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Fr. Z: Sacrosanctum Concilium a traditionalist document?

Wouldn't you love Fr. John Zuhlsdorff to expostulate a bit more on this: "Wholly Ours" (WDTPRS, August 30, 2010):

In a conversation with a friend today it became clearer and clearer to me how the Second Vatican Council’s document on liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, is entirely the property of … on the side of the traditional/conversative argument.

The usual narrative which has predominated over the last decades is that Sacrosanctum Concilium is the driving force behind liberal reforms.

Sacrosanctum Concilium is a conservative document which was hijacked.

Visit the Comment Box for some lively discussion.

Then compare the following: "Holy Emmentaler!" (Rorate Caeli, August 30, 2010):

No document of the last Council was more consequential than its first, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium).

Many, particularly the loudest defenders of the "Reform of the Reform", simply say that the document was never properly understood, or properly applied. Was that so? Mr. Christopher Ferrara examines the loopholes in Sacrosanctum Concilium in an excellent analysis published by The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.

Evangelical Catholic converts: a look back

Twenty years ago I wrote the following review of a book about evangelical converts to the Catholic Faith. I cannot remember whether it was before or after my own reception into the Church in 1993, though I'm inclined to think I wrote it around 1990 when I was an associate prof at Lenoir-Rhyne University (then College) in North Carolina. It was never published, and I had forgotten about it until I ran across an old file preserved on a flash drive. It is reproduced here simply as a record of my own interests and thinking at the time. As some of the principal contributors (Dale Vree, Sheldon Vanauken, Tom Howard, Malcolm Muggeridge, Walker Percy, John Michael Talbot, Pat Boone's daughter Cherry Boone O'Neill, etc.) may be household names to at least some of you, I expect it could be of some interest as well. Note that although I refer to these as "evangelicals," they come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, from the once Reformed, then Neo-Marxist Dale Vree to the once neo-pagan Sheldon Vanauken who came to Rome via C.S. Lewis at Oxford. All very interesting. The book is:

Dan O'Neill, ed., The New Catholics: Contemporary Converts Tell Their Stories,with a Foreword by Walker Percy (Crossroad, 1989, pp. xv + 187; $8.95 [1990 prices!] paperback).

The review is posted at "The New Catholics" (Book Notices, August 30, 2010).

Word for the day

Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.

-- Mark Twain

Is a liberal arts education for everyone?

David Warren, "Universities: Who Needs 'Em?" (InsideCatholic, August 23, 2010):

... But what I find more interesting, in reading accounts of the mediaeval universities, is the speed with which they allied themselves with Bishops against Pope, with Court against Church, with Law against Spirit, and, when they were being spiritual, with the spirit of secession in all of its instinctive and demonic forms.

Conversely, they were from their beginnings the flag-bearers of bureaucracy and regulation....

More deeply, by freeing students from the oversight and discipline of religious orders, and then creating a class of professors out of former students, the mediaeval universities were formulating a new kind of man -- the public intellectual, quite full of himself -- the sharp edge of whose intelligence would be honed to serve adolescent dreams of power and control, with endless voyages into "pure theory."

One hears the echo through the ages of Benedetto Gaetani, papal legate and future Pope Boniface VIII, gone to Paris in 1290 to express the exasperation of the Roman Curia -- not only with the intensely meddlesome political posturing of the university, but also with its venal attachments to worldly vested interests. To a professoriate flouncing their reputation for the "higher" education, Gaetani cries: "It is all trivial!"

And to the smug looks on many hundred faces, he declares: "We are called by God not to acquire learning to dazzle mankind, but to save our souls!"

Now -- please -- I am not against learning, and to some degree, not even against learning as an end in itself. Nor am I actually against universities, in principle; or at least, not yet. But I would like to wonder aloud if the time is not approaching to pull the fiscal plugs on all of them, and start over from the monastery again.

This is food for thought, especially in light of the talks to which we were recently treated by Fr. Joseph Koterski, S.J. (Fordham) at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. One of the more interesting things he did was to question whether most Catholics need any theology at all, let alone philosophy. Rather, what they need is catechesis and spiritual formation. He contrasted the "learnables" with the "developmentals," suggesting that the latter have been overly neglected in our culture -- especially (but not only) secular culture. Of course, he added, seminarians need the "learnables" too, and even theology and philosophy -- but perhaps not in the way they're often taught, where they are taught apart from the practical concerns of the "developmentals."

In one sense, I think that the value of the liberal arts has been unduly marginalized in modern times by disciplines with demonstrable utilitarian value -- professional programs in business, computer science, engineering, economics, physical therapy, nursing and restaurant and hotel management come to mind. By contrast, the problem with liberal arts disciplines is that they have no demonstrable utilitarian value -- things like literature, history, art, philosophy, and theology come to mind. Further, since the only kind of value recognized these days seems to be utilitarian value, the liberal arts are generally assumed to be valueless. What is not recognized, as Josef Pieper would be quick to point out, is that some things have value for their own sake, as ends in themselves. To understand the nature of human beings and the real world has considerable value, even if it has no demonstrable utilitarian value. Knowing who we are, where we came from, and our purpose in life, is important in itself, even if it doesn't get us a job or earn us any money.

Having said that, I firmly agree with the premise that a liberal arts education may not be for everybody, anymore than everyone is called to the priesthood or to a career as professor of philosophy. What every everyone needs for his salvation, however, is a proper catechesis in order to be formed in the knowledge and service of our Lord Jesus Christ through His Church (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church). What everyone needs to be more fully human, furthermore, is something that Mortimer Adler spent the last half of his life promoting, which is a basic grasp of the common wisdom of philosophy, not philosophy as a specialized discipline, but philosophy on the level of commonly accessible concepts by which to understand and talk about the world and human nature (see his Aristotle for Everybody).


[Hat tip to J.M.]

Lansing Tridentine Mass Community Established

Tridentine Community News (August 22, 2010):

In a move consistent with His Excellency’s previous support of the Traditional Latin Mass, Diocese of Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea has established a new Extraordinary Form Mass Community in the city of Lansing, Michigan. To be called the Blessed John XXIII Community, the group will begin to hold Masses this fall in the lower level of St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing, pictured below. The news was significant enough to garner an article in the August 10, 2010 edition of the Jackson Citizen Patriot newspaper.


Several months ago, Bishop Boyea asked Fr. Jeffrey Robideau to start assessing interest in such a community. Until a few years ago, Fr. Robideau had been pastor of St. Joseph Church in Jackson and a regular celebrant of the Tridentine Mass held in that church. Jackson and Flint have so far been the only two sites of Extraordinary Form Masses in the Lansing diocese, both of which are quite a distance from Lansing.

Approximately 60 people attended the planning meetings and committed to attending a Lansing Latin Mass Community. Bishop Boyea recently asked Fr. Robideau to expand his role and be the chaplain of the community, certainly logical in light of Fr. Robideau’s experience with the Tridentine Mass in Jackson.

Possibly the First Latin Mass Parish in Michigan

Not only is this significant news in and of itself, there is an interesting sidebar to this effort: Should there be sufficient attendance and financial support – far from guaranteed, we might add – there is a possibility that the Blessed John XXIII Community could evolve into the first full Tridentine Mass parish in Michigan.

In Canada and the U.S., there are several Extraordinary Form parishes. All but a handful are administered by priests from the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, the GM and Ford of priestly associations devoted to the Traditional Liturgy. Only Mater Ecclésiæ Parish in Berlin, New Jersey and perhaps one or two others are run by diocesan clergy. While it is pure speculation at this point, it is not inconceivable that the Lansing operation might become one of this rare breed, a fully Tridentine Mass parish staffed by diocesan priests.

We commend Bishop Boyea for taking this initiative, and ask our readers to pray for His Excellency and for Fr. Robideau. For further information about the Blessed John XXIII Community, see Fr. Robideau’s web site: www.getholy.com

Bishop Boyea to Celebrate Two Tridentine Masses

Speaking of Bishop Boyea, he will be celebrating two Holy Masses in the Extraordinary Form on the same day, Sunday, October 10. The first will be at 11:00 AM in Lansing’s St. Mary Cathedral’s lower level chapel, to formally open the Blessed John XXIII Community. The second will be at 4:00 PM at All Saints Church in Flint, to mark the anniversary of the Flint Tridentine Mass.

Monthly Architectural Column Debuts

Jason Grossi, the member of Windsor’s Assumption Church’s Tridentine Mass Community who has been named lead architect for the church’s $9,800,000 restoration, has begun writing a column explaining progress on the project. The column appears in the monthly Assumption Heritage Trust Foundation newsletter, which is available at the entrances to Assumption Church. The newsletters have not (yet) been posted on-line, however we will notify you if they are.

This is not a typical renovation project. Matters of historical significance must be taken into account at many stages. The Ontario Heritage Trust, which must approve construction at historic sites, has to be consulted. Jason’s trips to Toronto to meet with the OHT, as well as local historic research, are documented in his columns.

The present edition addresses the matter of the sacristy, which is structurally unsound and may need to be replaced, but which houses historic cabinetry that predates the sacristy itself. The cabinetry will need to be saved, regardless of whatever decision is made about the sacristy itself. Photos are provided in the newsletter for those who do not regularly visit the sacristy.

Sacristy Visits Invited

While we are on the subject, you are always welcome to visit the sacristy at any of our churches. This might be interesting for children as well as for yourself. You can see the myriad of vestments and supplies that are used for various liturgies throughout the year. Please see the priest or one of the altar servers after Mass.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

n addition to the below, High Masses are held every Sunday at St. Josaphat at 9:30 AM and at Assumption in Windsor at 2:00 PM, and on Fourth Sundays at St. Joseph Church at Noon.

Mon. 08/30 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Rose of Lima)
Tue. 08/31 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (St. Raymond Nonnatus)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for August 22, 2010. Hat tip to A.B.]

Obama's culture war with Christianity, common ground with Islam

A reader sent me the linked article below with this extracted quote: "Obama's de facto culture war with Christianity is of more interest to him than the real and ongoing one with radical Islam."

George Neumayr, "A Relativist, Wrapped in a Muslim, Inside an Agnostic" (American Spectator, August 26, 2010). Excerpts:

Why does a significant chunk of the American electorate think Obama is a Muslim? Let's count some of the reasons: he speaks of his "Muslim roots," says he hails from "generations of Muslims," was born to a line of Muslim males and given by them an Arabic name, went to a Muslim school in Islamic Indonesia, speaks glowingly of Islam whenever he gets the chance, holds a Ramadan dinner in the White House, tells his NASA head to turn the space agency into a Muslim outreach program, and last but not least insults doctrinal Christians routinely.

... Oh well; all is forgotten in politics. But, wait, what did Mitch McConnell say again? "I take him at his word" that he is Christian, said the Senate Republican Minority Leader last Sunday. The left is in no mood to forgive that one, since "his word" counts for so little in the eyes of Republicans like McConnell.

So what religion is Obama? Probably the most generous description of Obama's elusive religious identity, should one take him at "his word" as it appears in his slippery memoirs and speeches, is that he's neither Muslim nor Christian; he's something else.... But perhaps he can be clinically described as a practicing agnostic, with deep roots in and sympathy for Islam, who views his now-professed, politically necessary religion with barely concealed disdain while allowing himself from time to time bursts of syncretistic sophistry and quasi-religious uplift.

At least this much is clear: his greatest fear is not radical Islam abroad but the growth of doctrinal Christianity at home. Imagine if he treated Muslims in the same arrogant manner that his administration treats pro-life Christian doctors, nurses, and pharmacists ...

His de facto culture war with Christianity is of more interest to him than the real and ongoing one with radical Islam. He is the Harvard agnostic and dilettante who stands above all religions, save Islam, and judges their "rationality" and usefulness to the utopia to come. Islam is an intrinsically peaceful religion by his lights, while Christianity, unless it assumes the platform of the Democratic Party and sees Jesus as a forerunner to Saul Alinsky, is dangerously bigoted and an impediment to "progress." Obama's America has a friend in Islam, but Christians can be "un-American," as actor Tom Hanks once described Proposition 8 proponents.

The more irrational a religion, the more Obama-style "rationalists" and relativists like it....

Radical Islam and relativism take different routes of irrationality -- the former adopts "faith" without reason while the latter adopts "reason" without faith -- but come out on the same trail of blood: a culture of death, with daily abortions in the west, suicide bombings in the east, and a "leader of the free world," who reads secularist propaganda at the Huffington Post with memory's ear cocked to the "call of the azaan," blind to both.

[Hat tip to J.M.]

The Crusaders & Jihadists are not equivalents

Joe Hargrave, "Enough is Enough: The Crusades & The Jihad Are Not Equivalents" (American Catholic, August 26, 2010).

[Hat tip to E.E.]

Global warming, eugenics & geopolitical policy

"Global Warming Unmasked : The Hidden Agenda" offers a lengthy yet, at points, interesting analysis.

From Teilhard on steroids to Newman ad orientem

This is vintage George Rutler -- witty, wise and wonderful -- from his "On the Square" post entitled "The Liturgical Experts’ Long Tassels" (First Things, August 27, 2010).

Under the avalanche of commentary on the new translation of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, just approved by the Vatican, I poke my head above the erudite criticisms, to speak as a man whose entire priesthood has been in parishes. I am not a liturgist and, from the parochial perspective of a pastor who has studied worship much less than he has done it, I risk the tendency of many like me who probably unfairly think that liturgists are the ecclesiastical equivalent of lepidopterists.

A pastor is too busy leading people in worship to attend workshops on how to lead people in worship, and his duties in the confessional prevent him from attending seminars on how to hear confessions. I do know that if I followed the guidelines of one liturgical commission, suggesting that I greet each penitent at the church doors with an open Gospel book and then lead a procession to a reconciliation room which looks more like an occasion of sin than a shrine for its absolution, the number of confessions in the middle of the metropolis where I serve would be severely reduced.

Publicly owned corporations are more accountable to their shareholders than tenured bureaucracies, which may explain why it took the Ford Motor Company only two years to cancel its Edsel, and not much longer for Coca Cola to restore its “classic” brand, while the Catholic Church has taken more than a generation of unstopped attrition to try to correct the mistakes of overheated liturgists. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius is now in its sunset repose and the bright young things who seem to be cropping up now all over the place with new information from Fortescue and Ratzinger, may either be the professional mourners for a lost civilization, or the sparks of a looming golden age.

One thing is certain to a pastor: the only parishioners fighting the old battles are old themselves, their felt banners frayed and their guitar strings broken, while a young battalion is rising, with no animus against the atrophied adolescence of their parents, and only eager to engage a real spiritual combat in a culture of death. They usually are ignorant, but bright, for ignorance is not stupidity.

They care little if the Liturgy is in Latin or English or Sanskrit, as long as they are told how to do it, for they were not told. Some critics of the new translations have warned that the changes are too radical, which is radioactively cynical from people who in the 1960’s wantonly dismantled old verities overnight, in their suburbanized version of China’s Cultural Revolution.

Our Lord warned enough about the experts of his day who loved long tassels, and who swore by the gold of the temple rather than the temple, to stay us from placing too much hope in ritual and texts to save lives. Neglect of the aesthetics of worship is not remedied by the worship of aesthetics. A pastor will sometimes observe an over-reaction to the corruption of the Liturgy, so that ritual becomes theatre and Andrei Rubleyev yields to Aubrey Beardsley. Any group or religious community that is too deliberate about external form sows in itself the seeds of decadence.

Liturgy should be chantable, reverent, and expressive of the highest culture we know, without self-consciousness. Ars est celare artem. In tandem with Ovid, for whom it is art to conceal art, Evelyn Waugh said that Anthony Eden was not a gentleman because he dressed too well. It is typical of some schismatic sects that the more they lapse into heresy, the more ritualistic they become. So one will see pictures of a woman claiming to be a bishop, vested like Pius X on his jubilee.

A genius of the Latin rite has been its virile precision, even bluntness. Contrast this with the unsettled grammar of “alternative opening prayers” in the original books from ICEL (the International Commission on English in the Liturgy), whose poesie sounds like Teilhard on steroids.

They were much wordier than the Latin collects or their English equivalents, and gave the impression of having been composed by fragile personalities who had not had a happy early home life. So too, the Prayers of the Faithful cloyingly pursued “themes” usually inspired by an undisciplined concern for air pollution and third world debt.

I think there should be few options in the Liturgy, and no attempt to be “creative,” for that is God’s particular talent. As Vatican II taught in Sacrosanctum Concilium, "[T]here must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.”

Unfortunately, we have not yet resolved the problem of the simply bad Lectionary texts. While the Jerusalem Bible and Revised Standard Version are licit, only the Revised New American Bible is accessible for parish use. The Jerusalem Bible is a tool for study but was translated with a tin ear.

I grew up with the King James translation and thus am stunned when Job 38:17 (“Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?”) is given as “Have you met the janitors of Shadowland?” So Sheol becomes a theme park.

But none of this matches the torture of the trans-gendered RNAB which manages to neuter every creature except Satan who remains male. Our Lord sometimes sounds like the Prince of Wales: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world …?” and other times like a bored anthropologist: “Two people went up to the temple to pray….” But then the inevitable pronouns kick in and we find out that even after the liturgical gelding, these were men.

The Liturgy by grace changes lives. Any pastor who is blessed with an abundance of priestly vocations in his parish knows that they come in spite of epicene worship, demotic liturgy committees, and flailing song leaders. They simply join the chorus of the Greeks: "Sir, we would see Jesus." I recall a prelate saying that even as a seminarian he hoped one day to be able to say Mass facing the people. It was a revealing statement, inasmuch as when he said Mass he seemed annoyed that the Lord was sometimes getting in the way.

While I am glad for the new and more accurate translation of the Mass, which is not perfection but closer to it than one deserves in an imperfect world, a far more important reform would be the return of the ad orientem position of the celebrant as normative. It is the antidote to the tendency of clerisy to impose itself on the people. When a celebrant at Mass stops and says, “This is not about me,” you may be sure he thinks it may be about him. It would be harder for him to harbor that suspicion were he leading the people humbly to the east and the dawn of salvation.

John Henry Newman was the greatest master of English letters in his century of brilliant English, but he gave no countenance to his vernacular replacing the sacral tongue. That is another matter for another day. But he knew the meaning of cupio dissolvi, and he taught that without such self-abnegation the gift of personality reduces the Passion to pantomime. It was because his priestcraft was also soulcraft, that he solemnly invoked the Sacred Heart at the altar in order to speak "heart to heart" with the people in the street:

“Clad in his sacerdotal vestments, [the priest] sinks what is individual in himself altogether, and is but the representative of Him from whom he derives his commission. His words, his tones, his actions, his presence, lose their personality; one bishop, one priest, is like another; they all chant the same notes, and observe the same genuflections, as they give one peace and one blessing, as they offer one and the same sacrifice.

“The Mass must not be said without a Missal under the priest’s eye; nor in any language but that in which it has come down to us from the early hierarchs of the Western Church. But, when it is over, and the celebrant has resigned the vestments proper to it, then he resumes himself, and comes to us in the gifts and associations which attach to his person.

“He knows his sheep, and they know him; and it is this direct bearing of the teacher on the taught, of his mind upon their minds, and the mutual sympathy which exists between them, which is his strength and influence when he addresses them. They hang upon his lips as they cannot hang upon the pages of his book.”

Father George W. Rutler is pastor of the Church of Our Saviour in New York City and the author most recently of Clouds of Witnesses: Dead People I Knew When They Were Alive. His The Spirit of Vatican II appeared in First Things and He is Not Here, his homily for the Mass for the repose of the soul of Richard John Neuhaus, and Words and Reality in “On the Square.”

[Hat tip to J.M.]

The Diverse Perspectives of Traditionalists

Tridentine Community News (August 22, 2010):

A priest reader of this column who does not attend the Extraordinary Form Mass had an interesting conversation with this writer about “reputation”.

This priest suggested that in his diocese, the Traditional Latin Mass had acquired a bad reputation among his brother priests primarily because of the stridency of the Society of St. Pius X, at least as perceived through the media. No matter how much good diocesan-approved Tridentine congregations had accomplished, they were still tainted with an “SSPX reputation”, resulting in priests’ bias against them. While he personally understood that this was an inappropriate association to make, he believes it will take years if not decades for this reputation to be overcome.

In response, this writer pointed out that most Tridentine Mass group members simply love the Mass. There is usually no agenda except a thoughtfully-considered preference for this form of the Sacred Liturgy. To use a phrase we have been repeating oft of late, it is possible to love seafood and not hate steak. Furthermore, one should not confuse one’s opinion of the individuals involved (whether correct or not) with the merits of the Traditional Mass itself. Some beautiful aspects of parish life have been established by Tridentine Mass Communities which may go unnoticed.

Prior to the 2007 Motu Proprio, it was a sad fact that traditional liturgy was not exactly encouraged in many dioceses. Now that it has essentially unfettered legal freedom, the burden of support has shifted from bishops to those who desire it. Realistically, traditionalists care little what other kinds of Masses a parish might offer, as long as the Extraordinary Form is part of the picture. Indeed, cooperation with those of other liturgical preference(s) is often the key to meeting a parish’s financial and volunteer needs.

It is frustrating to witness judgmentalness on the part of either side, if that party has not actually experienced the other’s liturgy or observed those in attendance. It is not intellectually honest to condemn the Tridentine Mass if one has not assisted at a few in recent years. Likewise, while virtually everyone has attended the Novus Ordo, traditionalists should not automatically condemn it when said in Latin ad oriéntem, without having attended one.

This is not to say that we who support diocesan-approved Extraordinary Form Masses have any agenda against the SSPX. On the contrary, we pray for their complete reconciliation with Rome. However, they are simply one part of a worldwide Latin Mass movement that attracts people of countless perspectives.

The SSPX Does Not Speak For All Traditionalists

We thus appeal to those who might not recently have attended the Traditional Mass: The SSPX does not speak for all supporters of the Extraordinary Form, any more than the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress liturgies speak for all who prefer the Ordinary Form. Nor is every SSPX member troublesome or argumentative, indeed many are active supporters of diocesan Masses. The press tends to focus on the negative and divisive, so it is understandable that controversial SSPX matters would receive much coverage, just as that same press often characterizes the Catholic Church in general as a behind-the-times institution in its disciplines and government. Yes, there may be some hard-liners in a particular Tridentine Mass congregation, but not to any greater degree than challenging individuals exist in virtually every parish.

Murmuring over something erroneously perceived as “bad” or against what the Church wants is never good, but is especially unfortunate when done by those in leadership positions in the Church. Somehow we need to convey charitably to such leaders that while we respect their non-preference for traditional liturgy, in this post-Summórum Pontíficum world, their personal preferences cannot get in the way of legitimate, well-intentioned celebrations of the Extraordinary Form. There are plenty of locations where modern liturgy is offered; don’t be threatened by the relative handful of sites that want a Tridentine Mass. If the Church sanctions it, and a practical means for its celebration and administration has been devised, don’t create obstacles.

In this respect, we hold up as a model an individual who might not be the first on people’s minds: Chicago’s late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. It was under His Eminence’s administration that the Archdiocese of Chicago grew to host the largest number of Tridentine Masses of any diocese in North America. He deserves credit for letting those Masses flourish. Some might say he was a “true liberal”, others might say that he was simply following Vatican recommendations. Whatever his motivations, in the end it is simply his record on this subject which will endure.

Do you know a bishop, priest, deacon, or religious with a negative predisposition towards the Traditional Mass? Invite him or her to one of our Masses. Offer to attend a Mass of their preference with them as well. Help them appreciate the Extraordinary Form and those who attend it, even if they don’t like it. As an analogy, you might not be interested in Quicken Loans as a company, but you nonetheless understand the benefits that their relocation to downtown Detroit brings to the city. So should your guest come to understand the role of traditional liturgy in the Church today.

Local Tridentine Masses This Week

Mon. 08/23 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (S. Philip Benizi)
Tue. 08/24 7:00 PM: High Masses at both Assumption-Windsor and St. Josaphat (St. Bartholomew)
Sun. 08/29 Noon: High Mass at St. Albertus

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for August 22, 2010. Hat tip to A.B.]

Proper grammatology

Tridentine Community News (August 15, 2010):

Capitalization in the Propers

You may have noticed some quirky issues of grammar and typography (“orthography” is the more appropriate term) in our Latin/English Propers handouts. With the exception of the occasional typo, these are intentional. They reflect customs in liturgical Latin, the Douay-Rheims English Bible, and Douay-like translations of Orations and Antiphons that are quite different from modern English. In the course of preparing the handouts over the years, it has become increasingly apparent what those customs actually are. We have also been able to detect the occasional typo in the Latin or English in a given missal, due to the deviation from usual standards.

Capitalization is the first issue. In English it is customary to capitalize the titles “Saint”, “Martyr”, Confessor”, “Angel”, and so forth, even if the corresponding Latin is not capitalized.

Pronouns referring to God generally, or any member of the Blessed Trinity individually, are capitalized in English but not (always) in Latin. “Name” is always capitalized when it refers to the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; it is not (always) capitalized when it refers to the name of God generally, as in the Old Testament.

There can be confusion and inconsistency about whether to capitalize certain words. For example, many Postcommunion Collects contain clauses such as the following: “We who have been fed with Thy heavenly Gifts…”. If “gift” is meant generically, it can remain lower case. However, if the word refers to the Eucharist, as it arguably does in a Postcommunion, it is deserving of capitalization. Modern hand missals such as the Baronius Press typically do capitalize these sorts of words. Older missals often do not, but tend to undercapitalize in general, e.g.: “…Thy martyrs Ss. Vitus, Modestus…” “Martyrs” should be capitalized, as it is in the original Latin.

Sometimes the first letter of a word following a question mark is not capitalized, as though a question mark separates clauses like a semicolon, rather than always completing a sentence. This occurs in both Latin and English text.

Punctuation

In Latin, colons are often used to separate clauses. In the English, missals use a mixture of colons and semicolons for the same purpose.

It can be tempting to correct especially the English in accord with current usage. For example, on June 15, we commemorate Ss. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia. The second comma, after “Modestus”, is omitted in many English translations. We don’t believe that is a matter of dated orthography, but rather a simple oversight in typesetting the text. Correcting it also helps the celebrant to pace the reading of the English Epistle and Gospel.

As a rule, we do not correct punctuation in the Latin text unless it is glaringly obvious, such as a missing period between sentences.

J or I?

Classical Latin and some liturgical books use “I” in place of “J”, e.g.: “Iesus Christus”. There are conflicting stories as to who was responsible for the introduction of “J”. Usage seems to have started somewhere between 1500-1790. It seems to be a matter of custom, not unlike “U” having evolved to take the place of “V” when a vowel is needed. We use “J” for clarity’s sake. If we adhered to the older custom, things could get quite confusing. Quick: Which is easier to pronounce, “Julius” or “Ivlivs”?

Accent Marks

In most official Latin liturgical books, only words with three or more syllables employ accented vowels. A few books, most notably the Liber Usuális, which our cantors use to chant the Propers, do accent vowels in words that have only two syllables. In keeping with the more prevalent custom, we only employ accent marks when there are three or more syllables.

As we have noted in previous columns, the lack of accent marks can be frustrating. Some recently published Vatican books omit them entirely, which can create some challenges – and habits of pronouncing words improperly – in those who are not familiar with those words from other sources.

Ligatures and Accented Ligatures

A ligature is a single character that takes the place of two adjacent vowels that are pronounced without a syllabic pause. The most notable are “œ” to take the place of “oe”, and “æ” to take the place of “ae”. Capitalized ligatures in some fonts can look unattractive, so we occasionally revert to using separate vowels.

Few fonts contain accented ligatures. Therefore, for occasions where one is needed, such as in “quaésumus”, Michel Ozorak devised a way to kern two separate vowels close together so that they look like a ligature. Likewise, many liturgical books do not print accented capital vowels, but we do, for example: “Áccipe”.

One drawback to ligatures and accented vowels is that they can make it hard to search documents. Fortunately, Google compensates for that and will find, for example, an “ae” when you search for an “æ”. The search functions in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer, however, will not.

Some Latin books use “œ” in place of æ” in certain words. One that comes to mind is “cæli”, sometimes spelled “cœli”. Google won’t help with that.

Is There a Good Latin Dictionary for Word?

A call to our readers: Does anyone know of a trustworthy and comprehensive liturgical Latin dictionary for Microsoft Word? We have searched, but are not aware of one. It would help catch typos. Thanks are due to Peter Gulewich, by the way, for proofreading our handouts and ensuring their accuracy.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for August 15, 2010. Hat tip to A.B.]

"Welcome to Vox Nova"

Hilarious: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6987327/.

[Hat tip to C.B.]

Obama and Joachim of Fiore: the kernel of truth in the hoax

Sandro Magister has posted a piece, "There's a Strange Prophet in the White House" (www.chiesa, August 23, 2010), on the kernel of truth in the hoax about Mr. Obama's supposed citation of the Medieval visionary and heretic, Joachim of Fiore, a rumor so widespread that even Fr. Cantalamessa fell for it. Asked to comment by the online agency of the episcopal conference of the United States, "Catholic News Service," Cantalamessa responded: "Someone has used my words to insinuate that I also consider Obama a heretic like Joachim, while I have profound esteem for the new president of the United States." But when asked to say how he had found out about the three citations made by Obama, Fr. Cantalamessa said candidly: "Typing 'Obama Joachim of Fiore' into Google produces all of the news on which I based my speech."

Magister examines two recent books in Italian -- one by the journalist for Vatican Radio, Alessandro Gisotti, with a thorough understanding of America; the other by Martino Cervo, managing editor of the newspaper "Libero," and Mattia Ferraresi, a Washington correspondent for the newspaper "il Foglio." After a brief analysis, comes his conclusion:

In spite of the nonexistent citations, then, the resemblance remains between Obama's rhetoric and the vision of Joachim of Fiore. The theologian and cardinal Henri De Lubac would have had no difficulty in adding Obama to the crowded ranks of the "Spiritual posterity of Joachim of Fiore," the title of an extensive study he published thirty years ago on the influence that the utopia of that monk has had up until our time, inside and outside of Catholicism.

The work to which he refers is contained, in English translation, in Henri de Lubac's Drama of Atheist Humanism, in a detailed critical analysis of August Comte's ersatz religion of atheistic humanism, with all the pomp and accoutrements of the Catholic religion. Comte, it may be recalled, was famous for his Law of the Three Stages of history: the theological, metaphysical, and scientific ("positivist," in his vocabulary). While admiring and wanting to make use of Catholicism, his own vision is thoroughly atheistic and humanistic in an insidiously subtle way.

Joachim of Fiore is also famous for his three-fold division of history into ages of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, capitalizing on the last to set forth his own agenda, much as Catholic revisionists capitalized on the "SPIRIT" of Vatican II to push their own anti-Catholic agenda. Eric Voegelin's Science, Politics, And Gnosticism argues cogently for the view that much of modern politics is animated by a gnostic spirit that finds its roots and type in the theories of Joachim de Fiore. Among those Voeglin analyzes are Auguste Comte, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Karl Marx. Anyone who immerses himself in this material and begins connecting the dots, however, will see the familiarity with the vision inhabiting the thinking of the current Democratic administration. When the White House counters claims that Mr. Obama is a Muslim with declarations that he is "obviously Christian," one can discern the meaning of his "Christianity" only by an understanding of the decisively gnostic current that animates this set of beliefs.

At one time, Comte tried to enlist the allegiance of the Catholic Church in his construction of a new Positivist religious-and-political alliance. His emissary to Rome was firmly rebuffed. A generation later, Charles Maurras, the principal ideologist of Action Française, the French Monarchist (Orléanist) counter-revolutionary movementfounded in 1898, was more successful, as de Lubac points out, even though his "integralist" vision was not much different from that of Comte. The ideology and vision was fundamentally atheistic, but appealed to many in the Vatican because of points of superficial affinity in political interest.

Loss of faith in Scripture, loss of faith in Christ

"The crisis of faith in Christ in recent times began with a modified way of reading sacred Scripture -- seemingly the sole scientific way. [This viewpoint] has emphatically impressed itself on the public consciousness and has made major inroads into the congregations of Christian believers in all churches."

-- Pope Benedict XVI