Vatican II should not have ignored Pius XII's Mediator Dei

Pius XII's magnificent encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, Mediator Dei, was acclaimed as the magna charta of the liturgical movement when it appeared in 1947, according to Fr. John W. Mole, O.M.I. (Whither the Roman Rite? p. 32). Yet, for whatever reason, the Fathers of Vatican II apparentely did not mention this encyclical even once in their Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. This is particularly odd, given the fact that Pius II's encyclical contains important warnings against precisely the kinds of abuses that would follow in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

Take, for example, the argument used to justify many of the changes introduced since the Council -- the argument that by standing instead of kneeling during the Eucharistic prayers, or by receiving Communion in the hand instead of on the tongue, the modern liturgical architects, far from introducing harmful innovations, were simply restoring ancient customs from the early Church. Here is what Pius XII had to say about the matter in Mediator Dei:

"The liturgy of early ages is worthy of veneration; but an ancient custom is not to be considered better, either in itself or in relation to later times and circumstances, just because it has the flavor of antiquity. More recent liturgical rites are also worthy of reverence and respect, because they too have been introduced under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, who is with the Church in all ages unto the consummation of the world. These too are means which the august Bride of Christ uses to stimulate and foster the holiness of men.... The desire to restore everything indiscriminately to its ancient condition is neither wise nor praiseworthy. It would be wrong, for example, to want the altar restored to its ancient form of table; to want black eliminated from liturgical colors, and pictures and statues eliminated from our churches, to require cruicifixes that do not represent the bitter sufferings of the divine Redeemer; to condemn polyphonic chants, even though they conform to the regulations of the Apostolic See.... This attitude is an attempt to revive the 'archaeologism' to which the pseudo-Synod of Pistoia (1794) gave rise; it seeks also to re-introduce the many pernicious errors which led to the synod and resulted from it, and which the Church in her capacity of watchful guardina of 'the deposit of faith' entrusted ito her by her divine Founder has rightly condemned. It is a wicked movement, that tends to paralyze the sanctifying and salutary action by which the liturgy leads the children of adoption on the path to their heavenly Father.... See that your flocks are not deceived ... by a mania for restoring primitive usages in the liturgy." (emphasis added)