29 June 2009

Ordo, Ordo

I hope everybody is diligently buying my 2010 ORDO. But there are, of course, other ORDOs.

Not many people will be able to follow to the letter the calendar and rites prescribed by the ORDO published by The Saint Lawrence Press. But, if one can read highly abbreviated Latin, it will prove a treasury of information about a past (?) age; the age of the Roman Rite as it existed before Pius XII, before 1939. Follow this thread ...
... on the first Sunday in July, all Masses are permitted of the Precious Blood. This is explained in the introduction, page 3: "Where an external solemnity of feasts, which before the last reform of the Roman Breviary were permanently fixed to some Sunday with the rank of double of the first or second class, is celebrated on that Sunday to which the feast was formerly attached, all masses are permitted ...".
For example: The feast of Precious Blood, made universal by Pius IX to celebrate the end of the Roman Revolution in 1849, was by him put onto the first Sunday in July. But the early Liturgical Movement objected to the large number of Sundays in the year on which the ancient Sunday Mass was superseded by a sexier and more fashionale pious celebration. The great Adrian Fortescue wrote: "We obey the authority of the Church, of course, always. But it is not forbidden to hope for such a pope again as Benedict XIV who will give us back more of our old Roman Calendar. Footnote Since this was written the hope has been already in great part fulfilled. The decree Divino afflatu of November. 1, 1911 does give us back much of the old Proprium temporis for office and Mass." In this reform of S Pius X, a lot of the festivals attached to particular Sundays were transferred to fixed days, so that only infrequently would they displace a Sunday Mass . The Precious Blood was moved to July 1. There, it preceded the Visitation. This meant that that it didn't get a proper Second Vespers, since both were of the same rank (double of the second class) and the Visitation was entitled to a first Vespers . Accordingly, in 1934, Pius XI raised the precious Blood to a double of the first class so that it outranked the Visitation.

Incidentally, nothing much changes. How many Sundays nowadays are cluttered up with the currently fashioble Themes:Environment Sunday, Education Sunday, Vocation Sunday ... There is a law of liturgical history: clutter clutter clutter prune, clutter clutter ...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I am not sure I agree with your concluding remarks I am afraid. The history of the liturgy itself (as opposed to the calendar) seems, rather, to have been a history of simplification. After all, the liturgies seem to have become shorter and shorter over time and simpler and simpler. Note that the Low Mass is a comparatively recent invention, that the earliest patristic sources on the liturgy seem to indicate that it could go on for many many hours and that the earliest chant is more complexity than latter chant (in general).

David Swyer said...

Dear Father,

Would you post a link to a site where I can buy the Ordo? I cannot find it on the ACS website. I fear I must be losing my marbles.

David

Rubricarius said...

Christian,

The Roman liturgy in the period 1911 - 1955 is considerably more complex in its rubrical infrastructure than either the form that preceded it or that which came after.

Jacob Hicks said...

David http://www.additionalcurates.co.uk/churchunion4.html

Sue Sims said...

"clutter clutter clutter prune, clutter clutter ..."

Sounds like my bookshelves.

sacerdos said...

Does anyone know where I can get an ordo in English for the Mass and Breviary as celebrated before 1955? St. Lawrence's do one in Latin. Sadly, my Latin is nearly non existant. Any help much appreciated.