I recently received a copy of the ordo for 2008 published by the Saint Lawrence Press. This ordo follows the 1939 edition of the Roman missal. If you would like to know more about it, there is a website here. Readers of this blog will have seen the comments on the post about the new SSPX church in Gateshead where this frst came to my attention. The ordo looks formidable at first and takes a bit of deciphering when it is unfamiliar. There is a sample page with explanation here.
It is a fascinating insight into the Roman rite before the reforms of the 1950`s and 1960. The site offers a comparison between different editions of the Roman rite since 1570 which is also very interesting.
Fr Demets in his talk to the clergy of Little Rock mentions that within the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter there are some who prefer the pre-1962 Roman missal. The Institute of Christ the King are said to have permission to celebrate the pre-reform Holy Week services too. However as I mentioned in the comments box it is enough of a struggle to get the 1962 missal up and running at the minute without complicating things further. However I am enjoying looking at this ordo every day to see what was in the norm in 1939.
When I was at seminary it was not unusual for an attachment to the `Tridentine` missal to be attacked on the grounds that those who liked it valued it for the sense of liturgical immutability and continuity it gave whereas in fact the Roman missal of 1570 missal was not identical to that of 1962. Here we can, with the help of the comparison table, follow those changes. However the changes between 1570 and 1962 are fairly cosmetic compared to that of the 1970 Novus Ordo and the sesnse of following an unbroken tradition is stronger in the 1962 missal than that of 1970.
1 comment:
The liturgical changes clearly began a long time before Vatican II.
I am thinking in particular of :
The Pian Psalter of 1945.
The reformed Holy Week services of 1955.
The Calendar of 1960.
Blessed John XIII's removal of the word "perfidious" from the Good Friday prayers, and his interpolation of the name of St. Joseph in the Communicantes.
(Oh, all right, the latter two reforms happened after the opening of Vatican II.)
In "Summorum Pontificum", Pope Benedict has followed the example of his immediate predecessor, John Paul II, in choosing the editio typica of 1962 for the celebration of the traditional Mass.
Therefore, perhaps we should stick to that, (for the time being, anyway.)
Incidentally, my objection to the use of the word "Tridentine" is less to do with the changes to the Roman rite since 1570, and more to do with the fact that essentially the Roman rite is many centuries older than Trent.
"Tridentine" is a misnomer.
Harking back to the pre-1955 Missal (which I personally would prefer,) tends to raise the question of the whole history of the liturgical movement and how and when it was hijacked by the modernisers.
It is a very interesting subject, and, perhaps, likely to become more widely studied and understood in the near future.
Neverthless, I find the waters have been muddied by the sedevacantists, who claim (among other things !) that no valid Pope could authorise such changes.
("Pope Michael" has posted an interesting piece on this, but I am not altogether sure I follow his somewhat convoluted logic.)
It is interesting that the SSPX (which, of course, is by no stretch of the imagination sedevacantist,) uses the 1962 Missal, while the "Ecclesia Dei" communities, such as The Fraternity of St. Peter and The Institute of Christ The King, contain within their ranks those who would adhere to the pre-1955 liturgy.
Rome seems to be keeping silent about this. If it wishes to turn a blind eye, so be it.
Perhaps there will be room for two extraordinary forms !
The 1962 Mass (with the Leonine prayers) is the one I grew up with.
Good enough for me !
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