Prayer for the Restoration of the Roman Mass

O Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest and Immaculate Lamb of God, slain for us and for many on the altar of Calvary, and continually offered to Thy Heavenly Father in the clean oblation of Thy Eucharistic Sacrifice:

Grant, we beseech Thee, through the merits and prayers of Thy Saints Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Pius V, that the holy Roman and Apostolic Catholic Mass, ratified, expounded and perpetuated by them respectively, may be rightly restored to the altars of Thy Church throughout the world; that once again this most awesome, majestic and perennial rite may offer infinite worship and homage to the Most Blessed Trinity; the fullest fruits and consolation and spiritual nourishment to the faithful; an impregnable defense and counterbalance against the rising tide of evil; and a sure termination of the anguish, fear, doubts and profanations occasioned by its unsanctioned abandonment and replacement.

O Holy Saints of the centuries, who sanctified and nourished your souls with the perennial Roman Mass, and Holy Martyrs who shed your blood for it, grant, we pray in desperation, that we will no longer be bereft of it, and that we will, as you, commit ourselves to the Mass at all costs and to the last breath of our lives.

O Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the Immaculate Eucharistic Victim, pray for us that we may bravely, prudently, diligently, and with sound doctrine and means pursue the rectification of the present encroachment on the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and secure with thy powerful maternal aid the restoration of our Roman Catholic Mass and the Reign and Order of the Kingship of Jesus Christ thy Son. Amen.

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Rubrics for Privileged Votive Masses on First Thursdays & First Fridays

Why do many parishes celebrate a Votive Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart on Friday Fridays or the Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on First Saturdays? In the pre-55 rubrics, may a priest say a votive Mass of the Sacred Heart on a First Friday when a feast of simple or higher is on that day?

NB: Privileged Votive Masses for First Saturdays only started in the early 1960s so they are not mentioned here with the pre 1955 rubrics.

The Celebration of the Mass by Rev. J O'Connell summarizes the uniqueness of these privileged Votive Masses:

The Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart for First Friday, the Votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for First Saturday, as well as the Votive Mass of Jesus Christ Sovereign and Eternal Priest for First Thursday are Privileged Votive Masses specifically permitted by the Holy See. They are not general private Votive Masses. In detail:

1. The privileged votive Masses are certain votive Masses permitted by the Holy See, or prescribed by the rubrics, not for a grave and public cause, but for an appropriate reason approved by the Holy See, and endowed with certain liturgical privileges.

2. These Masses resemble a solemn votive Mass— they are permitted when a private votive Mass is not, and they follow the rite of a solemn  votive Mass (e.g., they have the Creed) —and so they are described as votive Masses celebrated "ad instar Missae votivae solemnis pro re gravi et simul publica causa."

3. Some of these privileged votive Masses are allowed only when they are solemn Masses, or at least sung, e.g., the Mass for the anniversary of the election or consecration of the bishop, the Mass for the Forty Hours' Prayer others may be celebrated as low Masses, e.g., the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart on the First Friday of the month.

4. Most of these privileged votive Masses are treated of in the general rubrics of the Missal; others are dealt with outside the Missal, e.g., the Masses for the Forty Hours' Prayer in the Clementine Instruction, those for the First Friday, or First Thursday of the month, in decrees of S.R.C.

5. Some privileged votive Masses are prescribed by the rubrics, or by a decree of S.R.C., or by command of the Ordinary; others are permitted by the rubrics, S.R.C., or Ordinary, and are in no way of obligation.

So, bearing these rules in mind, In 1889, to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Leo XIII granted this remarkable privilege that: "in those churches or oratories where, on the first Friday of each month, special exercises of piety are, with the approval of the Ordinary of the place, carried out in the morning, the Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart may be added to these exercises, provided that on that day no feast of the Lord, or double of the first class, or privileged feria, vigil, or octave falls.

2. This votive Mass is permitted not only in churches, but also in oratories —public, semipublic, or private. The privilege is for the first Friday of the month alone. On any other day the votive Mass of the  Sacred Heart may be said only when private votive Masses are allowed, and only on the conditions which govern such Masses.

3. What the special exercises of piety in honour of the Sacred Heart are to be is not determined. Rubricists give as examples Exposition for a short time with Benediction, the recitation of the Litanies of the Sacred Heart, or of acts of reparation and consecration to the Sacred Heart, a general (or almost general) Communion in honour of the Sacred Heart. These exercises must be carried out in the morning, and be connected with the Mass so as to form morally one act with it. Though the words of the decree "Missa ... addi valeat," suggests that the devotions should precede the Mass, they generally follow it, and rubricists regard this interpretation of the privilege as permissible. (Same goes for First Thursday and First Saturday)

4. Since the consent of the Ordinary of the place is necessary to add lawfully any exercise of devotion to the Mass the decree requires this consent for the devotions in honour of the Sacred Heart. The permission may be given either to individual priests who seek it, or to an entire diocese.

5. One votive Mass only is permitted, and it may be solemn, sung, or even a low Mass. (S.R.C. 3773, 3972) If, however, for some special reason, the exercises of devotion in honour of the Sacred Heart were, with the consent of the Ordinary, repeated for an entirely different congregation, some authorities think that the votive Mass might, with its special privileges, be celebrated a second time.

6. This one votive Mass — even though only a low Mass—is given almost all the privileges of a solemn votive Mass celebrated "pro re gravi et simul publica causa." Accordingly :

(a) It is considered as a sung Mass, and so if there be another sung or Conventual Mass in the same church (oratory), on the same day, the rules of Rubricae Generales VII. 2 and Additiones, V, 4 must be observed ;

(b) The Gloria and Creed are said;

(c) Ordinarily, there will be one prayer only. However, an occurring double of the second class, (the Votive Mass is not permitted on a Duplex I. classis) or an occurring greater feria (i.e., a Friday of Advent or Lent, or a Quarter Tense Friday), must be commemorated —under a different conclusion from the prayers of the Mass" — all such solemn votive Masses pro re gravi. The oratio imperata is omitted, unless it be pro re gravi, then it is to be and under a different conclusion from the prayer of the Mass.

(d) The last Gospel will be that of S. John, except an Office which has been commemorated in the Mass (e.g., a Friday of Lent) has a proper Gospel; then this will be recited (Addit. IX);

(c) The Leonine prayers may be omitted

(f) If the Mass be sung, the festal (solemn) tone for the prayers, Preface, and Pater noster should be used by the Celebrant.

7. The Votive Mass Is Not Permitted:

(1) on any feast of the Lord — this means of the Second Divine Person, "festum Christi Domini," and not of the Triune God, which Dominus sometimes means. The votive Mass is excluded not only on feasts of our Lord that are "of the same mystery" as the Sacred Heart, but on any feast of Christ. Moreover it is excluded on the vigil and — even only a simple octave —of any feast of our Lord, or even when such a feast is commemorated, or should be commemorated but, per accidens, the commemoration is excluded. The votive Mass is, therefore, prohibited on the Feast of the Purification, which is a feast of our Lord but it is not excluded within the octave of the consecration of a church,(the Votive Mass of First Friday is of course, excluded on the feast itself - anniversary - of the Dedication of a church, for this is Duplex I. classis) nor on the octave-day, for this feast is "festum Domini," meaning the Triune God, and not festum Christi Domini.(S.R.C. 4372)
Special Cases :

(a) The first Friday of January: If the first Friday should fall on January 2, 3, or 4, the Mass of the Sacred Heart may not be said. Instead —if a votive Mass be said, and not the Mass of the day— the Mass Puer natus est nobis of December 30, must be chosen. This Mass will, in this case, however, have the privileges of a solemn votive Mass pro re gravi, and so the occurring octave-day (of S. Stephen, or S. John, or the Holy Innocents) will not be commemorated. Neither will the impeded votive Mass of the S. Heart be commemorated,48 for the Mass Puer natus est is a Mass of Christ.

(b) If, in a particular church, the first Friday should fall within the octave of the Circumcision (e.g., in a church which has this mystery as Titular, and so celebrates the feast with an octave) the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart is not permitted. Instead the Mass of the octave of the Circumcision is said, with the privileges of a solemn votive Mass," and without the commemoration of the impeded votive Mass of the Sacred Heart (for the Circumcision is a feast of Christ).

(c) If the first Friday should fall on the Friday which immediately follows the octave of the Ascension — which Friday is liturgically regarded as a feast of Christ — the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart may not be said, even though the feast of a saint be celebrated on that day. If the Mass of a saint be not said, the Mass of the day and not the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart, must be said. In this case, however, the Mass of the day will have the privileges of a solemn votive Mass, and so, e.g., the common prayers' will be omitted.

(2) The votive Mass of First Friday is excluded on a double of the first class, and, naturally, it is prohibited on Good Friday, and on All Souls' Day.

(3) The votive Mass of First Friday is also excluded on a privileged vigil. The only one on which the first Friday could occur is the vigil of the Epiphany, for a first Friday could not occur on the vigil of Christmas, nor could the vigil of Pentecost occur on a Friday.

(4) The votive Mass of First Friday is excluded within all privileged octaves, not within common octaves. The only privileged octave (of the Universal Church) which is not an octave of a feast of our Lord is the octave of Pentecost, and so the votive Mass is excluded, if the first Friday falls within this octave. Decree 3712 says that the votive Mass is excluded on privileged ferias, but the case cannot occur, for these ferias are Ash Wednesday, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week. The votive Mass is not forbidden on other major ferias, i.e., the Fridays of Advent, Lent, Quarter Tense; nor is it prohibited if the Mass of an impeded Sunday is to be "resumed" on a first Friday.

(5) The votive Mass is also excluded in a church where there is but one priest, and where a Conventual Mass must be said, in conformity with the Office of the day. In this case, however, the Conventual Mass will have the privileges of a solemn votive Mass. The votive Mass is also excluded on a Friday which is a suppressed holiday, when there is only one Mass, and this the Missa pro populo.

To conclude, we used First Friday as the primary example but the same applies to First Saturday. And to reiterate and stress - what was just described above are privileged and solemn votives for First Friday and First Saturday and not the rules for General Private Votive Masses.

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Why is the Ascension Mentioned in the Canon of the Mass?

Dom Gueranger reflects in his unparalleled Liturgical Year as to why the Ascension is always mentioned in the Canon of the Mass. Here he expresses similar noteworthy sentiments:

The feast of the Ascension shows us the work of God in its completion. Hence it is that the Church, in her daily offering of the holy sacrifice, thus addresses the eternal Father: the words occur immediately after the consecration, and contain the motives of her confidence in the divine mercy: ‘Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy holy people, calling to mind the blessed Passion of Christ Thy Son our Lord, His Resurrection from the dead, and His admirable Ascension into heaven, offer unto Thy most excellent Majesty a pure, holy, and unspotted Host.’ 

It is not enough for man to hope in the merits of his Redeemer’s Passion, which cleansed him from his sins; it is not enough for him to add to the commemoration of the Passion that of the Resurrection, whereby our Redeemer conquered death; man is not saved, he is not reinstated, except by uniting these two mysteries with a third: the Ascension of the same Jesus who was crucified and rose again.

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Traditional Mass Propers for Our Lady of Fatima

May 13th, the anniversary of Our Lady appearing for the first time in Fatima, Portugal is the traditional feastday of St. Robert Bellarmine. In the Tridentine Mass, it is ordinarily St. Robert Bellarmine's feastday that is celebrated.

In a letter published and dated April 5, 2017, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei granted to all priests of the Latin Rite (secular or religious) the possibility of celebrating on the centenary of the first main apparition (May 13, 2017) the Mass of Our Lady of Fatima as a Votive Mass of the II Class, using the exact same texts and prayers of the Votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Such a privilege was intended though only for the 100 year anniversary in 2017.

However, even before Vatican II, Masses in honor of Our Lady of Fatima were likely celebrated in the Diocese of Leiria–Fátima where Fatima is located. The Traditional Propers for Our Lady of Fatima are the same as the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from August 22nd except the following specific Collect, Secret, and Post Communion prayers:

Collect:

While the multitude of our sins prevaileth, O Lord, we run to the special assistance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that we who are nurtured by the mercy of her Heart, may by the anticipation of Thy mercy obtain indulgence for our crimes. Through our Lord.

Peccatórum nostrórum, Dómine, multitúdine praevalénte, ad Beátae Mariae Virginis recúrrimos singuláre suffragium: ut, qui eiúsdem Cordis pietáte fovémur, tua misericórdia praeveniente, indulgéntiam delictórum consequámur. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sáecula saeculórum. Amen. [Latin Prayer Source]

Secret:

Convert, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our rebellious wills, and grant that through the aid of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, we may celebrate the Divine Mysteries with chaste favours. Through our Lord.

Post Communion:

Stretch out, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy right hand to Thy prayerful people, and grant aid, through the intercession the Virgin Mary, to them whom Thou benignly vouchsafest the affection of begging Thee, that they may turn away from all evil, and take possession of all good. Through our Lord.

The remaining propers are from the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22):

Introit:

Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. My heart overflows with good tidings; I sing my song to the king. Glory be...

Epistle: Eccli. 24:23-31

As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.

Gospel: John 19:25-27

At that time, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus, therefore, had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: "Woman, behold thy son." After that, he saith to the disciple: "Behold thy mother." And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.

Offertory:

My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; because He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

Communion:

Jesus said to His Mother, "Woman, behold, thy son." Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, thy mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

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Votive Mass in Times of Pestilence Mass Propers

Last weekend the Dominican Rite was celebrated in Berkeley, California. The Mass was the Votive Mass in Times of Pestilence (Recordare, Domine). This Votive Mass is the same in both the Traditional Roman Rite as in the Dominican Rite, among others.

This votive Mass has increased in popularity as of late due to the COVID-19 crisis and the spread of disease throughout much of the world, which has led to the widespread suspension of public Masses and the Sacraments. As I mentioned previously in my article "An Authentic Catholic Response to A Public Health Crisis" the offering of the Votive Mass in Times of Pestilence is one of the ways our priests can implore the help of God during the crisis.

As Father Augustine noted in his sermon, the Votive Mass in times of Pestilence came about in 1348 at the time of the Black Death when Pope Clement V reigned. The text of that Mass is given below. What is truly interesting though, as Father noted, is that the Mass text, while mentioning the disease, implores most of all help in the spiritual domain from our Lord. We do not ask God to remove the scourge outright. We implore that He be merciful to His people and keep us in grace. Written at a time when the Black Death killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population, the Church implored for spiritual help the most.

The Collect from the Mass reads: “O God, Who willest not the death of the sinner but that he should repent: welcome with pardon Thy people’s return to Thee: and so long as they are faithful in Thy service, do Thou in Thy clemency withdraw the scourge of Thy wrath.”

Are there things we need to be purged of and forgiven? And secondly, what more can I do to be of service to those in sickness or those in need during this economic time? These are key questions that come from this Mass. We do not ask God to remove the plague from us so that the world can return to its former evils. Our goal is to perform penance as the Ninevites of old under Jonah so that the scourge may be removed and we are interiorly more pleasing to the Lord.

Click here to download these prayers in PDF.

Introit (2 Kings 24:16)

Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy covenant and say to the destroying Angel: Now hold thy hand, and let not the land be made desolate, and destroy not every living soul. (P.T. Alleluia, alleluia.) Psalm. Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. ℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. — Be mindful, O Lord …

Collect

O God, who willest not the death of the sinner but that he should repent: welcome with pardon Thy people’s return to Thee: and so long as they are faithful in Thy service, do Thou in Thy clemency withdraw the scourge of Thy wrath. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son…

Lesson (2 Kings 24:15 – 19; 25)

In those days: The Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men. And when the Angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the Angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the Angel of the Lord was by the thrashing-floor of Areuna the Jebusite. And David said to the Lord, when he saw the Angel striking the people: It is I, I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I beseech Thee, be turned against me, and against my father’s house. And the Prophet Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashing-floor of Areuna the Jebusite. And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him: and he built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace-offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Gradual (Psalm 106:20 – 21) 

The Lord sent his word, and healed them: and delivered them from their death. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to Him: and His wonderful works to the children of men.

Tract (Psalm 102:10) [Prayed between Septuagesima Sunday and the end of Lent]

O Lord, repay us not according to the sins we have committed, nor according to our iniquities. (Ps. 78:8-9.) O Lord, remember not our former iniquities, let Thy mercies speedily prevent us: for we are become exceeding poor. Help us, O God, our Savior: and for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for Thy Name’s sake

Alleluia (Psalm 68:2) [Prayed during Pascaltide in place of Gradual and Tract]

Alleluia, alleluia. Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. Alleluia. (Zach. 8:7-8.) I will save my people Israel in the evil day: and I will be their God in truth and in justice. Alleluia.

Gospel (Luke 4:38 – 44)

At that time Jesus rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought Him for her. And standing over her, He commanded the fever: and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them. And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them to Him. But He, laying His hands on every one of them, healed them. And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: Thou art the Son of God; and rebuking them, He suffered them not to speak, for they knew that He was Christ. And when it was day, going out He went into a desert place: and the multitudes sought Him, and came unto Him: and they stayed Him that He should not depart from them. To whom He said: To other cities also I must preach the Kingdom of God: for therefore am I sent. And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Offertory (Num. 16:48)

The high priest stood between the dead and the living, having a golden censer in his hand: and offering the sacrifice of incense, he appeased the wrath of God, and the affliction from the Lord ceased.

Secret

Let the sacrifice which we now offer succour us, O Lord; may it wholly release us from sin and deliver us from all ruin and destruction. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee …

Preface

Preface of Lent or Eastertide or Common Preface, as determined by the season

Communion (Luke 6:17, 18, 19)

A multitude of sick and they that were troubled with unclean spirits, came to Him: for virtue went out from Him, and healed all. (P.T. Alleluia.)

Post Communion

Graciously hear us, O God our Savior: deliver Thy people from the terrors of Thy wrath, and assure them of that safety which is the gift of Thy mercy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son: Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

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Pre-1955 Holy Week Livestreams

As a follow up to my previous post, Comprehensive List of Live Streaming Traditional Latin Masses, here is a link of some places where you may watch live streams of the pre-1955 Holy Week services. Why is the 1954 Holy Week superior in many respects to the changes in 1955 that became part of the 1962 Missal? That topic is worthy of significant study. I would direct you to the Pre 1955 Holy Week Website or to the series of articles on this topic published by the New Liturgical Movement.

Many chapels and oratories of the FSSP and the ICKSP will be offering the pre-1955 rites. Unfortunately, the SSPX is stuck in a 1962 only mentality so you will notice they are not listed here. Besides the FSSP chapels that are listed here, more can be found on the FSSP website.

St. Mary's Oratory in Wausau, Wisconsin

UPDATED. They will now be live streaming on Youtube through Sensus Fidelium and not through their Facebook Page, as was done for Palm Sunday. All times are in Central Daylight Time (CDT).

Mater Ecclesia in Berlin, New Jersey

The liturgies will be live-streamed on the parish's Facebook. Yet the parish advised, "The ceremonies will be very stark and most basic. This will be the lowest Holy Week we have ever had at Mater, but we will plow ahead in the Spiritus Domini." Times are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

St. Joseph's Shrine in Detroit, Michigan

These are all in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles in Gower, Missouri

All broadcasts may be watching, along with other parts of the Divine Office, on their website.

St. Stephen the First Martyr in Sacramento, California

All times in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT):  Palm Sunday 8 a.m.; Holy Thursday 6 p.m.; Good Friday 5 p.m.; Holy Saturday Vigil Mass 4 p.m.; Easter Sunday 8 a.m. Livestreamed on YouTube.

St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, MO

All times in Central Daylight Time. The live stream is viewable on YouTube.

THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS WILL BE OFFERING THE PRE-1955 RITES ALONG WITH THE PRE-1955 PRAYER FOR THE JEWS. THE ABOVE LOCATIONS WILL USE THE MODIFIED PRAYER CREATED BY POPE BENEDICT XVI.

St. Pius V Chapel in Oyster Bay, New York (SSPV)

St. Gertrude the Great in West Chester, Ohio

All liturgies will be live-streamed on their website and available for playback later. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.

Additional locations and times will be listed here as I learn of them.

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Traditional Benedictine Mass Propers for St. Benedict

Although often impeded by Lent, March 21st is the feast of St. Benedict, the illustrious founder of the Benedictines and of monasticism.

The propers (i.e. the prayers and readings) for the Feast of St. Benedict in the Tridentine Mass are simply taken from the Common of Abbots. However, tucked in the back of many hand missals is a section of propers "In Some Places and Congregations." That section gives the special propers unique to the Feast of St. Benedict when said in Benedictine Churches. In the Angelus Press Daily Missal, these may be found on page 1641. They are as follows:

INTROIT 

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honor of Saint Benedict the Abbot, on whose solemnity the Angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God. Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, in the city of our God, on His holy mountain. Glory be to the father. (Ps. 47:2) Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honor of Saint Benedict the Abbot, on whose solemnity the Angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God.

COLLECT 

O Almighty and Eternal God, Who didst on this day lead Thy most holy Confessor Benedict out of the prison of the flesh and raise him up to heaven, grant, we pray, the pardon of all sin to Thy servants who celebrate this feast, so that while with glad hearts they rejoice at his glory, they may also by his intercession hav epart in his merits. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

EPISTLE 
Ecclus. 50:111,13,14

Behold the great confessor who in his life propped up the house, and in his days fortified the temple. By him also the height of the temple was founded, the double building and the high walls of the temple. In his days the wells of water flowed out, and they were filled as the sea above measure. He took care of his nation, and delivered it from destruction. He prevailed to enlarge the city, and obtained glory in his conversation with the people: and enlarged the entrance of the house and the court. He shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full. And as the sun when it shineth, so did he shine in the temple of God. And as the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds, and as the flower of roses in the days of the spring, and as the lilies that are on the brink of the water, and as the sweet smelling frankincense in the time of summer. As a bright fire, and frankincense burning in the fire. As a massy vessel of gold, adorned with every precious stone. As an olive tree budding forth, and a cypress tree rearing itself on high. About him was the ring of his brethren: and as the cedar planted in mount Libanus, so as branches of him, and all the sons of Aaron in their glory.

GOSPEL 
Matthew 19:27-29

Then Peter answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my names sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.


SEQUENCE
Laeta quies magni ducis

The happy death of our great Leader bringing the benefits of a new day is commemorated now.

To the pious mind charity is given; so let first resound in a heart aflame with love what is brought forth in song and ceremony.

As along the pathway of the East he rises, let us admire the splendor of our patriarch.

The numerous race that from him sprang makes him shine as the sun, make him like another Abraham.

A raven you see ministering to him while as Elias he hides within a humble cave.

He appears another Eliseus when he calls back the axe from the torrent's rocky depth.

Purity of life make him another Joseph, knowledge of the future makes him another Jacob.

May he be mindful of his family, and bring us to the joys of Christ Who lives forever. Amen.

OFFERTORY

Thou hast given him his heart's desire, O Lord, and hast not withholden from him the will of his lips: Thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones.

SECRET

Be appeased, O Lord, by the gifts we offer in honor of Thy most holy Confessor, Benedict, and through his prayers grant Thy servants pardon of their sins. Through our Lord.

COMMUNION

The faithful and wise servant, whom his lord setteth over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season.

POST COMMUNION

After receiving Thy saving Sacraments, we humbly pray, O Lord, our God, that through the prayers of Thy most holy Confessor Benedict, what we perform for his festival may profit us unto salvation. Through our Lord.

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Comprehensive List of Live Streaming Traditional Latin Masses

Updated 11/23/2020

With the current crisis in regards to the coronavirus, many Dioceses or governments have suspended all Masses and gatherings. This is unprecedented in the Church. As a result, in most places, the faithful have been dispensed from Sunday Mass. Yet, while it is possible to be dispensed from the precept of assisting at Mass, the divine law requires that Sundays are nevertheless honored. We must refrain from servile works on Sundays, pray, worship God as we can, and perform works of mercy, in addition to using the time for rest and leisure with family or friends. See: Top 5 Ways to Sanctify Sunday When Mass is Suspended

In order for the faithful to help sanctify Sunday, many parishes are now live streaming their Masses. In fact, many of the links here offer daily streaming - even the weekday Masses and the devotions.

During this Lent, we especially bear these crosses which the Lord has given us. When Lent started, we never planned to receive this Cross, but like our Lord, we must bear it with patience and resignation.

Some of these live streams are only during this period of crisis. Others are available all year round. If you know of any more, please list them in the comment section below. Some of these and more are listed on LatinMass.live as well.

Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

• LiveMass.net (with Masses broadcast from Los Angeles, Warrington, Sarasota, Fribourg, and Guadalajara). You may view the daily schedule here. Available Year-Round
• SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome (Mass every day at 1:30 pm EDT)
• FSSP Grenoble
• FSSP Sacramento
• FSSP Parramatta

Society of St. Pius V

• Immaculate Conception Church, Cincinnati, OH

Society of St. Pius X

• SSPX New Zealand
• SSPX Florida
• FSSPX Czech Republic
• FSSPX Italia
• SSPX France
• SSPX Phoenix
• SSPX Belgium
• SSPX Brazil
• SSPX Germany
• SSPX Switzerland
• SSPX US District Office

Institute of Christ the King

• Immaculate Heart of Mary Oratory, San Jose, CA (Sunday, 10:00 am; Monday- Friday, 12:00 pm; First Saturday, 10:00 am; other Saturdays, 7:30 am. Pacific Times)
• Most Precious Blood of Jesus Parish, Pittsburgh, PA (Friday, 12 noon; Tuesday, also at 7 pm; Saturday at 9 a.m.; Sunday, Low Mass at 8 a.m., sung Mass at 11 a.m. Eastern Time)
• Institute's Seminary in Italy
• Shrine of Christ the King, Chicago, IL (They have set up a special Facebook page called Live Stream Liturgies for their Facebook streaming.)
• St. Stanislaus, Milwaukee, WI (Low Mass, Monday-Thursday at 12:00 pm, Friday at 6:30 pm, Saturday at 9:00 am. Sunday, Low Mass with organ at 8:00 am, High Mass at 10:00 am. Central Time)

Diocesan / Independent / Others in the USA

• St. Gertrude the Great, West Chester, OH, Available Year-Round
• St. John Cantius, Chicago, IL (Monday - Friday 8 AM CST, Sundays 7:30 AM & 12:30 PM CST. Exceptional quality of streaming).
• Servants of the Holy Family, Colorado Springs, CO Available Year-Round
• Saint Jude Shrine, Stafford, TX Available Year-Round
• Mater Ecclesia, Berlin NJ
• Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, Charles Town, WV
• Most Holy Trinity Seminary, Brooksfield, FL

Churches in England & Wales

• Bournemouth Oratory, Bournemouth
• Cardiff Oratory, Cardiff
• Holy Rood, North Hinksey
• Ss. Peter, Paul & Philomena, New Brighton
• St. Augustine, Ramsgate
• St. Dominic's Priory Church, London
• St. Mary's, Gosport
• St. Mary's Shrine, Warrington
• The Oratory, Birmingham
• The Oratory (St Wilfrid), York

Australia

• Notre Dame Benedictine Priory, Tasmania

Eastern Catholic Rites

• LiveLiturgy.com (numerous Divine Liturgies and prayers from different Eastern Rites in the United States and throughout the world)
• Holy Transfiguration Melkite, McLean, VA 
• St George Melkite, Birmingham, AL

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What Should I Do For My First Time at a Latin Mass?

If you are new to the idea of attending the Tridentine Latin Mass, you may not know what to do. What should I wear? What do I need to say? How will I sit and stand? Do I need to cover my head?

Above all, don't let these questions prevent you from attending the Most Beautiful Thing This Side of Heaven - the Latin Mass said according to the Church's Traditional Rubrics. More and more people are thankfully finding the Latin Mass and returning to it.

Fr. Eric Andersen recently well advised those attending a Latin Mass for the first time:

“If you are new to the Latin Mass, my recommendation to you is not to worry about how to participate. Put down the booklet all together. Watch and listen in the silence and let your prayer arise. Have no expectations. Let yourself be surprised. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide. Treat this time like a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. Realize that during this Holy Hour, something magnificent is happening: Jesus Christ, the High Priest, is offering the Holy Sacrifice.”

The Mass is truly the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross and this is clearly shown by the gestures, reverence, and actions of the priest. Stop attending the Novus Ordo with its Communion in the Hand, watered down prayers, irreverence, and lack of mystery. Do not let the fear of the unknown trouble you. I travel around the country all the time and have attended Latin Masses everywhere I go - even around the world. I am never bothered. No one thankfully ever asks me why I'm there. I am not forced to participate in any way with the signing, the prayers, the greetings, or more. I am there to worship the Triune God in the one, true, and perfect Sacrifice.

If you are looking for someone to read, Treasure and Tradition: The Ultimate Guide to the Latin Mass is an excellent, beautifully done book.

What to Say? Do I need to wear a veil? How do I receive Holy Communion?

For those who do want to still get a good understanding of what the Mass is - what will be said and how it will be said, I found these series of videos to be quite helpful. As to when to sit and stand and kneel, just follow everyone else. You are not required to know this. And there is no requirement to say anything. The priest and server are able to say all of the prayers.

For receiving our Lord in Holy Communion, you must be a baptized Catholic in the state of grace. If you have mortal sin on your soul, you must go to Sacramental Confession before receiving Communion. Assuming you are in the state of grace, then you may approach the Communion rail with everyone else when it is time to receive our Lord. You receive kneeling - though the old and those physically unable to kneel may stand at the Communion rail. Communion is received only on the tongue - never in the hand - and you do not need to say "Amen" or any prayer. The priest will say a prayer in Latin for you as he gives you the Body of our Lord.

And for women, while I believe all women should bring a veil and cover their heads, the overwhelming majority of Latin Masses would never ask a woman to leave who does not do so. In fact, I've never seen it or even heard of that happening. If there is a basket of veils at the door with a sign for women to wear one, the woman should politely follow this custom and veil. Simply borrow a veil - any color will work - and return it after Mass. If there is not a notice or a basket of veils, which is the case at the overwhelming number of churches, then you of course may attend Mass even though you do not have a veil.

As for men, it is not appropriate for a man to cover his head in Church so remove all hats or caps when entering a church and do not wear them until you leave the church completely.

But of course, as Fr. Eric well said - knowing what will happen is not required in the least. You are only asked to be in physical attendance and to lift up your hearts and minds in prayer. All else is extra. The most important element is something you can already do - pray and offer your prayers in union with the priest at the altar.

The Latin Mass Step by Step:

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Online Tridentine Mass Stipend Requests

For those of us who attend the Tridentine Mass, we may find it difficult to arrange a time to have a Mass said for our intentions. Whether it be for the repose of the soul of a deceased friend or family member, a Mass said in thanksgiving for birthday blessings, or a Mass to beseech the Divine Majesty for a particular intention, we often have the need to request Masses often throughout the year. But many Traditional Mass chapels limit the number of Masses to a certain number per family or the next available date for a Mass to be said could be weeks, if not months, away.

Thankfully, there are a number of organizations and orders who offer the Tridentine Mass (some 1962 Missals and some pre-1955 Missals) and accept online Mass stipends. Some of these are religious orders which could really use the stipend as a means to support the priest as some traditional priests have stipends as a sole (or at least) a major source of their support.

Here is a list of 5 Orders / Communities that accept online Mass stipends:

1. St. Gertrude the Great

The majority of the Mass intentions received through this site are passed along to poorer traditional Catholic priests we know in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria. They rely on these stipends to provide a living. Individual Mass stipends are $25 and Gregorian Masses are offered for $800. You may also request a Novena of Masses for $225. You may visit the Mass request page here.

2. Servants of the Holy Family

For $21, you can request a Mass to be said by the Servants of the Holy Family. $1 is for processing charges and $20 will go to the priest. You may request a Mass here. You may also request a Gregorian Mass for $930. $30 is for processing fees which can be avoided if you pay via a check in the mail. You may request a Gregorian Mass here.

3. Fraternité Saint Vincent Ferrier

Based in France, the Fraternité Saint Vincent Ferrier is a Catholic religious institute of pontifical right that follows Dominican spirituality and uses the traditional Dominican Rite. Masses may be requested for 17 Euros online here. A novena of Masses may be requested for 170 Euros or Gregorian Masses for 550 Euros.

4. Congregation of St. Pius V

The SSPV, through their Immaculate Heart of Mary seminary, accepts Mass requests online as well. The cost is $21, which includes the processing fee of $1. Request a Mass here.

5. Society of St. Pius X

Lastly, unfortunately, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) does not accept online Mass requests. Their page provides information on where to mail a check. Their current stipend amount is $20

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Monthly Tridentine Mass at St. Catherine of Siena in Burlingame

Yesterday I had the privilege, for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, to attend the 5:30 PM Latin Mass that is held monthly on the 4th Sunday (not last but 4th) of the month.  It was a wonderful experience and I only wish the Mass was better publicized.  Only around 20 people were present and yet Father gave an excellent sermon and the Mass was even a Missa Cantata with a schola that consisted of five members.

The Mass itself was a little on the long side at around 1 hour and 20 minutes but that was due to a reverent and prayerful experience.  Granted the Mass only takes place once a month so the ceremonies did lack the polish we come to expect in a Latin Mass.  For example, the servers walked too far ahead at the opening procession and had to go both after noticing Father wasn't fully vested yet, some servers were unsure where to stand, and the handouts were printed for the propers for the incorrect Sunday in the liturgical year. The music also had too many breaks - different from the soft musical interludes from the organ I have come to expect during the High Mass.

But the Mass was reverent and solemn.  The Mass was preceded by a recitation of the Rosary in Latin at 5 PM!  It's rare to see the Rosary said before Mass and I've never seen it said in Latin, even before an SSPX Mass.  So that was unique and nice to see its connection with Catholic Tradition. And it's quite rare to find an evening Latin Mass on Sunday in the Bay Area so this is nice for Catholics who travel into the Bay area and arrive late or who sleep in on Sunday morning. This Mass location is in addition to those highlighted in my article: 6 Traditional Latin Mass Locations for Bay Area Catholics Reviewed

I very much wish that the Latin Mass Society of San Francisco, St. Catherine's parish, and others in the community would make this Mass more widely known!  I'd go weekly if they had it offered. 

There is a simple website regarding this monthly Mass so if you have questions, please reach out to the Mid-Peninsula Latin Mass.

Photos from the Mass (you are free to share these as long as you attribute them to this blog article):

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First Mass of Jesús Cano Moreno & RP Guiscafré.

Some beautiful images from Facebook showing the first Mass of both of these priests.  Let us pray for them and for their work on behalf of the salvation of souls.

 

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The Journey of a Priest: Sacred Heart of Jesus Seminary

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The Divine Office & the Mass: Inseparable

Even if the Liturgical Office could be separated from the Mass, we should still be able to say that it unites those who take part in it to the intentions of Christ and His Church; but the two cannot be separated. The Divine Office is the prelude and preparation as well as the setting and sequence of the Eucharistic Mysteries. Archeologists have traced the many relationships between the Divine Office and the Mass. For example, the office of Matins presents a striking analogy with the night or morning service held in the primitive Church as a preparation for the Mysteriesi a reminiscence of which is still to be found in the early part of Holy Mass as we know it.

The Psalms of the Nocturns correspond to the Introit and Gradual; while in the Lessons from the Old Testament or from the Epistles, in the second nocturn giving the legends of the Saints, in the Homily on the Gospel, there are relics of the Prophecies, the Apostolic Messages to the Churches, the Acts of the Martyrs and the parts of the Gospel, which were read in those early celebrations. Then, the Catechumens were dismissed, and this Missa was followed by the Holy Sacrifice. According to some scholars, the Te Deum may be nothing else but an ancient kind of IZZatio or Preface. This close dependence of the Breviary on the first part of Mass is at least a very plausible theory.

Thus, from its connection with the Divine Mysteries and because it is the official prayer of the Church, the Divine Office leads to union with the purposes of God and with the intentions of Christ and His Church.

Source: Liturgical Prayer by Clerissac

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How Many Times a Year Must a Priest Say Mass?

 

Taken from a book from Moral and Pastoral Theology: The sacraments in general, baptism, confirmation, Holy Eucharist, penance, indulgences, censures by Henry Davis 1938

All priests are bound to celebrate Mass several times (three or four times at least and on any days) each year. There is no clear reason for assigning any particular days.  This obligation is a grave one, and probably based on divine precept.  It is, of course, highly becoming that every priest should, if possible, celebrate daily, and this is the more important if the faithful wish to receive Holy Communion...

Father John Laux in Mass and the Sacraments adds:

Priests who are not pastors are bound to say Mass several times a year. If they do not say Mass on Sundays and holy-days of obligation, they are obliged to assist at Mass just like the faithful.

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Missionaries of St. John the Baptist - Park Hills, Kentucky

About the MSJB:

The purposes for which this private association, the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist (MSJB), is formed:

(1) To work toward the establishment of a new religious Institute of Diocesan Right within the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky under the authority of the Bishop of said diocese;

(2) To establish a community in view of (1) in which common religious life is lived in a more disciplined and traditional way including the celebration of the liturgy according to the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite, with the liturgical books of 1962 being normative. The Missionaries of St. John the Baptist desire to be faithful to the observance of the liturgical traditions according to the dispositions of the motu proprio, Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, issued on July 2, 1988, as well as the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum (cf. art. 3), issued on July 7, 2007, and promulgated on September 14, 2007.

Explanation of Our Shield

The shield is for battle in the Lord’s army and is blue for Our Lady of Victories.

The Sacred and Immaculate Hearts at the center show how the whole world needs to have them for its focus. All the arrows of the cross point inward to them! Without them man is lost! Thus, as they have asked of us, we must give them everything in a total consecration and spend our lives in dedication to them... as the very center of counter-revolution!

The shell is for baptism when we first received the armor of God as members of the Church Militant on earth. It also stresses the importance of St. John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ.
Three drops of water for the Most Holy Trinity as well as the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience (which act as a second baptism for religious), and the virtues of faith, hope and charity (given at baptism).

The fleur-de-lys is for Our Lady and for France, the country of our founder, Fr. Jean Baptiste Rauzan (d. 1847), as well as the purity of heart needed for religious and sound preaching.

The Cross is that of St. John the Baptist, being red for his martyrdom.

The sword is for preaching, referring to the saying from Isaias 49:2 “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.”

The motto of the Missionaries is that of St. John the Baptist: “A voice of one crying in the desert, prepare ye the way of the Lord” (Matt. 3:3).

A Little History

This private association of the faithful, officially recognized as the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist (MSJB), stems from the spiritual legacy of the Congregation of the Priests of Mercy, which was originally founded at Lyon, France, in 1808, by the Very Reverend, Jean Baptiste Rauzan, a zealous priest of Bordeaux. Fr. Rauzan noted that after the great upheaval which the Church suffered in France during the Revolution, the clergy and people sought from heaven extraordinary ways to foster the salvation of souls. Many ways were employed to revitalize the faith. A congregation of missionaries was desired which would be at the call of their excellencies, the bishops. Consequently, Archbishop Joseph Cardianal Fesch, requested that Fr. Rauzan found such a missionary society first at Lyons under the Empire in 1808, and organized at Paris during the first days of the Restoration in 1814. These first Missionaries of France received, without difficulty, the privileges of a legally constituted society.

On February 18, 1834, Pope Gregory XVI, of holy memory, established and erected this little band of missionaries as a pontifical society under the title of the Priests of Mercy of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By 1961, the Holy See fulfilled the long held desire of Fr. Rauzan by further elevating the institute to a full religious congregation with the members adding the public vow of poverty to that of chastity and obedience.

In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, mitigations in religious discipline and liturgical revisions were observed in many institutes that caused some religious to seek restoration. Two members of the Congregation of the Priests of Mercy, inspired by various papal documents and exhortations calling for reform, sought permission to establish a new institute that would not only embrace a more rigorous consecrated life, but would also employ all the Sacraments according to their usus antiquior. The superior and the council of the congregation, as well as the Bishop of Covington, Kentucky, Roger J. Foys, agreed to this new foundation.

The Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist seek to maintain the spiritual and liturgical patrimony left to them by Fr. Jean Baptiste Rauzan, including making use of much of his original rule. The same revolutionary errors he confronted and corrected are now fully entrenched in the modern world. Like the great Precursor of our Lord, therefore, we, too, are a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord and making straight His paths (Isaias 40:30), so that all things may be restored in Christ the King. Such counter-revolutionary work within ourselves, within our community, within the membership of Holy Church, and within society in general, however, is tempered by modern man's need for the Mercy of God. Since our dearest Lord came not to condemn the world but to save the world (John 12:47), we look to imitate the methods of the greatest of Prophets and Fr. Rauzan who were sent to turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest (God) come and strike the earth with anathema (Malachias 4:6).

Vocations

For more information, please visit their website: https://www.msjb.info/vocations/ 

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The (5) Sequences in the Church: A History and Tradition of Sequences

What is a Sequence? If you are unfamiliar with the Traditional (Tridentine) Latin Mass, you may not know.  The sequence is the chanted hymn that is recited before the proclamation of the Gospel during the Mass.  The Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes:

The Sequence (Sequentia)—or, more accurately as will be seen further on, the Prose (Prosa)—is the liturgical hymn of the Mass, in which it occurs on festivals between the Gradual and the Gospel, while the hymn, properly so called, belongs to the Breviary. The Sequence differs also in structure and melody from the hymn; for whilst all the strophes of a hymn are always constructed according to the same metre and rhythm and are sung to the same melody as the first strophe, it is the peculiarity of the Sequence, due to its origin, that (at least in those of the first epoch) each strophe or pair of strophes is constructed on a different plan. A sequence usually begins with an independent introductory sentence or an Alleluia (an intonation with its own melody); then follow several pairs of strophes, each pair with its own melody; in the earlier periods the conclusion is uniformly an independent sentence of shorter or longer form.

The sequence which is used in the Traditional Mass is used only on five occasions in the 1962 Missal though it used to be commonplace before the reforms of St. Pius V.  The Book Catholic Music through the Ages: Balancing the Needs of a Worshipping Church states that Sequences were so plentiful before the reforms of St. Pius V that nearly every Mass had its own sequence.  Fr. Michael Wurtz's July 2011 article on Sequences concurs when he writes, "From the 9th century when sequences first began to appear and later in the 12th century when they grew in complexity, hundreds of these hybrid Alleluia verses-hymns were composed and used in the Mass." And commenting on the work of St. Pius V's reform, Michael Davies further writes, "[he] expelled the host of long sequences that crowded the Mass continually, but kept what are undoubtedly the five best"

In the Missal of Pope St. Pius V from 1570, the many number of sequences in the Roman Rite was reduced to only four:

• Victimae paschali laudes for Easter
• Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost 
• Lauda Sion Salvatorem for Corpus Christi 
• Dies Irae for All Souls and in Masses for the Dead

Nearly 150 years after St. Pius V's changes, the 13th century Stabat Mater for Our Lady of Sorrows was added to this list, bringing the total to the number five.  These are the same five which survive in the 1962 Missal that is used today in the Traditional Mass.

Also of note however, certain religious orders retain their own Rite of Mass and the possibility of using other sequences.  For instance, the Christmas sequence "Laetabundus," not present in the Roman Missal, is found in the Dominican Missal. This sequence is permitted for the Third Mass of Christmas, the Epiphany, and Candlemas.

Quiz your Catholic friends and see how many of them can name all five!

Image Source: Tridentine Mass in Strasbourg Cathedral

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Pastoral Care Commands a Return of the Old Mass

 

Guest Post by David Martin

With the ensuing eclipse of the Faith ever enshrouding the Church in darkness, enough cannot be done to push for a return of the Traditional Latin Mass, since this is the eternal torch that led the way through the centuries with generation after generation of sanctified fruits. (Mt. 7:20)

Unfortunately, some today see the old Mass as a specialty item or nostalgia piece, forgetting that it was the essential center-piece that Christ gave his Church for the preservation of its doctrine and unity. God's vision for the Church was that it be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, and that it be bonded by one universal language and rite.

Hence a universal return of the Latin Mass would be a powerful means of restoring unity to the Church against the influence of the new Mass which has divided the Church since Vatican II. For with the Mass said today in the language of each country (vernacular), this has fostered the idea that the Church is something that is secular and divided, as opposed to holy and universal, so a return of Latin is needed to help bring about a true unity as it existed before the Council.

However, the tables will never completely be turned back in the right direction unless Rome reverses what was the single most destructive innovation implemented after Vatican II, and that was when they turned the priest around so that he says the Mass facing the people with his back to the tabernacle. (versus populum) What has ensued is a historic shift of focus such that the emphasis today is on the community instead of on God.

This detriment is cited by acclaimed liturgist Monsignor Klaus Gamber, whom Pope Benedict while a cardinal proclaimed as a prophet for our time: "We must draw the necessary conclusion and admit that the celebration facing the people is, in fact, an error. In the final analysis, celebration facing the people is a turning towards man, and away from God."  (The Reform of the Roman Liturgy, 1993)

Fr. Gamber speaks a pure sentence. The Faithful today have been taken up with all manner of distraction and adulterated teachings (e.g. Amoris Laetita), the reason being Christ is no longer central before the public eye, so the old Mass is needed to pull the faithful back into focus. Christ needs to be lifted up in center-view before the Church so that the Mystical Body can be healed of the many serpentine bites that now afflict it. (Numbers 21:9, John 3:14)

Such a renewal is only Magisterial. The offering of Mass facing the altar (ad orientem) has its roots in the Old Testament and has been the universal norm for the entire span of the New Testament. The Old Testament offerings facing the tabernacle were a figure of Christ’s Sacrifice that would continue perpetually in this manner through the priests, so that since the time of Christ there is no evidence of the Church having deviated from this pattern.

This point is affirmed by Monsignor Gamber: "We can say and convincingly demonstrate that neither in the Eastern nor the Western Church was there ever a celebration facing the people." (The Reform of the Roman Liturgy) Even from the time of Abel to the time of Pope Paul VI, the sacrificial offering was always done facing God.

Vatican II marked the first time ever that priests were asked to depart from this age-old pattern. The September 26, 1964, Instruction on the Liturgy, Inter Oecumenici, now ruled that "The main altar should preferably be freestanding, to permit walking around it and celebration facing the people." (Article 91)

This one change alone served mightily to deflect the Barque from its chartered course. This was the hub that set into motion the new order of liturgical chaos that has caused a wide body of the church to turn its back on Christ. Though some initially thought the liturgical reform was inspired of God, 1 the Novus Ordo was born of an aversion for God's goodness and a desire to "turn towards man, and away from God."

It was for reason that Pope Paul VI, in recounting the destructive aftermath of Vatican II, declared to the world: "From some fissure the smoke of satan entered into the temple of God." (June 29, 1972) The adversary knew that if he could get his foot in the door, he could use the Church’s liturgical apparatus as a tiller to drive the Church shipwreck onto secular coasts.

Monsignor Gamber, whose work was highly praised by Cardinal Ratzinger, had this to say about the change of liturgy: "The liturgical reform welcomed with so much idealism and hope by many priests and lay people alike has turned out to be a liturgical destruction of startling proportions, a debacle worsening with each passing year. Instead of the hoped-for renewal of the Church and of Catholic life, we are now witnessing a dismantling of the traditional values and piety on which our faith rests."

Cardinal Ratzinger himself had this to say: "What happened after the Council was something else entirely: in place of liturgy as the fruit of development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over the centuries, and replaced it—as in a manufacturing process—with a fabrication, a banal on-the-spot product." (From his preface to The Reform of the Roman Liturgy)

Cardinal Ottaviani, who was special adviser to Pope Paul VI, refuted the New Mass in a letter to His Holiness on September 25, 1969, saying, "The Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass." (From his cover letter to his famous Ottaviani Intervention on the New Mass)

"The Catholic theology of the Mass" is a reference to the Sacred Mysteries. During the elevation of the Host and Chalice, the Sacrifice of Calvary is reenacted, whereby the substance of bread and wine is changed into the very substance of Jesus Christ, so that the substance of bread and wine ceases to be. It is now the substance of Jesus Christ, only and entirely, without any other substance mingling with it. Only the accidents or physical properties of bread and wine remain (e.g. taste, smell, touch), but the substance itself is now Christ, and only Christ. This Divine substance under the appearance of bread and wine is what we call The Mystery of Faith.

All care must be taken to preserve the integrity of the liturgical text as it was given to us by the holy men of God, that it might impart the proper light and understanding concerning this Mystery of Faith—the very heart of the Mass. The liturgy is supposed to enhance our awareness of this Mystery by rendering honor to our Eucharistic King on the altar, but today's liturgy has diverted the attention away from Christ and turned the Mass into an occasion of festive encounter between the congregation and priest.

During an international teleconference on August 30, 2016, Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former prefect of the Apostolic Signatura lamented the scandal of Mass versus populum, arguing that it turns the Mass into a performance or dialogue. "There’s the great temptation when the priest is facing the people to see him as some kind of a performer," the former St. Louis archbishop said. "Instead of the priest together with the people relating to God, somehow it becomes an interaction between the priest and the people."

This liturgical aberration, when combined with flippant liturgical text spiked with political agenda, make-shift Eucharistic prayers, and casual socializing before Communion with the hand shake of peace, have worked together to bring about what can be called the greatest crisis facing the Church today, namely, the loss of the awareness of the supernatural presence of Christ in his sanctuary. We might say that a form of Eucharistic atheism prevails today, thanks to the modern Mass.

It was for reason that St. Pope Pius V issued ex-cathedra his superlative papal bull Quo Primum (July 14, 1570), whereby he instituted a perpetual mandate that the Mass of the Council of Trent alone be said. "This present Constitution can never be revoked or modified, but shall ever remain valid and have the force of law." Therein he makes clear that any future efforts to alter or deviate from the Tridentine formula of the Mass will "incur the 2 wrath of  Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul."

What is interesting is that Pope Paul VI, so often accused of imposing the new Mass, never forbade the old Mass. In 1986, a panel of nine Vatican cardinals concluded that Pope Paul VI never abrogated the Mass of Pius V, nor did he mandate the New Mass, nor did he grant bishops the right to forbid or restrict priests from saying the Tridentine Latin Mass. Pope John Paul II had commissioned the cardinals to look into the legal status of the old Mass, as it was his intention to bring its legality to light.

This laid the groundwork for Benedict XVI to continue the process of liberating the old rite, which he did via Summorum Pontificum (July 7, 2007), which reaffirmed the legality of the pre-conciliar Latin Mass. The Motu Proprio did not make the old Mass legal, but made official what already was the case, namely, that it always was the right of priests to say the old Mass without permission from their bishops. After all, if priests today do not need permission to say a Mass that was never mandated, they certainly don’t need permission to say the Mass that was. Do they need permission to keep the Ten Commandments too?

If Pope Paul VI had truly mandated the New Mass, he would have specified this, but this was never done. Nowhere in the 1969 Missale Romanum does it mandate that the New Mass has to be said. The document merely mandates the publication of the new missal, ordering that "the prescriptions of this Constitution go into effect [are validated] November 30th of this year" and that it "be firm and effective now and in the future." But there is no mention of its use. The document was issued as an indult for those that wanted the new Mass.

Pius V, on the contrary, laid down the law with his subjects, saying, "We order them in virtue of holy obedience to chant or to read the [Tridentine] Mass according to the rite and manner and norm herewith laid down by Us." He said: "Let Masses not be sung or read according to any other formula than that of this Missal published by Us" mandating that "This new rite alone is to be used."

THIS IS THE MASS that needs to be returned if the light of true faith is to be preserved. Monsignor Gamber says, "A real change in the contemporary perception of the purpose of the Mass and the Eucharist will occur only when the table altars are removed and Mass is again celebrated at the high altar; when the purpose of the Mass is again seen as an act of adoration and glorification of God... and as the mystical reenactment of the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross."

Returning the old Mass would show true pastoral care in that it would give the eternal riches of God back to his people and provide a true renewal in which the light of tradition can again shine through the liturgy and dispel the darkness of our time. Christ instituted his Church that it might be a light to the nations, signified by the Latin word Lumen Gentium. The eternal light emanating from the old Rite is that Lumen Gentium wherewith to attract the world to Christ, but by withholding this light it has deprived man of good things and wrought his alienation from God.

It is high time that Rome "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Pope Benedict XVI, in speaking of the Tridentine Mass, accentuated this very point on April 30, 2011: "What was sacred for prior generations, remains sacred and great for us as well." (Universae Ecclesia)

Let us clamor then for the restoration of the main altar and that priests everywhere will begin offering the Mass facing the altar. The Vatican's chief liturgist Cardinal Robert Sarah is calling for a universal return of saying the Mass ad orientem, and said on September 7, 2017, that the world has "forgotten about God" because the priests "who are supposed to be 'the light of the world' (Mt 5:14) are not approaching the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed."

In an interview published on September 21, Cardinal Burke was asked which of the liturgical reforms requested by Cardinal Sarah should come first. Burke answered, "Offering the Mass with everyone facing the Lord [ad orientem]." He said, "This will help so much to restore the sense of worship and to show that the Mass is not some kind of social event between the priest and parishioners or the parishioners among themselves."

According to Cardinal Burke, priests effectively assume a pastoral role when they say the Traditional Latin Mass facing the altar. "The priest as our spiritual father is leading us in this worship to lift our minds and hearts to God." (August 30, 2016)

1 The principal architect of the new Mass was Msgr. Annibale Bugnini, a suspected Freemason who twice was expelled from the Vatican because of suspicious activity. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/liturgical-time-bombs-in-vatican-ii-michael-davies/1114285164?ean=9781618904331

2 The wrath of Almighty God and SS. Peter and Paul is not incurred by priests who innocently comply with the Novus Ordo thinking it is the right thing to do, but by perpetrators such as those that authored the perfidious Vatican II document Sacrosanctum Concilium which, under the guise of restoration, proposed devious changes to the Mass in violation of the everlasting ordinance. Even so, the Mass today remains valid in that it reenacts the Sacrifice of Christ.

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