Posted on 10/10/2006 5:35:42 PM PDT by Petrosius
THE Pope is taking steps to revive the ancient tradition of the Latin Tridentine Mass in Catholic churches worldwide, according to sources in Rome.
Pope Benedict XVI is understood to have signed a universal indult — or permission — for priests to celebrate again the Mass used throughout the Church for nearly 1,500 years. The indult could be published in the next few weeks, sources told The Times.
This led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences. By bringing back Mass in Latin, Pope Benedict is signalling that his sympathies lie with conservatives in the Catholic Church.
One of the most celebrated rebels against its suppression was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who broke with Rome in 1988 over this and other reforms. He was excommunicated after he consecrated four bishops, one of them British, without permission from the Pope.
Some Lefebvrists, including those in Brazil, have already been readmitted. An indult permitting the celebration of the Tridentine Mass could help to bring remaining Lefebvrists and many other traditional Catholics back to the fold.
The priests of England and Wales are among those sometimes given permission to celebrate the Old Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Tridentine Masses are said regularly at the Oratory and St James’s Spanish Place in London, but are harder to find outside the capital.
The new indult would permit any priest to introduce the Tridentine Mass to his church, anywhere in the world, unless his bishop has explicitly forbidden it in writing.
Catholic bloggers have been anticipating the indult for months. The Cornell Society blog says that Father Martin Edwards, a London priest, was told by Cardinal Joseph Zen, of Hong Kong, that the indult had been signed. Cardinal Zen is alleged to have had this information from the Pope himself in a private meeting.
“There have been false alarms before, not least because within the Curia there are those genuinely well-disposed to the Latin Mass, those who are against and those who like to move groups within the Church like pieces on a chessboard,” a source told The Times. “But hopes have been raised with the new pope. It would fit with what he has said and done on the subject. He celebrated in the old rite, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.”
The 1962 Missal issued by Pope John XXIII was the last of several revisions of the 1570 Missal of Pius V. In a lecture in 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger said that it would be “fatal” for the Missal to be “placed in a deep-freeze, left like a national park, a park protected for the sake of a certain kind of people, for whom one leaves available these relics of the past”.
Daphne McLeod, chairman of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, a UK umbrella group that campaigns for the restoration of traditional orthodoxy, said: “A lot of young priests are teaching themselves the Tridentine Mass because it is so beautiful and has prayers that go back to the Early Church.”
TRADITIONAL SERVICE
Ping!
It will take some doing to get the clergy to celebrate it that way, especially in rogue dioceses like mine.
FYI
That's what I am thinking.
i feel sure our priest will do this!
:)
I would imagine most of the clergy 50 and over will not celebrate it. However, I read somewhere, and cannot remember that 50% of seminarians wanted to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. If someone could point me in the right direction or clarify it would help.
What a blessing that would be!
Good news, if true. However, we have gotten our hopes up before, only to have them dashed. I will wait until there is an ACTUAL declaration from the Pope (and see what it says) before I start celebrating.
In my Diocese, we are blessed by the fact that our Bishop has granted the Indult, and allows the Tridentine Mass to be celebrated at one Parish in the Diocese. The Institute of Christ the King, Soverign Priest (a Latin Mass-only Priestly Society created around 1989) has been permitted to set up an Apostalate (spelling??) at this Parish. The Tridentine Latin Mass is offered 7 days a week, with sung High Mass on Sundays. I have been attending it for the past year. I really like it!!
My only concern is that if a universal indult is granted, that many priests who do not know Latin very well, or the Tridentine rite, will try to celebrate it, with bad results (perhaps even on purpose to sabotage the entire enterprise). So, if this comes to pass, let us pray that the law of unintended results does not "mess things up". Hopefully, the indult will also specify standards which must be followed.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens. How exciting, if true!! I wonder if this means the Lefebrists (spelling??) Society of Saint Pius the X (SSPX) will also be brought back into the church??
I grew up with the Latin Mass. I do pretty well with it.
I was away from the Church for quite a few years, and it was interesting to see what's happened during my break. I've visited a lot of churches that are now quite odd in both architecture and practice. For starters, it's darn hard to spot the tabernacle in many, so you don't even know where to genuflect! I guess they think the whole idea of a living host and recognition of such to be passé. Between that and priests that act like swarmy TV show hosts, I can see where frustration comes from.
I was in North Carolina a few weeks ago, and the mass in New Bern had a woman come up (invited by the priest) in the middle of the Homily(!) to give a long talk on how we need to support a group that sounded a lot like the old Commie-loving Maryknoll nuns. (She went on and on about how the U.S. supported the evil regime in El Salvador, and how we orphaned many children that now need help.)
As for myself, I found a good parish here in the Silicon Valley: 'Our Lady of Peace' in Santa Clara, where they celebrate Mass in the manner (as I put it) of "one second after Vatican II". In other words, it is done in English, but done very respectfully, and with sermons that require intelligence and contemplation. I'm happy.
Catholic ping!
Well I can wing it as long as they don't change anything else :0)
a little late for that. they changed way back in 1960 something.
At least you will know what is being said. :)
The Latin Mass is so beautiful and for me, comforting. I have truly missed it.
That would be nice .
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