Latins Wish for the Old Days

The 85th Anniversary of the Election of Pope Pius XII https://t.co/JSKNt5Iasl pic.twitter.com/MWT9BSAjq3

— NLM (@NLMblog) March 2, 2024

The Return of the Pre-55 Holy Week

Ending Seventy Years of Liturgical Exile: The Return of the Pre-55 Holy Week https://t.co/QLxXvnOePt pic.twitter.com/5SJ9zbiIVP

— NLM (@NLMblog) April 19, 2021

TBT for the Patriarchate of Rome

Pius XII listening to Father George Lamaître explaining to him his "Big Bang" theory. pic.twitter.com/upWfpaII6k

— elizabeta ugarska (@enchanteeq) May 19, 2020

Opening the Remaining Archives of Pius XII

CWR: History Redeemed: Justice for Pope Pius XII by William Doino, Jr.
The March 2nd opening of the last remaining archives from Pius XII’s pontificate will likely reinforce what historians already know about the war-time pontiff’s actions on behalf of endangered Jews.

Mediator Dei on Sacrifice

James Chastek: Translation of Mediator Dei

Not interested in the use of the word "symbol" here but on other aspects --

[A]ccording to the plan of divine wisdom, the sacrifice of our Redeemer is shown forth in an admirable manner by external signs which are the symbols of His death. For by the “transubstantiation” of bread into the body of Christ and of wine into His blood, His body and blood are both really present: now the eucharistic species under which He is present symbolize the actual separation of His body and blood. Thus the commemorative representation of His death, which actually took place on Calvary, is repeated in every sacrifice of the altar, seeing that Jesus Christ is symbolically shown by separate symbols to be in a state of victimhood.

Sacrifice here is linked to death, or involve death. But is that always the case for the sacrifices of the Israelites? And if death is a component, how is it a component?

Louis Tofari: Mediator Dei and the Liturgical Movement

No reform, not even a reset, just a return to 1951 before the reform of Holy Week rites or 1911, before Pius X reformed the Roman office?

Questions on Authority in Liturgy

From "Reflections on authority in liturgy today" by Dom Alcuin Reid:

Earlier I asserted that there was a disturbing issue in respect of Pope Pius XII’s exegesis of the premise lex orandi, lex credendi in Mediator Dei whereby he asserts that it is the rule of belief which determines the rule of prayer, and not the other way around. When this was published in 1947 the dangers inherent in this reversal may not have been all that apparent. Sadly, they have become all to clear in the ensuing decades.

For if the Sacred Liturgy (its rites, prayers, chants, and associated arts, etc.) are a “a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition,” this organism, as handed on in tradition, is itself an essential source for experiencing the Faith and for knowing and reflecting upon what we believe: the Sacred Liturgy is itself theologia prima.5 However, if what we believe determines the rule of prayer, the liturgy can (or ought to) be refashioned according to changes in theology so as to reflect the latter. It is no longer a primary source of theology, but its mirror.

Again, this may not have seemed so dangerous a thing to say in 1947, but by 1967 when what Catholics believed seemed at best to be in flux and at worst in utter turmoil, its potential to underpin a concomitant liturgical revolution was clear. Indeed by 1977 this principle’s potential had been exploited at the official level with a new set of liturgical books reflecting a new theology. At a local level, with very little exercise of liturgical discipline by competent authority, there were extremes: Catholic liturgy was widely regarded as a subjective matter for the local community to “plan,” using even the modern liturgical books with all their options as mere resources rather than receiving them as containing the liturgy given by the Church to be celebrated faithfully. What was believed determined how we prayed: the divergent paucity of the former informed the radical diversity of the latter. There were notable exceptions, of course, but this problem was widespread in both parishes, seminaries and religious communities and, as we know, it manifested itself no more clearly than in the realm of liturgical music.

1. What if a tradition is not being prayed, as was the case for those faithful who did not understand Latin? Monastics and clerics might understand it, but should the normative value of the liturgy rest solely on their participation? How can the sensus fidei/fidelium be exercised properly if the lay people do not understand it? How can there be legitimate development of the liturgy in such an ecclesial environment?

2. What is the source of legitimate development and how is it recognized? (Who has the authority to create or authorize new texts, but the bishops?) Is episcopal approval sufficient, or do the new texts need to be properly received by the Christian faithful as well?

For monastic communities in which all members understand Latin the reception of new liturgical texts composed by members within those communities may not be problematic. Is it enough that they are then adopted by secular priests or bishops for them to be legitimated?

3. Theologia prima - in light of (1) and (2) do we need to re-evaluate the usefulness of the axiom "Lex orandi, lex credendi" or whether it is correct or how it should be understood? How can one pray without not first believing? How can the liturgical texts be put on the same level as Sacred Scripture or oral Tradition? This might be true of the primitive Christian liturgical texts, but is it also true of those texts that replaced them or were added to them?

I am aware that Latin traditionalists are critical even of Mediator Dei but at the moment I cannot see how their concerns are justified because of the above.

4. For me there is also the recurring question of what "sacrifice" means, and how this word has been employed within texts of the Roman rite. Has it been used properly?

Interview with Professor Pierluigi Guiducci

CWR Dispatch: Symposium attests to Pius XII’s monumental work as Defensor Civitatis by Alberto Carosa
An interview with Professor Pierluigi Guiducci, author of several works on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII during the Second World War.

Is the Pre-1955 Roman Holy Triduum Really Better?

1P5: My First Experience of a Pre-1955 Holy Triduum by Peter Kwasniewski

Recently, I bumped into a friend who expressed her surprise that this year was the first time I had ever attended the pre-1955 (i.e., ancient or unreformed) Holy Week liturgies. She was under the impression that someone who travels, reads, …

See also: NLM: Compendium of the 1955 Holy Week Revisions of Pius XII

Will Any New Information Be Discovered?

NCReg: Pope Francis Orders Archives of Pius XII’s Entire Pontificate to Be Opened by Edward Pentin

Access to the documents, which include those on the venerable pontiff’s actions during World War II, has been long awaited.

Participation?

Humani Generis and la Nouvelle Théologie,

HPR: Looking Back at “Humani Generis” BY FR. BRIAN VAN HOVE, SJ

See also Joseph Komonchak, Humani generis and “la ‘nouvelle théologie'”

Holy Orders: Bishops

Fr. Hunwicke: EPISCOPAL CONSECRATION: a Tale of Two Meddlers

Exemplifying What is Wrong with Much of Contemporary Latin Theology

and the understanding of the Church's teaching authority, the Magisterium, especially papal authority.

Making sense of U.S. immigration law, enforcement, and the current crisis by David R. Upham
The teachings of the Magisterium mostly vindicate Sessions’s policies in interpreting and enforcing American law. At the same time, these teachings strongly suggest grave deficiencies in that law.

Interview with David Fagerberg

O Clarim

From 2009: The Cost of Understanding Schmemann in the West

Pope Paul the Sad to Be Canonized?

The Roman saint-making machine keeps rolling, for political ends.

Rorate Caeli: The Canonization of Vatican II: The case for Pacelli, revisited

The Spirit of AL

CWR Dispatch: “The Greatest Sin is losing the sense of Sin” by Eduardo Echeverria

Related: CWR/CNA: Cardinal Cupich launches “Amoris Laetitia” seminars for US bishops

How Authoritative is Humani Generis?

James K. A. Smith & William T. Cavanaugh on EVOLUTION AND THE FALL

Fr. Hunwicke Continues...

Assumpta est

On the Feast of the Assumption in the Roman Rite

Fr. Hunwicke, yesterday: Evening Prayer today
Today: Pius XII and the Assumption.