Archbishop Burke in Detroit

Recently, Archbishop Burke visited Assumption Grotto in Detroit, MI. and Diane at Te Deum Laudamus has the scoop and the photos. Here is one of those photos:

Institute of Christ the King survey on classical rite

The Institute of Christ the King has published an online survey which you can fill out which "is designed to gather information about the role that the Classical (Traditional) Latin Rite has in our days."

Further Used Books for sale

The following are books for sale, though some of them may also be available as part of the donation offer as well.

The Catholic Encyclopedic Dictionary, ed. Donald Attwater, 1949 (HC)
Aspects of Monasticism, by Jean Leclercq (cistercian Publications, SC)
Eleventh Century Background of Citeaux, Bede Lackner (HC, Cistercian Studies)
The Saga of Citeaux: The Family that Overtook Christ, Second Epoch, M. Raymond, OCSO (HC)
Christ in His Mysteries, Dom Columba Marmion (HC)
Christ the Life of the Soul, Dom Columba Marmion (HC)
Immortal Diamond: Studies in Gerard Manley Hopkins, ed. Norman Weyand, SJ
The Lord, Romano Guardini (HC)
F.J. Sheed, What Difference Does Jesus Make? (HC)
F.J. Sheed, To Know Christ Jesus? (SC)
The Desolate City, Anne Roche Muggeridge (HC)
Did Darwin Get it Right? Catholics and the Theory of Evolution, by George Sim Johnston
Jesus, by Malcolm Muggeridge (HC, oversized)
A Newman Treasury: Selections fo the Prose Works of John Henry Cardinal Newman (HC)
The Eternal Son: A Theology of the Word of God and Christology, by Louis Bouyer (HC)
The Christ of Catholicism, Dom Aelred Graham (SC)
The American Catholic Family, John L. Thomas, SJ (HC, 1956)
The Popes on Youth: Principles on Forming and Guiding Youth from Popes Leo XIII to Pius XII (HC)
The Public Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Archbishop Goodier (2 vols. HC)
The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Alban Goodier, SJ.
Morals in Politics and Professions: A Guide for Catholics in Public Life, Rev. Francis J. O'Connell (HC, 1951)
The Wisdom of Catholicism, ed. Anton C. Pegis (HC)
The Spirit of Catholicism, Karl Adam (SC)
Letters of Saint Catherine of Siena (HC)
Three Ages of the Interior Life, R. Garrigou-Lagrange (HC)
Life Everlasting, R. Garrigou-Lagrange (HC)
Jesus Christ, by St. Bonaventure (HC)
God: His Existence and His Nature, R. Garrigou-Lagrange (HC, vol.1)
The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus, R. Garrigou-Langrance (HC 2 vols.)
The One God, R. Garrigou-Lagrange (HC)
Christ the Savior, R. Garrigou-Lagrange (HC)
Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, R. Garrigou-Lagrange (HC)
A Companion to the Summa, Walter J. Farrell (HC, complete set)
Therese of Lisieux, Hans urs von Balthasar (HC)
Saint John of the Cross, by Fr. Bruno
Fundamental Marriage Counselling: A Catholic Viewpoint, J.R. Cavanaugh (HC, 1963)
Synopsis Theologiae Dogmaticae, AD. Tanquerey (3 vols, HC)
Summa Contra Gentiles (5 vols, SC)
The Shape of the Liturgy, Dom Gregory Dix (HC)
The Divine Intimacy
Two Sisters in the Spirit, Hans Urs von Balthasar
The Love of God, Dom Aelred Graham (HC and SC copy)
The Akathist Hymn to the Name of Jesus, Archbishop Raya (HC)
Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Doctrine of Being in Aristotelian Metaphysics, Joseph Owens, CSSR (SC)
Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, CXXVI, Prudentius (HC)
Philosophy of Religion, F.J. Sheen (HC)
God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy, F.J. Sheen (HC)
My Catholic Faith, LaRavoire Morrow (HC)
Liturgy and Contemplation, Jacques Maritain (HC)
Queen of Paradox: A Stuart Tragedy (HC)
The Bishops of Scotland, Dowden (HC)
Moral Philosophy, Jacques Maritain (HC)
The Holy See at Work: A popular explanation of the intracacies involved in the control and operation of the Catholic Church by the Pope through the Roman Curia, E. Heston (HC, 1950)
Power to Dissolve: Lawyers and Marriages in the Courts of the Roman Curia, John Noonan Jr.
The Byzantine Patriarchate, George Every (HC)
The Priest of the Fathers, E. Heston (HC)
The Liturgy and the Word of God
Dictionary of Moral Theology (HC)
Biblia Sacra (HC, library rebind)
Encyclopedia of Biblical Theology, Johannes Bauer (SC, 1970)
Enchiridion Patristicum, Rouet de Journel (HC, Greek-Latin)
St. Basil the Great and Apollinaris of Laodicea (HC)
A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law
Christian Life and Worship, G. Ellard (HC)
The Occasional Sermons of Ronald Knox (HC)
Apologia Pro Vita Sua, JH Newman (HC)
The Dream of Gerontius, Newman (HC)
Idea of a University, Newman (SC)
Grammar of Assent, Newman (SC)
An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Newman (SC)
Catholic Sermons of Cardinal Newman (HC)
The Mind and Heart of Saint Paul, Newman (HC)
Theology and Sanity, Sheed (HC)
Society and Sanity, Sheed (HC)
Bethlehem, F.W. Faber (HC)
At the Foot of the Cross, F.W. Faber (HC)
Apocrypha and Pseudepigraph of the Old Testament (Oxford Univ. Press, (HC)
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (HC)
The Layman and His Conscience, Ronald Knox (HC)
Hidden Streams, Ronald Knox (HC)
Lightning Meditations, Ronald Knox, (HC)
The Creed in Slow Motion, Ronald Knox (HC)O
The Irish Priests in Penal Times (HC)
Nature and Grace, Matthias Joseph Scheeben (HC)
The Mysteries of Christianity, M.J. Scheeben (HC)
The Teaching of the Catholic Church: A Summary of Catholic Doctrine, arr. by Canon George Smith (HC)
Jesus Christ: His Life, His Teaching and His Work, (2 vol, HC in Box)
A Gospel Priesthood, Yves Congar (HC)
Dogmatic Theology, Volume III: The Sources of Revelation (Divine Faith), Msgr. G. Van Noort (HC)
Dogmatic Theology, Volume II: Christ's Church, by Msgr. G. Van Noort (HC)

Positive response to the "free book" offer

I received such an interested and positive response from people about a free book offer going along with a particular donation level to the NLM, and it helped make all the difference recently. As such, I wanted to let these interested people know that they might keep their eye on the NLM Donations page where I'll try to keep it up to date with books you might be interested in receiving as part of a donation. (The list is not exhaustive, and I am willing as well to take proposals for multiple books.)

For your convenience here is that updated list, and note the Altar Cards offer, the large Catholic family bible, and the presence of a DVD, Mel Gibson's "The Passion".

The Dialogues of St. Catherine of Siena (in hardcover, from a former convent library)
The Imitation of Christ (hardcover)
The Spiritual Life: A Treatise in Mystical and Ascetical Theology, by A.D. Tanquerey (hardcover)
Introduction to the Devout Life, by St. Francis de Sales (hardcover)
The Letters of St. Francis de Sales (hardcover)
On the Immaculate Conception, Dom Gueranger (hardcover)
On the Religious Life, Dom Gueranger (hardcover)
The Lord, Romano Guardini (hardcover)
Union with God, Dom Columba Marimion
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola
Oversized, Abbott translation of the Vatican II documents (hardcover)
The Way of Divine Love, Menendez
Twelve Steps to Holiness and Salvation, St. Alphonsus Liguori (softcover)
Praying with Icons, Henri J. Nouwen
Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus Liguori (softcover)
The Passion, DVD (Mel Gibson film)
The Mass, Fulton J. Sheen
The Holy Bible
The Crisis in Western Education, Christopher Dawson (softcover)
The Little Flowers of St. Francis
The Church Teaches (a compendium of primary sources of dogmatic statements)
The Wisdom of Catholicism, ed. Anton C. Pegis (hardcover)
On the Truth of Homosexuality (Ignatius Press softcover)
A selection, of your choice, of papal Encyclicals of John Paul II
An Oversized Catholic Family Bible from the time of Pius XII. Looks like a Missal with red hardcover, gilt edging and large ribbons. (Donation level for this item is $100 in North America, and $125 in Europe.)

In addition, a significant selection of writings of the following are available:

Archbishop Alban Goodier
Dom Columba Marmion
Fulton J. Sheen
Thomas Merton (his earlier works)
Dom Hubert von Zeller
Raoul Plus, SJ
Gerald Vann, OP
Charles de Foucauld
Various older books on the life of a particular saint
Carmelite writings or spirituality

ALTAR CARDS LIMITED OFFER: For a Donation of $100 or more (in North America), you can receive a set of Altar Cards. Note: The two, smaller end cards are laminated on wood and self standing. The middle card is framed. However, the colouring and size of the cards, as well as the fact that the end cards are from the same set, makes them perfectly usable on the altar even though combined from two sets.

Polish declaration in support of Classical Liturgy

[Via Rorate Caeli -- it begs the question again about an English version of the same. Perhaps we here should start it.]

We are with you, Holy Father!

Declaration on the use of the Traditional Liturgy

In light of ever more frequent statements of close associates of the Holy Father, who confirm his intention of restoring the right and freedom of use of the traditional liturgy in the Latin rite, as faithful laymen of the Roman Catholic Church we wish to express our hope and gratitude.

We would also like to affirm our solidarity with the Pope, mindful that for many years prior to taking up his seat as the Apostolic Successor of Saint Peter, he took up efforts to ensure that reverent liturgical forms passed on in a long tradition and confirmed officially by Saint Pius [V] "according to the rites and customs of the Roman Church" (Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum, Pope St. Pius V, July 14th 1570) were preserved so as to "hand on this treasure for the Church of today and tomorrow" (Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressing liturgical conference, held over 22 to 24 July 2001, convened under the patronage of the Abbey of Fontgombault).

We understand the expected promotion of the traditional liturgy, otherwise termed the classical Roman rite, to involve the affirmation of the principle which is mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, ratified by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II, which quotes the words of the Second Vatican Council: "that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity, and that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way." (CCC, 1203; Sacrosanctum Concilium, 4). The then-Cardinal Ratzinger also reminded us of this principle, stating that "the Council ordered a reform of the liturgical books, but it did not prohibit the former books." (Ten Years of the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger).

Everything indicates that today we are progressing towards solutions which will bring these words into full daylight.

3. We dearly thank the Holy Father for all his gestures of understanding, openness, and respect regarding "the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition".

These gestures underscore and continue the line of action of John Paul II, who appealed to the Bishops and those exercising a pastoral ministry in the Church twenty years ago for "measures to guarantee respect for [the] rightful aspirations" expressed by "all those Catholic faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition" (John Paul II, motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, 5 c).

Mindful of all the difficulties and cares which are associated with the service of the shepherds of the Church, we expect that the regulations annouced by the Holy See will also serve to break the specific order of intolerance, which hinders the crucial internal unity in the Church. (See: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, God and the World).

4. Moreover, we hope that the response to this endeavor by Benedict XVI in the current discourse within the Church will include "every effort to avoid expressions, judgments and actions which do not represent with truth and fairness" the condition of those Catholics who are tied to the traditional liturgy (Vatican Council II, Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, 4).

We also hope that the granting of full rights of the use of the liturgy of Saint Pius V will improve the prospects of healing the rift which also took place in this context in 1988 and which lasts until this day, and for which, perhaps, "men of both sides were to blame" (Vatican Council II, Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, 3), partly due to the marginalization, within the Church, of "certain truths and certain values of the Christian faith" which "are no longer lived and loved" (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Speaking as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressing the National Conference of Chilean Bishops in Santiago). Let us pray that this wound be healed and that all Catholics who are already united by faith in the same dogmas will henceforth be able to enjoy the visible communion of the life of the Church.

5. In these days of expectation we therefore wish to join those voices of support and gratitude, which are already being directed toward the Holy Father by public figures in the Christian community, and we willingly hereby declare our support and gratitude to the Holy Father Benedict XVI for his will to remove the practical discrimination of the traditional liturgy, which has served throughout the ages as a worthy instrument for the sanctification of many and as a great monument of our spiritual culture.


Przemysław Alexandrowicz, senator
Prof. Jacek Bartyzel, political scientist
Dr Sławomir Cenckiewicz, historian
Prof. Jan Dzięgielewski, historian
Marcin Gugulski, journalist
Lech Jęczmyk, translator
Marek Jurek, Marshall of the Sejm (Speaker of the Parliament)
Bogusław Kiernicki, president of the Fundacja Św. Benedykta (St. Benedict Foundation)
Wojciech Kilar, composer
Aleksander Kopiński, historian and literary critic, editor of "Fronda"
Dr Jacek Kowalski, art historian, singer
Prof. Grzegorz Kucharczyk, historian
Jan Filip Libicki, MP (Member of Parliament)
Marcin Libicki, MEP (Member of the European Parliament)
Paweł Lisicki, writer
Prof. Roman Michałowski, historian
Andrzej Mikosz, lawyer
Dr Paweł Milcarek, philosopher and journalist, editor in chief of "Christianitas"
Paweł Nowacki, deputy director of TVP1, author of documentaries
Dr Justyn Piskorski, university teacher
Ewa Polak-Pałkiewicz, journalist
Tomasz Raczkiewicz, artist of the Poznan Opera
Prof. Marcin Sompoliński, conductor, Akademia Muzyczna in Poznan
Dr Piotr Sosiński, lawyer
Konrad Szymański, MEP
Prof. Kazimierz Świrydowicz, mathematician
Dr Tomasz P. Terlikowski, philosopher, journalist at Polskapresse
Jacek Tomczak, MP
Prof. Piotr Tryjanowski, biologist
Artur Zawisza, MP

Old, but actually new.

In case you haven't seen it before, one of our readers sent a very nice series of photographs from St. Mary's Oratory in Wausau, WI -- the oratory of the Institute of Christ the King.

Here's a sample of some of her photos of the church:

Motu Proprio and Post-Synodal Exhortation

As its a quiet news day so far, let it at least be mentioned what Rorate Caeli has recently reported that the Monastery of Le Barroux's newsletter mentioned that Msgr. Camille Perl, of the Ecclesia Dei commission, while visiting their monastery "confirm[ed] the will of the Holy Father to make something soon to ease the access to the ancient form of the Roman Rite".

One might also speculate (purely speculate mind you) about the post-synodal exhortation that is thought to explicitly encourage a continuity approach to liturgics in the modern Roman liturgy (i.e. more traditional expression of it).

The delay in the latter causes me to pause and wonder whether the Holy Father purposely intends to release these documents at the same time (generally speaking), and if so, what that suggests about his possible understanding of how these two initiatives relate as two faces of the same coin.

It is interesting how the purported release dates of these two documents had been fairly proximate to one another in the most informed speculation. As well, with the one seemingly delayed, we have also seen the other (seemingly) delayed as well.

This could be mere happenstance. There may be no co-relation whatseover. All of these dates may have been more speculative than we are aware. Nonetheless, it is interesting to consider.

I, for one, hope there is an intentional co-relation here, only because it bodes well for both the modern and classical rites and could represent the significant turning point and real advent of the reform of the reform on the one hand, the restoration of our ancient liturgy on the other.

One thing that I have yet to see discussed, here at least, is my own hope that somehow, the Motu Proprio might include and make clear that the restoration of the ancient uses of the religious orders and primatial sees are also to be encouraged, and not simply the ancient Roman liturgy. Perhaps too much to hope for all at once, but one never knows with Benedict reigning gloriously.

We shall see.

Smaller parishes and the reform of the reform

We've seen what some of the bigger, flagship reform of the reform parishes are doing liturgically during this Christmas season, but what about the smaller parish, with less resources, and a smaller congregation?

Father Rob Johansen asked if I might share this post on their parish Christmas liturgies. I should note as well, that another blogger (and I believe an NLM reader) Gavin, is the music director thereof.

Certainly all is not yet idyllic, but good work is underway. There remains the prudential question (ultimately for the Church to legislate upon if this is to ultimately change, for it is within present liturgical law) about altar girls (we must recognize that this is a tough pastoral issue for parish priests, and not completely in their own hands).

Further, it would be wonderful if the old high altar might be used as the primary altar at some point, either as-is, or with the slight modification I have referenced in the past. Also a touchy issue at present, but becoming less so. Thankfully it is still present that such an option might be exercisable in the future. Perhaps in the interim, it would be very good if a substantial and traditional altar cross and candlesticks where placed upon the altar to re-orient the liturgy, even when versus populum, and a full-fledged altar frontal upon the front of the newer altar.

All said, however, it looks like Father is off to a very good start in reforming the reform in one, smaller parish in the United States.

A point of rubrics: I'm not certain off hand, and don't have Msgr. Elliott's rubrical guide in front of me, but I would presume that the biretta should only be worn as it is in the classical rite, during the procession and recession, and when the priest or deacon is seated. Can someone confirm the proper rubric here?

Reform of the Roman Breviary

[This text is taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia of the early 20th century. This particular article is their writing on the reform of the Breviarium Romanum, following shortly after it had been promulgated and effected, that was undertaken by Pope St. Pius X.

This article writes from the perspective of a positive assessment on this reform. However, as we have discussed here in recent weeks and months, there has been an increasingly critical (but by no means reactionary) look by liturgical scholars of the "school of continuity" (an informal term I am coining for purposes here) at the reform of the Roman Breviary and what has been potentially lost in that process. This question has primarily circled around the pre-conciliar Divine Office, but certainly, the further reform of the breviary after the Council is certainly worth noting as well.

The NLM is pleased to be hosting, very shortly, a series of scholarly considerations on the question of the history of the reform of the Roman breviary (particularly in its pre-conciliar manifestation) which will take a more critical and historical look at this question.

However, as background reading, I thought it would be good to present this summary of the reform that was undertaken. I would note only that you might reserve judgement about whether said reform was desireable or not, in view of the forthcoming study which will look more thoroughly at the question, and with a more critical eye than is present in this article of the Catholic Encyclopedia.]

By the Apostolic Constitution "Divino Afflatu" of Pius X (1 November, 1911), a change was made in the psalter of the Roman Breviary. Instead of printing, together with the psalms, those portions of the Office which specially require rubrics, such as the invitatory, hymns for the seasons, blessings, absolutions, chapters, suffrages, dominical prayers, Benedictus, Magnificat, Te Deum, etc., these are now all in due order printed by themselves under the title Ordinary. The psalms, under the title Psaltery, are printed together, so arranged that the entire psalter may be chanted or recited each week, and so distributed, or, when too long, divided, that approximately there may be the same number of verses for each day's Office.

This change has been made with a view to restoring the original use of the liturgy [NLM note: as with the missal reform that followed the Council, the question of what is the ancient usage is debated in this regard], which provided for the chant or recitation of the entire Psaltery each week. It became necessary by the fact that as the saints' days, with common or special Offices, grew more numerous, the ordinary Sunday and week-day or ferial Offices, and consequently certain of the psalms, were rarely recited. In making the change, occasion was taken to facilitate the reading of the Office by the separation of the Ordinary and Psaltery proper, but chiefly by allotting about the same number of verses for each day.

Further to this, of course, was the eventual reform of Pius X's Breviarium with that which followed the Second Vatican Council. The Wikipedia article on the Liturgy of the Hours has this to say in relation to it as well as Pius X's reform:

[The Office of] Prime was abolished by the Second Vatican Council, reducing the number of canonical hours to the biblical seven.

After Pius X's reform, Lauds was reduced to 4 psalms or portions of psalms and an Old Testament canticle, putting and end to the custom of adding the last three psalms of the Psalter (148-150) at the end of Lauds every day. The number of psalms or portions of psalms is now reduced to 2, together with one Old Testament canticle chosen from a wider range than before. After these there is a short reading and response and the singing or recitation of the Benedictus. Vespers has a very similar structure, differing in that Pius X assigned to it 5 psalms (now reduced to 2 psalms and a New Testament canticle) and the Magnificat took the place of the Benedictus. On some days in Pius X's arrangement, but now always, there follow Preces or intercessions. In the present arrangement, the Lord's Prayer is also recited before the concluding prayer.

With this background reading in mind, I hope it will begin to give a sense of some of the issues that will be discussed in the coming weeks and months.

We're almost there... (updated)

Thanks to the generosity of some of our readership, the donation "drive" for $250 USD (to be put toward a scarce, but important and very relevant liturgical history for the NLM) has now been reduced to $145.00 (THURSDAY AM UPDATE: $70.00 remaining) THURSDAY PM UPDATE: $30.00

Goal met! Thank you!

(FYI: People who still wish to make a donation after this special fundraising drive are of course welcome, and the free book offer for certain donation levels will still be a standing offer.)

Midnight Mass from St. John Cantius

Thanks to a reader who has the joy of going to this fine parish in Chicago for taking these photographs of midnight Mass, as celebrated in the beautiful church of St. John Cantius, by Bishop Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago.

I was amazed to see some of the architectural details that can be found in this church, down to rather art nouveau looking lamps over doors. It always strikes me as well how impressive evening liturgies are when not illumined by overpowering artificial light, but rather candlelight, or lighting which approximates its qualities. It seems to me the Orthodox, particularly the Russians, seem to have this sense of evening worship down.

Particularly impressive looking is the liturgy and high altar. I should like to see some video of a liturgy from this church some day.

An update and public thanks (updated, see bottom of top paragraph)

Thanks to the generosity of some of our readership, the donation "drive" for $250 USD (to be put toward a scarce, but important and very relevant liturgical history) has now been reduced to $145.00 (THURSDAY AM UPDATE: $70.00 remaining)

I wanted to publically thank those kind folks who have responded so quickly. To anyone still considering a donation, an update on the offer:

Any donor donating $60 or more (in contintental North America -- $75 for Europe and Britain, only because shipping is that much more expensive to that location) also has the option of receiving one of the following free books if they so wish (unless it has already been taken by another donor; so if this makes a difference to you, please check in first):

The Dialogues of St. Catherine of Siena (in hardcover, from a former convent library)
The Douay Rheims Bible (hardcover)
The Way of Perfection by Teresa of Avila (hardcover)
The Imitation of Christ (in hardcover as well)
The Spiritual Life: A Treatise in Mystical and Ascetical Theology, by A.D. Tanquerey (hardcover)
The Burning Flame: a life of Pius X (hardcover)
A selection of papal Encyclicals of John Paul II

(Other titles might be on offer for this as well.)

Further, if all goes well with the remainder of the amount, and if there is no copyright problem (and I have reason to think there isn't), I will see about getting the text digitized as they've done on archive.org with other liturgical works, so as to make it more widely available and accessible.

This particular scholarly text pertains to the Dominican rite and to the early mediaeval Roman liturgy prior to Trent.

Thanks again folks. Your generosity is always humbling to me. I can only hope that what the NLM offers back in return to you is adequate compensation, even if we may have our disagreements and debates from time to time; if not, perhaps the hardcover book will help as well.

Interesting Cistercian liturgical studies

A couple of interesting liturgical studies and titles I ran into today from Cistercian Publications (Link)

The Summer-Season Molesme Breviary
Introduction, Edition, and Commentary
Four-Volume Set
edited by Chrysogonus Waddell OCSO

The Temporal Cycle, Sanctoral Cycle, Common of Saints, and Indices of the liturgical breviary of Molesme, the monastery from which Cîteaux was founded.

Paper, four-volume set, CLX10
ISBN: 0-87907-514-7
Price: $20.00

The Old French Ordinary and Breviary of the Abbey of the Paraclete
Introduction, Text, and Commentary
Seven-Volume Set
Edited by Chrysogonus Waddell OCSO

". . . a mine of information on the euchological formularies and liturgical practice. An outstanding working tool for entering into the liturgical life of the Paraclete and, by means of it, that of Cîteaux."
-Cîteaux (1983-1985)

Paper, seven-volume set, CLX03
ISBN: 0-87907-098-6
Price: $25.00 (Presently out of stock unfortunately.)

More books

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas now aside, I wanted to list some of the new books available for sale. There are more coming, but this list contains most of the liturgica. Other items will be more theology oriented.

Some are priced, some not. Email for details.

Christopher Dawson, The Crisis of Western Education (SC)

Christopher Dawson, Progress and Religion

Manual of the Holy Catholic Church (2 oversized HC)

Aquinas: The Three Greatest Prayers (Commentaries on Hail Mary, Our Father, Apostles Creed)

The Psalms: A Prayerbook (Latin-English)

A Newman Synthesis (HC)

John Henry Newman: Autobiographical Writings

John Henry Newman: The Uses of Knowledge (PB)

Newman and His Age, Dr. Sheridan Gilley

Blessed be God: A Complete Catholic Prayerbook

C.S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (HC)

C.s. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (HC)

Communism and the Conscience of the West, Fulton J. Sheen

Sermons of the Cure d'Ars (Sermons of All Sundays and Feast days) (HC)

Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Sacred Heart: An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity (HC)

Dietrich von Hildebrand, Transformation in Christ: On the Christian Attitude of Mind (HC)

Msgr. Ronald Knox, Pastoral Sermons (HC)
Msgr. Ronald Knox, University and Anglican Sermons (HC)

Fulton J. Sheen, Philosophy of Religion (HC)

Philip Hughes, The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils (HC)

Louis Bouyer, Introduction to Spirituality (HC)

Frederick Faber, The Blessed Sacrament (HC, some water damage to cover)

Frederick Faber, At the Foot of the Cross: Or the Seven Sorrows of the BVM (HC)

Frederick Faber, Notes on Doctrinal and Spiritual Subjects (HC)

Frederick Faber, The Precious Blood (HC)

Cardinal Manning, The Eternal Priesthood (H)

Scott Hahn, The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth (HC)

Code of Canon Law (Latin-English CLSA edition)

Augustine: Earlier Writings (SC)

A Guide to the City of God, Marthinus Versfeld (HC)

St Anselm: The Basic Writings (SC)

On Loving God, St. Bernard of Clairvaux

St. Bernard of Clairvaux: The story of his life recorded in the Vita Prima Bernardi by certain of his contemporaries

The Law of Love: English Spirituality in the Age of Wyclif (SC, a compendium of primary sources)

The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers (3 vols of 4, some in better shape than others)

The Book of Ceremonies, O'Connell

Dom Columba Marmion: numerous titles

Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other Saints (4 vols, HC; oversized, gilt deep green cover; beautiful illumination style full page plates of saints through the year. THE edition of the Lives.) (Pictures upon request)

Butler's Lives of the Saints (and oversized, HC, condensed, coffee-table version of the Lives, including, as a great feature, huge plates of illumination style portrayals of a number of the saints, as well as others from the middle ages. Very, very nice. Pictures upon request.)

Saint Benedict: The Story of the Man and His Work, Abbot Justin McCann (SC)

The Roman Breviary - a complete in one volume English translation of the entire Breviarium Romanum, 1961, translated by Christine Mohrmann (English only). Still in pretty good shape, though some wear to the binding.

(As a reminder, I also have two copies of "Lauds, Vespers and Compline", which are also English only, but these only of the three primary offices. $50.00 each.)

Josef Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite - 2 vols. complete. This is the Christian Classics softcover edition. $85.00.

(I also have a single volume available, I believe of volume one, which is the hardcover, but obviously incomplete. $50.00 for that one.)

The Raccolta: Official Edition - a very nice red hardcover, in very nice shape indeed. $40.00

Collectio Rituum - Latin/English, very good shape. From 1964. $45.00

Cardinal Reflections: Active Participation and the Liturgy ($8),

The Bible and the Liturgy by Jean Danielou

Liturgical Piety by Louis Bouyer and O'Connell's Book of Ceremonies.


Cistercian Studies Series

The Rule of the Master (HC)

Community and Abbot in the Rule of St. Benedict, vol.1 by Adalbert de Vogue (HC)

The Monastic theology of Aelred of Rievaulx (HC)

The Background of Citeaux (HC)


Eastern Christian Related:

Penthos: The Doctrine of Compunction in the Christian East, Irenee Hausherr (HC, DJ, Cistercian Studies Series)

Fathers of the Desert, Countess Hahn-Hahn, trans. E. Bowden (2 vols, HC, 1907, water damage to covers)

John Meyendorff, The Orthodox Church (HC)

John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology (SC, SVS Press)

Thomas Hopko, etc., Women and the Priesthood

Studies in Eastern Christianity (Ukrainian Free University, 3 vols.)

A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, G.P. Fedotov (SC)

Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons, Henri J. Nouwen

The Monks of Athos, R.M. Dawkins (HC)


Garrigou-Lagrange:

Christian Perfection and Contemplation (HC)



General:

The English Madrigal, Edmund Fellowes (OUP, HC)

Philosophical Greek (HC)

Shakespeare's England: An Account of the Life and Manner's of His Age (2 vols, Oxford University Press)

A History of Israel, W.O.E Oesterley and Theodore Robinson (2 vols, HC, Oxford University Press; DJ)

An Apology for the Church of England, by John Jewel (early Anglican apologetic text; HC)

The Apostolic Ministry: Essays on the History and Doctrine of the Episopacy, ed. K.E. Kirk (Anglican oriented, includes Dom Gregory Dix essay; HC)

Renovated 'Catholicism'

There is an interesting article that appears in today's National Post (a Canadian national newspaper): 'Renovated' Catholicism attracts few tenants which details a look at a schismatic dissenter (progressivist) group, as well as a famed dissenting paper in Canada, "the Catholic New Times".

The basic just of the piece is this: watering down the teaching and discipline of the Church does not, as is often thrown out there, result in an influx of people.

A call for a shift away from a vocabulary of polemic and inaccuracy

I wished to make a proposal to our readership, not simply for this blog, but in general in our approach to liturgical issues (i.e. I am not suggesting this is a blog "rule" I am enforcing). The purpose here is not to point fingers, or assign blame. As was referenced in the recent French manifesto in favour of the liberalizing of the classical Roman liturgy, there has been fault and blame on either side. There has been much hurt, many accusations and much in the way of polemics.

However, it seems to me that now is particulary the time to re-assess some of the thinking and terminology that has developed in the last few decades on "our side of the fence" (by which I mean simply those advocating traditional liturgics).

I believe this is particularly the case now as we move into a new phase of the liturgical restoration and genuine renewal and re-assessment of the post-conciliar era. We move into a time where there is need now for a greater cooperation and co-existence between the reform of the reform and between those attached to the classical liturgical rites. We also move into a time where there is need for greater historical and theological precision in our comments and critiques, as new generations and groups (who have until now been raised solely on a diet of the more modern liturgics) will have the opportunity be presented with and more readily seek out, our liturgical tradition and history. They need to be presented with it at its best and most accurate, well-reasoned and charitable face. Polemics, by contrast, will not serve this.

As such, it seems to me that those ideas or terms which carry a polemical connotation will not help serve the restoration of the liturgy, and a growing openness to our classical rites or a reform of the reform -- nor be helpful in their mutual and necessary co-existence.

We must also be careful that our terminology reflects reality, such as what the Council did call for, or what is historically the case.

"NOVUS ORDO" - I have made it a steadfast goal to not refer to the "Novus Ordo". While this term is arguably coined by people on either side, and of course literally only translates to "new order", it nonetheless has come to carry with it a polemic which can at times be interpreted as an utter rejection of the rite, or a questioning of its validity even.

As such, an alternate term would seem to be either "the Pauline Missal" or the 1970 Missal, in reference to Pope Paul VI, or "the modern Roman rite", wherein it is distinguished from the classical liturgy.

"TRIDENTINE MASS" - concurrent with the former is the misleading designation of the "Pian Missal" or "Tridentine", which suggests a missal effectively created by Trent of Pius V. However, anyone who compares the more ancient liturgical rites and uses with the Missal which was codified by Trent will know quite readily how similar they are. Hence, reference to the "1962 Missal", or the "classical" or "ancient" Roman liturgy would seem more accurate.

"LATIN MASS" - an imprecise term by any account, as it can refer to either set of liturgical books. Typically as well, and this is the bigger problem, it sets up a false dichotomy which suggest Latin was abolished by the Council.

"WRECKOVATION" - while it might seem witty or to the point, nonetheless, it probably does nothing to contribute to the serious consideration of liturgical architecture and critique of the same. Substantive critiques can be made without resorting to a polemical term.

"TABLE ALTAR" - just a word here about the connotation, not the actual term. I myself appreciate more the solid form of altar that developed in the West. However, what isn't helpful in a discussion of the form of the altar and the corresponding relation of it to the rest of the sanctuary are polemics which would reduce this altar to being a non-Catholic, even protestant, aberration (which historically isn't the case, given its historical presence in both the West and especially the East). Regardless of whether it might be critiqued from an architectural perspective, let it be remembered that it is in fact a consecrated Catholic altar, regardless of the particular form. There are better, more objective ways to advocate for the traditional models that have developed in the West.

This list is by no means complete, but I believe you will get the sense of what I am suggesting here. Let's be careful to eliminate the polemics from our own vocabularly. Let us not have a penchant toward reactionary or over-exaggerated statements. Let us also make certain we make well qualified statements that take into account our history and tradition, and which does not find a tendency toward a liturgical absolutism that may not in fact be historically or theologically accurate.

Instead, let us provide a reasoned, respectful critique and catechesis.

This will have a far greater power and long-term effect for positive liturgical change than the short-term satisfaction that might be gained by the use of polemics, or the ease that might be derived from long-used, but historically and theologically inaccurate terms.

Final appeal for help

A final reminder for this Christmas Season that your donations (no matter how big or small) are most welcome and useful for being put toward the NLM apostolate. At present, the NLM has a $250 USD fundraising goal for an important liturgical resource that will help further here study and discussion of comparative liturgical history and the ancient diversity of the Latin rite.

(Donations of liturgical books or liturgical studies are also welcome.)

Email me if you'd like more details.

Photos from Assumption Grotto's Midnight Mass

Some of you may wish to go look at these pictures of Midnight Mass at Assumption Grotto in Detroit, one of the leading reform of the reform parishes in the United States.

Fox news piece on Classical Liturgy

The Fox News piece may be seen online here for those interested.

From their description: "Catholic churches around the country are seeing a return to a more traditional way of prayer. Traditional Latin masses, which were banned for almost two decades, are now becoming a popular alternative to English masses for younger families."

Byzantine Christmas Liturgy

From the Byzantine Liturgy of the Feast of the Nativity

TROPARION, TONE IV
Your birth, O Christ our God, has shed upon the world the light of knowledge; for through it those who worshipped the stars have learned from a star to worship You, the Sun of Justice, and to recognize You as the Orient from on high, glory be to You, O Lord. (St. Stephen the Sabbait)

KONTAKION, TONE 3
Today the Virgin gives birth to perfect Essence, and the earth offers a cave to the Inaccessible; the angels sing His glory with the shepherds; the wise men journey with the star; for there is born to us an Infant Child, Eternal God. (St. Roman the Melodist)

CANON, ODE VII
O Christ, our Defender, taking the form of man, You have bestowed upon him (man) the joy of becoming Godlike! (St. John Damascene)

In Vigilia Nativitatis Domini

A blessed Vigil and Feast of the Nativity to all readers of the NLM.

Introit: Ex. 16. 6, 7; Ps. 23. 1
This day you shall know that the Lord will come, and save us: and in the morning you shall see His glory. Ps. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and all they that dwell therein. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Collect
O God, Who year by year makest us to look forward in joy of heart to the festival of the Birth of Thine only-begotten Son; grant that, even as we now gladly welcome Him for our Redeemer, so we may trustfully go forth to meet Him when He shall one day return as our Judge. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Gradual: Ex. 16. 6,7; Ps. 79. 2-3
This day you shall know that the Lord will come, and save us; and in the morning you shall see His glory. Ps. Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep; Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, appear before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses.

Alleluia: Esdr. 4. 16, 53.
Alleluia, Alleluia. Tomorrow the iniquity of the earth shall be done away; and the Saviour of the world shall reign over us. Alleluia.



In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. -- Luke 2: 1-11

"...for Christ took on Himself the reality not the likeness of flesh; nor does He say in the likeness of sin, for He did no sin, but was made sin for us. Yet He came "in the likeness of sinful flesh;" that is, He took on Him the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness, because it is written: "He is man, and who shall know Him?" He was man in the flesh, according to His human nature, that He might be recognized, but in power was above man, that He might not be recognized, so He has our flesh, but has not the failings of this flesh. For He was not begotten, as is every man, by intercourse between male and female, but born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin." -- St. Ambrose of Milan

Motu Proprio: the ripple effect in the ecclesial pond

[I received this today through an informal email list I am sent email from. Nothing new in terms of the Motu Proprio's substance or release date, but interesting and encouraging to see an episcopal statement acknowledging the actual antiquity of the classical Roman rite, and further, referencing (even promoting) the very excellent statement that came from the Genoan diocese. These voices of episcopal reason and moderation are invaluble to say the least, and can help begin to effect a re-inculturation to a hermeneutic of continuity. It is also noteworthy to see an acknowledgement of the liturgical crisis that is present in the Latin church, and also the recognition that such an action on the part of Benedict will have profound and deep consequences. ]

The auxiliary bishop of Eichstatt, Bavaria, Germany, wrote the following article in reference to the diocesan letter of the Bishop of Genoa concerning the upcoming Motu Proprio:

There is increasingly frequent and more definite news of the possibility of a more flexible use of the 1962 Missal promulgated by blessed Pope John XXIII. These announcement relate to the possibility of celebrating the eucharistic liturgy which has been little changed with the passage of the centuries in territories pertaining to the Latin Church (the largest ritual family by far within the Catholic Church), i.e. these territories which at a given time were adopted the liturgy of the Roman Rite. Faced with these announcements, it is advisable to give special attention to an official declaration which can be read on the internet site of the archdiocese of Genoa, led since September 24, 2006 by Msgr. Angelo Bagnasco: all of which allows us to think that the Roman document which awaits publication will be received in an analogous context. Le Metropolitan of Genoa, papal legate for the marine territories, was amongst other things also, from 1993 to 1996, the director of diocesan works for the liturgical apostolate. The text prepares all Latin Catholics for the forthcoming proceedings normalizing the liturgical situation inside the Latin liturgical family and very clearly decides in favor of a peaceful agreement. Within this perspective, the decision of the current Pope Benedict XVI will surely have very long term repercussions. The future of the eucharistic liturgy is at stake: it must again be able to find in itself, in a more intense and easier way, its rationale, namely to glorify God and to sanctify hearts, and thus to be recognized automatically as holy and sanctified. It will be necessary, slowly, to overcome and remove this liturgical crisis which always remains current news in particular in the areas of the Latin rite.

(The article then quotes the Bishop of Genoa's letter; it then goes on at length concerning the Motu Proprio.)

On the Incarnation

Classical books are often treated like classical liturgies, some seem to see them as inaccessible or no longer relevant.

We're entering into the busy time, both liturgically and otherwise, of the great feast of the Nativity. One can already see the effects of this in our news sites, in our blogs, and otherwise. Rest assured, while posting might be lighter than usual, the NLM hopes to continue to bring you news, information and opinion for your reading enjoyment.

But if you find that you have spare time, perhaps, in addition to taking up the Divine Office, and attending the wonderful liturgies of this time of year -- often much more traditional in general than at other times -- perhaps you might consider picking up a classical patristic meditation upon the Incarnation: On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius.

This particular edition was prefaced by none other than C.S. Lewis. I share with you part of his meditation, which reminds me at its beginning of the way some think about the ancient versus modern liturgics:

"There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about "isms" and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire."

O Emmanuel

The last of the O Antiphons, as sung by Scott Turkington



O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations, and their Salvation: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Book Focuses on Benedict XVI's Inaugural Mass

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See has published a commentary on the installation rites used for the inaugural Mass of Benedict XVI.

The volume, published in Italian and entitled "Inizio del ministero petrino del vescovo di Roma Benedetto XVI" (Beginning of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome Benedict XVI), offers liturgical, theological, historical and ritual commentary on the liturgical text followed for the inaugural Mass.

The Mass -- "Ordo Rituum pro Ministeri Petrini Initio Romae Episcopi" -- was approved by Benedict XVI days before the inaugural Mass took place April 24, 2005.

Benedict XVI and Archbishop Piero Marini, master of pontifical celebrations, appear on the cover.

The flap reads that "the rites of opening of a pontificate, celebrated in the spirit of the liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, remain as a sign and hope for the Church's journey in the world."

Archbishop Marini said that the text of the Mass itself, together with the commentary, have a "particular ecclesial and ecumenical value" and are a "gift and incentive not only for scholars, historians and faithful but for all the Churches of West and East."

The 565-page volume costs €40, and is published by the Vatican Publishing House.

Update on Fox Report time

An update on the Fox News story I reported on yesterday:

"The broadcast of that piece will either be TODAY or Saturday, during the Fox Report, between 6:00 pm US Central Time."

A Strophic Hymn for Christmas

One of the many beautifully charming strophic chant hymns printed in the Liber Cantualis is Puer Natus in Bethlehem. Based on the text that begins the Christmas Day introit, this hymn tells the Nativity story in 14 full verses. The mp3 below records the Schola singing the first five verses.

As you will hear, it is vigorous and exciting and suited for congregational participation. How many generations of Christians heard and sung this song during Christmas? Was it once familiar to everyone and then, one day, the music just stopped? I really don't know. It seems like we are all in the position of being musical archaeologists, re-discovery a lost civilization, one bit at a time.




1. Puer natus in Bethlehem, alleluia:
Unde gaudet Jerusalem,
alleluia, alleluia.

Refrain:
In cordis jubilo,
Christum natum adoremus
Cum novo cantico.

2. Assumpsit carnem Filius, alleluia,
Dei Patris altissimus,
alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain

3. Per Gabrielem nuntium, alleluia,
Virgo concepit Filium,
alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain

4. Tamquam sponsus de thalamo, alleluia,
Processit Matris utero,
alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain

5. Hic iacet in praesepio, alleluia:
Qui regnat sine termino,
alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain

Etc. with the rest here.

O Rex Gentium

The 6th of the O Antiphons, as sung by Scott Turkington



O King of the Nations, and their Desire; the Cornerstone, who makest both one: Come and save mankind, whom thou formedst of clay.

Looking for video of Pius XII coronation

I was asked this question and I wanted to throw it out to the readership in case anyone might be able to help. Actually, it sounds very intriguing.

"I am looking for a video (or DVD) of the Coronation of Pope Pius XII, with Bishop Fulton Sheen narrating."

How Should Music in Catholic Worship Be Revised?

There are many aspects of Music in Catholic Worship that need revision. The purposes of music should be stated clearly; I would say that there are two overriding purposes: to make the liturgy more beautiful and to emphasize its sacred character.

To accomplish these purposes, the statements about the aesthetic judgment need re-emphasis. A principal problem today is that the quality of the music--not just the texts--is mediocre; it fulfills what then Cardinal Ratzinger called utility music, concluding that utility music is useless. Only music that is truly beautiful should have a place in the liturgy.

Thus begins William Mahrt's statement at the October 9, 2006, consultation on music held by the USCCB's Committee on the Liturgy. I encourage you to examine the entire text, including his concluding point-by-point suggestions for revision.

Midnight Mass in classical form on Relevant Radio

The US Catholic radio network, Relevant Radio, will be broadcasting the Midnight Mass from St. Joseph Oratory, the Institute of Christ the King's apostolate in Green Bay, WI.

It will be broadcast at midnight US Central time (6:00 UTC).

Fox News picking up on the signs of the liturgical times?

Through the grapevine, off "CTNGreg":

"This weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, during the Fox Report (7:00 pm -
8:00 pm US Eastern Time), there will be a short feature on the Traditional
Latin Mass, focusing, we hope, on its growth and appeal. The interviews will
feature Monsignor Michael Schmitz, Vicar General of the Institute of Christ
the King, and Michael Dunnigan, Chairman of Una Voce America, as well as
some of the faithful who attend Mass at our (i.e., the Institute's)
apostolate in Chicago, the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Mass
clips will be from our Mass this Gaudete Sunday.

(For the "necessary balance", Prof. Richard McBrien of Notre Dame
University/Indiana was also interviewed) . Also, let's pray that this piece
make many souls aware of the richness of Catholic Tradition."

O Oriens

The 5th of the O Antiphons, as sung by Scott Turkington



O Day-Spring, Brightness of Light, everlasting and sun of Righteousness: Come and enlighten him that sitteth in darkness, and the shadow of death.

Lend your voice to the sensus fidelium

[Many are likely aware of this initiative already, but it is worth mentioning here I think. I don't believe Benedict will be sway by petitions, however, I do believe there is merit in the faithful letting their voices and thoughts be known on this subject.

Remember as well, that signing on to this simply suggests that you support the allowance for the classical liturgy to flourish and have life of its own. In other words, one can be firmly rooted in the reform of the reform, as an example, or in the Eastern Churches, and yet support this initiative on principle. Lending your name to this suggests only that you are open to the classical liturgy as something beneficial for the life of the Church and generally, regardless of which liturgical rite you find yourself worshipping in on a given Sunday.

Please consider supporting it. Here was the initiative.]

"If you wish to join the thousands who want to lend their support to the Socci Manifesto write to:

lettere@ilfoglio.it

Subject: Appello di Antonio Socci

Text:“Esprimiamo il nostro plauso per la decisione di Benedetto XVI di cancellare la proibizione dell’antica messa in latino secondo il messale di san Pio V, grande patrimonio della nostra cultura da salvare e riscoprire”. [English: 'We express our praise for the decision of Benedict XVI to cancel the prohibition of the ancient Mass in Latin according to the Missal of Saint Pius V, a great legacy of our culture, which must be saved and rediscovered.']

Sign: Name, Profession (optional), City (optional) and Country of Residence"

Review of Eamon Duffy's book on the Hours

Marking the Hours: English people and their prayers, 1240-1570
Eamon Duffy (from The Tablet)

Reviewed by Christopher Howse

Yale University Press, £19.99

In 1500, Elizabeth Sekett, a domestic servant, lost her book of hours. A pauper woman, Avis Godfrey, was accused of stealing it, but told the court she'd picked the book up in Pudding Lane. To us, probably, the surprising thing is that a servant should possess a book of hours, which we picture as a gloriously illuminated, fabulously expensive manuscript codex. Yet, with printing, the price of a modest book of hours had come down to 3d or 4d.

Up to 1530 we know of 760 separate editions of books of hours, 114 from England alone. But, even before printing, "production line" stationers' scribes produced books of hours - with miniatures turned out like paintings on eighteenth-century china - that suited the pocket of townspeople like the funny old mystic Margery Kempe of Lynn, Norfolk (who died in 1438).

Nineteenth-century collectors valued these books more for their appearance than their contents, sometimes carelessly mistaking them for missals. So, what did the books of hours contain? Everyone, aristocrat, burgess or pleb, used the same book, with variations. It gave the eight monastic hours (matins, lauds, prime, and so on) simplified, in honour of the Virgin Mary, plus vespers, matins and lauds for the dead (the Dirige), the seven penitential Psalms, the litany of the saints, the 15 gradual Psalms (119-133), and a collection of short prayers to the saints, with devotions added according to the taste of the client, if it was a commissioned manuscript, or to the judgement of the bookseller-publisher.

By examining what was written by their owners in margins, flyleaves and blank spaces, Eamon Duffy brings alive the prayer-life of the English men and women who used these books of hours, or primers as they were sometimes known. Some of the additions look to us like vandalism, but were intended as useful customisation to suit the owner's spiritual life, with reputedly reliable prayers copied in like recipes.

Annotations might reflect family attachments, as with the simple moving note on a liturgical calendar page, opposite 27 November: "My mother departyd to god". Or they might act as ties between relations, as with the note written (in a style resembling that in a modern autograph book) to her uncle by Catherine Parr, the future queen, under a page decorated with an image of her patron St Catherine of Alexandria: "Oncle wen you do on thys loke/Pray you remember wo wrote thys in your boke."

Professor Duffy finds in some of the prayers in English added to the Latin body of these books "a characteristic late-medieval combination of penitential abasement and confidence in salvation". Indeed, one cannot help coming away with the impression that late-medieval believers were no less mature in the conduct of their spiritual lives than the art with which their books were adorned was admirable.

The spiritual outlook of these books has in recent times been sometimes comically misrepresented. In a chapter called "Sanctified whingeing?", Duffy examines the ideas of Jonathan Hughes, the author of The Religious Life of Richard III (1997), developed from a suggestion by the historian John Bossy that books of hours give off a "dense smog of self-centredness, malice and sanctified whingeing". From the denunciatory language of many of the Psalms contained in these books Dr Hughes judged that "it is likely that merchants in using such prayers had in mind their competitors, creditors and craftsmen".

Since these Psalms are still used in Christian worship, it is easy to appreciate Duffy's amusement at the reductionist notion that they were used by grocers as formulae of commination against rival tradesmen. Duffy is more inclined to think that "the deliverance prayed for, and the enemies prayed against, are likely to be conceived of as spiritual, and the rescue hoped for otherworldly".

Far from being an "egocentric and abrasive expression of social hostility", as the last generation of historians interpreted them, these Psalms of complaint (which figured most prominently in the communally recited

Office for the dead) served to cement communitarian values. Duffy gives the example of John and Joan Greenway who commissioned a sculptured memorial for themselves in Tiverton Church, with their own images shown kneeling with their books of hours. |This memorial was not placed in their own private chantry, but publicly above the south door, where marriages and the first part of baptismal ceremonies were performed in a fully social way.

Historians seem intent on pinpointing the growth of "the self" or "individualism" - at the Renaissance, or with printing, or Protestantism. This seems to me a futile quest, since it is hard to think of a book more focused on the individualised self than the Confessions of St Augustine (who died in 430), which never became unfamiliar to Christians in the succeeding thousand years or more.

Duffy notes that Holbein's drawing for the family portrait of the household of Sir Thomas More in the late 1520s shows them, young and old, holding uniform copies of a printed book. More's daughter-in-law is helping his father find his place. The book is not some humanist edition of a classical work, but a book of hours. The family is about to recite prayers communally.

Duffy spends a chapter on More's own, modestly printed book of hours, which he took with him to the Tower, and in which he wrote a moving prayer in English. Certainly it was written by a man in isolation, but Duffy picks out the prayer's connection with similar compositions that emerged from the contemporary culture of devotion. "If we go to the prayers of the late-medieval laity", Duffy concludes, "we find not growing individualism, social anomie, and alienation, but the signs of individual participation in a varied but coherent public religious culture related to the public practice of religion."

Once again, the author of The Stripping of the Altars has given us a newly convincing picture of a misunderstood period of religious practice. The colour illustrations are beautiful, fascinating, properly explained and perfectly integrated into the exposition. It is a delightful book that will change perspectives.

Toledo Cathedral -- No, the Other One

I recently came across some splendid photographs of the cathedral of Toledo. I mean, Tow-leeey-do, not Toe-lay-do. Or perhaps we should just go Byzantine and call it Toledo of the Ohioans. But anyway, it's a gorgeous structure that partakes of both the high Gothic of Spain and the rugged Romanesque of Vezelay and southern France. Particularly worth noting is the broad, boldly-frescoed, round-arched barrel vault of Romanesque inspiration that blends seamlessly with the more Gothic decoration of the lower registers. This is a robust and unique bit of ecclesial design worthy of study.



An intelligent and distinctly non-derivative take on Gothic.



Towards the sanctuary.



The coronation of Mary depicted in the conch of the apse - a splendid fusion of twentieth-century innovation and Byzantine traditions.

O Clavis David

The 4rd of the O Antiphons, as sung by Scott Turkington



O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no man shutteth, and shuttests, and no man openeth: come and bring the prisoner out of the prison house, and him that sitteth in darkness, and the shadow of death.

The Eastward Position in the latest edition of Dappled Things

The latest round of everybody's favorite Catholic literary e-zine, Dappled Things, is up-and-running, complete with a headliner essay by none other than Amy Welborn; as well as a Flanneryesque excursion into the closed, self-excommunicated world of a would-be antipope; sonnets and photography galore; and a foray into the archaeology of the eastward position in liturgy by yours truly. Come on down and have a read! Also, Dappled Things is hoping to produce a print edition in the near future, so please be generous with your donations for this magazine, which has received favorable mentions in both First Things and The National Catholic Register.

Incidentally, the magazine is accepting new pieces for the Lent/Easter 2007 edition; the submission deadline is February 4, so get those pens to scratching!

"At this Festive season of the year, it is more than usually desireable..."

As I do a couple of times a year, just a friendly reminder that if you're looking for a cause to donate to this Christmas season (or otherwise), don't forget you may, if you so desire, make a donation toward the NLM apostolate, by paypal or otherwise. (There is a button to the right in the sidebar.)

One might legitimately ask, is a person really just giving an individual (namely, myself) money for their own private use? Well, no. These donations are either put toward: 1) liturgical conferences (which are reported upon for the benefit of all, and connections built for the benefit of the apostolate), 2) in the hoped-for future original NLM publications (God willing), 3) or also put into investments of liturgical reference works which can serve as resources for the original postings and questions of the readership here, as well, it is a thought to at some point consider a "lending library" for liturgical scholars to aid in their work.

I have thought of this again recently as some very important, but relatively hard to find comparative liturgical resources have come up for sale of recent (also reflected in the price -- no, not the Carthusian missal, far too pricey, but, for example, one on the history and development of the Dominican rite).

The NLM is a free apostolate, and happily so, offered for the benefit of priest and laity alike -- and hopefully helpful and informative. Most cannot afford donations, or they have their own projects and charities to pursue. More than understandable! But for those out there who make it a habit and are in a position to donate to a variety causes, if you feel these aims are a worthy goal and investment, for yourself as a reader, or for the movement generally, do make consideration.

Many thanks to all our readers who come to this site each and every day, and who make it so very enjoyable and informative for all alike.

eBay: Carthusian Missal

It's times like these when one wishes one had a budget for such things:

eBay: 1541 CARTHUSIAN MISSAL

The item ends late this evening, EST.

Catholic World News : Italian politicians weigh in on Latin liturgy

[Three Italian politicans against the broader use of the classical Latin liturgy of the Church. Interesting that one, rather incorrectly, states that Latin is no longer the lingua franca of the Church. Clearly it is still the formal language of the Church.

As well, we yet again see a lack of distinction between what is the de facto state of the liturgy, and what, de jure was and is to be. We further continue to see the hermeneutic of rupture at work. Here, I suggest we see the fruits of the lack of information, or even misinformation, about the Council and the liturgy.

Further, the statement, "with these things one cannot turn back", beside not taking the above into account, as a principle becomes its own form of liturgical immobilism.]

Catholic World News : Italian politicians weigh in on Latin liturgy: "Italian politicians weigh in on Latin liturgy

Rome, Dec. 19, 2006 (CWNews.com) - Three prominent Italian politicians have voiced their opposition to a call for the broader use of the Latin Mass.

Responding to appeals that were published in the Italian daily Il Foglio and the French Le Figaro, former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti indicated that he had no enthusiasm for a restoration of the old liturgy. “With these things one cannot turn back,” he said; “Latin is no longer the lingua franca of the Church.”

A Christian Democrat legislator, Sen. Francesco D’Onofrio, took the same stance, saying that Latin would “hardly be comprehensible” to most parishioners. Consequently, he said, “it would make the content of the Gospel remote.”

Gerardo Bianco, a former cabinet minister, agreed. “The Church has a problem of unity in the liturgy, which cannot be reduced to a linguistic operation,” he said. If the intellectuals who signed the Foglio and Figaro manifestos are dedicated to restoring the Latin language, he suggested, “I would being with scholastic formation, not the Mass.” "

Limited vs. Time Expansive Music

Gavin of Laudamus Te, a director of music at a parish, has answered an anonymous flaming complaint about the music of his parish that was posted on his blog.

"I know for a fact a significant number of the parishioners at St. Stanislaus (including several long-time musicians) have left because of their (or their children's) inability to comprehend, interpret, or feel a part of the Mass when ancient Gregorian and Latin chants and hymns are forcibly introduced."

See how he answers it. Very impressive indeed!

Some liturgical books...

For those of you who are looking to acquire an early Christmas gift (for yourself or perhaps a late one for someone else), I should note that I'll be posting some new book titles soon. However, I wanted to give you a short list of the specifically liturgical books that I have which are for sale.

NB: Trades will be entertained for other liturgical books which I might be able to use for my own liturgical reference library (i.e. a pre-Pius X breviary, other Western-rite/use breviaries/missals, Bonniwell's history, etc.) even if incomplete; this also includes translations.

Here are the book titles I can list for the moment:

The Roman Breviary - a complete in one volume English translation of the entire Breviarium Romanum, 1961, translated by Christine Mohrmann (English only). Still in pretty good shape, though some wear to the binding. (Price: $100.00)

(As a reminder, I also have two copies of "Lauds, Vespers and Compline", which are also English only, but these only of the three primary offices. $50.00 each.)

Josef Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite - 2 vols. complete. This is the Christian Classics softcover edition. $85.00.

(I also have a single volume available, I believe of volume one, which is the hardcover, but obviously incomplete. $50.00 for that one.)

The Raccolta: Official Edition - a very nice red hardcover, in very nice shape indeed. $40.00

Collectio Rituum - Latin/English, very good shape. From 1964. $45.00

For sale as well are some old Catholic prayer books with various devotions, the Ordinary of the Tridentine Mass, etc. within it -- as well as that fantastic traditional Missal art.

A Breviarium Romanum from 1960 may be available as well. I shall have to see if its a complete set in two volumes however, or only volume one of two.

Reminder as well about the beautiful 4 volume, oversized, deep green hardcover "Butler's Lives of the Father's, Martyrs and Other Saints" that I have available for sale for $200. It has those beautiful mediaeval/renaissance style full page, colour images of a number of the saints as well.

I also have the "coffee table" version of that, with those same beautiful images, but condensed descriptions for the saint of each day. Nicely produced.

I may have a full set of the modern "Liturgy of the Hours" for sale (the multi-volume edition), but I shall have to see.

Reminder as well that I do have things available also like Cardinal Reflections: Active Participation and the Liturgy ($8), The Bible and the Liturgy by Jean Danielou, Liturgical Piety by Louis Bouyer and O'Connell's Book of Ceremonies.

If interested, email me. More to come, though not as much that is liturgical I should note.

Dominican Cloistered Nun sing the O Antiphon, "O Adonai"

[It is wonderful to see the chant tradition being restored and reclaimed. In their own description of this video, the sisters are apologetic for an off-key mistake at one part of the chant, but I can't say that any here would throw stones! All said, well done Sisters. These are the Dominican Sisters of Summit, New Jersey. They host a blog, Moniales OP]

A little more about the O Antiphons

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

The seven antiphons to the Magnificat in the ferial Office of the seven days preceeding the vigil of Christmas; so called because all begin with the interjection "O". Their opening words are: (1) "O Sapientia", (2) "O Adonai", (3) "O Radix Jesse", (4) "O Clavis David", (5) "O Oriens", (6) "O Rex Gentium", (7) "O Emmanuel".

Addressed to Christ under one or other of His Scriptural titles, they conclude with a distinct petition to the coming Lord (e. g.: "O Wisdom … come and teach us the way of prudence"; "O Adonai … come and redeem us by thy outstretched arm"; "O Key of David … come and lead from prison the captive sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death" etc.).

Couched in a poetic and Scriptural phraseology they constitute a notable feature of the Advent Offices. These seven antiphons are found in the Roman Breviary; but other medieval Breviaries added (1) "O virgo virginum quomodo fiet" (2) "O Gabriel, nuntius cœlorum", subsequently replaced, almost universally, by the thirteenth-century antiphon, "O Thoma Didyme", for the feast of the Apostle St. Thomas (21 December).

Some medieval churches had twelve greater antiphons, adding to the above (1) "O Rex Pacifice", (2) "O Mundi Domina", (3) "O Hierusalem", addressed respectively to Our Lord, Our Lady, and Jerusalem.

The Parisian Rite added two antiphons ("O sancte sanctorum" and "O pastor Israel") to the seven of the Roman Rite and began the recitation of the nine on the 15th of December.

Prose renderings of the Roman Breviary O's will be found in the Marquess of Bute's translation of the Roman Breviary (winter volume). Guéranger remarks that the antiphons were appropriately assigned to the Vesper Hour because the Saviour came in the evening hour of the world (vergente mundi vespere, as the Church sings) and that they were attached to the Magnificat to honour her through whom He came.

[The following isn't from the Catholic Encyclopedia, but of interest:] Some surmise that the Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each of the O Antiphons - Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia - the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.”

O Radix Jesse

The 3rd of the O Antiphons, as sung by Scott Turkington

The Marian Antiphon for Advent

One of the great pleasures that our schola has enjoyed this season has been getting to know "Alma redemptoris mater," the Marian antiphon for Advent, which was well known by countless generations but has fallen into disuse. It is hard to imagine a more lavishly flowing and ravishingly beautiful chant. It was apparently the most popular of the Marian antiphons in the Middle Ages: for example, it makes an appearance in Chaucer's "Prioresses Tale."

I gather than the simple tone is most common, or was most common in preconciliar days, which is rather disappointing. It is the most modern of all the versions. Upon rediscovering this chant for ourselves, we worked from the solemn version found in the Liber Usualis. Here is a copy you can print.



And here is the text:

Alma Redemptoris Mater,
quæ pervia cæli porta manes et stella maris,
succurre cadenti,surgere qui curat, populo:
tu quæ genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem.
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud ave,
peccatorum miserere.

Kind Mother of the Redeemer,
thou who art the open door of heaven and star of the sea,
help thy fallen people, striving to rise again;
thou who gavest birth, while nature marveled, to thine own sacred Creator.
Virgin before and afterwards, receiving that greeting from the lips of Gabriel,
have mercy on sinners.

Viennese conductor and musicologist Michael Proctor writes on this antiphon in the Winter issue of Sacred Music. He discusses the many versions of the melody that one can find. He reconstructs two versions side by side, one from the 10th century (St. Gall) and one from the 13th century (Worcester Antiphonale), and puts both into "modern" neumes so that we can compare them (the first time this has been done with this chant, to my knowledge). Here are the results.

It is a fascinating exercise to compare their differences, and yet what stands out to me is how remarkably similar they are. The variations can be ascribed to local tradition in the most charming way, slight improvisations on particular words. Which one is the "real" Alma? Well, we only know that the simple tone is fully modern (17th century or later) and that the others are much earlier. There seems to be no crying need to settle on one in particular. They are all expressive and display something about the faith of our heritage.

(Over the years, there's been a great deal of hysteria concerning whether and to what extent the reconstruction efforts by the Solesmes monks succeeded somehow in rediscovering the "true" chant tradition in every way. Of course this is a silly way to phrase the question. What they did was recover the dominant strains and lines, but neither they nor their strongest defenders ever claimed that they had somehow rendered the one true way to sing all chants. There is nothing whatever to fear from deeper research, as Dom Mocquereau would be the first to say.)

Of course hundreds of motets have been written on the theme as well. We sang one by F. Guerrero this past Sunday.

I wish that I could find a recording of the solemn version on line but I don't see one.

A final note. I was humming this chant around the house one day, and to my surprise my daughter began to sing the hymn "I Know that My Redeemer Lives"--and it wasn't until that moment that I noticed the similarity of the two melodies. Did one influence the other? Surely not...

Vestment diagram for those learning

One of our commenters noted that they weren't too up on the particularities of vestments and their names. As such, I thought I would find for those readers who are as of yet unfamiliar with the names of some of the basic vestments, a diagram which shows many of them. Here is one such that evidently comes from a pre-conciliar book on the subject:

a. Amice (worn around the shoulders and neck)
b. Alb
c. Cincture
d. Maniple
e. Biretta
g. Mitre
h. Crosier/Crozier (sometimes today referred to as a "pastoral staff")
i. Humeral Veil (Worn by the priest when carrying/giving Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament; also worn by the subdeacon when carrying the sacred vessels at Solemn Mass)
j. Stole
k. Chasuble
l. Surplice
m. Cassock
n. Cope

Missing from this diagram is the "dalmatic" and "tunicle", worn by the deacon and subdeacon respectively. Somewhat like a chasuble, but with sleeves and square on the bottom rather than rounded or pointed like a chasuble.

Pope Benedict receives Egyptian Patriarch, praises Alexandrian tradition

Vatican City, Dec. 15, 2006 (CNA) - Pope Benedict XVI met today with His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, the Patriarch of Alexandria for Catholic Copts who is officially visiting the Holy See for the first time since his election in March of this year.

The term Copt refers to any Christian of Egyptian origin, whether they be Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant. The Catholic Coptic Church, maintains an eastern liturgy and elects its own patriarch, while maintaining its allegiance to the Holy Father and the universal Catholic Church.

The Church in Alexandria, founded by the Apostle St. Mark, is considered one of the oldest foundations of Christianity in the world

In his French address, the Pope asked the patriarch to give his greetings to all the bishops, priests, and faithful of his patriarchy, as well as to Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria.

"The communion in Christ that unites us and all Catholics around the Successor of Peter is best seen in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy," said the Holy Father.

While recalling that the seat of Alexandria was the "first patriarchy after Rome" during the first five centuries of Christianity, Benedict XVI emphasized that its patriarchal community is the "bearer of a rich spiritual, liturgical, and theological tradition - the Alexandrian tradition -, whose treasures form part of the Church's patrimony".

Pope Benedict receives Egyptian Patriarch, praises Alexandrian tradition

O Adonai

The second O Antiphon: "O Adonai," as sung by Scott Turkington. "O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free."

Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral

This CD was recommended to the NLM readership by one of our liturgical scholars, as being a liturgically superb recording of the 1961 Breviarium Romanum (with a few monastic additions):

Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral

A few other books

Another great find by a reader on Archive.org is an English translation of part of Durandus' Rationale Divinum Officiorum, this, On the Sacred Vestments.

Speaking of ecclesiastical dress, there is also this book on the Costume of Prelates which may be of interest to some folks.

A little more on Rose vestments

A few of us have been having a debate-discussion about what might constitute a more befitting colour of rose, rather than a more pinkish hue, and one of our vestment designers, Michael from the Saint Bede Studio in Australia, wished to share this image of a rose vestment set he created, which employs a deeper rose colour:

Why Gaudete?

"Gaudete Sunday" is one of the few days in the new Church calendar that still retains its name take from the Introit. In how many parishes will the term Gaudete be used on Sunday? Just guessing here, but I would think about half, maybe more. But how many Catholics know why it is called that? Many fewer. And only a small percentage will enjoy hearing the actual Introit from which the term is derived.

It is indeed difficult but astonishingly beautiful. Here is our schola's playlist and program for tomorrow, which includes the Introit (though sung as a prelude) as well as the chant and Guerrero polyphony of the Advent Marian antiphon, Alma Redemptoris Mater. In addition, we are singing the first O Antiphon for the communion, followed by Magnificat, as well as Mozart's Ave Verum.

At very minimum, shouldn't Gaudete be heard again?

Here is the Gregorian:



And here is a Psalm-tone version in English that should be suitable for any parish, and can be sung by any schola.

French declaration favouring liberalizing of the 1962 Missal

[A declaration published in favour of the liberalizing of the 1962 Missal by various French Catholic lay academics, artists, etc. published today in Le Figaro.]

We lay Roman Catholics, wish, in the face of the media attention caused by a possible liberalization of the Gregorian [1962] Mass, to testify publicly to our fidelity, our support and our affection in the Holy Father, Benedict XVI.

1. The constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council recalls: “Obeying the tradition faithfully, the Council declares that our Holy Mother the Church regards as equal in right and dignity all the legitimately recognized rites, and that she wants, in the future, to preserve them and support them in any case.” We thus regard as a grace the diversity of the rites in the Catholic Church and we see with coming joy the liberalization of that which was ordinary to our parents and our grandparents, and which nourished the spiritual life of so many saints.

We want to express to the Holy Father and to our bishops our joy at seeing appear more and more parochial and religious communities attached to the beauty of the liturgy in its various forms. We share the thoughts of Cardinal Ratzinger: “I am convinced that the crisis of the Church that we live today rests largely on the disintegration of the liturgy”. (My Life, Beech, 1998.)

2. “To promote the restoration of the unity between all Christians is one of the principal goals of the holy ecumenical Council of Vatican II. Only one, single Church was instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ”, affirms the introduction of the decree Unitatis Redintegratio.

It in this spirit, as described by the Council, that we receive with joy the creation of the Institute of Good Shepherd and that we request and hope that all those who have moved away from the full communion follow this same path of reconciliation.

3. We are shocked by the idea that a Catholic can be anxious at the celebration of the Mass which was that which Padre Pio and Saint Maximillian Kolbe celebrated. That which nourished the piety of St. Thérèse of the Child-Jesus and the smiling Pope, John XXIII.

We know that the Church is made up men and women, and that criticizable and sometimes insulting remarks can be exchanged “sometimes by the fault of the people on both sides” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 3).

We ask God “to forgive our offences, as we also forgive with those who have offended us”.

We can see how the government of the Church is difficult and how heavy is the burden of our Holy Father, the Pope, as it is also demanding of our bishops.

By this declaration, we wish to publish our total support for Benedict XVI who, after John-Paul II the Great, and in the long and splendid chain of the successors of Peter, continue to work with humility, courage, intelligence and firmness with the new evangelization.

Signed: René Girard, of the French Academy; Michel Déon, of the French Academy; Bertrand Collomb, of the Institute of France; Jean Piat, actor; Claude Rich, actor; Jean-Laurent Cochet, actor and producer; François Ceyrac, former president of the CNPF (National Familiar Savings Bank); Charles Beigbeder, CEO (Selftrade and Poweo); Jean-François Hénin, CEO (Maurel et Prom Oil Company); Jean-Marie Schmitz, executive, president of the Free College of Law, Economics, and Administration (FACO); Raphaël Dubrulle, executive; Jean François, honorary president of the Lafarge Corporation; Jean-Marie Le Méné, president of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation; Jean Raspail, writer; Jean des Cars, historian; Denis Tillinac, writer and editor; Robert Colonna d'Istria, writer; Isabelle Mourral, honorary president, Association of Catholic Writers; Jacques Heers, professor, historian, former director of Medieval Studies at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne; Alain Lanavère, lecturer, Catholic Institute of Paris; Jean-Christian Petitfils, historian and writer; Yvonne Flour, professor and vice-president of the Scientific Council, University of Paris-I - Panthéon-Sorbonne; Jacques Garello, professor emeritus, University of Aix-Marseille III- Paul-Cézanne; Jean-Didier Lecaillon, professor, University of Paris II -Panthéon-Assas; Catherine Rouvier, lecturer at the University of Sceaux, lawyer; Patrick Louis, Member of the European Parliamen, professor at the University of Lyon-III; Jean-Yves Naudet, professor at the University of Aix-Marseille III- Paul-Cézanne, president of the Association of Catholic Economists; Bertrand Fazio, member of the Association of Catholic Economists; Roland Hureaux, writer; Jean Sevillia, historian and writer; Henry de Lesquen, high government official; Yvan Blot, high government official; Jacques Trémolet de Villers, writer, court attorney; Alexandre Varaut, court attorney; Solange Doumic, court attorney; Frédéric Pichon, court attorney; Francis Jubert, president of the Foundation for Political Service ; Anne Coffinier, diplomat; Benoît Schmitz, History professor; Marie de Préville, professor of Classical Letters; Alexis Nogier, surgeon, Clinical Head at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital; Philippe Darantière, consultant ; Thierry Boutet, writer and journalist; François Foucart, writer and journalist; Philippe Maxence, writer, editor-in-chief of L 'Homme Nouveau; Jacques de Guillebon, writer; Falk van Gaver, writer; Mathieu Baumier, writer; Christophe Geffroy, director of the "La Nef" journal; Anne Bernet, writer; Louis Daufresne, journalist, Paris Archdiocesan Radio (Radio Notre-Dame); Fabrice Madouas, journalist; Hilaire de Crémiers, journalist.

Source: Le Figaro

The Italian Intellectual Declaration

In addition to the French Intellectual manifesto above, I have also noted that Rorate Caeli has news and a translation of a similar Italian Manifesto, published today in the Italian daily Il Foglio. Here is the Rorate Caeli translation of the "Socci Manifesto" -- [it begs the question, will there be, and should there be, a similiar English language declaration so organized? It seems to me there should be]:

I wish to launch an appeal to the world of culture.

In support of a decision of Benedict XVI.

The announcement was given by Cardinal Arturo Medina Estevez, a member of the Ecclesia Dei commission which met to discuss the liberalization of the Latin Mass. The prelate said, "The publication of the Motu Proprio by the Pope which will liberalize the celebration of the Latin Mass according to the Missal of Saint Pius V is close." It is an extraordinarily important event for the Church and even for the culture and history of our civilization. Historically, lay intellectuals were actually those to realize more and better the disaster, the actual cultural destruction, represented by the "prohibition" of the liturgy of Saint Pius V and the disappearance of Latin as sacred language of the Catholic Church.

When, 40 years ago -- in contravention to the documents of the Council -- the prohibition of the ancient liturgy of the Church (that which had been celebrated even during the Council) was imposed, there was a great and meritorious protest by very important intellectuals who considered this decision as an attack on the roots of our Christian Civilization (the liturgy has always been a center and a fountain of the most sublime art). Two appeals were published in defense of the Mass of Saint Pius V, in 1966 and 1971. These are some of the names which undersigned them: Jorge Luís Borges, Giorgio De Chirico, Elena Croce, W. H. Auden, the directors Bresson and Dreyer, Augusto Del Noce, Julien Green, Jacques Maritain (who indeed was the favorite intellectual of Paul VI, the one to whom the Pope had given the letter to intellectuals at the end of the Council), Eugenio Montale, Cristina Campo, François Mauriac, Salvatore Quasimodo, Evelyn Waugh, Maria Zambrano, Elémire Zolla, Gabriel Marcel, Salvador De Madariaga, Gianfranco Contini, Giacomo Devoto, Giovanni Macchia, Massimo Pallottino, Ettore Paratore, Giorgio Bassani, Mario Luzi, Guido Piovene, Andrés Segovia, Harold Acton, Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, and many others, incuding the editor of the “Times”, William Rees-Mogg.

They are largely lay intellectuals because the cultural and spiritual value of the ancient Latin liturgy is a legacy of all, as is the Sistine Chapel, as is the Gregorian [chant], as the great cathedrals, Gothic sculpture, the Basilica of Saint Peter also are. Even more so today, when our entire European Civilization risks to cut off and deny its own roots.

Curiously, even "progressive Catholics", which made the dialogue with the world and with modern culture their banner, did not give any regard and fought for forty years to keep this incredible prohibition. An unprecedented arbitrariness. In April 2005, at the eve of the election of Benedict XVI, it was a lay writer, Guido Ceronetti, who writes, in La Repubblica, an open letter to the new Pope, in which he asked "that the sinister suffocating gag on the Latin voice of the Mass be removed". When he was a cardinal, Ratzinger declared that the prohibition of the Mass of Saint Pius V was unprecedented: "throughout her history, has never abolished nor forbidden orthodox liturgical forms, which would be quite alien to the very spirit of the Church". In one of his books, he retold dramatically how he had viewed the publication of the missal of Paul VI: "I was dismayed by the prohibition of the old missal, since nothing of the sort had ever happened in the entire history of the liturgy. The impression was even given that what was happening was quite normal," but, Ratzinger wrote, "the prohibition of the missal that was now decreed, a missal that had known continuous growth over the centuries, starting with the sacramentaries of the ancient Church, introduced a breach into the history of the liturgy whose consequences could only be tragic ... the old building was demolished, and another was built."

The effects were disastrous. The road to incredible abuses in the liturgy was opened. Ratzinger writes, "I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is to a large extent due to the disintegration of the liturgy, which at times has even come to be conceived of etsi Deus non daretur: in that it is a matter of indifference whether or not God exists and whether or not He speaks to us and hears us. But when the community of faith, the world-wide unity of the Church and her history, and the mystery of the living Christ are no longer visible in the liturgy, where else, then, is the Church to become visible in her spiritual essence?"

That same Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who prepares to cancel the prohibition, will find opposition even inside the Church (already pre-announced by the French bishops) and he deserves an answer from the world of culture which, forty years ago, made its voice heard. I ask intellectuals and whomever may wish to do so to sign this synthetc manifesto:

"We express our praise for the decision of Benedict XVI to cancel the prohibition of the ancient Mass in Latin according to the Missal of Saint Pius V, a great legacy of our culture, which must be saved and rediscovered."