LEADING TO THE VERNACULAR AND NOVUS ORDO

As far back as 1953 Joseph Jungmann was drawing attention to the “problem” of an exclusive Latin Liturgy “The monumental greatness of the Roman Mass lies in its antiquity which reaches back to the Church of the martyrs, and in its spread which, with its Latin language, spans so many nations. Nowhere else is it so plain that the Church is both apostolic and catholic. But this double advantage of the Roman Mass also involves weaknesses. The Latin tongue is nowadays become more and more unfamiliar even to cultured people. Will there ever be any relaxing in this matter in the setting of the Mass? ….. The Latin language is only one of the peculiarities of the Roman liturgy that, due to its venerable age, has to some extent become a problem. …. In the present shape of the Roman Mass, forms and practices have been retained which are no longer comprehensible to the ordinary onlooker.” There is in fact, a close connection between the introduction of dialogue into the Traditional Mass and the universal imposition of dialogue in the celebration of the New Mass which followed It. For further evidence one has only to peruse the fascinating book, Bringing the Mass to the People ,by Father Reinhold published just before the Council in 1960. This work not only clearly states that there WILL be a new Mass but even describes the form that it is likely to take as a result of the resolutions of the liturgical congresses at Maria Laach (1951) Sainte Odile (1952) and Lugano (1953). As a result of these meetings of liturgical experts the Holy See was convinced to promote various reforms of which the Dialogue Mass was an integral part. In fact it was never envisaged that there would be any provision for public “silent Masses” in the new reformed liturgy. Here follows a brief selection of surprisingly detailed proposals for the reform of the Mass which will easily be recognised by laymen (many of the other proposals concern the actions of the priest) which were proposed to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1953 and adopted afterwards by the Council reforms: (a) Omission of the Judica me etc (b) The first part of the Mass should be called the Liturgy of the Word. It should be carried out in choro, not at the Altar. (c) A three or four year cycle of Lessons and Gospels for Sundays. (d) Bidding prayers should be reintroduced as the conclusion of the Liturgy of the Word. (e) No Confiteor etc at Communion time. (f) No last Gospel. On the basis of these and other far more radical recommendations Father Reinhold puts together a sample Mass Rite which is strikingly similar to what was eventually enforced. He observes: “by noting the most advanced proposals for reform, I may well cause surprise in many readers. A tendency exists among priests and people alike to set great store on preserving the liturgy unchanged, simply for stability’s sake. But the drastic reforms which the Holy See has already made indicate plainly that there is a sense of urgency in high places. It would be a mistake for us not to recognise that more reforms in the liturgy are impending. And we should realise that this popular inclination to preserve the past unchanged has already had various unfortunate results. Some of the reforms which have been made recently seemed quite unexpected to many people; it became evident that an unprepared public may, in its temporary confusion, find it rather hard to collaborate enthusiastically with the intentions of the See of Peter. For the sake of the future, therefore, it would be better if Catholics generally were given the means to understand the direction of liturgical thought and thus were prepared for the changes which were to come ……. Because of the loyalty and discipline we owe to the Holy See, therefore, we need to become informed in this matter of impending changes; we must ourselves begin to realise the needs of our time which are to be met by these reforms. What the uninitiated reader may find startling at first in the proposals embodied in this book will not seem so surprising in the end; he will find that they all hang together. And he will realise that it is better to be astonished now by something which seems novel but which he will find to be well reasoned, than it would be to remain uninformed and so to allow the finished reform to shock him when it comes, which will be precisely when his full co-operation will be called for and needed”. (p 26, 31)

It is abundantly clear that the liturgical reforms of the twentieth century, although not against the Faith as such, were certainly tendentious and largely stemmed from a dissatisfaction with the development of the liturgy over the previous millennium which the reformers certainly considered as at least unfortunate, Hence the enthusiasm to “restore” so much that disappeared during that time: simple altars in the centre of the sanctuary without tabernacles, Bishops, or Eucharistic presidents chairs prominently placed in the position which had lately been occupied by the late-medieval style altar with tabernacle against the east wall. Offertory Processions, Communion under both kinds or in the hand. Concelebrations, rather than a multiplicity of Low Masses and - of course - active vocal participation accompanying them all and that in the vernacular. In short, (at least superficially), everything restored as it had been before the second millennium during which the liturgy became progressively “decadent”. The very title of Father Ellard’s important book The Mass of the Future says it all! This volume contains photographic illustrations of several of the above things actually taking place on an experimental basis with full ecclesiastical approval as shown on this page

The book was published in 1948; twenty -one years before the New Mass was introduced! This very book tells of Dialogue Mass in the vernacular as having already granted to Cardinal Bertram in Germany. Extensive parts of the Ritual were later allowed to be celebrated in the vernacular by the time Second Vatican Council began and permission had been granted to certain Religious orders to recite the Divine Office in the vernacular from 1953 onwards in order to encourage a more comprehending and active participation in the public prayer of the Church. Referring to the permission for use in the vernacular in the innovative renewal of Baptismal Promises at the Easter Vigil, Father Ellard in a book published eight years later The Mass in Transition ( no longer of the Future!) observes, “So , in this fashion, the use of the vernacular is quietly introduced into the beginning of this restoration and just as quietly enlarged – if with restrictions still - and allowed to spread.”(p28) GRANDFELLOW FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE