Other Readings for the Octave of Corpus Christi

The Roman Rite has various ways of arranging the Masses during an octave. That of Easter, for example, has a completely proper Mass for every day, that of Pentecost for every day but Thursday, which was originally an “aliturgical” day; when its Mass was instituted later, it was given proper readings, but everything else is repeated from Sunday. The feast of Ss Peter and Paul is continued with one Mass for the days within the octave, and another for the octave day itself, plus the special Commemoration of St Paul on June 30th. Some others, however, especially the relatively late ones like Ascension and All Saints, simply repeat the Mass of the day throughout the octave.

Folio 87r of the 9th century Lectionary of Alcuin, showing the Epistle then in use for the Octave of Ss Peter and Paul, Galatians 2, 6-10.

Corpus Christi, originally instituted in the mid-13th century, and slow to be received in many places, falls into the latter category, although the Mass of the Sunday within the octave, which is much older than the octave itself, is different. Octaves are for the contemplation of mysteries that are too great for a single day, and it is certainly true that “repetita juvant”, a proverb which the Roman Rite, with its habitual conservatism, historically took very much to heart.

In the mid-17th century, most of the churches of France began revising their liturgical books on their own initiative, and without reference to the authority of the Holy See, as part of the liturgical movement which we now often call “neo-Gallican.” Paris was, of course, one of the leaders of this trend, and the first See of importance to change the order of the Breviary Psalter, which would later become the model for the reformed Psalter of St Pius X.

When the first neo-Gallican Parisian Missal came out in 1685, the Mass of Corpus Christi remained unchanged. However, the Mass for the Sunday within the Octave was extensively revised to make it fit in more with the theme of the feast. (The neo-Gallican revisers were very fond of easily grasped themes.) The 1602 Paris Missal has the same Epistle as the Roman Rite, 1 John 3, 13-18; the 1685 Missal changes it to 1 Corinthians, 10, 16-21, principally because of the opening words, “The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread.” This is clearly very suitable for Corpus Christi, and in fact provides the text for a responsory of the feast which was composed by St Thomas, and found in almost every liturgical Use apart from the Roman. The Gospel, Luke 14, 16-24, beginning with the words “A certain man made a great supper, and invited many,” is left unchanged for obvious reasons.

If one Archbishop of Paris could arrogate to his office the right to re-edit the liturgical books used in his See without reference to the Roman authorities, there was no particular reason why subsequent Archbishops should not avail themselves of the same right. Consequently, the liturgical books of Paris went through multiple revisions between 1680 and their definitive abolition in 1873. The most momentous of these were the editions of Abp Charles de Vintimille, the Breviary of 1736, and the Missal of 1738.

The frontispiece of the 1685 Parisian Missal; conspicuously absent are the words “ad formam sacrosancti concilii Tridentini emendatum – emended according to the form (laid down by) the sacred council of Trent.”

This newer revised Parisian Use is in many respects inspired by tradition, but did not shy away from innovations, which vary in quality; in regard to the Mass lectionary, it retained the traditional two-reading structure, while expanding the corpus of readings considerably. For the octave of Corpus Christi, a separate pair of readings is provided for each day; the Sunday readings of the 1685 Missal are retained as part of the series.

Friday: Genesis 14, 17-20 – Matthew 26, 26-29
Saturday: Exodus 12, 1-11 – Luke 22, 7-20
Sunday: 1 Corinthians 10, 12-21 – Luke 14, 16-24
Monday: Exodus 16, 13-18 – John 6, 27-35
Tuesday: Wisdom 16, 20-28 – John 6, 41-44
Wednesday: 2 Corinthians 6, 14 - 7, 1 – John 6, 51-55
Thursday: Hebrews 7, 18-28 – John 6, 58-70

The first two of the added Gospel readings are taken from Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of the Institution of the Eucharist; a parallel passage from St Mark (14, 17-25) is added to the readings assigned for the Votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament. The four Gospels from John 6 (Monday to Thursday) give a broader selection from the long passage known as the Eucharistic Discourse, ending with St John’s account of St Peter’s confession. “Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”

Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter, by Perugino, 1482; Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. The background on the left represents Christ speaking to the people at Capharnaum in John 6; on the right, the figures that seem like they are dancing are actually trying to stone Him, in response to some of the sayings like “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.” In the foreground, St Peter is rewarded for his confession of Christ.

The passage from Genesis 14 tells of the bread and wine given to Abraham by Melchisedech, the king of Salem, after the defeat of the five kings. These have been taken from the most ancient times as a symbol of the elements of the Eucharist, as described by St Cyprian in the Matins readings of Tuesday within the octave. “In Genesis, therefore, in order that the blessing might in due order be pronounced upon Abraham through the priest Melchisedech, there was first offered the image of the sacrifice, consisting of bread and wine. And the Lord, completing this and perfecting it, offered bread and a cup of wine mingled with water; and He that is the fullness fulfilled the truth of that which was prefigured.” This is also, of course, why Melchisedech is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass.

Of the two readings from Exodus, the first is repeated from Good Friday, describing the preparation of the Paschal Lamb; the second is the instruction given to the children of Israel about collecting the manna in the desert. These were certainly inspired by the citation of the same passages in the first two Matins responsories of St Thomas’ Office for Corpus Christi.

The second half of the book of Wisdom (from verse 10, 16 to the end) is a long meditation on the events of the Exodus; the passage given above for Tuesday also refers to the manna with which God fed the children of Israel in the desert, and to which Christ and His interlocutors refer in John 6. The words of verse 20, “Thou gavest them bread from heaven ... having in it all that is delicious”, are the versicle of Vespers of the feast, and also sung at Benediction.

The Wednesday Epistle from St Paul is included here as an admonition on the proper disposition for reception of the Sacrament: “You are the temple of the living God... Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God.” That of the Octave day speaks of the worship of the New Covenant as “a setting aside of the former commandment.” This passage is perhaps also chosen for Corpus Christi as a deliberate rebuke or challenge to the Calvinists (by far the most prominent group of Protestants in France), who often cited the words of verse 27, “Who needeth not daily (as the other priests) to offer sacrifices first for his own sins, and then for the people’s, for this He did once, in offering Himself”, against the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass.

The neo-Gallican revisions made a number of very bold changes to the Missal; it was a common preoccupation of the revisers that original liturgical compositions should be replaced with Scriptural quotes, but St Thomas’ Mass for Corpus Christi was already mostly Scriptural anyway, and was therefore left alone in 1685. (Their great enemy of the movement, Dom Prosper Guéranger, speaks of these changes, with classic French délicatesse, as “Honteuses et criminelles mutilations, témérités coupables – shameful and criminal mutilations, rash acts deserving of condemnation.”)

St. Thomas Aquinas in Glory among the Doctors of the Church, by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1631

One change was then made to it in the Missal of 1738, by replacing the original Communio, “As often as you shall eat this Bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until He comes. Therefore whoever eats this Bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Alleluia.” Anticipating one of the more inexcusable changes made by the Novus Ordo lectionary, this is replaced by an exact quote of Wisdom 16, 20, “Thou didst feed thy people with the food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven prepared without labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste.”

The Missal of 1738 has a few other interesting things to note in regard to Corpus Christi. The first is that during the Sequence Lauda Sion, the verse “Ecce panis Angelorum” is sung three times on the feast day itself, and on the octave, but only once on the days within the octave. The celebrant and the major ministers kneel when it is sung, while the members of the choir “face the altar until the end of the Sequence.”

Abp de Ventimille also added to the Parisian Missal new prefaces for Advent, Holy Thursday (also said at votive Masses of the Sacrament), Corpus Christi, All Saints (also said on the feasts of Patron Saints), Saints Denys and Companions, and for Masses of the Dead. When the neo-Gallican Uses were gradually suppressed over the course of the 19th century, some of their features were retained by being incorporated into the French supplements “for certain places” in the Roman liturgical books, these prefaces among them. The 2020 decree Quo magis gives universal permission to use those of All Saints and Patron Saints, the Dedication of a Church, and Corpus Christi; the text of the last is as follows:

“VD: per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Qui, remótis carnalium victimárum inánibus umbris, Corpus et Sánguinem suum nobis in sacrificium commendávit: ut in omni loco offerátur nómini tuo, quae tibi sola complácuit, oblatio munda. In hoc ígitur inscrutábilis sapientiae, et immensae caritátis mysterio, idipsum quod semel in Cruce perfécit, non cessat mirabíliter operári, ipse ófferens, ipse et oblatio. Et nos, unam secum hostiam effectos, ad sacrum invítat convivium, in quo ipse cibus noster súmitur, recólitur memoria Passiónis eius, mens implétur grátia, et futúrae gloriae nobis pignus datur. Et ídeo... –

The high altar of the basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina in Rome. In the magnificent painting over the high altar, The Crucifixion by Guido Reni (1575-1642), the body of Christ is pale and white against a much darker background, a reminder of the Elevation of the Host during the Mass. The effect can be seen even when one is standing outside the church in the piazza. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Rabax63, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Truly it is worthy... through Christ our Lord. Who, the vain shadows of carnal sacrifices being removed, entrusted to us His Body and Blood as a sacrifice; that in every place there may be offered to Thy name that pure sacrifice that alone hath pleased Thee. Therefore, in this mystery of unsearchable wisdom and boundless charity, that very thing which He completed once in the Cross ceaseth not wondrously to have effect, He himself being the one who offers and the offering. And He inviteth us, who are made one victim with Him, to the sacred banquet, in which He himself is received as our food, the memory of His passion is recalled, the mind is filled with grace, and the pledge of future glory is given to us. And therefore with the angels and archangels ...”

When the Parisian Missal of 1738 was issued, the feast of the Sacred Heart had not yet been formally approved by Rome, or accepted outside a few religious orders; however, this Missal did fulfill one aspect of the requests made by the Lord to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in His appearances to her. Among the collection of votive Masses is a special Mass “for the reparation of injuries done to Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament”, placed between the votive Mass of the Sacrament and that of the Passion. A rubric after the Octave of Corpus Christi prescribes this Mass be said on the following day, which is now kept everywhere as the feast of the Sacred Heart. The proper texts of this Mass can be read in Latin and English here.

“The Old Leaven” of Catholic Truth, Part 1: Eucharistic Language and Eucharistic Faith in Medieval England

Aristotle believed not only that “words mean something”—an increasingly bold assertion in the twenty-first century—but also that carefully chosen words have a special power to “create knowledge in us.” He singles out metaphor, that central pillar of rhetorical and poetic language, as a mode of communication that “most brings about learning” and “creates understanding” (On Rhetoric, III.10.2). Liturgical, doctrinal, or devotional aggiornamento allows us to see Aristotle’s views in action, as we observe how knowledge and understanding are modified—or simply lost—when language changes from Latin to vernacular, or from poetic to prosaic, or from mystical to mundane.

Detail of Allegory of the Holy Eucharist, by Miguel Cabrera (d. 1768).

Belief in the Holy Eucharist has deteriorated in alarming fashion. If the statistics can be trusted, the situation is dire. The reasons for this are many, but some are of greater import than others, and language is surely among the more urgent factors. Modernized, banalized, and in some cases simply erroneous discourse has for decades obscured the truths of the Eucharist and the eucharistic liturgy. Perhaps the primary effect of all this is simply confusion, but confusion leads to misbelief, and misbelief to irreverence, and irreverence to further degeneration of language. And thus the cycle—a vicious one indeed—continues.

Illumination on parchment, fourteenth century.

The severity of this state of affairs is unprecedented, but the problem itself is not new. It is striking to read, for example, a description of eucharistic malpractice that sounds all too familiar, despite being eight hundred years old: the author of Vices and Virtues, a homiletic prose dialogue written in the Middle English of the early thirteenth century, laments the “misbileaue” (misbelief) and “unwurscipe” (irreverence) of those who received the body of the Lord “al swa unwurðliche swa me nimð ðat bread of ðæ borde — as unworthily as one takes the bread of the table.” The metaphorical reflections in this text show us the strong, evocative, and deeply Catholic language that abounds in the literature of medieval England:

Take what you see, bread and wine in appearance; and in your thoughts believe what you see not: that is, Christ’s flesh and His blood. And know in truth, as truly as bread and wine feed the body, while in this life it dwells, so this holy corpus Domini truly feeds both soul and body unto eternal life. And as truly as the tree of Paradise was called “knowing both good and evil,” so truly bears this same tree the fruit that turns many to life, and also some to death, for [their] misbelief and [their] irreverence.

The term “eucharist,” a borrowing from Greek via Latin and French, does not appear in Vices and Virtues, and in fact, it does not appear as an English-language word in any document from the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons until sometime in the fourteenth century. English Catholics of the early and high Middle Ages had various other titles for the Blessed Sacrament, and these titles give us an opportunity to consider how their eucharistic language formed their eucharistic faith—and a formidable faith it was, despite the unedifying individuals mentioned in Vices and Virtues, who were surely the exception. On the eve of the Reformation, the sacramental body of Christ was still “the focus of all the hopes and aspirations” of the English people:

As kneeling congregations raised their eyes to see the Host held high above the priest’s head at the sacring, they were transported to Calvary itself, and gathered not only into the passion and resurrection of Christ, but into the full sweep of salvation history.[1]

Part of a very long Corpus Christi procession winding through a town in eighteenth-century Bavaria. I can imagine something similar occurring in pre-Reformation England.

Though England’s ruling class succeeded in dismantling the vast and magnificent edifice of English Catholicism, the Anglican Church did not fully repudiate the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. The Articles of Religion published in 1571, during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, state that “the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ, and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.” However, eucharistic belief and practice were strategically diluted, and transubstantiation was condemned as “repugnant to the plain words of Scripture.” One senses that the elites carried out as much doctrinal vandalism as the common folk would tolerate. Gilbert Burnet, Anglican bishop of Salisbury from 1689 to 1715, admits as much in his Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England: an earlier version of the Articles spoke strongly against belief in the “Real and Bodily Presence ... of Christ’s Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper,” but this version was suppressed, because

the design of the Government was at that time much turned to the drawing over the Body of the Nation to the Reformation, in whom the old Leaven had gone deep; and no part of it deeper than the belief of the Corporeal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament; therefore it was thought not expedient to offend them by so particular a Definition in this matter; in which the very word Real Presence was rejected.

“The old Leaven had gone deep”: Yes indeed, Rev. Burnet! The Old Faith went deep and was still as alive and vigorous as golden, foaming, freshly poured English ale. The people of merrie olde Catholic England didn’t want your watered-down “Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper,” and that’s why your Protestant forebears had to foist it on them with their shifty language and Machiavellian tricks.[2]

At least the bishop was honest enough to acknowledge that, decades after Henry VIII exchanged Christendom for Anne Boleyn, the English people were still seriously committed to “the Corporeal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament”—so committed, in fact, that the lords of the realm deemed it “not expedient to offend them.” What a fine compliment the bishop here offers to the common folk of his once Catholic nation! Their hearty faith and respect for tradition forced the Innovators to preserve at least one crucial aspect of eucharistic Truth. As a result, the Anglican Church became an example of moderation amidst Nonconformists and continental zealots who, in their wanton assault on ancient sacramental belief, found a new way to profess that which is “repugnant to the plain words of Scripture,” wherein we read, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.... For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”

In Part Two of this article, I’ll discuss the eucharistic vocabulary of medieval England and consider how this vocabulary helped English Catholics to know, understand, and love the Blessed Sacrament.

---

1. Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580, p. 91.

2. In fairness to Machiavelli, he surpassed the Reformers in his understanding of tradition: “Princes should learn ... that they begin to lose their state the moment they begin to break the laws and to disregard the ancient traditions and customs under which men have long lived” (Discourses on Livy, III.5).

Papal Justifications for a Feast of the Queenship of Mary

When Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary and assigned it to May 31, he explained his decision in the 1954 encyclical Ad caeli Reginam, and in his November 1, 1954 sermon at St. Mary Major.

As one would expect from the differences in genre, the encyclical presents an erudite overview of the history of devotion to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Queen, as well as a robust theological justification for this devotion. The sermon, on the other hand, brings the hay down to the sheep with simpler explanations and more practical reasons for the feast. The original Italian sermon is available on the Vatican’s website. Here, for the first time, is a rough English translation.

I invite the reader to consider one question as he reads the sermon: In what ways is Pius XII’s feast of the Queenship of Mary similar to or different from Pius XI’s feast of Christ the King? I was struck by the balancing act the Holy Father was striving to achieve in this speech. On one hand, he disavows an exclusive monarchism or specific political agenda when he points out that the Queenship of Mary is compatible with a number of different regime types. On the other, he intimates in so many words that he hopes that the feast will be an aid to Christians behind the Iron Curtain, a shot in the arm to Western leaders in the Cold War (whom he portrays as exhausted and feckless and afflicted by “a dangerous psychological depression”), and a balm for a world threatened by nuclear annihilation.[1] On one hand, he praises Mary as the acies ordinata, the terrifying Victrix arrayed in battle formation; on the other, he is quick to add that there is no “belligerent intention” behind the metaphor, but only a reminder that Mary was tough as nails and got the job done, and she will do the same for us.

And I suggest the following thesis: Pius XII’s feast of the Queenship of Mary is a development of Pius XI’s concept of the social reign of Christ the King, implemented with the Cold War in mind but still relevant in every day and age.

Finally, I invite readers to enjoy previous articles on the subject by Peter Kwasniewski and Gregory DiPippo.

Sermon of His Holiness Pope Pius XII

In Honor of Mary the Queen

The testimonies of homage and devotion towards the Mother of God, which the entire Catholic world has multiplied in the past months [during the Marian Year of 1954], have splendidly demonstrated, both in public demonstrations and in the most modest undertakings of private piety, its love towards the Virgin Mary and faith in her incomparable privileges. But in order to crown all these events with a particularly significant solemnity of the Marian Year, We wanted to establish and celebrate the Feast of the Queenship of Mary.

None of you, beloved sons and daughters, will be surprised by this, nor will you think that it was a question of decreeing a new title for the Virgin. Have not the Christian faithful been repeating for centuries in the Loreto Litanies the invocations which greet Mary with the name of Queen? And does not the recitation of the Holy Rosary, proposing in pious meditation the memory of the joys, sorrows, and glories of the Mother of God, end with the radiant memory of Mary welcomed into Heaven by her Son and adorned by Him with the royal diadem?

It was therefore not Our intention to introduce something new, but rather to make shine before the eyes of the world, in the present circumstances, a truth capable of providing a remedy for its ills, freeing it from its anxieties and directing it towards the path of health, that it anxiously searches for.

Even less than that of her Son, Mary’s queenship must not be conceived in analogy with the realities of modern political life. Without a doubt, the wonders of Heaven cannot be represented except through the very imperfect words and expressions of human language: but this does not mean at all that, to honor Mary, one must adhere to a specific form of government or a particular political structure. Mary’s queenship is an otherworldly reality, which however, at the same time penetrates into the deepest recesses of hearts and touches them in their profound essence, in what is spiritual and immortal about them.

The origin of Mary’s glories, the solemn moment that illuminates her entire person and her mission, is the one in which, full of grace, she addressed the Fiat to the Archangel Gabriel, which expressed her assent to the divine disposition; in this way she became Mother of God and Queen, and she received the royal office of watching over the unity and peace of the human race. Through her we have the firm faith that humanity will gradually set out on this path of salvation; she will guide the leaders of the nations and the hearts of the people towards harmony and charity.

What therefore could Christians do in the present hour, in which the unity and peace of the world, and indeed the very sources of life, are in danger, if not turn their gaze towards she who appears to them to be clothed with royal power? Just as she already enveloped the divine Child, firstborn of all creatures and of all creation, in her mantle, (see Col. 1, 15) so she now deigns to envelop all men and all peoples with her vigilant tenderness: worthy, as the Seat of Wisdom, to make the truth of the inspired words shine, which the Church applies to her: Per me reges regnant, et legum conditores iusta decernunt; per me princes imperant, et powerfules decernunt iustitiam – “Through me kings reign, and magistrates administer justice; through me princes command, and sovereigns govern righteously.” [2] If the world currently struggles tirelessly to forge unity and to ensure peace, the invocation of the reign of Mary is, above all earthly means and all human designs which are always defective in some way, the voice of Christian faith and hope, firm and strong with divine promises and inexhaustible help, that this reign of Mary has spread for the salvation of humanity.

However, from the inexhaustible goodness of the most blessed Virgin, whom we invoke today as the royal Mother of the Lord, we also await other no less precious benefits. Not only must she annihilate the dark plans and iniquitous works of the enemies of a united and Christian humanity, but she must also communicate something of her spirit to the men of today. By this we mean the courageous as well as audacious will which, in difficult circumstances and in the face of dangers and obstacles, knows how to take the resolutions that are necessary without hesitation and pursue their execution with an unfailing energy, in such a way as to make the weak, the tired, and the doubtful follow in its footsteps, those who no longer believe in the justice and nobility of the cause they must defend. Who does not see to what degree Mary implemented this spirit in herself and deserved the praise due to the “strong woman”? Her Magnificat, this canticle of joy and invincible trust in the divine power, whose works she undertakes to carry out, fills her with holy audacity, with a strength unknown to nature.

How We would like all those who today have the responsibility for the good and correct conduct of public affairs to imitate this shining example of royal sentiment! Instead, are we not perhaps also sometimes noticing in their ranks a sort of exhaustion, resignation, passivity, which prevents them from facing the arduous problems of the present moment with firmness and perseverance? Do not some people sometimes let events drift, instead of dominating them with healthy and constructive action?

Is it not therefore urgent to mobilize all the living forces now in reserve, to stimulate those who are not yet fully aware of the dangerous psychological depression into which they have fallen? If Mary’s queenship finds a completely appropriate symbol in the acies ordinata, in the army lined up in battle, [3] certainly no one will want to think of any belligerent intention, but only of the strength of mind, which we admire to a heroic degree in the Virgin, and which proceeds from the awareness of working validly for the order of God in the world.

The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Battle of Lepanto

May Our invocation to the queenship of the Mother of God obtain for men attentive to their responsibilities the grace to overcome dejection and indolence, in an hour in which no one can afford an instant of rest, when in many regions the right freedom is oppressed, the truth obscured by the work of mendacious propaganda, and the forces of evil seem almost unleashed on the earth!

If Mary’s queenship can suggest to the rulers of nations attitudes and advice that respond to the needs of the hour, she does not cease to pour out the abundance of her graces on all the peoples of the earth and on all social classes. After the atrocious spectacle of the Passion at the foot of the Cross, in which she had offered the hardest sacrifice that could be asked of a Mother, she continued to pour out her maternal care on the first Christians, her adopted children. Queen more than any other for the elevation of her soul and for the excellence of divine gifts, she does not desist from bestowing all the treasures of her affection and sweet care on miserable humanity. Far from being founded on the demands of her rights and the desire for a haughty dominion, Mary’s reign knows only one aspiration: the full gift of herself in her highest and total generosity.

Thus Mary exercises her queenship, accepting our homage and not disdaining to listen to even the most humble and imperfect prayers. Therefore, eager as we are to interpret the feelings of all the Christian people, We address this fervent supplication to the Blessed Virgin:

From the depths of this land of tears, from which aching humanity painfully drags itself; among the waves of this sea of ours perpetually agitated by the winds of passion; we raise our eyes to you, O Mary, beloved Mother, to comfort us by contemplating your glory, and to greet you as the Queen and Lady of Heaven and earth, as our Queen and Lady.

We want to exalt this queenship of yours with the legitimate pride of children and recognize it as due to the supreme excellence of your entire being, oh sweetest and true Mother of Him, who is King by his own right, by inheritance, by conquest.

Reign, O Mother and Lady, showing us the path of holiness, directing and assisting us, so that we never stray from it.

As in the highest Heaven you exercise your primacy over the Hosts of Angels, who acclaim you as their Sovereign; above the legions of Saints, who delight in the contemplation of your resplendent beauty; thus you reign over the entire human race, above all by opening the paths of faith to those who do not yet know your Son. Reign over the Church, which professes and celebrates your sweet dominion and turns to you as a safe refuge in the midst of the calamities of our times. But especially reign over that portion of the Church which is persecuted and oppressed, giving it the fortitude to endure adversity, the constancy not to bend under unjust pressures, the light not to fall into enemy snares, the firmness to resist open attacks, and at all times the unshakable fidelity to your reign.

Reign over our intellects, so that they seek only the truth; over our wills, so that they follow only the good; over our hearts, so that they love only what you yourself love.

Reign over individuals and families, over societies and nations, over the assemblies of the powerful, over the advice of the wise, over the simple aspirations of the humble.

Reign in the streets and squares, in the cities and villages, in the valleys and mountains, in the air, on the land, and on the sea;

And welcome the pious prayer of those who know that yours is a reign of mercy, where every supplication is heard, every pain is comforted, every misfortune is relieved, every infirmity is healed, and where, almost at the nod of your gentle hands, from the same death life rises up with a smile.

Obtain for us that those who now in all parts of the world acclaim you and recognize you as Queen and Lady may one day enjoy the fullness of your reign in Heaven, in the vision of your Son, who lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit. and reigns forever and ever. Amen!

Notes

[1] The Soviet Union had developed its own atomic weapons by this point, and eight months before Pius XII promulgated the feast, the United States successfully tested the first hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll--to this day the most powerful nuclear device that the U.S. has ever detonated.

[2] Prov. 8, 15-16; Brev. Rom. in Comm. Fest. B. Mariae Virg. I Noct. Lect. I.

[3] Off. in Assumptione B. M. V. passim.

Corpus Christi 2024

In those days: Elijah rising up went whithersoever he had a mind: and he came to Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there. And he went forward, one day’s journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said, “It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree: and behold an angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him, “Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go.” And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb. (3 Kings 19, 3-8, the first reading of the Mass of Corpus Christi in the Ambrosian Rite.)

Elijah and the Angel; folio 65v of the Hours of Henry II of France, Bibliothque nationale de France, Lat. 1429

When the holy Elijah was growing weary on the way, did he not walk for forty days, in the strength of (that) food), and the angel gave it to him? But if Jesus shall feed thee, and thou shalt keep the food received, thou shalt walk non for forty days and for forty nights, but (I make bold to say this, supported by examples from the Scriptures) for forty years, and thou shalt go forth from the bounds of Egypt, until thou come to a broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, which the Lord swore He would give to our fathers. Thou must seek after the strength of this land, which the meek man possesseth. I do not speak of this land, which is arid, but that which is strengthened by the food of Christ, which is established under the rule of the eternal King, and frequented by those who dwell among the Saints. (St Ambrose, Commentary on St Luke, 6.75; PL XV 1688A)

Saint Thomas Aquinas with Saints Ambrose, Augustine, Pope Gregory the Great and Jerome contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, by Erasmus de Bie (1629-75). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Here are a few other Ambrosian items of interest related to today’s feast, with thanks to Nicola. This illuminated letter decorates the Ingressa (the equivalent of the Introit) on the feast of Corpus Christi in the Arcimboldi Missal, ca. 1495 (Bibl. Cap. Metr. II.D.1.13); a cleric and a layman adore the Blessed Sacrament. The cleric is probably Guido Antonio Arcimboldi, who commissioned the book on the occasion of the investiture of Ludovico Maria Sforza as Duke of Milan by the Emperor Maximilian I.

The first page of the Mass of Corpus Christi from an Ambrosian Missal printed in 1522. In the illustration after the rubrics (next to the Ingressa), a bishop carries the Blessed Sacrament in procession; notice that the monstrance is cylindrical, rather than flat, and he is still wearing his miter, customs which are both still observed to this day. - The traditional Ambrosian Mass of Corpus Christ is that composed for the Roman Rite by St Thomas Aquinas, with the necessary adjustments to the form of the rite, including the Prophetic reading given above; the Lauda Sion is not said, since the Sequence was never adopted in the Ambrosian Rite.

The main sanctuary of the Duomo of Milan, decorated for Corpus Christi in 1963.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Paleo-Christian Basilica of St Simplician in Milan

On the Ambrosian calendar, today is the very ancient feast of a group of three martyrs called Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander. They were originally from Cappadocia in Asia Minor, but in the days of St Ambrose, came to Milan, then the de facto imperial capital. At that time, all of northern Italy belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Milan, and St Vigilius, the bishop of Trent, had asked his metropolitan for assistance in evangelizing his region. The mission was entrusted to the three Cappadocians, Sisinnius being ordained deacon, Martyrius a lector, and Alexander a porter. In the valley of Anaunia to the north of Trent, they were able to make a good number of converts, and build a church in one of the villages. (All the photos in this article are by Nicola de’ Grandi.)

The relics of St Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander in the basilica of St Simplician in Milan. 

Here, they were attacked by the local pagans on the day of a festival, and Sisinnius was beaten so badly that he died a few hours later. In the letter describing their martyrdom, St Vigilius notes that Martyrius was able to hide in a garden attached to the church, but he was unwilling to abandon the sacred place; when he was discovered and taken the next day, the pagans had to fix him to a stake in order to drag him away. Before they could get him to the idol before which they would have sought to compel him to offer sacrifice, he died from being dragged over the sharp stones on the route. Alexander was also taken, and having resisted all attempts to make him repudiate the Faith, he was thrown alive in the fire on which the bodies of the other two were being burned. As happened with many other martyrs, the faithful carefully gathered up the Saints’ ashes, and brought them to Vigilius, who later built a new church on the site of the martyrdom. On two different occasions, Vigilius sent relics of the martyrs to a fellow bishop, once to St Simplician, St Ambrose’s personal friend and later successor, and again to St John Chrysostom; the letters which accompanied them both survive. (Simplician, by the way, was the priest of Milan chosen to complete Ambrose’s instruction in the Faith when the latter, still a catechumen, was chosen bishop by popular acclamation. He outlived his famous student, even though he was older than him, but only by a few years.)

During his time as bishop of Milan, St Ambrose had built four basilicas at roughly the four cardinal points of the city, dedicated to the Apostles, the Prophets, the Martyrs and the Virgins, as a way of reinforcing the city’s Christian character and placing it under the protection of the Saints. When the relics of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius were discovered, they were placed in the Basilica of the Martyrs on the west side of the city; St Ambrose then arranged for himself to be buried there with them, and the church has subsequently been renamed for him. The same happened with St Simplician, who placed the relics of the three martyrs of Anaunia in the basilica of the Virgins on the north side of the city, arranging for himself to be buried there, and the church is now renamed for him.

The relics of St Simplician in the same church.

As is almost always the case with such ancient churches, the building has undergone many transformations since its original construction. However, the basic structure of the chapel made to house the martyrs’ relics survives; recent archeological study has confirmed that it dates to the very late 4th or early 5th century, the period of Simplician’s episcopacy.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Photopost Request: Corpus Christi 2024

Our next major photopost will be for the feast of Corpus Christi, whether celebrated tomorrow or on Sunday; please send your photos to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and be sure to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think important. As always, we are very glad to receive images of celebrations in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Form, or the Ordinariate Use, as well as Vespers and other parts of the Office. Feel free to send in other events recently celebrated at your church such as Pentecost or first Masses.

Last year, this series got up to a record-smashing six posts, and the sixth post somehow became the single most viewed post ever on our Facebook page, by a gigantic margin. Let’s see if we can match or even beat that, as we keep up the good work of evangelizing through beauty!

From the first Corpus Christi photopost of last yearthe first Corpus Christi photopost of last year: the procession from the Oxford Oratory makes a station at the church of their Dominican neighbors at Blackfriars.

From the second post: Adoration at the church of the Annunciation in Imperia, Italy.

From the third post: night-time procession from the cathedral basilica of Nossa Senhora do Pilar, in São João Del Rei, Minas Gerais, Brazil, sent in by one of our most faithful contributors, Mr João Melo.

From the fourth post, a special edition dedicated to just the city of London: a station at the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile.

From the fifth post: the annual streets-of-New-York shot by the mighty Mr Arrys Ortañez, at the procession from the church of the Holy Innocents.

From the sixth post: Adoration before the procession at the abbey of St Bernard in Cullman, Alabama, celebrated by then newly-ordained Fr Paschal Pautler.

Pictures of Churches in Prague from Fr Lew (Part 2): the Cathedral of St Vitus

Earlier this month, we shared two posts of images by our long-time contributor, photographer extraordinaire Fr Lawrence Lew, the first set related to one of the city's patron Saints, John Nepomuk, and the second a selection of images from several different churches. Today we return to the cathedral of St Vitus, where St John's relics are kept. The church was begun in 1344, the third on the site, but was not actually completed and consecrated until 1929. It is, of course, full of artworks and side-chapels, and could easily merit a blog of its own, but Fr Lew captures some of its most salient features very beautifully, as always.  

The external view of the apse.

A mosaic of the Last Judgment on the outside.

The main façade

Stained glass windows of the first part of the 20th century, showing the conversion of the early Bohemians, those who bordered the Germans, and were thus baptized by Latin rite bishops, as opposed to those converted by the early missions of Ss Cyril and Methodius.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

A Report from the Chartres Pilgrimage

Our thanks to Mr Charles Bradshaw for sharing with us this write-up of the annual Chartres pilgrimage. The pictures were taken by his father-in-law, Mr Joseph Thurrott, who, due to the crowds, was unable to get near the cathedral on Monday, but still, they provide a glimpse into what the pilgrimage looks like “on the ground” with one of the Chapters.

The recent Chartres pilgrimage reached an important milestone that even the French National secular media were not keen to miss: a month before the pilgrimage even began, bookings were closed due to record numbers, and on Saturday, May 18, some 18 thousand pilgrims (at an average age of 21) set off on the road that separates Paris from Chartres. The Pentecost Sunday Mass in the pre–Tridentine Dominican rite was broadcast live on CNews, the French equivalent of Sky News, whilst BFM TV gave their morning news slot over to the story, to name but a few of the media outlets covering the event.

Yet more importantly than numbers and coverage, is the question that needs to be raised and addressed both on the continent and this side of the Channel. What is it that year after year keeps more young people coming?

Notre Dame de Chrétienté is a lay led organisation that has risen to the challenge of the current times without shying away from the elephant in the room (Traditiones Custodes) or backing down. Rather they’ve chosen to do what the French have always done: carry on and, to make light of the situation by producing a T-shirt with “guardians of tradition” proudly printed on the back. In fact, there are lessons to be learnt: under pressure from the French bishop’s conference to use the reformed missal, rather than keeping the advertised Masses quiet or reserved to a small few, instead of backing down, they have raised their voice louder, and this in no small way explains the success of the pilgrimage. The Traditional Latin Mass is not the preferential option of a small group of people, but the rich heritage of the Universal Church, as Pope Benedict’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 2007 made clear. It wasn’t, isn’t and shall never be the exclusive property of a fee paying few. Furthermore, this Rite of the Church was never abrogated, and if logic is required, then the same must hold true today. If numbers are needed, Chartres provides: the organisers estimate some 60% regular attendees of the Traditional Mass, 30% attending both forms, and 10% not even Christian.

So, what brings that 10%? Nothing other than the power of Truth. This is the second key to the success of the Chartres pilgrimage: sound doctrine and the unashamed preaching thereof. Pick up the pilgrim handbook, and as the pages of the Mass unfold, so does the catechetical teaching that accompanies it, compiled by the monks of Fontgombault, who even teach priests to say it in vast numbers. Doctrine is not just a question of liturgy: it naturally flows from it, but it is a rich whole. As the Chaplain of the Chartres Pilgrimage, Fr de Massia put it, “it is the only reality worth living”.

But there’s another side to this story that keeps getting missed: the French fighting spirit. Integrity and downright brutal honesty are part of the French DNA. Some call it pride, others the sheer determination not to be beaten down. It is the Faith of a people who have taken the Gospel literally, and that means living it to the full. It is that authenticity that the pilgrims sing “chez nous, soyez Reine”, Mary be Queen of our homes! It is belief that is not afraid to upset or challenge. Therein lies the third key to the Chartres success story.

In short, it is none other than living the threefold demand which French writer Jean Madiran addressed to the Pope in those turbulent years after the Council: “give us back the Mass, the Catechism and Scripture”. What lessons must we learn? That it is time to live the Mass, love the Mass, share and defend the Mass, not hide it, lock it up and mute what it stands for. Yes, at whatever cost.

As the 42nd Chartres pilgrimage drew to a close on Pentecost Monday afternoon, before Pontifical Mass began, the President of Notre Dame de Chrétienté addressed the now twenty thousand strong packed Cathedral and square for a brief moment in English, urging the “étrangers” to take Chartres home and in direct partnership with them start such initiatives themselves. Isn’t it about time “Christendom Pilgrimage” was born in England’s land? The 43rd Chartres pilgrimage will take on the challenging theme of “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven” celebrating 100 years since Quas Primas and the social reign of Christ the King. “Regnavit a ligno Deus” is not outmoded, you see, or impossible to realize: it just takes integrity and will power to do so! Chartres t’appelle!

The Lie That Was Told to Over 2,000 Council Fathers at Vatican II

One of the most debated questions at the Second Vatican Council was the language in which the Mass and other rites would be celebrated for Western (aka Latin) Catholics. Everyone who was at the Council testified that there was a battle royale over this topic; there’s no one who disputes that fact. I have collected abundant testimonials in two articles here at NLM:

• “The Council Fathers in Support of Latin: Correcting a Narrative Bias”
• “What They Requested, What They Expected, and What Happened: Council Fathers on the Latin Roman Canon”

The majority opinion was certainly against total vernacularization; when someone said that Latin was in danger of disappearing, everyone burst out laughing. In all of the drafts of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the normativity of Latin was always stressed: that’s how we ended up with SC 36:

1. Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites. 2. But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants, according to the regulations on this matter to be laid down separately in subsequent chapters.

Some Council Fathers were worried about the loopholes. But the relator, that is, the rapporteur tasked with speaking to the assembly on behalf of the committee working on the document, reassured them that total vernacularization was out of the question.

Here is where the research of Fr. Gabriel Díaz-Patri is invaluable. In his essay “Cristina Campo and the Petition of 1966” (chapter 9 in the immensely fascinating book The Latin Mass and the Intellectuals: Petitions to Save the Ancient Mass from 1966 to 2007 edited by Joseph Shaw and published by Arouca Press towards the end of last year), Fr. Díaz-Patri pulls together the relevant passages buried in the gigantic tomes of the acts of Vatican II. [1]
 

Fr. Díaz-Patri writes (pp. 114–18):

« The Council, which, in fact, was still in session [when Inter Oecumenici appeared in 1964], had clearly decided on the preservation of the Latin language for the liturgy of the Latin rites. Indeed, from the very beginning the normative place of Latin in the liturgy was reiterated in no. 24 of the Schema (the official draft of the Constitution), which received the approval of the Council and became article 36 §1 of Sacrosanctum Concilium. The expression is clear: “Linguae latinae usus . . . in Ritibus latinis servetur” (“the use of the Latin language in the Latin rites must be preserved”). The subjunctive “servetur” clearly expresses a command, and not a mere recommendation.

The Acta synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani Secundi, where the minutes of all the discussions that took place in the conciliar hall are officially transcribed, records that some of the Council Fathers suggested changes in the wording to weaken the principle, but their proposals were defeated. The clarity of the principle is confirmed both by the later commentary of Fr. Carlo Braga, and by the official rapporteur, Bishop Jesus Enciso Viana of Mallorca, whose task was to clarify for the Council Fathers the meaning of the texts, who stated in a later debate: “To completely exclude the Latin language from the Mass would contradict the principle already established [by the Council] in Article 36.”

Nevertheless, the Constitution then goes on to state that “since it is not unusual for the use of the vernacular language to be very useful to the people,” it may be given an appropriate place.

There are important nuances in this text that are worth considering with the help of the Acta Synodalia. The initial schema stated categorically “amplior locus ipsi in liturgia tribuatur” (“a wider place must be given”) [no. 24 §2] to the vernacular, but, contrary to what happened in the previous case, this time the Council decided to correct the subjunctive of the expression that had originally been proposed by the drafters, replacing it with the more moderate form “amplior locus ipsi tribui valeat” (“a wider place may be given”), which was approved by the Council Fathers as paragraph §2 of art. 36 of the Conciliar Constitution.

A little further on, in a parallel context, the same procedure was followed with the subjunctive of the expression “congruus locus tribuatur” (“a congruent place must be given,” sc. to the vernacular languages), proposed in that case by the drafters of the schema, which was changed by the Council to the weaker “congruus locus tribui possit” (“it may be given an appropriate place”), as we find in §54 of the document officially approved by the Council Fathers.

The incorporation of these modifications into the original schema was explained in the following way by the rapporteur in the Conciliar Hall so that the meaning of the points upon which they had to vote would be clear to participants.

We have wished to express it in such a way that those who wish to celebrate the whole Mass in the Latin language do not impose their opinion on the others; but that, in the same way, those who wish to use the vernacular in some parts of the Mass do not oblige the former to do so. [!] Therefore, according to what had already been established in no. 36, we have granted a suitable place for the vernacular languages; but we do not say “must be given,” but “may be given,” which we had already taken care to do in the aforementioned no. 36.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned term “congruus” used in no. 54 is not accidental either: if the conference of bishops decide to permit the use of the vernacular, the place and mode of application were to be clearly delimited: first, it is clear that the vernacular was to be used only in Masses with the people (“in Missis cum populo celebratis”), and secondly, the use of the vernacular language was to be limited to certain parts of the celebration, and these parts should be specifically enumerated in each case.

These parts could be, in principle (“imprimis”), the readings and admonitions (“in lectionibus, admonitionibus”), the “common prayer” or “prayer of the faithful” which had just been reincorporated into the Roman Mass, as well as some prayers and chants (“in nonnullis orationibus et cantibus”). In addition, when local conditions made it advisable (“pro condicione locorum”), this could also be extended to those parts of the Mass that pertain to the people (“etiam in partibus quae ad populum spectant”). However, the enumeration of various possibilities in no way implied a universal authorization whose application could be decided individually by the celebrant, but it was up to the competent territorial authority (and, if applicable, after having heard the opinion of the bishops of neighboring regions speaking the same language) to establish, first of all, whether the vernacular language would be allowed or not, and if it was allowed, to what degree, after approval and confirmation by the Apostolic See.

On the other hand, the enumeration of the various possibilities for the use of the vernacular in the Instruction does not mean that all must be authorized; rather, it represents the limits within which the competent authority may authorize.

Fr. Braga also explains that, if we follow the Conciliar Constitution, the parts that are sung or said by the celebrant should be only in Latin. However, the same Constitution adds that if, in some place (“sicubi”), after careful and prudent consideration (“sedulo et prudenter”), it seems opportune to allow an even wider use of the vernacular to include also some of the parts (“aliquae ex his partibus”) said by the priest, an indult should be requested from the Holy See according to the norms given in no. 40. However, prayers recited in secret by the priest are always excluded [“semper excluduntur”]: these must be only in Latin.

When the language issue was discussed again, in the Congregatio Generalis XLIII, the rapporteur explained the proposed text:

We are therefore leaving open two doors: the door is not closed to anyone who wishes to celebrate the whole Mass in the Latin language; and the door is not closed to anyone to use the vernacular language in specific parts of the Mass.

In this way, the only door that was completely closed by the Council, according to the text approved and in light of this explanation given by the rapporteur, is that of being able to say the whole Mass in the vernacular. On the other hand, as the rapporteur points out, the only thing that is commanded in this article is to be found in a text added to the original schema by the Council Fathers, namely, that the faithful should be taught to say or sing in Latin the parts of the Mass that correspond to them. »

Print by Mathieu Lauweriks, 1935 (source)

Let us summarize in five points what SC teaches according to the official relator:

1. Latin must be kept in the liturgy; this is not optional.
2. A liturgy in Latin only will always be possible.
3. The vernacular may be used, at the discretion of episcopal conferences and with the Holy See's approval.
4. But the vernacular is to be used for only some portions of the liturgy, not for all.
5. The people must be instructed in Latin Gregorian chant.

Thus, at a busy urban parish in England or the USA one might envision a Sunday schedule something like this (not that I'm recommending it, but merely envisioning what might follow from the foregoing norms):

• two low Masses in Latin, one of them a dialogue Mass;
• one low Mass with the changing parts in the vernacular;
• a high Mass chanted in Latin by the choir trained on Ward Method;
• a high Mass in Latin, with English hymns and readings.

That, I suggest, is the mental picture that most closely resembles what all the bishops and superiors of the Catholic Church voted in favor of. As Fr. Díaz-Patri shows, the Council Fathers were solemnly assured, prior to voting on the text, that its meaning could not be construed as endorsing or even allowing total vernacularization, and that the rights of Latin would be respected to such an extent that some part of the Mass would always remain in Latin, and the whole of it could remain in Latin for those who wished it. And Paul VI promulgated this document as thus presented.

In the meetings of the Central Preparatory Commission prior to the Council, Cardinal Montini gave a speech in which, after appealing to the other members of the CPC to broaden the use of the vernacular for certain parts of Mass, he then stated: “In the rest of the Mass, the Latin language will be kept, except perhaps for the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father), which is, as it were, the summit of public prayer, and is the best preparation of souls for Communion.” At the Council itself, Cardinal Montini stated even more clearly: “Especially when it comes to the language to be used in worship, the use of the ancient language handed down by our forefathers, namely, the Latin language, should for the Latin Church be firm and stable in those parts of the rite which are sacramental and properly and truly priestly.”

All the while, the main advocates of liturgical reform—and their leader, Cardinal Montini, with his new friend Annibale Bugnini, whom he quickly sized up as the right man for the job, as Yves Chiron narrates in his biographies of both figures—had no intention of honoring this stipulation. Msgr. Bugnini was an enemy of Latin liturgy all his life. Famously, in a 1969 response to Hubert Jedin who had lamented the damage to Church unity from the almost total disappearance of Latin, Bugnini showed his cards: “Do you believe there is a deep and heartfelt unity amid lack of understanding, ignorance, and the ‘dark of night’ of a worship that lacks a face and light, at least for those out in the nave?”

It would appear that many who worked with Bugnini to draft Sacrosanctum Concilium and later staffed the Consilium felt the same way. Yet they knew they could not ask for too much, too fast. This is why Bugnini said, in what is among his most notorious utterance (speaking to a small number of fellow SC drafters on November 11, 1961):

It would be most inconvenient for the articles of our Constitution to be rejected by the Central Commission or by the Council itself. That is why we must tread carefully and discreetly. Carefully, so that proposals be made in an acceptable manner (modo acceptabile), or, in my opinion, formulated in such a way that much is said without seeming to say anything: let many things be said in embryo (in nuce) and in this way let the door remain open to legitimate and possible postconciliar deductions and applications: let nothing be said that suggests excessive novelty and might invalidate all the rest, even what is straightforward and harmless (ingenua et innocentia). We must proceed discreetly. Not everything is to be asked or demanded from the Council—but the essentials, the fundamental principles [are].

Part of what he already had in mind here was total vernacularization, which he knew would have been massively voted down by the Council Fathers. So, we mustn't tell them that... we must utter some "fundamental principles"... and, if needed, grease the wheels with a few untruths... it wouldn't be the first time that one had to tell a noble lie for the good of the people...

After the Council, the moves toward this goal were rapid, as Fr. Díaz-Patri well documents in the aforementioned book. There was Inter Oecumenici of 1964; the first Italian Mass by none other than Paul VI in March of 1965; the Missa Normativa of 1967; the infamous papal general audiences of 1965 (March 17) and 1969 (November 19 and November 26), in which Paul VI bare farewell to Latin and Gregorian chant. [3]

If we step back and view this whole elaborate picture, what do we see?

Quite simply this. Montini, Bugnini, and all who belonged to their camp wanted to move away from Latin into the vernacular long before the Council. But they made sure to present to the Council a document sufficiently conservative and sufficiently vague to allow over 2,000 bishops to sign off on it—and, what is more, made sure everyone was given the false assurance that Latin would remain in place, even though their actions immediately after the Council make it abundantly clear they never had any intention of honoring these reassurances. Within a few short years, Latin was nearly entirely gone from the Church’s public worship—or rather, it had been actively excluded, banished.

How then can one attempt to justify this gigantic bait-and-switch?

Well, predictably, it is turned into pious hagiography, an unexpected victory of Divine Providence over minds as yet insufficiently enlightened at the Council. In the words of Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy:

As we have seen, the Council Fathers desired that the Latin language be preserved, especially in the people’s responses, although they readily acknowledged that the vernacular was frequently advantageous to the people. What they did not anticipate was the enthusiasm with which the vernacular was accepted by clergy and laity alike. Bishops’ conferences around the world voted to expand the use of the vernacular and requested and received permission to do so from Rome….
        The vox populi had spoken and had been affirmed by the Church—vernacular it would be. This ecclesial affirmation undercuts one of the most common arguments against the Novus Ordo: that the wholesale adoption of the vernacular, and the reformed liturgy more broadly, is illegitimate because it went beyond what the Council intended. What this fails to note is that Church’s magisterium, in the persons of Paul VI and John Paul II, confirmed these developments, judging them to be authentic liturgical developments that were in accord with the aims of the Council, even if the Council had not explicitly called for them.

Given all that we have seen, this interpretation is the very height of tendentiousness. Such an approach, where the vox populi plus the papal rubberstamp equals “legitimate development,” is really no different from the move of progressives who say that “the Spirit” outstripped the limited mental faculties and theological categories of the Council Fathers and paved the way for outcomes that far exceeded their wildest dreams (or nightmares, as the case may be). In both cases, the past is left behind, buried beneath the rubble of its own deconstruction, and replaced with a “new Catholicism” that must sound different, look different, be different, than it was for every prior century of its existence. [4]

One cannot learn about a bait-and-switch of this magnitude without souring on the Council-as-event, the governance of Paul VI, the ideology of Bugnini, and the good faith of the entire Consilium. There is no room for a naively optimistic narrative. There was deviancy, plotting, mendacity, and betrayal. That is the milieu out of which the liturgical reform arose. As children bear the traits of their parents, so the reform bears the traits of its treacherous origins, and carries them forward with daily ruptures, like a garment torn inch by inch.

This is why I say in my books that the difficulties in the reform are not cosmetic but genetic: they have to do with the principles of its construction, design, and execution, not the superficially mutable aspects of its instantiation here or there. And this is why restoration, not reform, is the only path to a satisfactory and stable liturgical future for the Catholic Church.

NOTES

[1] In the interests of space, I will leave out the extensive footnotes—a good reason to make sure you pick up a copy of this book, among the best books I read in the whole of 2023.

[2] For both quotations, and their Latin originals, see this article by Matthew Hazell.

[3] For the texts with commentary, see this lecture. These speeches are the reason why it is impossible to claim that "the Novus Ordo was meant to be done in Latin, with chant, but it was hijacked," etc. See this article.

[4] For a thorough refutation of the Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy series, see the anthology Illusions of Reform.