Posted on 08/17/2007 6:50:47 AM PDT by NYer
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In a recent "motu proprio," Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on the use of the Tridentine Mass, the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council. The pope said that while the new Roman Missal, introduced in 1970, remains the ordinary way of Catholic worship, Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal, commonly known as the Tridentine rite, should be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire it. In this article, Fathers Peter J. Daly (ordained in 1986) and Eugene Hemick (ordained in 1963) --- both columnists with Catholic News Service --- offer their views on celebrating the Tridentine Mass.
Will anyone come?By Rev. Peter J. Daly The parish just to the west of mine has been celebrating the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass for more than 15 years. The pastor has special permission granted years ago by the former Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal James Hickey. He is also one of the few priests around who remembers the pre-1962 ritual. Almost nobody comes. He gets about 30 people per Sunday, even though his is the only Latin Mass for at least 40 miles around in an area that encompasses more than 20 parishes. Most of the people who come are elderly. They like this Mass because it is quiet and short. It reminds them of the olds days. A few young people come once in a while out of curiosity. They do not come back often. My neighboring pastor is a bit exasperated with the whole thing. It means a lot of work for him. Under the old liturgy the priest did just about everything. The people who come to the Latin Mass like that part of the tradition just fine. They don't think they should have to do anything but show up. After all, it is the priest who says Mass. They are just spectators. Before Vatican II's reforms, there were no lectors or eucharistic ministers. The servers said most of the responses. A lot of the prayers were said "sotto voce," i.e., inaudibly. For my neighbor, the extra liturgy means that he has had to move the altar used for the Mass facing the people. (He has recently stopped doing this because nobody showed up to help him.) Then he has to set out different books and change into different vestments. Most inconvenient of all, he has to prepare and preach a different homily. Why a different homily? Because there are different readings. In the pre-1962 liturgy there was a one-year cycle of readings. We read only an Epistle and a Gospel. There were no readings from the Old Testament. We didn't hear much of the Bible and it was heard in Latin. Since the reforms of Vatican II our book of readings for Sundays (Lectionary) has a three-year cycle, which includes readings from the Hebrew Scriptures. So my neighbor can't even preach the same homily for the Latin and English Masses on most Sundays. A few folks from my parish go over to my neighbor's parish for the Latin Mass. Mostly they are quite elderly. They don't like all the singing at my parish. They don't like shaking hands. They don't like Communion in both forms. They don't like having three readings. They tell me what they like most about the Latin Mass is that they can get in and get out in less than 45 minutes. They put a high premium on speed. A good liturgy is a short liturgy. For them a good liturgy also is one where they don't have to speak to anyone or do anything. Their whole attitude says "I want no commitment and I want no communication." Hardly the "full and active participation" that Vatican II called for. So now that Pope Benedict XVI has issued his "motu proprio" permitting the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, will there be big crowds at the Latin Mass? Will more parishes start to offer it? I doubt it. Apart from the schismatic followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and a few young people who are nostalgic for a church they never knew, almost nobody is pressing for it. Nobody under the age of 55 even remembers the old Latin ritual. I think my neighbor's experience will be the experience of the church. We can offer it. But almost nobody will come.
Are we 'Latinized' enough?By Rev. Eugene Hemrick It seems like only yesterday that I was celebrating Mass in Latin with my back to the people. Perhaps it was my Italian background or having inherited the musical side of my family, but I really enjoyed singing Mass in Latin. The vowel sounds in Romantic languages add a certain beauty to singing that is ever so melodious. In preparation for celebrating Mass in Latin, we studied Latin for five years in the minor seminary and then read and spoke it for seven years in the major seminary. Those 12 years of study truly Latinized us. The Tridentine Mass is more than reciting Mass in Latin; it also contains a long list of traditions. Its rubrics were much more numerous than those for today's Mass. For example, when a priest ascended the altar he was to start with his right foot. Even his most minute gesture was measured for correctness. Many of the Masses during the week were requiem Masses (for the dead) in which the priest wore black vestments. Women weren't allowed to serve Mass. Only a priest could touch the chalice and ciborium. Altar rails were common, and everyone received the Eucharist on the tongue. The Communion fast began at midnight. With Pope Benedict XVI promoting the Tridentine Mass, many priests and laypersons are concerned about further divisions this may cause in parish communities. What concerns me more, however, is the manner in which the Tridentine Mass will be celebrated. Most of today's priests are well-versed in languages, especially Spanish. Most, however, are not schooled in Latin. In fact, most don't know Latin nor have they been properly trained in the rubrics of the Tridentine Mass. In studies of the priesthood, priests have told us that the celebration of Mass is at the heart of their life. As true as this is, celebrating Mass or, as is often the case today, several Masses in a day taxes a priest's ability to be reverent, one in thought with the words he is reciting. Even when you are speaking in your mother tongue, it is easy to just mouth the words and go through the motions. What concerns me is a younger generation that is not Latinized enough to make the Tridentine Mass truly reverent and meaningful. Most have not endured the rigors of learning Latin, speaking and studying in it. The language and culture of Cicero and the early church are foreign to them. The word "hypocrite" means to playact, to take on the character of someone other than oneself. My prayer is that when priests new to Latin celebrate the Tridentine Mass today they not playact --- that the Latin spoken becomes a true part of them. ---CNS |
This is still true in the Maronite Catholic Church.
As Cardinal Egan has pointed out, Summorum Pontificum requires only that the priest be able to properly pronounce the words.
With practice and further study, priests new to Latin will gain a better understanding of the language, but this will take time. Saying the Mass in the extraordinary form will help in this regard.
IIRC, Cicero didn’t really use liturgical Latin!
Heh. Right you are. Classical Latin is pronounced differently.
BTTT!
We’ll come.
Communion rail; Eucharist on the tongue; paten under the chin. The priest facing up to the Lord with the congregation.
Yeah. We’ll come.
For all you Catholics that haven’t attended the Latin Mass, you don’t know what you’re missing. I live in Kansas City and attend every Sunday.
St. Augustine didn’t pronounce Latin the same way that Cicero did, either. After all, almost five hundred years separated the two men. Almost certainly neither pronouned Latin the way that modern Italians do.
Rich Leonadi has an update on what Fr. Daly said about a neighboring indult Mass from a reader.
“I just spoke to the Pastor at St. Francis deSales regarding Father Daly’s Tridentine Mass column, and he is very upset. He says the article is full of lies, and he has spoken to the Auxiliary Bishop about it. First of all, as he told the Bishop, he is NOT exasperated and that this Mass is NOT a burden; he told the Bishop that if it were a burden, he would have let him know. He does not prepare two different homilies, and yes they no longer move the altar, but only because the microphone wires kept getting damaged during the process. He said that attendance is on the increase, and that it is not all elderly people and they do not attend because they want a short liturgy, because his Tridentine Mass is at least an hour long, longer than his other Masses. This priest is truly upset, and I hope Fr. Daly is called to task on this.”
Wow. They are both right. Anyway...
The Church has given us the solution regarding attendance to the “two forms” of the Latin Rite. This is what I plan to do: “ordinarily” I will attend the “ordinary form” of the Latin right but, “extraordinarily,” I will attend the “extraordinary form.” Bingo. That will do it for me. I will have no ritual schizophrenia over this.
-Theo
My letter to Mike Nelson editor of The Tidings is posted on www.SplendorofTruth.com/curtjester/ as to Fr. Daly a few quickies:
1. It is less than prudent that Fr. Daly presented himself as speaking for others in a public forum.
2. The Tridentine mass Fr. Daly critizices is held in Benedict, MD, population 197.
3. I can’t speak for the duration of low mass, but sung mass, held ONCE A MONTH ON THE FIRST SUNDAY AT 11:00 A.M., ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, HINT HINT, is never under an hour and ten minutes. I would know, I’m the music director.
4. Attendance has varied from 17 to 85 people; here I have to make the point though that Mass is about worship, not numbers.
5. The really sad thing though is that most of us LIKED Father Daly before this happened; he has supported or started many works of charity in the southern Maryland area, many in our small and faithful congregation have always spoken well of him.
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