Posted on 04/22/2006 5:05:54 PM PDT by tridentine
The old Latin Mass will return to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston for the first time since 1970 when Monsignor Edward Sadie leads a special service at 2 p.m. Sunday at Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral. The church choir will sing in Latin as well.
Sadie thought it was a good idea when the Catholic Church dropped the Tridentine Mass — Catholics know it as the Latin Mass — in 1970. It had been many centuries since Latin was the language of the people, and that was never the case in America.
Now Sadie thinks it’s a good idea to bring the Tridentine Mass back to his church, where two priests celebrate Mass six times a weekend, but generally not at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“I’m anxious to bring back to church any who feel they were abandoned or neglected,” he said. “I want to meet the needs of people who feel strongly about it.”
He is getting calls from people around the state who want to attend Sunday’s Latin Mass. Some are older Catholics nostalgic for the Mass as it was before 1970, Sadie said. “Some are younger Catholics who think we lost a lot,” he said.
Sadie said he has received the encouragement and approval of Pope Benedict XVI and diocesan Bishop Michael J. Bransfield. After Pope Paul VI revised the Mass in 1970 and decided priests should celebrate it in each country’s prevailing language, a priest couldn’t celebrate the old Mass without first getting permission from the local bishop.
Bishop Bernard W. Schmitt had not given that permission in the 16 years he led the diocese ending in 2005, Sadie said. “I don’t know if Bishop Schmitt was asked,” he said. “It depends who does the asking, too.”
Latin was the language of the people when St. Jerome, who lived from around 347 to 420, went back to the Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Old Testament and the Greek texts of the New Testament and made the authoritative translation of the Bible now known as the Vulgate.
St. Jerome wasn’t the first to translate the Bible into Latin, but earlier attempts had created a jumble of inaccuracies. “As new scrolls are discovered, the authenticity of St. Jerome’s text has been reinforced,” Sadie said.
After Gutenberg invented the printing press in about 1450 and the forces of nationalism began to gather, national leaders rejected the authority of Rome, Sadie said. Meanwhile, regional dialects were coalescing into national languages, Sadie said. “The Church became defensive and held strongly to the Latin.”
As the years have passed since 1970, the Latin issue has become less emotional and less divisive, Sadie said. “There was a group who broke away from the church at that time over the issue. There are efforts now to heal that schism.”
Acting within bounds that Pope John Paul II set out in 1984, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston brought the Tridentine Mass back to that city’s Holy Trinity German Church, where it is celebrated at noon every Sunday. In Troy, N.Y., St. Paul the Apostle Church [sic--St. Peter's] offers the Tridentine Mass every Sunday.
Sadie isn’t sure how often he will celebrate the Latin Mass here. “It could be once a week if enough people want to come,” he said. “I’m getting calls from around the state. I’ll take a survey to find out where people are coming from. I expect people from an hour or two away.”
To contact staff writer Bob Schwarz, use e-mail or call 348-1249.
Beautiful. Maybe Mel Gibson's dad can start going there.
Got it in one. "Rome has spoken".
And thanks for the kind words/sentiments. I look forward to enjoying the rest of my life (long or short) in union with the true Christ-ian church, established by Him and in continuous existence ever since.
The "Magisterium decided" no such thing.
"The Church is without question a living organism, and as an organism in respect of the Sacred Liturgy also, she grows, matures, develops, adapts and accommodates herself to temporal needs and circumstances, provided only that the integrity of her doctrine be safeguarded. This notwithstanding, the temerity and daring of those who introduce novel liturgical practices, or call for the revival of obsolete rites out of harmony with laws and rubrics, deserve reproof. It has pained Us grievously to note, (...) that such innovations are actually being introduced, not merely in minor details but in matters of major importance as well. They are, in point of fact, those who make use of the vernacular in the celebration of the august Eucharistic Sacrifice; those who transfer certain feast days - which have been appointed and established after mature deliberation - to other dates; those finally who delete from the prayer books approved for public use the sacred texts of the Old Testament, deeming them little suited and inopportune for modern times.
The use of the Latin language, customary in a considerable portion of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity, as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth."
(Pius XII: Encyclical Mediator Dei, November 20, 1947)
" If anyone says that the Mass should be celebrated in the vernacular only, let him be Anathema . " - Council of Trent (Session XXII, Canon 9)
Looks like Rome spoke a later and modified word. Vatican II was a validly called Council, and the decisions from it were "ratified" by the current successor of Peter. Live with it.
Sadly, some think a language, rather than our Triune God, preserves the Church
"[T]he use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites."
-Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
An infallible statement is true for all time. It cannot be "modified".
Vatican II was a validly called Council, and the decisions from it were "ratified" by the current successor of Peter.
Please cite any quote from any VII document which declares something infallibly that is contrary to previously declared infallible statements which I cited above.
And as for, "Live with it.", with regard to VII, we are living with it, unfortunately:
Sadly some just like to set up a straw man because they have no valid argument against the position they are trying to dismiss, which is the same belief held by Pope Pius XII:
"The use of the Latin language, customary in a considerable portion of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity, as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth."
(Pius XII: Encyclical Mediator Dei, November 20, 1947)
Excuse me, but what makes you think this particular statement comes under the category of "infallible". Not all pronouncements of Councils fall into that category--only those specifically identified as such. There are categories that are infallible and those that are not. I read a neat five-fold division that covers the categorie well. I'll see if I can find it again, and will post it (I had intended to memorize it, but haven't yet).
Also see "bornacatholic"'s comments in post #25.
Clue---"preserved" doesn't translate into "used exclusively". If your parish wants to have both rites, and your bishop OK's it, fine--go for it. But there is nothing "magic" or "sacred" specifically about the Tridentine rite as compared to the "Novus Ordo".
The wording. The anathema is a big clue that it is infallible.
You're not getting it. Within the TLM, Latin is not used "exclusively". Every Sunday mass the lesson/epistle and the Gospel are read in the vernacular after being said in Latin, and the sermon of course is also in the vernacular. The argument is not whether vernacular can be used at all within a mass, but that the vernacular should not be used exclusively as is the current practice in most NO masses today, (which is contrary to Trent)
To repeat:
" If anyone says that the Mass should be celebrated in the vernacular only, let him be Anathema . " - Council of Trent (Session XXII, Canon 9)
**The real issue is the reverence and fidelity to church teachings.**
And this reverence can happen in a Novus Ordo Mass too; a lot depends on the priest.
Are you personally attacking him/her? I didn't perceive any so-called "Hate" at all.
** I wouldn't have converted to Catholicism.**
Welcome home, fellow Catholic!
Magic no, sacred yes.
"[The traditional Roman Mass is]...the most venerable in all Christendom, with a history of unbroken use far longer than that of any Eastern rite, there being no doubt that the essential parts of the Mass are of Apostolic origin." -Fr. Adrian Fortescue - A Study of the Roman Liturgy.
Have you ever really compared the two?
Nope. Church councils are only considered infallible on "matters of faith and morals". The language to be used in Church is neither--it's more like "company policy".
Thanks.
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