|
Published: October 23, 2009
An Extraordinary Tridentine Rite Milestone
Archbishop Burke Presides Over High Mass in St. Peter's
Editor: the following email was sent by Robert Moynihan, founder and editor of Inside the Vatican. For more Moynihan reports, go to InsidetheVatican.com:
I have been asked to write a column every two weeks for the Zenit news agency. This afternoon, I wrote a column on Archbishop Burke's Mass. Here are excerpts:
ROME, OCT. 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- There has been almost no coverage anywhere in the mainstream press about an extraordinary event that occurred yesterday morning in St. Peter's Basilica -- the celebration by Archbishop Raymond Burke, head of the Apostolic Signature, of the first High Mass according to the old Latin rite in St. Peter’s Basilica in 40 years, since 1969.
And because of that lack of press coverage, the old Mass, that "mysterious tapestry of texts and actions," as Cardinal Ratzinger once termed it -- sometimes illogical, sometimes jumbled, but nevertheless always wonderful -- returned to St. Peter’s Basilica after 40 years without any special notice at all, almost, as it were, silently, almost like "a thief in the night."
The chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament, which is on the right side of St. Peter’s Basilica, was filled to overflowing by the time the Mass began at just after 9:30 am.
Outside, it was raining, and a bit of water pooled and glistened in different places on the marble floor where those present repeatedly knelt down on the hard stone during the celebration...
Monsignor Guido Pozzo, recently appointed by Benedict XVI to head the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- the commission in charge of dialogue with the Society of St. Pius X, which wishes to celebrate the Mass only in the old rite -- was also present.
The two choirs, of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, one of brothers and one of sisters, were extraordinary.
As one Italian who attended put it, "It seemed we were immersed in choirs of angels. The presence of the celestial dimension of the rite was almost tangible. Believe me, I am not exaggerating"...
Burke's homily
Archbishop Burke's homily was in Italian. It concentrated on two things: on the meaning of the Gospel passage from St. Luke, and on the meaning of the celebration of this Mass in the old Latin rite.
Standing in the back of the chapel, I was able to scribble a few phrases on a sheet of paper as he spoke.
"Today's Gospel tells us the story of the miraculous healing of the son of the young ruler, who came to Jesus seeking his help," the archbishop said.
"But the physical healing we read about in Luke's Gospel is a sign of a deeper, spiritual healing, which Jesus brings," he continued. "It is a sign of the healing of sin, and of the most profound effect of sin, death eternal.
"We too can be healed," Archbishop Burke continued. "Just as the young ruler believed the word Jesus spoke to him, and his son was healed, as he later learned, ‘at that very moment,’ so too we should believe the word Jesus speaks to us, and that word can be the beginning of our own healing."
"In the Holy Mass," he continued, "the Son renews his sacrifice on Calvary, the sacrifice through which he will accomplish the perfect healing of our souls. Every gesture of the Mass signifies our encounter with Christ, who comes to heal us. In the sacrifice of the Mass, earth and heaven meet.
"As the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council taught, the Holy Mass is the source and summit of our faith. The Popes throughout the ages all took great care that the celebration of the Eucharist be carried out correctly and with great reverence.
"And our current Pope, Benedict XVI, in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, has taught clearly that there is no contradiction between the two forms of the Mass in the Latin rite, the old Mass according to missal of St. Pius V, and the new Mass of Pope Paul VI. There is progress, but no rupture with the past."
"And Pope Benedict has made very clear that the old rite, now called the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, cannot be rejected or regarded as dangerous in any way," Archbishop Burke noted. "The double rite is a gift to the Church. The two forms will mutually enrich each other.
"For example, with regard to the old rite, new saints' feast days, and new prayers, can be added. And, the sense of the sacred which so permeates the old Mass can exert a positive influence on the new form of the Latin rite."
After the Mass, when Benedict XVI prayed his noon Angelus from his window above St. Peter's Square, he did not make any direct mention of the Mass.
However, he did greet warmly those in the square "after attending a conference in Rome on 'Summorum Pontificum'" -- a reference to the people who had just marked the close of their conference by the celebration of the Mass in the old rite.
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 6:25 AM By anthonypadua
"...sometimes illogical, sometimes jumbled." What are you talking about? Just because you don't speak Latin, this is your estimation of what is essentially a 2,000 year-old rite? I have no facility for the Portuguese language, but I don't think people from Portugal consider their language 'illogical' or 'jumbled.' Illogical! Yeah, tell that to St. Thomas Aquinas who celebrated that rite every day of his priestly life. He was renowned for dabbling in all things illogical...
|
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 8:20 AM By Janek
His Grace, Archbishop Burke has been in the forefront of the "restoration" of the "True Mass of all Times" may he recieve many graces from this. I soon hope he will receive the Cardinal's hat, for which he rightly deserves. Deo Gratias
|
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 11:02 AM By Life Lady
Oh that the "extraordinary form" of the mass could continue to be the touchstone that it is in bringing the strays and wayward of the Church back into communion with Rome. I have heard people who are attached to the new rite say that "we don't need Rome". We could not survive without the life that is in Rome, could not be alive with the Holy Spirit were it not for Rome, and the life contained in that Holy City, and in our Pope, Benedict XVI. The hope within us who are regularly blessed with this 'extraordinary form" of the holy mass is that which is concretely found in the gospel. We who are blessed long for our Church to be brought back with that life's blood found in the "extraordinary form". Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
|
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 11:21 AM By Sarah
Why are some of the clergy and our local hierarchy frightened of and threatened by the Tridentine Mass? It is dignified and beautiful and leads out thoughts, prayers, and aspirations heavenward. Along with the Tridentine Mass, there are the solemn chants and Catholic hymns, not the Protestant type hymns usually heard at the new Mass. The new Mass has been adapted to please various ethnic groups, so why can't the traditionalists have a tridentine Mass? Why was it held, almost secretly at a side chapel? What are they afraid of?
|
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 2:16 PM By Theo in Ventura
Thank you for the excellent report. The Blessed Sacrament chapel in San Pietro a Roma is the perfect place for a Latin mass. Bravo.
|
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 3:52 PM By JLS
anthonypadua, because spiritual things of God are sometimes not logical of orderly to humans ... check out the lessons of St Paul. The key to grasping what the now Pope wrote is perspective. From the perspective of man, the things of God do not always make sense.
|
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 3:56 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Sarah,
That side Chapel is not really that small, and this Mass was probably much more reported in the European Press.
Rejoice, because this Mass can no longer be said to be banned at St. Peters!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kennneth Fisher
|
Posted Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:30 AM By David
I have been Roman Catholic for most of my life, but even at age 60 I'm not old enough to remember the Latin Mass. Like many converts, I was very disappointed with the early 70s liturgical experiments that I found often embarassing and not conducive to holy worship. And like many converts, I slowly became accustomed to all the silliness of the cocktail lounge music or folk songs, protestant hymns, overly exhuberant signs of peace that stray well into the Angus Dei, the slipshod politically correct translations of prayers and scripture, and the general absence of the profoundly sacred and holiness of the Mass. But there has always been a longing for a return to more sacred worship. What great news to hear that the traditional Latin Mass has been celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica after all these years!
|
Posted Sunday, October 25, 2009 8:29 PM By Baron
Thank you Robert Moynihan, thank you California Catholic Daily, thank you Archbishop Burke, and most of all thank You Jesus!
In gratitude we must pray the subversives out of our Church.
It has been in need of a detox for the past 40 years.
|
Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 11:32 AM By Ima Catholic
"For example, with regard to the old rite, new saints' feast days, and new prayers, can be added. And, the sense of the sacred which so permeates the old Mass can exert a positive influence on the new form of the Latin rite." Hmmm. Now the magesterium and pope appears are out to open further changes to the old Latin (TLM), which in Saint Pope Pius the Vth's Papal Bull directed the TLM should not change for all time! For anyone whom happens to be familiar about the TLM and the old RCC "one year calendar of feasts", most days honored a Saint's or Saints Feast Day, with few exceptions. The TLM scripted in the Roman Missal and in the parishoners personal missals (like Marian, St Anthony's, St Joseph, Fr Lasaince and etc) all held the very same unique prayers including the Introit, Collect, Epistle, Tract, Gospel, Offetory, Secret, Preface, Communion, and Post Communion prayers for each particular Saints Feast Day. Those prayers and readings were unique; however to the Saint's Feast Day. So why more changes? to cause further confusion to those whom love the TLM? Something SMELLS very FISHY here to me! To add more confusion the author brings up the new mass of Paul the VIth which perhaps the best way to describe it as the Latin-Vernacular of the Vatican II council will opened the doors for the "anything goes" greater liberal changes resulting in the Norvus Ordo service today. So why aren't the magesterium and pope changing the Paul the VIth mass? Nothing like wishing to confuse us Catholics eh? What is really going on?
|
Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 3:43 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Ima Catholic, even in the Mass of St. Pius V before Vatican II, "new Saints and new prayers were permitted. Would you deny Saint. Padre Pio, Kateri Tekawitha. and others a place in the Roman Calendar?
God bless, yours in Thier Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
|
Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 4:35 PM By John F. Maguire
In reply to IMA C.: If the first name IMA is better suited to the Peruvian singer IMA SUMAC (prenom: IMA) than suited to your moniker, I don't want to venture to say, not because I don't think you are a Catholic (I assume you are) but because I'm not fond of monikers. Still, IMA, I do want to venture a challenge to your suggestion that Pope Benedict XVI is not at work "reforming the reform"; I want to challenge your suggestion that Pope Benedict is not at work imbuing the Novus Ordo of the Mass with the sacrality proper to the Catholic Mass as Holy Sacrifice. ~ For example, IMA, in the Italian daily IL GIORNALE, Andrea Tornielli reports that the plenary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in its reserved session held of March 12, 2009, approved several "PROPOSITIONES" regarding the reform of the Novus Ordo of Paul VI. Tornielli writes: "The document was delivered to the hands of Benedict XVI in the morning of last April 4 [2009] by Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. It is the result of a reserved vote, which took place on March 12, in the course of a 'plenary' session of the dicastery responsible for the liturgy, and it represents THE FIRST CONCRETE STEP [emphasis mine] towards that 'reform of the reform' often desired by Pope Ratzinger. The Cardinals and Bishops members of the Congregation voted almost unanimously in favor of a greater sacrality of the rite, of the recovery of the sense of eucharistic worship, of the recovery of the Latin language in the celebration, and of the remaking of the introductory parts of the Missal in order to put a stop to abuses, wild experimentations, and inappropriate creativity. They have also declared themselves favorable to reaffirm that the usual way of Communion according to the norms is not on the hand, but in the mouth." See "URGENT: The 'Reform of the Reform' is in motion," _Rorate Caeli_, August 22, 2009.
|
Posted Tuesday, October 27, 2009 3:47 PM By Ima Catholic
Kenneth, You are correct because the changes before Vatican II did not change the Canon of the TLM. So, no I would not deny new Saints and new prayers (Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Tract, Gospel, Offetory, Secret, Communion, and Post Communion) appropriate to those Saints being added to the Roman Catholic calendar. Do you kind sir? The prayers within the Canon; however are not allowed to change according to Pope SAINT Pius the Vth. I emphasize SAINT unlike many deceased pontiff's to add credibility to the correctness and authority of his Papal Bull. He and Pope SAINT Pius the Xth are the only two Pope's declared Saint's in the last 500 years! Surprising but true eh? That says alot to me! Mr Maguire, I hope my moniker amuses you, and that it doesn't lessen the value of my humble opinion. I do not seek fame, and prefer to walk in the shadow of others greater than me. I was unaware of The "Reform of the Reform", I for one and many are not aware of all the reform going on in the Church. However, I do see it as a bit strange and rather inefficient means to restore Catholic Worship and the Faith. Our Lord said a bad tree cannot produce good fruit and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. Our Lord also had a saying about putting good wine into bad wine skins, remember! My point is that to reform the Roman Catholic worship correctly, means putting God first and throwing earthly politics out the door. It means denouncing and dissolving all modern forms of irreverant nervous order worship services and completely restoring the Tridentine Latin Mass, 7 Holy Sacraments, and Roman Catholic Calendar as it was before Vatican II. Pray that God will show us individually all how He wishes for us to love, honor, respect, and worship Him, the way He taught us to do so. Throw out our pride, and lower our selves to complete humility before our Heavely Father. Depend on God and not ourselves in solving our problems.
|
Posted Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:26 AM By John F. Maguire
I think that's right, IMA. I think the "reform of the reform" -- I'm not sure exactly why -- got off to a slow start. I fear that you are quite right about the inefficiencies that have slowed down this already slow start. In some part, these inefficiencies, I venture, are attributable to the adepts within the post-Conciliar apparatus dragging their feet when it comes to reforming the liturgy of the Novus Ordo. ~ On politics, IMA, I accept Aristotle's and Aquinas's teaching that man is constitutively "political" -- and so I would simply say that the workaday world of political life is primarily the mission of the laity, not the clergy. The high politics of the clergy, by contrast, pertain (a) to the public work of articulating the requirements of the common good of persons and institutions and (b) to the public work of securing the Apostolic liberty of the Church herself.
|
Posted Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:28 PM By abqdad
I believe that all Catholics need additional education to truly appreciate what they have!!! The book, "How Christ said the first Mass" is a prefect example of the lack of education that keeps from being able to truly appreciate the power and history of the Mass. It is NOT about politics, but rather ancient rites that Christ taught the apostles! The Mass is a great yet mysterious gift that all Catholics need to study for maximum grace. It is a source of unimaginable strength! The silly fighting and politics needs to stop!
|
Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 2:57 PM By Sister Act
As a catechist, I agree, abqdad: Education for Catholics is always a matter of life-time learning. *** One point of word-choice, if you will. The talk, I would say, is more commonly of "superabundant grace" than of "maximum grace" because the word "maximum" suggests a limit whereas the word "superabundant" does not enter into the question of a limit on God's bountiful communication of grace.
|
Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 6:20 PM By JLS
"Maximum" does not suggest a limit, but easily includes infinity. When speaking in religious terms, one should be predisposed to the awareness of God and that He is infinite and that His grace is infinite. So, what kind of a limitation does S.A. lay on her pupils? I'd bail out, even if I were still a kid with little knowledge, because I can sense the irrationality and manipulativeness of her instruction.
|
Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 6:21 PM By JLS
abqdad, the "silly fighting and politics" are not going to stop, have never stopped. The Mass is easily much greater than struggle and politics combined ... so what is the fear? Don't you trust the power of the Mass?
|
Posted Sunday, November 01, 2009 1:09 PM By Sister Act
Surely you've heard of adult catechism -- why then, JLS, do you assume I am (or am exclusively) a childrens' catechist (you drift off: "...were I still a kid")? *** As for "bailing out" of class, JLS, haven't you already done this by rejecting the term "superabundant grace" in favor of the delimiting phrase
"maximum grace"? Neither in math nor in theology does the word "maximum" "include infinity", as you say it does. Nor does the word "maximum" include the idea of "superabundance." *** At the same time, JLS, let's be clear: we are not talking here about the infinity of God Himself; we are talking instead about the SUPERABUNDANCE of God's grace.
|
Posted Monday, November 02, 2009 7:07 AM By JLS
SA, you still try to confuse the issue with your technical terms; you fit the image of trying to ride your camel through the eye of a needle, while swatting at gnats. Anyone who is being initially instructed in the faith should be fed the "milk of the Word", regardless of their temporal age. You, SA, like Maguire, have read and memorized countless things, but you have no solid ground to understand them. You cannot even grasp the connection between God and His grace, and instead you attempt to fractionate them, like a modernist, because you are indeed a modernist.
|
Posted Monday, November 02, 2009 1:58 PM By Sister Act
JLS: There is nothing wrong with the use of technical terms where such terms are needed, but no, here technical terms are not needed. Moreover, the Catholic phrase
"superabundant grace" is not -- not even by a stretch -- a technical term. The Catholic phrase "superabundant grace"
is commonplace Catholic terminology the purpose of which is to summarize Romans 5: 20: "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Whence the phrase SUPERABUNDANT GRACE.
|
© California Catholic Daily 2009. All Rights Reserved.
|