The Roman Canon had been untouched since the 7th Century
For those unfamiliar with the
Traditionalist movement (and even those who think they know Traditional
Catholics), the common accusation applied to the Traditionalist is being a man
too attached to earthly traditions. The
Traditionalist is a modern day Pharisee.
He cares for beautiful vestments, golden chalices, and ritual but he
cares little (or at least less) for his neighbor and for the poor. He is viewed as an enemy of the authentic
teachings of Christ and is personified in the story of the rich man (cf. Matthew
19:16-26 ) and in the parable of the two men who enter the temple to pray
(cf. Luke 18:9-14).
Yet, this straw man depiction of the
Traditionalist is entirely off point.
The Traditionalist’s end goal is not found in ornate vestments or
mysterious rituals. The Traditionalist
is concerned with giving to God the utmost glory and the first of all things
(cf Matthew 6:33).
And as such, our Lord is deserving of the most ornate of vestments and
the most opulent of chalices. It is not
the Traditionalist – no! – it is the Lord to whom the honor is given.
Even those familiar with the Traditional
Movement, but those who are not traditionalists, will at least know of the Traditionalist’s arguments against the changes in the Liturgy. They will have heard the Traditionalist
lament the omission of kneeling in the Nicene Creed; the change of “pro multis”
to “for all”; and the changes in the Rites of Confirmation, Ordination, and the
Eucharist.
Yet few people realize – and few
Traditionalists lament as loudly as they do the aforementioned issues – the
grave consequences of introducing multiple canons into the Holy Liturgy.
Since all time the Roman Canon had be
recited by the priest silently. The
priest – in imitation of Moses – ascends to a place where the Faithful cannot
venture. It is in this holy place – at the altar of God – where the priest
confects the Holy Eucharist and offers to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood
of His Divine and Only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the 2nd Person of
the Blessed Trinity. This is a task of
the priest alone to accomplish – the people present can offer nothing other
than marvel at the mystery.
Silence is not a foreign concept to
Catholics. Catholics should be familiar
with the story of Elijah who heard God in the small whisper:
And he said to him: Go
forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord: and behold the Lord passeth,
and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and
breaking the rocks in pieces: the Lord is not in the wind, and after the wind
an earthquake: the Lord is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a
fire: the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle
air.And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming
forth stood in the entering in of the cave, and behold a voice unto him,
saying: What dost thou here, Elias? And he answered. (1 Kings 19:11-13)
Yet the Novus Ordo brought about four Eucharistic Prayers recited in the vernacular and recited loudly. Gone was the sense of mystery. Gone was the priest entering the holy place to pray for the people. The Novus Ordo Liturgy has succumbed to the vision of Martin Luther - the priest is no longer seen as an alter Christus.
The
Canon is an ancient prayer. It is for
Catholics the prayer of utmost importance in the Liturgy since it is by the
prayers of the Canon that the greatest miracle in the world takes place on the
altar.
Since the
seventh century [the Traditional] Canon has remained unchanged. It is to St. Gregory
I (590-604) the great organiser of all the Roman Liturgy, that tradition
ascribes its final revision and arrangement.
(Catholic
Encyclopedia)
In the Ambrosian Rite, during the Canon the priest will stretch out his arms in the shape of a Cross
Yet,
despite the sacredness of the Canon, the aftermath of the Second Vatican
Council saw the elimination of one unified Canon and the creation of multiple
canons. In fact, even in our world
today, priests freely use their own ad lib words during the Canon and
potentially (if not always) invalidate the Sacrifice of the Mass upon the
altar. This is for the Traditionalist a
grave and utmost serious situation.
In the
1970 and 1975 Latin editions of the Roman Missal, there are four Eucharistic
Prayers (these may be augmented in the third editio typica which is due
out this fall). In more recent American editions of the Roman Missal, in
addition to the four already mentioned, there are five others included in the
appendix: two for Reconciliation and three for Masses with children. Thus for
the last twenty-five years, the Roman rite has had the experience of many
Eucharistic Prayers.
This was
not always so, however. For some 1600 years previously, the Roman rite knew
only one Eucharistic Prayer: the Roman canon.
In the
average parish today, Eucharistic Prayer II is the one most frequently used,
even on Sunday. Eucharistic Prayer III is also used quite often, especially on
Sundays and feast days. The fourth Eucharistic prayer is hardly ever used; in
part because it is long, in part because in some places in the U.S. it has been
unofficially banned because of its frequent use of the word "man".
The first Eucharistic Prayer, the Roman canon, which had been used exclusively
in the Roman rite for well over a millennium and a half, nowadays is used almost
never. As an Italian liturgical scholar puts it: "its use today is so
minimal as to be statistically irrelevant".
This is a
radical change in the Roman liturgy. Why aren't more people aware of the
enormity of this change? Perhaps since the canon used to be said silently, its
contents and merits were known to priests, to be sure, but not to most of the
laity. Hence when the Eucharistic Prayer began to be said aloud in the
vernacular, with four to choose from -- and the Roman canon chosen rarely, if
ever -- the average layman did not realize that 1600 years of tradition had
suddenly vanished like a lost civilization, leaving few traces behind, and
those of interest only to archaeologists and tourists.
What serious theological implications
does this have for a Catholic?
In the
Eucharistic Prayers, moreover, the repeated petitions to God that He accept the
Sacrifice have also been suppressed; thus, there is no longer any clear
distinction between Divine and human sacrifice.
…
In Eucharistic
Prayer IV the Church--as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic--is abased by
eliminating the Roman Canon's petition for all orthodox believers who keep the
Catholic and Apostolic faith. These are now merely all who seek you with a
sincere heart. The Memento of the Dead in the Canon, moreover, is offered not
as before for those who are gone before us with the sign of faith, but merely
for those who have died in the peace of Christ. To this group--with further
detriment to the notion of the Church's unity and visibility--Eucharistic Prayer
IV adds the great crowd of "all the dead whose faith is known to You
alone." None of the three new Eucharistic Prayers, moreover, alludes to a
suffering state for those who have died; none allows the priest to make special
Mementos for the dead. All this necessarily undermines faith in the
propitiatory and redemptive nature of the sacrifice.
…
In the Preface
for Eucharistic Prayer II--and this is unprecedented--the various angelic
hierarchies have disappeared. Also suppressed, in the third prayer of the old
Canon, is the memory of the holy Pontiffs and Martyrs on whom the Church in
Rome was founded; without a doubt, these were the saints who handed down the
apostolic tradition finally completed under Pope St. Gregory as the Roman Mass.
…
Chapter VII The
Alienation of the Orthodox
The Apostolic
Constitution explicitly mentions the riches of piety and doctrine the Novus
Ordo supposedly borrows from the Eastern Churches. But the result is so removed
from, and indeed opposed to the spirit of the Eastern liturgies that it can
only leave the faithful in those rites revolted and horrified. What do these
ecumenical borrowings amount to? Basically, to introducing multiple texts for
the Eucharistic Prayer (the anaphora)--none of which approaches their Eastern counterparts'
complexity or beauty--and to permitting Communion Under Both Species and the
use of deacons. Against this, the New Order of Mass appears to have been
deliberately shorn of every element where the Roman liturgy came closest to the
Eastern Rites. [53] At the same time, by abandoning its unmistakable and
immemorial Roman character, the Novus Ordo cast off what was spiritually
precious of its own. In place of this are elements which bring the new rite
closer to certain Protestant liturgies, not even those closest to Catholicism.
At the same time, these new elements degrade the Roman liturgy and further
alienate it from the East, as did the reforms which preceded the Novus Ordo. In
compensation, the new liturgy will delight all those groups hovering on the
verge of apostasy who, during a spiritual crisis without precedent, now wreak
havoc in the Church by poisoning Her organism and by undermining Her unity in
doctrine, worship, morals and discipline.
And
so the Traditional must fight on – not concerned at the slanders used against
him. Men may accuse him of
“intolerance,” “lack of charity,” or “exaggerated concern with the externals,”
but the Traditionalist will fight on so that in all the Masses of the world the
Holy Eucharist may be lawfully confected and offered to the Eternal Father in
the most fitting, righteous, and worthy manner possible.
In the bull Quo Primum Pope St. Pius V declared:
"By this present Constitution, which will be valid henceforth, now, and
forever, We order and enjoin that nothing must be added to Our recently
published Missal, nothing omitted from it, nor anything whatsoever be changed within
it." And he concluded: "No one whosoever is permitted to alter this
notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult,
declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Should anyone dare to contravene
it, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the
Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul."
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