Many people – both secular and clergy – nevertheless instinctively admit that the old liturgy better expresses the dogma and Catholic faith. If so, it means that in order to make healthy Catholics in their souls fidei sensus (the head of faith) the old Mass is more desirable.
(1) Dogma and liturgy
The relation between dogma and liturgy is expressed in the celebrated axiom lex credendi — lex orandi, which is explained as: "the law (the standard) of religion is the law (the standard) of prayer." The formulation of this rule is attributed to Pope Celestin I (422–432), but in fact, for the first time he utilized it as St Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 390–465), who was his secretary and besides as a friend of St Augustine. In defending Augustian science, and especially the doctrine of grace, he utilized an argument he expressed in a sentence: ledem credendi lexsupplicandi statuette (In the translation: “Let the law of religion be the law of supplication. ”)
At that time, there was a dispute with the Semipelagians about whether God's grace was essential to believe. For St Prosper, the very fact that the Church prays for the conversion of unbelievers means that she believes that conversion depends on God and His grace. In the heat of disputes, St Augustine wrote in a letter to Valentin:
"Say plainly, therefore, that we should not pray for those to whom we preach the Gospel, that they may believe, and that preaching alone will suffice... and erstwhile you hear the priest of God... who calls to pray for the unbelievers, that God may convert them to faith... laughter at these godly words."
It can so be said that he was the first to apply the liturgical argument in theology. rule lex orandi, lex credendi remains in the Catholic Church always current, although for a long time the liturgy as a origin for theology was underestimated. However, the liturgy incorporates the circumstantial words and rites of the fact of religion professed by the Church, so it is simply a privileged means of forming religion in Catholics who, after all, participate in it throughout their lives. The modern Popes have stressed this many times. For example, Sixtus V in the Constitution Immensa aeterni Dei of 1588 he recalled that “holy rites contain a large teaching to the Christian people and a evidence to his authentic faith.” Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Quas primas (About setting up a holidayour Lord Jesus Christ the King) in 1925 he emphasized that "the yearly observance of sacred secrets has more meaning for the Christian people in teaching religion than the solemn statements of the Church." The same Pope referred to the words of Saint Robert Bellarmin, a doctor of the Church, who wrote: “Sometimes old rites prove dogmas better than many explanations.” During his audience at Pius XI, the home of Bernard Capelle (the Abbot of Mont César) heard that liturgy was “the most crucial organ of the average Magisterium of the Church. It is not a didascale made by 1 individual or another, but by the Church.”
Liturgy not only shapes the religion of the people, but besides provides arguments in the justification of dogmatics. Blessed Pius IX, announcing the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, referred to the arguments of the liturgy. On lex orandi He besides referred to Pius XII, announcing the doctrine of the presumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “This fact has had approval in the church cult since the earliest times.” And in the same constitution he stated: “The liturgy of the Church does not make faith, but alternatively follows it, for rites of worship appear from it like fruits of a tree.”
However, Pius XII, in 1947, spoke most of the “arm of the liturgy” Mediator Dei, the most beautiful encyclical devoted entirely to holy liturgy:
The full liturgy thus contains Catholic faith, as it publically demonstrates the life of the Church. For this reason, whenever it comes to the definition of any fact revealed by God, popes and councils – drawing from the so-called. Theological sources – frequently from liturgy too, they cited arguments.
The pope continues to explain the value of specified an argument:
The liturgy of the feast does not specify the Catholic religion or establish it by its own power in an absolute way; but rather, being a confession of the superterrestrial truths which are subject to the highest authority of the Church, it can give arguments and testimonies of considerable value for the definition of circumstantial articles of Christian science.
In view of the demands made by the extremist improvement of the liturgy at the 1956 global Liturgy Convention, the pope recalled one more time that the liturgy “transmits rich treasures depositum fideithe fact of Christ." erstwhile we consider this argument, it becomes apparent to us that
In fact, the Roman Mass is nothing but a liturgical-symbolic attachment of truth. The center of the holy mystery is the transfiguration of Christ’s words. Thanks to this cognition we are shown the essence of this Mass liturgy, which we call the parent of all Churches.
Millions of Catholics around the planet have learned Catholic religion for centuries, the deposit of which the Church passed faithfully from generation to generation. Dietrich von Hildebrand, a German philosopher and Catholic theologian named by Pope Pius XII "XX-century Doctor of the Church", reflecting on the perfection of the Holy Mass, wrote:
The Holy Mass of the Trident more than anything else is filled with the spirit of actual worship, and those who live with it are drawn to that spirit. A proper, fundamental attitude toward God and creation lives in all parts of it. All the liturgy is pierced by this reverence for the majesty of God, Maiestas Domini, a clear awareness of His absolute sovereignty and acknowledgment of the fact that we receive everything from Him.
Little wonder, then, that the last Council besides teaches that there is simply a constitutional component in the liturgy of the holy and surviving Tradition: "And so the Church in her science, in her life and in her worship perpetuates and imparts to all generations all that she is, and all that she believes in." It is the same Vatican Council II, which has so appreciated the liturgy that present it is even more crucial to express and form the faith, and at the same time it has initiated a improvement which has surely "extended" the expectations of the council fathers and has had the other effect.
Here we come to the most undervalued issue of turning the text of Mass Oration into temporale and sanctorale. Focusing on rituals and rituals, we do not announcement how much they have been censored. Comparing both of them, it is hard to believe that the texts [examples in the table in addition to this book] were so powerfully interfered with by liturgical periods reflecting the life of our Savior.
Surely everyone has heard that the “new Mass” can boast “a richer choice of prayers and Bible readings.” It is actual that Paul VI's Mass derives prayer texts from a wider scope of sources. On the another hand, it must be stressed that Consilium Bugnini was powerfully edited by most of the borrowed texts, changing their message, removing materials considered “difficult” or “unimportant” for “modern man”. What is in Paul VI's Mass is not "a multitude of ancient sources", but their choice carefully filtered and adapted to the mentality of the modernists of the 1960s. This chronological snobbism perfectly reflects the memorandum of the Consilium liable for the liturgical improvement of 9 September 1968:
It is frequently impossible to keep orbits in Roman Massales [1962] or loaning appropriate oration from the vault of ancient euchology. Indeed, prayer should express the sense of our times, especially in relation to worldly needs specified as Christian unity, peace and hunger, etc. Furthermore, it seems to us that it is not always possible for the Church to usage ancient orations on all occasion, which do not correspond to the doctrinal advancement seen in fresh encyclicals, specified as Pacem in terris and Populorum progressiveio, and in council papers specified as Gaudium et spe.
According to this policy, only 13% of the prayers from the old Mass, erstwhile the basis of Roman Catholic worship, were found in the fresh Mass in unchanged form. Scholars as if with scissors cut and rejected most of what they found. The editorial process was ruthless – most of the references to “the rip off from the present and the desire for eternity” or “the reign of Christ over the planet and society” were removed, as well as: “the fight against heresy and schism, the conversion of unbelievers, the necessity to return to the Catholic Church and the uniqueness of Catholic Truth; the merit, miracles and revelation of the saints; the wrath of God for sin and the anticipation of eternal condemnation.” The majority of references to the fight against our sinful fallen nature, to the image of the Divine Majesty, to the wound of the soul, worthy of repentance, remorse and reparation; the request of grace to do good works; the mystery of predestination; the relics of the saints; the subjection of the secular sphere sacrum; snares of the enemy; victories over hostile forces, including Gentiles; many beautiful orations specially directed to Jesus Christ as God have been removed.
How can it be said that the Mass in which all these old riches are missing represents a “richer choice of prayers”? On the contrary, by the “experts” of the 1960s, he is theologically limited, culturally leaner and spiritually impoverished. The prayers of the old Mass express much more perfectly the depth of the divine mysteries and the various human answers to them. The same can be said of “a richer choice of Bible readings.” Yes, there are more readings – in numerical terms. However, any of the very appropriate and key readings from the old Mass have been excluded from the fresh teacher, and the fresh 1 for its part omits scriptures that you have guessed to be “difficult for modern man.” Old readings, like old orations, in fact express a broader scope of certain subjects than the fresh teacher.In, despite the much larger size of the latter. Without even entering into many another problems with the fresh teacher, who is the flagship kid of the reform, it is clear that the fresh teacher deserves to be rigorously examined in the light of the many advantages that the old teacher has.
(2) A change in the liturgy leads to a change in religion and life
In view of the above, it is perfectly right to presume that there is no fast change in the liturgy (lexorandi) without changing it lex credendi. Such a extremist and abrupt change of form had to entail a change in the knowing of the teaching of Holy Mass itself – and so it did. The fresh Mass was to be a transmission belt for the fresh theology, the fresh theology spawned a fresh knowing of the Church (meaning a fresh ecclesiology), and this again opened wide opportunities for "new ecumenism". The improvement and its circumstantial application in the Roman Church were to change the religion of Catholics. And they do it, permanently and exactly, but for the better?
Changing the ritual of the Mass itself, under the powerful influence of fresh theology, consistently leads to confusion of the sphere sacrum and profanum, and this in a consecutive line leads to desacralization, including the presence of women at the altar, the appearance of secular stewards of Holy Communion, giving it to the hand – all this causes the failure of appropriate reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. I am not talking about fraud in a strict sense, due to the fact that many of these changes have been introduced by the Episcopal Conferences, and not spontaneously by circumstantial parish communities. These are just any striking examples of the consequent weakening of religion in Catholic dogmas concerning the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament and the sacrificial and propitiatory character of the Holy Mass itself.
Such are the sad results of her fresh assumptions. Changing the liturgy changes what you believe and how you believe. religion translates straight into life. In another words: lex orandi, lex credenddi, lex vivendi – as you pray, so you will believe, and as you believe – so you will live.
If we are looking for 1 of the main causes of the crisis of Catholic life, this is the source. Where there is no respect for the Blessed Sacrament, where there is no humility before God, which is of fundamental importance – there everything is falling apart...
I have already quoted an excerpt from the book by Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Pier Marini, who, as a young priest, served as secretary of Archbishop Bugini, the architect of the fresh Mass. Archbishop Marini expresis verbis stated that the council improvement was "one of the largest liturgical reforms in the past of the Western Church". And then, "Despite the post-Trident reforms, these were greater, due to the fact that doctrine was besides reformed" (sic!). Note that the same author called the “reactionaries” of those who for years said that the renewed liturgy was inspired by a different doctrine, not to say more clearly – coming from another source.
Fr Annibale Bugini, the chief architect of the fresh Mass, clearly stated that as early as 1967, erstwhile the fresh rites of sacraments were being developed, it was not about reforming the old rite:
This is not a simple question of restoring a precious masterpiece. In any cases, it will be essential to supply fresh structures for full rhizomes. This is the problem of fundamental reconstruction, 1 could even say modifications, and in any details it will be a full fresh creation.
Under the direction of Father Bugini, a fresh Holy Mass was created as a consequence of the work of a specialist committee. But was the liturgy always designed at the desk? No, it grew slow and was the fruit of organic, lasting centuries of growth. Therefore, the well-known liturgist Father Joseph Gelineau SI, seeing the fresh rites and the way they are accepted, wrote:
Liturgy is not just a means of conveying information – a lesson in which nothing matters but content. Liturgy is simply a symbolic action thanks to formulas of strict meaning. If formulas change, etching changes. May those who have known and celebrated the solemn Latin Mass with Gregorian singing remind themselves of it if they can. Let them compare it to our Mass today. Not just words, tunes, or gestures have changed. In fact, it is another liturgy of the Holy Mass. It must be said unequivocally: The Roman ryth we knew no longer exists. It was destroyed.
***
The text comes from the book “The Holy Mass of Trident. MITY AND TRUTH’
The 3rd edition – expanded, improved, supplemented and bearing colorful photographs of conventional liturgy – is an excellent introduction to conventional Catholicism.
Fr Grzegorz Snadoch IBP
Format: 140 x 205 – rigid frame, ribbon
Number of volumes: 2
Total number of pages: 660
35 colorful photographs of conventional liturgy
Publisher: ROSA MISTICA
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