Old Latin Mass Makes a Comeback (in St. Louis)

St. Louis Catholic Blog ^ | June 14, 2007

[NYer]

It seems the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has finally heard about the traditional Mass. The following story appears in today's edition--the headline, above, is theirs. My comments follow.

Old Latin Mass Makes a Comeback
By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/14/2007

Melinda Scanga (left), of Jefferson County, prays during Latin mass at St. Francis De Sales Oratory. (Dawn Majors /P-D)

The church's windows are broken, its beige bricks are sooty, its paint is chipped. The 300-foot steeple, a hallmark of the St. Louis skyline, is pulling away from its foundation. One day it could tumble into traffic on Gravois Avenue.

St. Francis de Sales church, often called the Cathedral of South St. Louis, is an ideal home for a group of Roman Catholic priests devoted to restoration. But restoring this 19th-century neo-Gothic church to its former glory is only one reason St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke assigned the priests to oversee St. Francis de Sales.

The real mission of the group, called the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, is the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass.

The 1,600-year-old Mass isn't used much today, but it's making a comeback.

That effort will get a boost Friday when Burke — one of the most devoted supporters of the old Latin rite among U.S. bishops — will ordain two deacons of the Institute at the Cathedral Basilica. Burke has ordained members several times in Italy, where the institute is based outside Florence. But Friday will mark the first time members of the 17-year-old institute will be ordained in the United States and the first time the traditional Latin liturgy will be used in an ordination here in more than 40 years.

Most of the world's 1 billion Catholics are familiar with the celebration of Mass in their own languages. The traditional Latin Mass, also referred to as the Tridentine Mass, Classical Latin Mass, Old Rite, Classical Roman Rite or Mass of Ages, was largely set aside by the church in the 1960s when the Second Vatican Council approved changes in the liturgy.

The Latin Mass is thick with pageantry, solemnity and symbolism and is often referred to as "smells and bells" for its generous use of incense and music.

A papal decree, which Vatican officials have said should be released soon, is likely to expand the use of the ancient Mass. The decree — called a motu proprio — is expected to allow any priest to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass without the permission of his bishop.

Vatican watchers say the decree could be released July 14, the date, in 1570, when Pope Pius V published the liturgical text that would be used to celebrate Mass for the next 400 years — until the reforms of Vatican II.

In today's church, priests are free to celebrate the post-Vatican II liturgy, or new order Mass, in Latin — though most don't. What a priest cannot do without the permission of his bishop is celebrate the traditional Latin Mass as it was structured, worded, sung and heard in 1962, the last time it was changed before Vatican II.

Audio slideshow of the Latin Mass


Because two generations of American Catholics are accustomed to hearing the Mass celebrated in English, it's unlikely most will want to switch to a liturgy that is longer, more formal and celebrated in a language they don't understand.

But some Catholics would welcome a choice.

Eric Kraenzle, 44, of Webster Groves and a member of St. Pius V parish in St. Louis, said he thought it was a good idea for the Vatican to expand the use of the traditional Latin Mass.

"It would be a nice option," he said. "I'm not sure it's for everyone because of the language barrier, but why not let people experience that tradition if they want to?"

In St. Louis, Catholics who love the traditional Latin Mass have a bishop who shares their feelings. Burke was the first bishop to bring the Institute of Christ the King to the United States when, as bishop of LaCrosse, Wis., he invited its priests into his diocese. He also established another group of religious men dedicated to the old Latin rite, called the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, while in Wisconsin. He has since moved that group to St. Louis.

Burke declined to be interviewed for this story.

The institute is a "society of apostolic life" within the church. Its priests are not quite part of a religious order, nor are they quite diocesan priests. They live in community as religious order priests do, but they take no vows.

A papal decision reinstituting the wider use of the church's ancient liturgy would be a celebratory moment for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Monsignor Michael Schmitz, the institute's U.S. superior, has said the motu proprio "will be like seeing your mother all dusty and in rags on the streets; you go up to her and rip off the old dusty clothing and below that you see the golden clothes that she has brought for the most beautiful ball she has ever attended.

"Many of those Catholics who love the traditional Latin Mass are part of a younger generation, people who are seeking a connection with the ancient history of their faith, said the Rev. Karl Lenhardt, St. Francis de Sales rector. For instance, he said, the average institute priest (there are 50 around the world) is in his 30s, and the institute has 70 young men in various states of training.

The Rev. Eugene Morris, a theology professor at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, said younger Catholics who have no memory of the old Latin Mass are attracted to the "traditional symbols and rituals that in some ways communicate more clearly the historicity and mystery of what we are celebrating."

Outside St. Francis de Sales on Sunday, Daniel Frasca, 28, of St. Charles said he attends Mass there "because it feels more like church here than at other Masses.

"Natalie Kummer, 31, a mother of four from Florissant, said she liked to experience the same Mass as Catholics a millennium ago. "It's more reverent," she said, "more beautiful."

St. Agatha Church, also in south St. Louis, hosted the archdiocese's old Latin Mass before it was moved to St. Francis de Sales in 2005. According to Lenhardt, about 300 people came to one traditional Latin Mass each Sunday at St. Agatha. At St. Francis, the number is close to 1,000 for two Masses each Sunday, he said.

On Sunday, about 500 people gathered in St. Francis, for a 10 a.m. Mass that lasted more than two hours. Before Mass, and for about 45 minutes after it began, the line for confessions was 10 deep at three different elaborately carved wooden confessionals inside the church. Most of the women and girls wore black or white lace head coverings. The army of priests, deacons, subdeacons and altar boys in the sanctuary, which is separated from the nave by an altar rail, wore an array of ornate vestments. Six members of the Knights of Columbus, dressed in full regalia and bearing swords, escorted the clergy to the altar before the Mass began.

The pace of the traditional Latin Mass can seem slow and drawn out to those used to the newer liturgy. Long periods go by while the congregation sits still, watching the rituals in the sanctuary, praying and listening to the chanting of the choir. But it is exactly this meditative quality of the Mass that attracts some Catholics.

Mostly, though, it is tradition — as important in Catholicism as Scripture — that draws so many people to the old Latin rite. With the traditional Latin Mass, "we merge into a stream that has its origins in Christ himself, and that goes until the end of time," said Lenhardt.

Before high Mass on Sunday, Kummer stopped her son Joseph outside the church to wipe a smudge of dirt from his forehead. She seemed excited but contemplative as they walked through St. Francis de Sales' large wooden doors into a two-hour ritual that would be the same this Sunday as it was for some of the earliest Christians.

"They used to say Mass was the most beautiful thing this side of heaven," said Kummer. "That's what it's like here."

__________________________

My comments: All in all, for a secular paper, a very nice story, and largely favorable. The article starts out with some doom and gloom about how the Church building needs restoration (it does, but is presently still gloriously beautiful). You think it will be the typical, "these people are stuck in the past" hatchet job. But it isn't.

The Mass is making a comeback, they note. True. Some of my favorite parts of the article--

A novus ordo Catholic is quoted as supporting giving the faithful the choice of this rite.

Fr. Lenhardt at de Sales is quoted well, noting that many of the people who choose the traditional Mass are young, "people who are seeking a connection with the ancient history of their faith."

Fr. Morris, of the local archdiocesan seminary, states that the traditional Mass "in some ways communicate[s] more clearly the historicity and mystery of what we are celebrating."

A member of the oratory is quoted saying "it feels more like Church here than at other Masses." Amen.

The reporter notes that close to 1,000 people go to Mass at St. Francis de Sales Oratory each Sunday,and that the several confession lines were jammed all day. You don't see that everywhere, do you?

How better to some up the experience than to quote Fr. Lenhardt about the traditional Mass: in it, "we merge into a stream that has its origins in Christ Himself, and that goes until the end of time."

Oh, as an aside, I don't know where the local paper gets the inside info on the next expected date of the motu proprio. We hope, but so far all predictions have left us disappointed.

If you can make the ordination Mass at the Cathedral tomorrow at 1pm, you won't be disappointed.

[ELS]

The TLM is not 1,600 years old and it's not from the "first millennium."

But it is, kosta. Pope Pius V only standardized the Mass after the Council of Trent (hence the adjective Tridentine), he didn't create a new Mass out of whole cloth. Plus, he stated that any liturgies that were older than 200 years could remain. That accounts for different rites like the Sarum rite, the rite of Braga, the Ambrosian rite, etc.

Here is a very brief account of the history of the TLM from the Web site of St. Joseph's Church mentioned in this thread.

"The beginnings of the Roman Mass are found in the writings of St. Justin (150 A.D.) and St. Hippolytus (215 A.D.) By 250 A.D. the Mass was being said in Latin throughout most of the Roman world, and the Latin Canon as we know it was completed by 399 A.D. While the Mass has remained essentially the same from the days of the Apostles, it was codified in its present form by Pope Pius V in the sixteenth century."

I have pinged vlad because he can probably give better citations than I have.

[PAR35]

Presbyterian

Not trying to hijack the thread, but there are a number of brands of Presbyterians these days - perhaps you should shop around. Or look at high church Anglican, Missouri or Wisconsin Lutherans, or even Eastern Right.

[adiaireton8]

If you want to see photos, let me recommend the blog from which this thread is taken, and also Mark Abeln's Rome of the West. He has done a terrific job on that site. Mark is the one who uploaded the links I cited above to the Corpus Christi procession and benedictions.

-A8

[ichabod1]

Where in scripture does it say for the mass to be celebrated in Latin?

[ichabod1]

Or, better yet, start your own brand of presbyterianism! There’s room for every man to have his own denomination!

[Pyro7480]

Joke?

[ichabod1]

oh yeah...

[ichabod1]

Though some Aramaic in the mass would be nice.

[ELS]

Thanks. I had visited Rome of the West back in March for his photos of the TLM at the Cathedral on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, but I hadn't bookmarked his blog. I also saw the video clips of that Mass on YouTube.

[adiaireton8]

I was at that one too. It was beautiful.

-A8

[ELS]

It was beautiful.

No doubt. The traditional Mass is fundamentally beautiful. When it is celebrated in a beautiful cathedral as well, well, words just can't describe the experience.

The cathedral basilica of the archdiocese where I am is a beautiful neo-Gothic structure that was completed in 1954. The Mass of its consecration was a traditional Mass. I look forward to the day that the traditional Mass once again occurs upon its altar.

[kosta50]

• marsh_of_mists: Kosta, this Mass is a version of the Roman Mass, which does have a pedigree going back to that time
• ELS: Pope Pius V only standardized the Mass after the Council of Trent (hence the adjective Tridentine), he didn't create a new Mass out of whole cloth

I am looking forward to Vlad's input. In the meantime, let me reiterate that the article says the Tridentine Mass is 1,600 years old: 

"The real mission of the group, called the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, is the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass.  The 1,600-year-old Mass isn't used much today, but it's making a comeback"

ELS, 1,600 years back is the 5th century. The Tridentine Mass may have elements that go back as far and even farther, but the Tridentine Mass itself is not 1,600 years old. After all, I am told that the post-Vatican II Mass (I am avoiding the term "novus ordo") has 3rd century liturgical elements of St. Hippolytus, which doesn't make the post-Vatican II Mass 1,792 years old.

It is safe to say that no Latin Rite Catholic priest celebrated TLM prior to 1570 and that the TLM is actually 400 years old (1570 to 1970 Missal to Missal). The elements that make up that Mass go back more than 1,600 years (the kiss of peace was described by +Justin Martyr c. 150 AD), but to say that the Tridentine Mass is 1,600 year, old, or that it existed in the first millennium is just plain misleading.

Pope  St. Gregory I (end of 6th, beginning of 7th century) radically revised Latin liturgy, adding some, removing some, and rearranging the order of some.Further changes were made in the 11th century.

The aim of the TLM was to standardize and make mandatory Roman Latin Rite liturgy so as to prevent Protestant influence from creeping in. The Council of Trent was the Council of Counter-Reformation which sought to standardize and make uniform not only the scriptural but the liturgical life of the Church, a major make-over of the Church, based on its traditional treasure and patristic exegeses.

The elements that make up Tridentine Mass were present in earlier liturgical practices, but the Tridentine Mass as such did not exist prior to 1570. It is also noteworthy to mention that the TLM of 1570 is not what is being celebrated in some parishes as TLM today. The Traditional Latin Mass underwent several modifications since it was introduced and mandated by the 1570 Missal. I am sure Vlad can clue us in on the details of these changes and their significance.

 

 

[kosta50]

photos of the TLM at the Cathedral on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

What beauty! One just doesn't see such churches any more. Thank God someone was given enough wisdom to preserve it.

[Campion]

It is safe to say that no Latin Rite Catholic priest celebrated TLM prior to 1570

How so? Trent codified the existing Roman usage and promulgated it as the expected standard for the entire Western church. It didn't invent something out of whole cloth.

From the Catholic Encyclopaedia:

Some of the prayers of the present Roman Canon can be traced to the Eastern Liturgy of St. James. Several of the prayers were in use before 400 in almost exactly their present form. Others (the Communicantes, the Hanc igitur, and the post-consecration Memento etiam and Nobis quoque) were added during the following century (see Jungmann, page 71, and Hermanus A. P. Schmidt, Introduction in Liturgiam Occidentalem, page 352).

After the time of Pope Gregory I (590-604), who made at least one change in the text, the Canon remained largely unchanged in Rome. Not so elsewhere. The 11th-century Missal of Robert of Jumièges, [1] Archbishop of Canterbury, interpolates the names of Saint Gertrude, Saint Gregory, Saint Ethraelda and other English saints in the Communicantes. The Missale Drummondiense inserts the names of Saint Patrick and Saint Gregory the Great. And in several Medieval French Missals the Canon contained the names of Saint Martin and Saint Hilary.

Pope Pius V's imposition of the Roman Missal in 1570 restrained any tendency to vary the text of the Canon. Pope Clement VIII altered the Canon slightly in 1604,[2] but from then on, although other parts of the Missal were modified from time to time, the Canon remained quite unchanged until Pope John XXIII's insertion of a mention of Saint Joseph immediately after that of the Virgin Mary.

So the anaphora at the heart of the Roman Mass is unchanged (but for a detail here and there) since the beginning of the 7th century. That looks like the first millenium to me!

[kosta50]

How so? Trent codified the existing Roman usage and promulgated it as the expected standard for the entire Western church. It didn't invent something out of whole cloth

Well if that is so than all he had to do is say the Roman Mass was obligatory and be done with it. No new Missal would have been needed.

Again, you are mixing elements with the whole. The divine litrugy is unchanged, of course, because in any form it celebrates the Eucharist, but to say that all liturgies are the same is not true.

Pope +Gregory I changed exactly the Anaphora among other things. The Mass of the 7th century was a Latin Mass but it was not the 1570 Tridentine Mass.

It is safe to say that the litrugical tradition of the Church remains unchanged for 2,00 years (the Eucharist) but the mode of celebrating it changes. And the TLM is a mode of celebrating it which is 400 years old.

The post-Vatican II Mass has elements going back just as far as those in the TLM. Are you oging to tell me now that the post-Vatican II Mass is also 1,600 years old? Or are you going to say that some of its elements are?

[ELS]

First of all, the Mass that was implemented in 1969/1970 was a fabrication (as Benedict XVI has described it), it was not an organic development. So, even though its fabricators claimed to have used elements from the early Church (which have been thoroughly debunked), that does not make it a traditional liturgy. What happened with Paul VI had NEVER happened in the Church before!

Secondly, your argument is precisely why many traditional Catholics do not like to use the term "Tridentine" to describe the Mass of the Ages. As others have said, Pius V codified the rite in use in Rome at the time. He did not create a brand new liturgy. That rite had developed organically with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

the article says the Tridentine Mass is 1,600 years old:

No, it doesn't. Notice that the article doesn't use the word "Tridentine" to modify a 1,600-year-old Mass. The only time the word "Tridentine" appears in the article is as an alternative to "traditional Latin Mass." It is you who are trying to say that "the Tridentine Mass is 1,600 years old."

no Latin Rite Catholic priest celebrated TLM prior to 1570
the [Tridentine] Mass as such did not exist prior to 1570

The traditional Latin Mass (TLM) before 1570 was the same as the TLM after 1570. St. Pius V did not change the Mass. He merely codified it. Even the rites that existed at the time which were less than 200 years old were not significantly different than the Roman rite that was codified.

the TLM of 1570 is not what is being celebrated in some parishes as TLM today

That is true. There were organic changes made to the Mass. I might add that those changes were not made lightly. In fact, with some of them there was quite a bit of controversy. Having said that, the Roman Missal of 1962 is much closer to the Roman Missal of 1570 than it is to the Roman Missal of 1969.

[ELS]

'It is you who are trying to say that "the Tridentine Mass is 1,600 years old."'

Mea culpa. I should rephrase that. You are trying to create a convenient strawman to knock down.

[kosta50]

Look, I am not trying to prove anything. If anything, I am trying to get to the bottom of this.

I am not able to find any documentation that there was a single Latin-Rite Mass celebrated for 1,600 years ("Mass of the Ages?"); nor that a single Latin Mass remained unchanged for 1,600 years.  The pre-Tridentine Missal Mass existed in many variants, and at different times, all containing some elements of ancient liturgy, even Eastern Greek elements. But is is clear that the mode of celebrating the Mass has been changed many times in its 2,000 year-old-history, and quite radically at times.

If Pope +Pious V only codified the Mass that was celebrated in Rome at that time, then this by itself shows that "at that time" doesn't mean always. If the Mass at that time was no different than the Mass celebrated all along from the 5th century onward, why was there a need for a Missal in 1570?

As is, the impression I have is that you claim the Mass of +Pious V is the same Mass of +Gregory I a thousand years earlier! Or that the Mass predating +Gregory I is no different than his. There is no comparison to a 1,600 year-old Divine Liturgy of +John Chrysostom, which—while not without minor changes—was never called by any other name.

In other words, you are stating that there was a "traditional" (i.e. unchanged) Latin Mass  somewhere in the 5th century (was it officially called the "Mass of the Ages" all along?), which is the same Mass  +Pious V in celebrated in his time in 1570.

Your claim does not address various forms of the Latin-Rite Mass that at one point changed from that celebrated by the Greeks (and in Greek) to Latin, that at one point decided to ignore the First Ecumenical Council's prohibition on kneeling on Sundays, or that at one point introduced unleavened bread, etc.   

Again, I am no expert on Latin-Rite liturgy, I am merely trying to learn more about it, but it seems that the claim made by this newspaper, which you are defending, is not what the history of Latin liturgy suggests.

Again, I am only saying that there is no single Latin-Rite Mass that I can find which existed more or less unchanged for 1,600 years as far as I could research. Documentation to the contrary will be most welcome. :)

 

[kosta50]

EL in response to #36: 'It is you who are trying to say that "the Tridentine Mass is 1,600 years old."' Mea culpa. I should rephrase that. You are trying to create a convenient strawman to knock down

EL, I am not creating anything to knock down. I am searching for answers. One should not condemn curiosity and scrutiny as something sinister. I have no sinister motives in this. Show me where I can find evidence of the same "Mass of the Ages" pre and post 1570. That's all.

[angkor]

start your own brand of presbyterianism! There’s room for every man to have his own denomination!

Ha. I think we already have quite enough of that!

Of course if did such a thing I'd call it "The Church Of The Individual Soul. Every man his own temple!" :-)