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In 1941, a German bomb destroyed the chamber in which Britain’s House of Commons had met for almost a century. Afterward, several members of Parliament suggested that the old Gothic-style chamber with choir-style stalls facing one another should be replaced by a more modern chamber, with seats fanned out in a semicircle, like the legislatures of France and America. Winston Churchill opposed the modernization, arguing before the House of Commons that "first we shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." Similarly, the material elements of the Mass—such as the altar with its linens, candles and flowers, the priest’s...

IS BENEDICT XVI launching a liturgical reform to restore tradition and reverence in Catholic worship? Having permitted the use of the ’62 Missal as the “Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite,” is he now trying to make New Mass itself “more traditional”? Conservative bloggers who devote themselves following liturgical matters in the post-Vatican II Church would answer yes, and they are positively ecstatic. Members of this group refer to themselves as a “new liturgical movement” and call for “a reform of the reform,” by which they mean a reworking of the Novus Ordo. Recently they have started to attach great...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's Christmas liturgies and rituals include a mix of old and new to demonstrate continuity with the past, said the master of papal liturgical ceremonies. "The vestments used, like some of the details of the rite, aim to underline the continuity of today's liturgical celebration with that which characterized the life of the church in the past," said Msgr. Guido Marini. In an interview published in the Dec. 24-25 edition of the Vatican newspaper, the master of ceremonies spoke about Pope Benedict XVI's decision to use older miters and vestments at his Christmas events and...

25 November 2007 L’Osservatore Romano: Mons. Guido Marini on the position of the Cross for the concistory CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 9:15 am In L’Osservatore Romano today we read a description of the recent papal ceremonies for the consistory.  The one explaining them is the Master of Pontifical Ceremonies Mons. Guido Marini.My translation and emphasis. Monsignor Guido Marini explains the ceremony In tradition under the sign of collegiality A rich rite of symbolic meanings which express a continuity between the past, present and future.  Thus did Msgr. Guido Marini, Master of the Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies illustrate...

22 November 2007 Vestments for a consistory CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 12:27 pm According to a a communique of the Office of Pontifical ceremonies, on Petrus: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI may use for the Saturday consistory a miter of Pius IX, with images of the Blessed Virgin and the Lord, a cope of guilded silk with a stole coming from perhaps the 16th century, with images of Sts. Peter and Paul.  On the feast of Christ the King, he will use a miter for for him and a chasuble used by John Paul II for...

ROME (Reuters) - A decree this month by Pope Benedict allowing wider use of the old Latin mass has spawned a veritable cottage industry in helping Roman Catholic priests learn how to celebrate the centuries-old rite. A Web site, helpline, DVDs and a training course at Oxford are among resources springing up for priests who want to celebrate the old-style mass but aren't sure which vestments to wear or where to get them, when to genuflect, how deep to bow, or how to clasp their hands in prayer. "There will be priests who will say: 'Oh my God, I want...

Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP  Other Articles by Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP Printer Friendly Version   Feasting on Purple March 2, 2007 While serving on earth as God's elect vessel of grace, the pilgrim Church remains a most real, sensate, even sensuous, creature.  Few times of the year reveal this more clearly than the season of Lent.  For the next several weeks, Mother Church, despite her penance, will wrap herself and her prayer in the most ostentatiously imperial of colors — purple (or violet, for the more liturgically precise).  Consequently, as Christian stomachs will fast during this holy season, Christian...

Pope Benedict XVI presiding over Vespers (Evening Prayer) in the Frauenkirche in Munich on Sunday, September 10th. He's wearing a contemporary cope closed with not just a large clasp but an item of the pontificalia called a morse. This one, contemporary in design like the cope seems as big as a pie plate. This item of the pontificals is both functional and decorative. In current Roman usage it is reserved to bishops and cardinals. Most bishops do not make use of it as a specific item of pontifical insignia but this custom is maintained for the Pope. (one of...

Cardinal William Levada took possession of his titular church Sunday in the heart of the Italian capital, where he was greeted by a crowd of cheering faithful and pilgrims - many of them Americans. Levada, who was elevated to cardinal during Friday's consistory, was assigned to the St. Mary in Domnica church where he held a festive two-hour-long Mass. "I'm very delighted of being titular of this basilica, a parish in this historical zone in the city of Rome," he said at the beginning of his homily. "I hope to be able to come here often." St. Mary's in Domnica,...

ROME, MARCH 21, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. Q: I have a question concerning the liturgy of Good Friday. The sacramentary in use in the United States directs: "The priest and the deacon, wearing red vestments, go to the altar. There they make a reverence and prostrate themselves, or they may kneel" (Sacramentary, rev. 1985). 'Paschales Solemnitatis,' the Circular Letter Concerning the Preparation and Celebration of the Easter Feasts (Congregation for Divine Worship, 1988) directs "The priest and ministers make a reverence to the altar prostrating themselves. This act of...

There are no gems on this chasuble. Ditto for the mitre. Grazie Dio, it's a Marini Special. The Pope has taken on use of a very unique set of vestments which seem to be a special-order. Alongside the white (shown here at yesterday's Synod closing liturgy) he's also worn this style in red and another in lime green -- he used the latter to open the Synod. Each is a simple, ample-cut Gothic with an embroidered pattern, usually the Ratzingerian shell. As a departure from customary liturgical vesture, there is no orphrey (the central design down the front or...

ROME, APRIL 12, 2005 (Zenit.org).- ZENIT's liturgical columnist, Father Edward McNamara, fielded more questions regarding the passing of John Paul II. * * * Many questions have still poured in regarding the liturgical specifics of papal funerals and the period of "Sede Vacante." An Australian liturgical scholar wrote regarding the use of red vestments: "With respect to Fr McNamara's comments on the red vestments of the pope [see April 7], red is worn because the pope is the vicar of Peter who was a martyr." I believe this comment complements rather than contradicts my earlier answer regarding the pope's use...