On this tenth anniversary of the great act of justice by
Pope Benedict XVI in recognizing the continued vitality and liceity of the traditional
Mass, I want to say a few words, and then post a piece from a few years ago, still timely today.
One thing to note immediately: looking at ten years ago from through the lens of today is both humbling and emboldening-- and certainly instructive. Then, it seemed as though it were just possible that the destruction resulting from Vatican II and the novus ordo, truly devastating as it was, had reached a climax and pause. And that the cautious beginnings of a possibly irreversible restoration had begun.
From that perspective, Summorum Pontificum was a marker-- not of the beginning of the restoration, but of the end of the beginning, and hopefully to be followed by greater restoration to come. To take but one example, how many people noted the irrefutable demographics of Mass attendance between the two "forms" of the Roman Rite?
God knew of course that this was a hopelessly optimistic view. In just ten years, the very idea of a "reform of the reform" is laughable; doctrine is abandoned, along with the souls it is designed to protect, by nearly every hierarch charged with the task of protecting both. The temporal state of the Church is at near-death. The occupant of the throne of Peter uses every dictatorial power and process to destroy the legitimacy both of the papacy itself and of the Church as an institution.
And yet-- and yet-- the Mass lives. It cannot be abrogated. It is the timeless Roman Rite, promoting, safeguarding, explaining, celebrating, the Truth. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.
No Bergoglio can change that.
The novus ordo can be celebrated validly and with a certain measure of reverence. So what? That true claim is its own condemnation. And please don't pretend that it is often celebrated licitly, even according to its own rubrics.
The Traditional Latin Mass, handed down for more than 1800 years in its current form (more or less), still celebrated nearly 500 years after its definitive expression was codified and made forever mandatory as the Roman Rite by Pope St. Pius V, lives on. And will live on, as long as Our Lord allows a Mass to be said for this guilty world.
It is our guarantor of victory. It cannot be abolished. Abolish the sun and moon, rather.
I read that there are rumors that Francis is contemplating the abrogation of Summorum Pontificum. I don't believe he would, but so what? All he would abrogate is the window dressing of precatory verbiage to reassure modernists that their precious new Mass wasn't being displaced. It doesn't matter. It was displaced long before they ever devised it and forced it on an unwilling, victim Church.
The right of every priest to celebrate, and of every person to assist at, the traditional Latin Mass is guaranteed through immemorial custom, confirmed by papal decree. Praise and thank God for it!
If Francis or ten others like him try to suppress the Mass, I say let them try. They will only bring about a clarity that will finally cause that rotten edifice of effeminism, vice and heresy to come crashing down, leaving standing that beautiful, pure, golden Catholic Church --and her timeless Mass.
That result is inevitable, whether one or one billion adhere to her.
Wow, that was a long intro, but I get carried away sometimes! To the repost:
_______________
In the wake of the Council of Trent, when Pope St. Pius V
standardized the Roman Missal-- the Roman Rite, with minor discrepancies in
various places, which had pre-dated Trent by more than a thousand years-- he
made his wishes very clear in the great Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum:
...whereas, by this present Constitution, which will be
valid henceforth, now, and forever, We order and enjoin that nothing must be
added to Our recently published Missal, nothing omitted from it, nor anything
whatsoever be changed within it under the penalty of Our displeasure.
...in virtue of Our Apostolic authority, We grant and
concede in perpetuity that, for the chanting or reading of the Mass in any
church whatsoever, this Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without
any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or
censure, and may freely and lawfully be used. Nor are superiors,
administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of
whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as
enjoined by Us. We likewise declare and ordain that no one whosoever is forced
or coerced to alter this Missal, and that this present document cannot be
revoked or modified, but remain always valid and retain its full force...
I can only imagine that the great saint was very displeased
with the way things turned out in the late 1960s. The Novus Ordo Missae
certainly was a change. And yet some will cling to the amusing notion that
there were significant changes to the Roman Missal from 1570 to 1955, when
Bugnini began the demolition process through the "restored" Holy Week
ceremonies.
Those events of the sad past did not work to undo the fact
that the Paul VI did not effectively suppress or abrogate the Roman Missal,
which had most recently been published in 1962. This position was legally
correct, even being confirmed by a commission of Cardinals convened by Pope
John Paul II: the Roman Missal was still in force, and any priest could say it.
We know, however, that the many modernists in the Church,
both clergy and laity, practically suppressed the traditional Mass, and acted
as though it were lawfully suppressed. Surely many did this in good faith as
they saw it, and in ignorance. But some did not possess that good faith. And
so, without any mandate from Pope or Council, without any direction to do so in
the new Missal or from any authoritative Church document, the altars were
smashed, altar rails ripped out, sanctuaries whitewashed, the truths of the
faith that so naturally informed the Church's liturgy, and which liturgy
supported them in return, were discarded. And people went away. And souls were
lost.
Even John Paul II, who in some respects made the traditional
Mass more available, phrased access to it in the terms of "indult"
(as though it were a permitted deviation from the law), first in 1984, and then
again in 1988 as he sought to calm the waters after the stand-off with the SSPX
over the episcopal consecrations of that year.
From 1984 to 2007, there was progress in the spread of the
availability of the traditional Mass, but this progress was halting, and could
reasonably be described as glacial in pace. And yet...
It did spread.
The liturgy of the Church compels. It is the most perfect
combination of beauty and truth that we shall see in this vale of tears. The
irregular situation of the SSPX put the issue in a political bind, but the
truth was always the same: The Mass had never been abrogated or suppressed. The
SSPX kept the Mass going. Other priestly societies with clear canonical
faculties arose: the FSSP in 1988 as it split with the SSPX over the
consecration dispute; the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in
1990; Campos, Brazil was granted an Apostolic Administration for the traditional
Mass and sacraments. There were others, too, some societies of priests, some
religious orders, and the few courageous parish priests who braved the
displeasure of their ordinaries, the scorn and derision of their confreres, and
even the anger of their flocks, to keep the Mass alive.
The struggle of the outcasts, the faithful Catholics who
kept the traditional Mass alive in hotel rooms, funeral parlors, private homes,
and in Churches, too, is one to which I was very late in coming. By the time I
was drawn to the timeless Mass-- and knew that I had to let others know about
it-- the iceberg was already beginning to break apart. All those who stood
strong, struggled and suffered, deserve our thanks, and for those who have
passed on, our fervent prayers. For all of the problems arising after 1988, it
is undeniable that Archbishop Lefebvre was a stalwart in the struggle for the
Mass. And many others: Davies, Siri, Ottaviani, Castro Meyer, and too many more
to list.
I cannot end this post on the anniversary of Summorum
Pontificum without expressing my gratitude to the Most Holy Trinity: God the
Father, Who so cares for us; God the Son, Who did not abandon His Church; and
God the Holy Ghost, Who despite our efforts preserves the Church from error and
from the gates of hell.
In the temporal realm, I must also thank Pope Benedict XVI
for his great act of justice, for his mercy to his flock, and for his efforts
to restore the great guardian of truth in the Church-- her liturgy.
Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude for our
beloved Cardinal Burke, who, when he was Archbishop and to this day, understood
and understands the necessary connection between the Church's celebration of
her liturgy and her adherence to the truth. He anticipated Summorum Pontificum
by bringing the Institute to La Crosse, then to Saint Louis, and by personally
ordaining priests in the traditional ordination rite in his own See. No one who
was there can forget the event that was the 2007 ordinations of Canon William
Avis and Canon Matthew Talarico at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis--
three weeks before the motu proprio was released. The Cathedral was packed with
more than 1,300 faithful from all over the country who witnessed what many
thought might never be again; the traditional Mass in all its glory in an
Archdiocesan Cathedral and the ordination of priests in the beautiful and
ancient form that so greatly emphasized the love and sacrifice inherent in that
priesthood. It was a watershed moment.
Even to this day, St. Louis is still fortunate to have an
ordinary in Archbishop Carlson who allows the Oratories established by Cardinal
Burke to continue their mission. In today's climate, that is a cause for
thanks, too. Praise God for His Blessings.
Finally, I give thanks to God for the Institute of Christ
the King Sovereign Priest, because it has been an instrument of God in the
deeper conversion of my family and me. And at the core of all of it has been
the Mass. The loving care for souls that the Institute shows flows directly and
immediately from its loving care for the liturgy.
So, today is a day to celebrate. If you have never read
Summorum Pontificum, read it here. And then read the document of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Universae Ecclesiae here.
God bless you all.
St. Pius V, pray for us!
St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!
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