![]() ![]() Whatever his other magnificent qualities, Archbishop Lefebvre was somewhat naïve about the extent of the damage that had already been done to the liturgy prior to 1962. We might, in fact, turn the tables by noting that it is the “so-called Ecclesia Dei communities” that are recovering the ancient liturgical tradition found in the pre-1955 Holy Week ceremonies and other aspects of the Roman Rite’s earlier traditional practice (e.g., octaves, additional collects, doubling the readings, folded chasubles, proper last Gospels), while the SSPX, as far as I know, continues merrily on with the suppressions and distortions of Pius XII and John XXIII. ![]() In fact, everything Catholics believe - including “Christ the King’s right to reign here below over men and over societies,” which is not at all clear in the reformed liturgy - can be directly deduced from the preconciliar Roman liturgy that all “Ecclesia Dei communities” treasure. If the liturgy really is the primary theology of the Church and we truly believe the axiom lex orandi, lex credendi, then maintaining the usus antiquior and the ascetical-mystical spirituality that sustain it is, in practice, already to maintain “the very heart of the Faith and the doctrine of Revelation,” which, incidentally, includes a primacy of honor and jurisdiction on the part of the supreme pontiff. This statement is curious, to say the least. It is deeper, for it touches the very heart of the Faith and the doctrine of Revelation, Christ the King’s right to reign here below over men and over societies. The crisis of the Church cannot be reduced to a spiritual or liturgical question alone. Pius X’s great reproach against Dom Gérard and all those who thought they should break the unity of Tradition in order to negotiate a purely practical agreement. They can have the Mass, the “spiritual and liturgical traditions,” but not the whole doctrine that goes along with them. If they remain attached to a section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it is incidental. One conclusion is evident: as the so-called Ecclesia Dei communities have preserved “their spiritual and liturgical traditions,” they clearly do not count in this discussion. In reaction, the SSPX issued this snubbing statement: We all know about the recent decision to suppress the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Review of Yves Chiron’s Biography of Abp Bugnini o.Liturgical Notes on the Purification of the Virgin.The Need for Mutual Humility and Support Between t.Baroque and 19th-Century Realism Contrasted.Faithful in All Generations: The History of the Fi.Sinite Parvulos (Part 2) - An Excellent Column abo.A Pair of Insightful Books on Sacred Music.Summer Program in Wisconsin, August 12-16: Study S.The Velatio Nuptialis: An Ancient (and Forgotten).“The Way is the Goal”: Against Reducing the Mass t. ![]() The Feast of St Thomas Aquinas in Toulouse.Lenten Pilgrimage in Port Arthur, Texas, March 9.A Litany Based on the Writings of St Thomas.Tradition is for the Young (17) - Pontifical Mass.Choral Divine Liturgy in New York City, March 10.Martin Mosebach on the Coptic Martyrs of Libya.The Meeting of the Lord Celebrated in L’viv. ![]()
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