon,
The film 'The Exorcist' came out in 1973 and the clip of Fr Karras saying Mass clearly shows the Novus Ordo. The rite of exorcism was not revised until 1999 (and is a far from satisfactory revision) and the ritual used in the film was essentially that of 1614 but for some reason in the vernacular.(Why? It's not a public act, it's more effective in Latin, and no priest would be allowed to conduct an exorcism unless he was well-versed in the language of the Church).
Well, John Nolan, it is quite well-known that most exorcists say the 1614 is more effective.
I much prefer the EF Elvis, as in "Jailhouse Rock".
I think an NO Mass to Elvis' "Promised Land" would be fun, then for stewardship sermons, "Money Honey" could be playing in the background. Then, don't you think "Love Me tender" would be a nice Communion hymn...but, like we're singing to Jesus. That ought to bring tears to the eyes of progressives. LOL!
Of course, my favorite, a version of "Mean Woman Blues," has a Calvinist ring to it:
I got a God who's mean as He can be,
I got a God who's mean as he can be,
Sometimes I think He's almost mean as me.
Well, a Lutheran up and died of fright
"Cause I crossed his path last night
Oh, I got a God who's mean as he can be
Sometimes I think he's almost mean as me.
Well if it weren't for Christ
Upon the Cross
The whole dang world would done been lost
Oh, i got a God as mean as he can be....etc.
John Nolan,
No, I'm afraid it is not. Listen to it. The Consecration of the Chalice, which includes the Mysterium Fidei, is manifestly NOT the Novus Ordo.
The Exorcist began filming in August, 1972, not 1973. The Ordo of the Mass in the movie is that of 1965, which all, btw, can view here:
http://www.coreyzelinski.8m.com/1965_Mass/
Fr. McDonald,
Any claim that the Mass typically celebrated in the 1965-1967 period was essentially the traditional pre-conciliar Mass celebrated according to its missal and rubrics, reveals a profound ignorance of the traditional Latin Mass, and likely also of the words "missal" and "rubrics".
The traditional Mass was defined not merely by the text of its "Order of Mass" with certain directions to the priest printed in red--admittedly the origin of the term "rubrics" but NOT The Rubrics of the Mass--but by its separate sections of "Rubricae generales" (over 260 numbered paragraphs) and its "Ritus servandus" (almost 100 numbered paragraphs) detailing the ceremonial to be followed by the celebrant and ministers, binding under pain of sin.
Despite what you seem to have heard, there was no 1965 typical edition of the Roman missal--none, nada, zilch. What is misleadingly referred to as the "1965 missal" was simply an Order of Mass, the 1965 Ordo Missae, but without any rubrics that by then were considered binding.
The general understand by then was that the traditional Mass defined by its binding rubrics had been swept away by the council. Among those of us were reasonably well-informed adult Catholics in the 1960s, there was no doubt that the Mass of our youth no longer existed. The "1965 Mass" was no longer generally celebrated according to the traditional rubrics and ritus servandus, even as amended by the various interim documents that had been published by then. Because, without binding rubrics, the ceremonial ethos of the traditional Mass had already disappeared in parish practice. It was a Mass without rules celebrated using a "missal without rubrics"--and hence not really a missal at all--that allowed banality into what was no longer the traditional Mass.
What modern liturgists are seemingly unaware of is that the Mass is not defined only by its texts---which prayers are still there and which are omitted, or what language they are proclaimed in, whether the translation (if accurate) is or not--but by its entire ethos that consists even more so of its ceremonial and ars celebranda. It is perhaps true that a traditional Mass could be celebrated using that 1965 altar missal, but by the 1965-1967 period where I was (about 90 miles in Georgia from where a callow youth named Allan McDonald was then) the traditional Mass was just a memory.
That's why it's so misleading to refer to the typically banal Mass celebrated using unofficial books containing the 1965 Ordo Missae as a traditional Mass. It was no such thing.
Jon and ytc
The Mass scene in The Exorcist is not 1965. For a start, the Canon would have been secreto, in Latin, and with the traditional rite of Consecration. What we see in the film is an abuse of the Novus Ordo. The priest character breaks the Host and places the two halves on the paten before saying "this is my Body". No elevation or genuflections. He continues: "When supper was ended he took the cup" in the NO manner and although he inserts "the Mystery of Faith" the scene changes before he finishes the prayer.
At the time some made the point that the liturgical abuses were put in deliberately to show that Father Karras was a 'dodgy' priest, but my take on it was that the director wasn't overly concerned with liturgical accuracy.
I saw the film forty years ago and found it laughable. For a start, since the demoniac was a girl, women, preferably relatives, would have had to be present. This sensible precaution was dropped (along with much else) by the nincompoops who produced the 1999 version. As a result an exorcist recently has been accused of sexual impropriety.
I remember having to explain to non-Catholic friends that the whole movie was sensationalized tosh.
Anyone interested in reading about the exorcism the movie was bases on
can go to this link:
http://fatherjoe.wordpress.com/stories/an-exorcism-story/
I recall reading an exchange by one of the two priests after the whole thing was over:
"There will be those who will say that what occurred here never happened. We know better. We were there."
That black and white photo reminds me of my childhood when we started using Missalettes instead of hand missals and they started passing out those mimeographed sheets (with the purply-blue typewritten letters and smelling strongly of ammonia) with such "gems" as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Sons of God" ("hear His Holy Word, gather 'round the table of the Lord"). Of course, the teenaged guitarist and singers were "up front" rather than in our choir loft.
As a kid in 8-12 year old age range during the 1969-1973 era, I HATED "folk" Masses! Come to think of it, I guess I feel the same way about that period that someone a few years older than me would feel about the last years of the pre-VII era with the Latin Mass. I love the old Latin Mass (which I didn't really get to grow up with) and feel at odds with the generation that loved those folk Masses.
I think it’s really neat that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II agreed to make a cameo appearance in the movie (at 1:10).
Gene, I like your version of “Mean Woman Blues.” Did you make that up yourself?
Anon 2, Yes, I made it up off the cuff...it does have possibilities with some blues riffs and a good drummer.
You know, I tried to watch that movie on TV back in the 70's, but it was so awful I turned it off. So, does Elvis bed Mary Tyler Moore in the end? I figured that must be where it was headed...
Not to take advantage to make a cheap plug for my blog, but...
On my blog, www.shazamaholic.blogspot.com, I will be posting an article about Elvis' movies, on Friday Aug 16.
Here is a sneak peak at what I wrote about "Change of Habit":
"Produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, the team that created Leave It To Beaver and The Munsters, Elvis' final acting performance is superb. Intentional or not, this movie gives us a glimpse of the chaotic years following the Second Vatican Council, when the Church seemingly lost her way, jettisoning all things spiritual and mystical while becoming utterly fixated on social justice. Overall, plot, B+, songs, B-, Elvis' performance: A."
I was thinking about inserting a comment about the LCWR, but decided not to, as it might be too mean spirited.
Please feel free to stop by my blog on Aug 16 to read the entire article.
End of cheap plug. We now return to our regularly scheduled Catholic comments.
Shazamaholic, you nailed it about the chaotic years after Vatican II that continue to this day. BTW, did you get your moniker from Jim Nabors and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. or from the comic character, Shazam?
Shazamaholic, my apologies for jumping to conclusions, I should have read your blog bio first before questioning you about your choice of monikers. It's the great Shazam after all brought to us by Fawcett comics.
For the information of you youngsters who obviously know little about Superheroes (Jesus Christ, Superstar),
"Shazam" is the magic word that "Billy Batson" said to change into superhero, "Captain Marvel".
During WW II, my Dad and a buddy were on guard duty in England one night before going to Normandy. Someone approached and, when they called out who goes there, a voice responded, "Captain Marvel." My Dad's buddy hollered back laughing, "oh yeah, well approach Rex the Wonder Horse and be recognized."
Turns out, there really was an Infantry Captain named Captain Marvel. My Dad said he gave them a pretty hard time about it...LOL!
MHT Dissenter, yes, the screen name is due to the classic Captain Marvel character. And that brings it back to a full circle with Elvis, as his favorite superhero was Captain Marvel Jr, to the point of Elvis' hair style being based on his, his 1970s capes and jumpsuits based on his costume, and the TCB lightning bolt logo based on the Shazam emblem.
I cover all sorts of topics in my blog, and under the tag Catholicism there are a few posts. My review of the Knox Bible is actually one of my highest viewed posts.
Gene, to answer your earlier question about the movie, no, Elvis and Mary Tyler Moore don't sleep with each other, but there is a scene where she is almost raped by the stuttering Hispanic teenager she was trying to help. Its actually Sister Barbara (Jane Elliot) who quits being a nun, feeling the Church is too restrictive, so she become a full time social worker. Sister Irene (Barbara McNair) is the only one of the three who seems quite content with being a nun. MTM's fate is left open to the viewer to decide if she stays a nun or leaves to go with Elvis.
Well, Shazam, I'm glad I missed it. I have always been a huge Elvis fan, but mainly of the early raw stuff. Most of his movies were the worst kind of schlock, however, "Love Me Tender," "King Creole," "Loving You," and "JailHouse Rock," were among his best. I liked "GI Blues"
ok and, since anything with Ann Margaret in it is de facto a great movie, Viva Las Vegas.
Elvis, like Marilyn, wanted to be taken seriously as an actor, but their handlers and the magnates never gave them the material to make it happen. They were used and thrown away. This cannot have been pleasing to God so, despite their much touted sins, I pray that Christ in His mercy has granted them salvation...I also expect their users had some things to answer for before the Judge.
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