On July 7, 2007 (7/7/07) Pope Benedict XVI gave every priest in the world permission to celebrate the older/ancient form of the Mass, which His Holiness rebranded as The Extraordinary Form and the newer form as The Ordinary Form. While I love the Ordinary Form celebrated well and reverently, I love the exterior and interior reverence of the Extraordinary Form especially the priest facing in the same direction as the laity, facing the symbolic East or Jerusalem and Calvary as well as kneeling for Holy Communion.
17 comments:
The "sanctuary furniture" in the second photo looks like it is from someone's living room.
The eighth photo is very striking. It would make a beautiful masthead.
Done!
It is Catholic Emancipation Day, time to celebrate !!!!!
These are marvelous photos and graphically depict that what is taking place is an act of worship, adoration.
Forty or so years ago the Tridentine rite was a rarity; it was permitted in England and Wales thanks to an indult granted by Paul VI in 1971 which Bugnini did his best to modify (with no success). But it was also hedged about by the bishops, and the idea of an old-rite Mass on a Sunday was anathema to most of them.
Catholics of my generation, if they wanted traditional worship, and above all Latin, would seek out those places which offered the Novus Ordo in Latin, with chant and classic polyphony. The London Oratory was outstanding in this regard, but it was by no means unique. In 1976 I had in my car two essential vade mecums - the Latin Mass Directory and the Good Beer Guide.
The situation now is utterly transformed. There are now more breweries producing real ale (craft beer) than there were in the 1950s and every pub in England now has real ale on draught.
And the Tridentine rite, which even traditionalists had written off in the 1970s, has now re-established itself.
John, funny how things happen. My first brush with a real ale in a pub in western Oxfordshire was as memorable and almost as life changing as my first Mass in Latin in thirty plus years. There is no going back to the old stuff because it just isn’t the same thing.
John Nolan,
You can’t kill off quality, Cheers!
The 1971 so called “Agatha Christie” indult permitted the occasional use of the 1965 missal - not the “Tridentine Rite” using the 1962 missal - in England & Wales That Paul VI allowed the use of the 1962 missal is a common misperception.
LOVE the new masthead, Father!
Andrew Rex
In point of fact, the letter from Bugnini confirming the indult specified the 1967 revision (see Tres Abhinc Annos) which was far closer to the Novus Ordo than it was to the traditional Roman Rite. Fortunately Cardinal Heenan had an earlier indult which allowed the use of the 1962 missal.
I attended several indult Masses in the 1970s and none of them used the interim rites of 1965 and 1967. QAA (1984) and EDA (1988) specifically referred to the 1962 missal.
John Nolan,
Of course the ignominious know-it-all, Andrew Rex, is Anonymous K, an insufferable boar, and generally bereft of facts. As an American, I understood that the Heenan Indult was for the 1962 Missal.
rcg
The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, which organized the petition which led to the so-called Agatha Christie indult, was founded in 1965 when the first 'interim missal' came into effect. In 1969 the LMS decided to work for the preservation of the 'Tridentine' rite, rather than for the use of Latin in the Novus Ordo. A minority thought that this was unrealistic and seceded to form the Association for Latin Liturgy. There is no antagonism between the two groups, and some overlap in membership.
The atmosphere in the 1970s and early 1980s was far from propitious. The Novus Ordo, which Heenan had promised would usher in a period of stability, introduced standing for Communion, Communion in the hand, lay 'Eucharistic Ministers' and in many places Communion in both kinds as the norm rather than the exception, requiring even more EMs (most of them female). Mass attendance plummeted.
Despite the hostility of many in the hierarchy, the LMS always made a point of working with the bishops. Michael Davies, whose research into the genesis of the new Mass remains a benchmark, stated that all he asked for was the Old Mass to be given 'parity of esteem' with the New. Sadly he did not live to see Summorum Pontificum which did just that.
Most of the indult Masses were organized by the LMS and there is no way they would have used the bastardized forms of 1965 and 1967, neither of which was intended to be permanent.
Much of the received wisdom of the 1970s is now looking as dated as platform shoes, flared trousers and the Ford Cortina. The Tablet and its US equivalent the NC Reporter are now out of step, and the petulant tone adopted by many of their contributors suggests that they know it.
The LMS is affiliated to FIUV so has an international dimension.
In the 1970’s the USA didn’t have the Ford Cortina but rather the Ford Maverick which sold as a base price of $1,995! As you can imagine it was wildly popular for its price and looks.
They had the Ford Focus. I was so impressed that I purchased one when they became available in the United States. It tried to kill me twice, so I returned it. By contrast I had never experienced a good beer or ale before the UK and later in Belgium. Many years later I attended a series of presentations about Lenten Liturgy. The priest was young and knowledgeable. And very respectful. He wore a cassock and had a very ‘traditional ‘ approach to his apologetics, that is he relied on the words and reasoning of Catholic saints rather than popular contemporary writers. It was something God focused, humble, and respectful of what people have done in the past with the same goals. Old style beer and old style Liturgy. I really can’t go back to the watered down stuff.
Actually, the Ford Focus was (and is) one of the best cars produced for the European market. Forty years ago American cars were totally different from their European counterparts; huge, uneconomical and with dreadful handling.
Now a New York street scene is no different from a London one, dominated by SUVs (aka Chelsea tractors) which should be confined to the farm and banned from the city.
Sadly, John, the American Focus was similar in name only. After the engine lost the coolant liner on the way home from the car lot and two wheel bearings seized up and caught fire I decided that Ford USA had hired some Lucas Electronics engineers as some sort of lend lease program. But you ales, porters, and stouts are made from dreams.
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