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Posted on 05/05/2025 9:38:40 AM PDT by ebb tide
According to James Hitchcock, a professor of history at Saint Louis University, “St. Pius V…was an ascetic Dominican who had been head of the Inquisition and who vigorously implemented the decrees of Trent, including publishing the Catechism, Missal, and Breviary…authorized by the Council.”[1] In this article, I will highlight the Holy Father’s reform of the Roman Missal.
First, it was not until 1570 A.D. that Pope Saint Pius V was able to accomplish this monumental task. That year, the Holy Father published the apostolic constitution Quo Primum, in which he explains that, in order to continue the work of his predecessors, he “deemed it necessary to give [his] immediate attention to what still remained to be done” with regards to the restructuring of the Missal. Since he earnestly desired for this task to be completed as soon as possible, he “decided to entrust this work to learned men of [his] selection.”[2] Initially, Pope Pius IV, his predecessor, entrusted four liturgical scholars with the reformation of the Missal. However, after his death, Pope Saint Pius V increased the number of men on this commission to eight. Its members are listed as follows: Cardinal Bernardine Schotto; Cardinal William Sirleto; Cardinal Antonio Carafa; Julius Poggiani; Curtio di Franchi; Vincenzo Masso; Messer Accursio; and Pedro Ponce de Leon de Plasencia.[3] While Church historians are unsure if other men were also members of this commission, according to Pope Saint Pius V, the eight members “carefully collated all their work with the ancient codices” in the Vatican Library in order to restore the Missal “to the original form and rite of the holy Fathers” of Holy Mother Church.[4] Given that the printing press was a relatively new invention at the time, what were these “ancient codices” that Pope Saint Pius V’s liturgical commission consulted?
Born in Strasbourg, a small town in modern-day Germany, in 1450 A.D., John Burchard was the Pontifical Master of Ceremonies for Pope Alexander VI. In 1502 A.D., the Holy Father requested that Burchard publish his work Ordo Servandus per Sacerdotem in celebratione Missae, which served as the predecessor for the Roman Missal promulgated under Pope Saint Pius V. According to Anthony Chadwick, Burchard’s work found so much success that “from 1541 A.D., it is to be found in some editions” of the pre-Tridentine Roman Missal.[5] Consequently, when Pope Saint Pius V sought to complete the liturgical work of his predecessors, he incorporated the Ordo of John Buchard into the Tridentine Missal. As a result, one of the key changes made to the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was Pope Saint Pius V’s addition of the Prologue of Saint John’s Gospel to the liturgy. Because it was read by the priest at the end of every Mass, it also became known as the “Last Gospel.” Thomas Austin Dyson comments that the Holy Father desired this change in order “to keep the inestimable benefit of the Incarnation perpetually” in the hearts of Catholics.[6] As a testament to the prudence of the implementation of this practice, the Last Gospel continued to exist in the liturgy until Pope Paul VI’s document Inter Oecumenici removed it from the rubrics in 1964 A.D.[7]
Another important element of the Tridentine Missal that improved the celebration of the liturgy was the elimination of “farcing,” a popular medieval practice where priests would spontaneously add unnecessary, lengthy invocations to certain prayers in the Mass. Before Pope Saint Pius V’s promulgation of the Tridentine Missal, farcing the Kyrie Eleison and the Gloria was widespread. For example, during Masses celebrated in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrants would add the phrases “O Spirit and Kind Comforter of Orphans” and “Firstborn of the Virgin Mother Mary” during the recitation of the Gloria.[8] However, in order to preserve the original text of the Kyrie and the Gloria, prelates at the Council of Trent proposed that such “additions…be removed from [the Mass]; they seem an unbefitting insertion.”[9] While proponents of farcing argued that it added a poetic element to the liturgy, the majority of the Council Fathers saw it as a deviation from the rubrics of the predecessors of the Tridentine Missal and an unwelcome interruption of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Interestingly, in William Burchard’s Ordo, the farcing of the Gloria was retained in the rubrics. Given the Council Fathers’ desire for liturgical uniformity, though, the practice of farcing was eliminated from the Tridentine Missal by the following instruction: “Thus shall be said the Gloria in excelsis [in its original form], even at Masses of Blessed Virgin Mary, when it is to be said.”[10] As a result, the Tridentine Missal recovered the original text of the Gloria and reinserted the ninefold repetition of the Kyrie into the liturgy.[11] Unlike the Last Gospel, the Kyrie and the Gloria have, for the most part, remained untouched in the 1970 Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI.[12]
Next, it should be noted that, before the pontificate of Pope Saint Pius V, different rites existed within Western Christendom. For instance, the Ambrosian Rite originates from Saint Ambrose of Milan, a fifth-century bishop, and had been celebrated by priests in Milan for centuries. However, due to the vast overflow of novel rites that had crept in during the Renaissance—not to mention the liturgical abuses rampant in the Roman Rite following the Protestant Revolution—
the Holy Father declaredthat the Tridentine Missal “alone is to be used unless approval of the practice of saying Mass differently was given… by the Apostolic See at least two-hundred years ago.”[13] In other words, Pope Saint Pius V required that, with the exception of rites two-hundred years or older, all Catholic priests in the Roman Rite were required to celebrate Mass according to the rubrics of the Tridentine Missal. Since the Ambrosian Rite was older than two-hundred years at the time of Quo Primum’s publication, it was exempt from this mandate. In light of this concession, Anthony Chadwick correctly observes that the Holy Father “did not intend to impose absolute liturgical uniformity” in the post-Tridentine era.[14] Rather, his goal was to restore “the pristine purity of the Roman liturgy” that had been stained in the Renaissance and violated in the Protestant Revolution.[15]
Finally, to ascertain the sixteenth-century abuses that had violated the integrity of the Roman Rite, the liturgical commission active at the Council of Trent noticed that a majority of parish priests “made up the [Mass] as they went along, adding improvised prayers to the official texts” of the liturgy.[16] Additionally, instead of celebrating the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on behalf of the parish, priests “were celebrating votive or requiem Masses,” instead.[17] Oddly enough, during the Pater Noster, some celebrants would inexplicably elevate the Sacred Host. They would also celebrate the sacred mysteries barefooted, leave the altar in the middle of the liturgy, and even lick the paten after distribution of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, among other exploits.[18] As a result, “the bishops and religious superiors representing the various European nations at [the Council of Trent] expressed a strong desire for a unified missal.”[19]
Ultimately, Pope Saint Pius V recognized the necessity of establishing liturgical discipline throughout Christendom. For him, the most effective means to utilize in completing this objective was the centralization of the Roman Rite under the Tridentine Missal. To quote the opening sentence of Quo Primum: “From the very first, upon Our elevation to the chief Apostleship, We gladly turned Our mind and energies and directed all Our thoughts to those matters which concerned the preservation of a pure liturgy.”[20] Considering that the Tridentine Missal has maintained its existence within the Roman Rite for almost five-hundred years, it is evident that Pope Saint Pius V successfully reformed the Roman Missal. Can the same be said for Pope Paul VI?
[1] James Hitchcock, History of the Catholic Church (Ignatius Press, 2012), 292.
[2] Pope Saint Pius V, Apostolic Constitution on Promulgating the Tridentine Liturgy Quo Primum (14 July 1570), at Papal Encyclicals, https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius05/p5quopri.htm.
[3] Chadwick, “The Roman Missal,” 115.
[4] Quo Primum.
[5] Chadwick, “The Roman Missal,” 115.
[6] Dyson, The Life of Saint Pius the Fifth, 72.
[7] Congregation for Divine Worship. Instruction on Implementing the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy Inter Oecumenici (26 September 1964) §48, at ETWN, https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/inter-oecumenici–instruction-on-implementing-the-constitution-on-sacred-liturgy-2182.
[8] Gerhard Eger, “Ad Mariam Gloriam: A Trope for Our Lady,” Canticum Salomonis, August 5, 2021, https://sicutincensum.wordpress.com/category/tropes/.
[9] Eger, “Ad Mariam Gloriam.”
[10] Chadwick, “The Roman Missal,” 115.
[11] Ibid.
[12] In the 1970 Roman Missal, the Kyrie is recited six times instead of nine. Both prayers may also be said in the vernacular.
[13] Quo Primum.
[14] Chadwick, “The Roman Missal,” 118.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Chadwick, “The Roman Missal,” 112.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Father Uwe Michael Lang, “The Shape of the ‘Tridentine Mass’ – A Short History of the Roman Rite of Mass: Part XVI,” Adoremus, May 24, 2022, https://adoremus.org/2022/05/the-shape-of-the-tridentine-mass-a-short-history-of-the-roman-rite-of-mass-part-xvi/.
[20] Quo Primum.
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Ping
The invention of the printing press both in some ways simplified and in some ways complicated the situation. Manuscripts are harder and more pointless to regulate than print runs. With the Press, Tradition and Novelty both might be propagated.
That explains why there are no hardback novus ordo missals available for purchase.
The never ending mutation of Bugnini’s Mess, requires yearly paperback missals that require yearly subscriptions to handle the constant changes.
Pope Pius V: “Outside the church there is no salvation.” (meaning Catholic church, Papal Bull Feb 25, 1570, pointed at Queen Elizabeth).
What's that you say? (Link) Other companies have them too.
Prior to the reform there were cheap popular editions of the readings in various places, which in some ways anticipated missalettes.
However Oregon Catholic Press (I grew up in the Archdiocese) and a few other institutions had a vested interest in not largely phasing out hymns for antiphons, as the theory behind the NO anticipated.
Replacing one mediocre set of worship songs with another set allows for an unending market.
Canada, with COnference control of the market, has had only CBW I, II, and III
Oregon Catholic Press == millstone around the church’s neck
Well I see they’re up to a 7th edition now? It kind of makes the older editions worthless. So why spend the money on a hardback?
My TLM missal is a 1962 edition, no updates required.
You realize, I hope, that Pius XII "reformed" ("damaged", IOW) the Holy Week liturgies in 1955, and then John XXIII added St Joseph to the canon in 1962. It's not like the TLM was an solidly crystallized entity before 1962. (I don't object to St Joseph being in the canon. What Pius XII allowed to be done to Holy Week was just really sad.)
The "Daily Roman Missal" 7th Edition (IIRC) came out around 2012, after the translation was revised.
I agree. Bugnini was behind that also.
But I have also have used my Dad's 1952 missal at Mass, and excluding Holy Week, I have seen minimal differences.
Bugnini’s Holy Week “reform” was so bad that John XXIII of all people threw him out of Rome and he used the pre ‘55 Holy Week at St. Peter’s! Unfortunately Saul VI reinstated Bugnini and allowed him to destroy the Catholic Liturgy.
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