This is a comment from Marc with my question and his clarification on a previous thread:
Marc said..
The FSSP has been granted a limited permission to use the pre-1955 Holy Week in certain apostolates for an experimental three-year period.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
BOMBSHELL: POPE FRANCIS GIVES NOD TO FSSP TO USE THE 1955 ROMAN MISSAL FOR HOLY WEEK IN AN EXPERIMENTAL FASHION FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS--INTERESTING, NO?
This is a comment from Marc with my question and his clarification on a previous thread:
Marc said..
The FSSP has been granted a limited permission to use the pre-1955 Holy Week in certain apostolates for an experimental three-year period.
14 comments:
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ByzRus said...
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Such a dichotomy, this papacy. The Traditionalists can be more traditional (a good thing to be sure) while the progressives keep moving more and more to the left. As the chasm continues to expand, it will be interesting to see if bridging this gap remains possible.
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February 27, 2018 at 4:42 PM
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Rood Screen said...
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I doubt Pope Francis could care less about this sort of thing. Personally, I think there is a danger of becoming overly concerned with ritual externals, such that a liturgical movement emerges that seems more concerned with aesthetics than with reverence, a tendency I associate especially with high Anglicans and homosexual men. Quiet Latin, simple Gregorian Chant, ad orientem Canon, kneeling for Communion, no additions or deletions: that's all I think we really need. There's no need to overthink all the other details and history.
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February 27, 2018 at 5:30 PM
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ByzRus said...
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Rood -
I think you are right. PF in all likelihood isn't concerned about this so, people shouldn't get their hopes up about...whatever. One point about the aesthetics: In the Christian East, the aesthetic is an integral part of the ritual (eg. the iconostas, its usage and where, for example, the Deacon stands relative to certain icons is part of the ritual). This to me is distinct from how some in the west get so concerned about lace, ribbons and tassels etc. -
February 27, 2018 at 6:55 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Use of the pre-1955 rites for the Sacred Triduum is not a minor matter. The difference between the pre- and post-1955 Good Friday services is much greater than the difference between the 1962 Mass and the 1970 Mass. The difference between 1962 and 1970 is not one of substance, but one of the perfection with which the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered. One is perfect, the other imperfect. But the post-1955 Good Friday service is not a sacrifice, whereas the pre-1955 Good Friday is a sacrifice—in the pre-1955 Mass of the Pre-sanctified the Host consecrated on Holy Thursday is offered to God in true sacrifice; a celebration of Mass without consecration, since the host has already been consecrated. None of this remains in the post-1955 Good Friday rite, which is an entirely different service.
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February 27, 2018 at 8:27 PM
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Gerry Davila said...
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Deo gratias!
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February 28, 2018 at 7:00 AM
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Marc said...
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I wonder how certain things will work with this: What time will the liturgies be? Will Good Friday include communing the laity?
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February 28, 2018 at 10:28 AM
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Henry said...
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Marc - Previous to the early 1950s, Mass was never celebrated after noon. The standard time for all three Sacred Triduum services--Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper, Good Friday, and the Saturday Easter Vigil Mass--was around 9 am each of the three mornings. This is how the EF sacred triduum was celebrated in my parish. (Aside from the pre-1955 standard practice, it's difficult to schedule an EF sacred tridumum otherwise in a busy parish whose afternoon and evenings are booked for OF services.) And, as I recall, the laity did receive on Good Friday.
Incidentally, the pre-1955 Holy Week rites were used last year by numerous priests all over. I assume that any diocesan priest would check with his bishop to see if this was ok, and if so, I infer that no one at the Vatican objects. But the FSSP is not under the jurisdiction of a bishop, which I'd imagine is why they sought an official indult from the PCED. -
February 28, 2018 at 11:35 AM
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Marc said...
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Henry, much of what you mention is what makes me wonder what will happen with this indult. One of the accepted benefits of the 1955 reform was to make the timing of these rites more accessible to the laity. Yet, the odd timing is arguably intrinsic to the rites themselves, especially the Saturday Easter Vigil.
Also, the laity do not receive communion on Good Friday in the old rite, but such an experience is arguably a downside of the old rite. So will that part be changed to accomplish newly recognized priorities?
After all, if the Good Friday prayer for the Jews cannot resort back to its previous form for whatever reason, then it seems there might be reasons to retain certain other post-1955 reforms that are arguably improvements. -
February 28, 2018 at 1:13 PM
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Henry said...
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Marc, I wonder whether an ESSP parish might use the pre-1955 rite, but with 1962 scheduling of the individual services, which might seem natural for an EF-only parish with no conflicts with OF services. Though EF-only priests may be more comfortable with no communion by the faithful in the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday.
Having come to the Mass just after the 1955 changes, Holy Thursday Mass and especially the fire of the Easter Vigil at 9 am last year felt just a bit tome out of joint. But perhaps the 12 Old Testament prophecies--some of them rather lengthy and each with its own flectamus and collect--admittedly were less somnolent in the morning than they might be at midnight. -
February 28, 2018 at 2:36 PM
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Gerry Davila said...
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Some places held the pre-‘55 Easter Vigil after None, though I believe Saturday morning was the standard practice.
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February 28, 2018 at 2:44 PM
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Adam Michael said...
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Wow, if confirmed, this is excellent news. It also would help reconnect traditional Catholic liturgy with that of the Orthodox Church. Orthodox Holy Week includes morning Masses on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, with Matins on Holy Thursday and Good Friday evenings. The Holy Thursday washing of the feet is not included in the Holy Thursday Liturgy, and the Holy Saturday Paschal Vigil technically contains 15 prophecies (all of which are not regularly read, however). The 1955 Holy Week revisions, among other things, moved the Catholic Mass times to the evening, abolished evening Matins, included the mandatum in the Holy Thursday Mass, and significantly shortened the number of Paschal Vigil prophecies from 12 to 4. It is also interesting that the Orthodox Liturgy still includes the triple candlestick (the paschal trikirion), which is similar to the three-branched candle reed used in the pre-1955 Holy Week to light the Paschal Candle.
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February 28, 2018 at 4:21 PM
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Anonymous said...
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In the Episcopal Church, a lot of parishes do their Easter vigil at or right before sunrise--makes sense in a way for instance to hear the Gospel reading about the women going to the tomb early Easter morning---just as it is dawn outside. You enter in darkness and leave in the light, where with the Eastern vigil in the Roman rite, you enter at dusk and leave in the dark.....
I read somewhere too that Eastern Orthodox do not offer Masses on Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent---instead they offer a liturgy of presanctified gifts, receiving preconsecrated hosts. -
February 28, 2018 at 4:30 PM
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Adam Michael said...
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In Orthodoxy, Divine Liturgies are not offered on Lenten weekdays (not including Saturdays and Sundays). The Presanctified Liturgy is usually offered on Wednesdays and Fridays. During Holy Week, the Presanctified Liturgy is generally offered on the mornings of Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in parishes that have enough clergy to accommodate this.
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February 28, 2018 at 4:56 PM
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Arthur Devain said...
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The "Mass of the Presanctified" is much more edifying than the 1956 Communion Service. It is NOT a sacrifice, per se, because the Sacrifice occurred on Holy Thursday. Many of the prayers of the Canon are said audibly, not including the Consecration, of course.
A Priest friend has told me that the FSSP may use the old Holy Week with one important exception. On Good Friday, the Prayer "For The Jews" must be the 1987 prayer composed and promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI and not the age old prayer that had gone before. -
March 14, 2018 at 4:42 PM
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Permission was granted by the Ecclesia Dei Commission, which would presumably involve some nod from the pope.
The more surprising thing about this, to me, is that it is the FSSP who have been given this permission. In my experience with the FSSP, they have not seemed overly concerned with liturgics. On the other hand, the Institute of Christ the King has a long history, as part of its founding even, of using the old rite. And it is also worth mentioning that the SSPX notably expelled several of its priests some decades back due to their adherence to the old rite (among other things).