Pope set to bring back Latin Mass that divided the Church

The Times Online ^ | October 11, 2006 | Ruth Gledhill

[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.

Use of the Tridentine Mass, parts of which date from the time of St Gregory in the 6th century and which takes its name from the 16th-century Council of Trent, was restricted by most bishops after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

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

• The Tridentine Mass is celebrated entirely in Latin, except for a few words and phrases in Greek and Hebrew. There are long periods of silence and the priest has his back to the congregation

• In 1570, Pope St Pius V said that priests could use the Tridentine rite forever, “without scruple of conscience or fear of penalty”

• Since the Second Vatican Council, the Tridentine Mass has been almost entirely superseded by the Mass of Pope Paul VI

• Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who took the lead in opposing the reforms, continued to celebrate the old Mass at his seminary in Ecône, Switzerland, and formed a dissident group. He was excommunicated in 1988

• The advantages of the Mass, according to the faithful, are in its uniformity and the fact that movements and gestures are prescribed, so that there is no room for “personalisation”

[AnAmericanMother]

Here, father, let me hand you this hammer . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

I think you're confusing "traditional" with "original."

Everybody knows that Latin wasn't the original language of the Mass. The Aramaic fell by the wayside quickly as Christianity spread, and Greek took over. But by 250 A.D. Latin was the Church's primary tongue.

So you've got basically 800 years of a Latin tradition, which is significant. It's not "just another language" - it has been the Church's language, and of course it was the universal language of scholars for a good 500 years, and the parent tongue of most of the languages in the West.

That is a substantial tradition.

[AnAmericanMother]

Exactly what our rector said!

He went to seminary in Ireland back in the 50s, when we first went to talk to him when we joined the parish we had what the diplomats call a "wide ranging discussion." One of the things he mentioned was that priests who are sloppy saying the English Mass had their counterparts when Latin was the norm . . . mumbling, skipping things, etc.

Like the poor, they will be with us always, and that's no reason to hesitate.

You're right, though, there will need to be a shakedown period.

[AnAmericanMother]

You know more Latin than you think.

So much English has Latin roots, plus you've heard a bunch of Latin go by in anthems, etc.

Get an English/Latin missal with the two languages on facing pages. It works beautifully.

Back before I knew any Latin, when I was a grade school kid my parents used to take us island hopping all over the Caribbean and Mexico during Christmas and Easter holidays. When we wound up in a place that had no Anglican church, we always went to Mass. It's easy to follow along in the bilingual missal!

[COBOL2Java]

...Altar boys will need training...

Altar boys?

[Aquinasfan]

The advantages of the Mass, according to the faithful, are in its uniformity and the fact that movements and gestures are prescribed, so that there is no room for “personalisation”

What? No monogramming? What a banal society we live in.

[Tax-chick]

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.

Another of these FReepin' gossip stories. Booooo-ring.

[IrishCatholic]

Bookmark for later printing of links. I only hope it comes to our area. The priests here tend to be...liberal.

[GCC Catholic]

Indeed; as much as I would love to see this be the case, I'm not going to believe it until I see something from the Holy See...

Do we have this from any other sources?

[Wonder Warthog]

"So you've got basically 800 years of a Latin tradition, which is significant. It's not "just another language" - it has been the Church's language, and of course it was the universal language of scholars for a good 500 years, and the parent tongue of most of the languages in the West."

And that time period is long dead---time to bury it. The notion that Latin is somehow "special" is simply ridiculous. The retention of Latin was a convenience for the church heirarchy--nothing more. It saved on translation needs, because everyone in the heirarchy was required to know Latin. It is needed no longer.

[Tax-chick]

Ever since Pope Benedict was elected, some version of this story has popped up about every two weeks. Always "he's going to ..." at some indeterminate future date, and always "sources say ..."

I conclude that somebody in the MSM is having fun with this.

[Cheverus]

If you notice it says "unless specifically forbidden" by the ordinary.

I bet Sean O'Malley (as well as a good number of other Bishops) already has his mass mailer set to go just in case.

[siunevada]

Ego renuntio, decernis tu.

LOL!

Veritatis lux mea!

[Diva]

The retention of Latin was a convenience for the church heirarchy--nothing more. It saved on translation needs, because everyone in the heirarchy was required to know Latin. It is needed no longer.

Well, a universal indult will only mean for you the continuation of ignorance of Latin so no need to worry.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Well, a universal indult will only mean for you the continuation of ignorance of Latin so no need to worry."

In today's world, WHY would I want to know Latin?? It is irrelevant to anything I do or have interest in.

I simply don't understand this gigantic fixation on Latin. The Church switched to Latin from Greek for the very practical reason that it was the most widely spoken language in the "known world". And it retained the use of Latin because of it's conservative nature and the practical advantages for translation among the church hierarchy. In today's world, the language that fills both of those critera is ENGLISH.

And in fact, I would bet that most of the Church's "real business" today actually does take place in English (those "around the coffee pot" side conversations that are so important in any organization).

[Dominick]

I would imagine most of the clergy 50 and over will not celebrate it

I would agree.

As far as a Diocesan escape clause, that would probably only be invoked in problem areas. Some have taken to protest and confrontation with the Bishop, and in those areas, I can see a Bishop not wanting to encourage certain groups.

I am not sure where Churches of the various Orders would stand, would they be affected? Could Franciscans allow a 1962 Missal Mass, unless the Provence forbade it?

[Pyro7480]

In today's world, WHY would I want to know Latin?? It is irrelevant to anything I do or have interest in.

You know Latin, whether you know it or not, or like it or not. A large percentage of English vocabulary is directly imported from Latin, or through the French language.

Here's a good quote from http://www.tldm.org/news5/latin.htm (I only use the quote - the website advocates a so-called "Marian apparition" that is not approved by the Church)

At a time when the Church is passing through an era of crisis and a period of doctrinal disarray, when the centers of higher learning proclaim themselves independent of the Holy See, a remark of Dom Gueranger, O.S.B., on the use of Latin, written more than a century ago, may gain again some curious significance. "The hatred of the Latin language is innate in the hearts of all the enemies of Rome; they perceive in it the universal bond of all Catholics and the arsenal of orthodoxy; against all sectarian subtleties..." (Inst. Liturg. I 402) The same thought appears in the Encyclical Mediator Dei (#60): "The use of the Latin language ... is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth." So it is no coincidence that the doctrinal dissenters, the moral muddlers and the loathers of Latin are lodging at the same address. (Homiletic & Pastoral Review, March 1991, pp. 64-65)

[press]

Here's the complete Latin to English missal for anyone worried about not understanding Latin.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/1732/The_Mass.htm

[Unam Sanctam]

Awesome if true. NYer, for your ping list.