Pope Leo celebrated Mass in Rome for the opening of the “chapter” of his Augustinian order. The Church is splendid.
The liturgy is the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, and thus the red vestments.
This could easily be a parish Mass if this way of celebrating the Modern Mass were mandated.
Since this is a daily Mass, there is only the Epistle, Responsorial Psalm and Gospel. I wish that would be the case for Sunday Masses too as we throw way too much Scripture at the people at Sunday Mass.
There is no offertory procession, so needless, useless.
The Universal Prayer is done as a litany and eliminates verbosity and demands that God do this, that and the other as well as making the Universal Prayers a kind of homily. The short petitions are followed by a brief “Kyrie Eleison” and that’s it, brief, effective and prayerful.
The choir sings the designated Introit for the Mass of the Holy Spirit quite beautifully. The Latin Chants are beautiful and all very well celebrated!
Here is the abridged version of this Mass:
20 comments:
Given the small sanctuary, I think they should have used the ambo halfway down the aisle.
I wonder if Leo ever finds all the solemn sung masses tiresome. I like solemnity and music as much as anyone else, but there’s something to be said for a simple said mass sometimes.
I would think that his private Masses in his personal chapel are simple, spoken Masses. He has an odd way of chanting more solemn masses. Today he chanted the Sign of the Cross and the Lord be with you but not the collect or anything else. Makes no sense to me.
The sanctuary would be spacious except for that dang free standing altar. If the original altar was still the main altar, the faithful could see the altar and the entire person of the pope at that altar although ad orientem. The lower altar is swallowed up by being too low and seemingly less important than what is behind it.
Thank god for the freestanding altar allowing mass facing the people, but the ambo should have been used to add greater solemnity and space for ceremonials.
Every Divine Liturgy at our Church is at least an hour and a half, usually two hours — not counting the prayers of the hours beforehand. Yes, even for a liturgy on a random weekday morning.
It’s interesting that no simpler option was ever developed in the East.
Well I guess he can intone the sign of the cross and pax Covid from memory, whereas the opening prayer would require some prior preparation.
To one of your points, I find that the Sunday Novus Ordo Mass throws so many words at you in great big gobs that my ability to held intellectual attention ends somewhere around the homily. Maybe I'm particularly prone to this because I'm an introvert, or I deal with so many words in my daily life already, or I'm just an unrequited trad when attending the NO. In any event, once that point is reached, I know that my mind and heart are looking for something more transcendental and vertical, to borrow language for Cardinal Ratzinger, than yet another lay reader traipsing on up from his pew for the intercessions, to be followed by the priest making his presentation/performance up at the altar...
...which leads to another point. The intercessions as practiced in this Mass resemble what I've suggested in the past--implementing a form of the Universal Prayer that tracks with the Ordinariate Use missal. Succinct, to-the-point, and without all-too-often cringeworthy attempts by the parish secretary to make the prayers that week "more meaningful." The current way most parishes handle this also seems like such a ham-handed interruption in what is otherwise a sensible flow of the liturgy, i.e., Gospel -> instruction in the Gospel -> profession of the Gospel (Creed) -> beginning of the heart of the Mass. A recited lector's call-and-response becomes awkward and stilted in the midst of those other liturgical actions.
Nick
I dislike the multitude of readers approach to the prayers of the faithful (unless they’re in different languages at large international masses).
If you prefer the ordinariate missal then attend an ordinaries church if you can but please don’t try to impose the reform of the reform on the new rite please. The vast majority of catholics are happy with the way things are. The reform of the reform is over.
Pax vobis
It was an international gathering. Ergo, the entire Ordinary should have been in Latin.
"If you prefer the ordinariate missal then attend an ordinaries church if you can but please don’t try to impose the reform of the reform on the new rite please. The vast majority of catholics are happy with the way things are. The reform of the reform is over."
Wow, how pastoral and hospitable.
Sorry benny boy, but it's happening whether you, Bp. Martin, Abp. Weisenburger, and Cdl. Cupich like it or not, whether it's parishes throwing out Gather hymnals, bringing back chant, building and using new altar rails, or the priest finally facing the right direction.
In point of fact, the ordinariate was created, in the spirit of Lumen Gentium, to make noble parts of Anglican patrimony in the Catholic Church. I suppose the best way to foster that incorporation is to make sure it's strictly sequestered away?
"The vast majority of catholics are happy with the way things are."
"I dislike the multitude of readers approach to the prayers of the faithful"
benny, you increasingly show that your comments are not to be taken seriously. Beyond contradicting yourself in the space of four sentences, the "vast majority of [C]atholics" also engage in and support any number of erroneous positions and sinful behaviors; I suppose that means it's A-okay. The "vast majority of [C]atholics" in the 1960s fled the Church. The ones that don't have gray hair and aren't two steps from the grave aren't interested in carrying forward the hits of the 1970s, and that's why the "return to tradition" carries on despite the death grip some Boomers (cf. Cupich, Weisenburger, Martin, and throw in Farrell, McElroy and Gregory for good measure) hold in trying to maintain their control over the life of the Church.
Nick
The prayers of the faithful are not part of the Oreo therefore should be in the vernacular
The prayers of the faithful are not part of the Oreo therefore should be in the vernacular
I wasn’t being inhospitable. I was just saying go to an ordinariate mass if that’s your preference but don’t seek to impose your preferences on the vast number of catholics happy with the reformed rite.
Neither are the introit, offertory, and communion chants... that's what led Paul VI, a few years after Vatican II, that the Church would have to get rid of all of its Latin chants.
In any event, the GIRM doesn't even require the Prayer of the Faithful, unless I'm mistaken. Yet it appears almost everywhere while mandatory prayers, actions, and music are discarded willy-nilly.
Nick
Advocating for a change to the liturgy doesn't mean "impos[ing my] preferences" on anyone. And I thought Millenials were the over-sensitive ones!
You also may find that many practicing Catholics have opinions about what they would like to see done in the Mass; the really dangerous ones are priests and bishops, who actually have the authority to "impose [their] preferences," see, e.g. Bishop Martin of Charlotte.
In any event, "the vast number of [C]atholics" are so apathetic about the Church they don't attend Mass at all--does that mean they are happy with the "reformed" rite?
Nick
Marc, that is interesting and those promoting the spirit of Vatican II for the Latin Rite wanted to eliminate so-called Low Masses altogether, but will what is call a nebulous "progressive solemnity" where the priest and the priest alone chooses what is going to be sung, be it hymns or various parts of the Mass, even at daily Masses. This leads to bizarre and illogical choices in terms of what is more important to chant
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