Traditional Latin Mass: When to stand, sit, kneel ...

This is a repeat of some of the guidance other bloggers have published from time to time.

If you haven't attended a Traditional Latin Mass before, or it's a long time since you have, you will notice how different the rubrics are regarding standing, sitting and kneeling.  Not long after the Novus Ordo Mass was introduced, I remember an exhausted parishioner exclaiming that the congregation were "up and down like yo-yos".  There's much less of this in the old Mass. 

In days gone by - and probably still in some areas - it was often noticed in Catholic churches that people would cling to the back of the church and only sit further forward if they had to.  As a newcomer to the TLM, or comparatively so, you may feel a little more comfortable if there are people sitting in front of you.  By and large, if you follow what they do, everything will be fine.  Except of course if they do different things; then it's a case of a surreptitious glance behind and a quick assessment of what the majority is doing.  Such fun!  But not important in the end, because we're all doing our best, and everyone understands.  We're all a bit unsure at times, or have been so.

You may find a pile of Traditional Mass books (such as the red ones published by the Latin Mass Society) when you enter the church.  These are a great help; but still, a bit of follow-my-leader is also a good idea.

I should just mention that Holy Communion is always given on the tongue, with the congregation kneeling at the altar rail or step.  But I'm sure you know that.

Update:  Canon Law does not require women to cover their heads, and this is the case with the Traditional Mass too.  In my experience some cover their heads, while some - just as devout - do not do so.  But speaking purely personally, I find there is something very special about it.  It really helps me.

A big thank-you to Canon MacDonald of Cheltenham

From next Wednesday, 5th September, the people of the Gloucestershire town of Cheltenham and its surrounding area will once again be able to attend the Traditional Latin Mass in the town. It will be offered at 6 pm on the first Wednesday of each month, at the church of St Gregory the Great. The parish website is here, and contains a link to its latest newsletter. I was delighted to see that the following announcement appears:

Monthly Mass in the Extraordinary Form

Beginning this week, on the first Wednesday of each month, an extra Mass will be offered at St Gregory’s according to the older Latin form of the liturgy. Fr Alex Redman of the Latin Mass Society and parish priest at Dursley has kindly agreed to take on this responsibility and the Masses will be celebrated at 6.00pm in St Gregory’s. All welcome. The parish Mass on Wednesdays will continue to be celebrated at 9.30am as usual.

There are three parishes in the town. All the Masses and other services, in all three churches, are published in the newsletters of each of the parishes. I am delighted to see that the forthcoming Extraordinary Form Mass is included in the list for all to see.

I think the announcement in the St Gregory’s newsletter is very well worded, and I particularly like the warmth of “All welcome”. Thank you so much, Canon MacDonald!


Picture from Google Images, courtesy of the website of St Gregory's sister-parish of St Thomas More.

The Dome of Home: A Memory and a Confident Hope

The only time I ever went to the church of SS Peter & Paul, New Brighton, was some years before Vatican II, when I was a child at primary school.

I grew up in Liverpool, and we had many a happy day out at New Brighton. We usually spent the day down at the shore, or at the wonderful Art Deco open-air swimming pool. But on one occasion my mother decided to do something different. Turning inland from the station, we walked uphill a little way, to visit the church of SS Peter and Paul. I suppose my mother thought it was about time we made the effort to visit this famous landmark.

I wish I could remember the particulars of the interior, but alas, I can no longer recall them in much detail. Except for this: that to a young child, in those far-off pre-Conciliar days, it seemed to me to be gloriously beautiful. There is a verse at Genesis 28:17, in which Jacob says “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” If I had heard those words at that time, they would have expressed my feeling very well indeed.

Judging from the few pictures I have seen of the church’s present-day interior, it appears at least to have retained its “good bones”. I have confidence that the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, which is to take charge of this fine church, will enable its parishioners to experience that same sense of spiritual wonder that a little girl experienced all those years ago.


Photograph from Google Images, with acknowledgments to liberator31.co.uk

Summorum Pontificum: Milanese Seminarians Speak Out

Much to my frustration, a nasty spell of bronchitis has prevented me from going to the Mass and study day for the new Mass translation publicised in my previous post.

While needing to stay at home and rest, I have occupied some of my time in translating a very touching open letter from a number of seminarians in the Archdiocese of Milan, home of the Ambrosian rite which features in the latest disturbing rumours concerning the forthcoming Summorum Pontificum regulations.

The letter appears today in Messa in Latino, linked here. The comments that follow it - which I have not translated - start with a criticism of the seminarians' anonymity. Others consider the criticism to be unreasonable given the pressures under which they labour.

I think the letter is very inspiring. Here it is:

"Most Blessed Father, Dear Readers,

We desire the Motu Proprio in Milan, and we want it in the Seminary too, where, in contrast, we are given protestantising liturgies in the “BOSE” style.

Holy Father, Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, all the faithful, come and see how they celebrate in the Seminary of Milan, the liturgical furnishings of our chapel, the so-called statue of Our Lady (in a state of undress, seated before the Tabernacle in a sensual pose!). Please be aware of it. We well understand that times change, that history changes, but the hearts of the people need eternal answers; they need a Truth that is always the same: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Why, as Catholics and as seminarians, can we not be formed in the knowledge of the two-thousand-year Tradition of the Church? We are not asking for the old rite to be imposed. We accept that it should remain as the extraordinary form. But why can we not study it officially, and celebrate and pray it occasionally, rather than doing so secretly, clandestinely, without the knowledge of the Rector and the spiritual Father, at night, in our rooms, as though it were an act of disobedience to the Church?

Instead, however, there is imposed a creative liturgical sensibility invented by the community of Bose, which is not our vocation, and is not that for which we chose to follow the Lord in the Catholic Church. We don’t want to be priests in order to live in the Bose style or to celebrate syncretistic rites. Those who have that sensibility are quite free to go to Bose.

We want to be able to chant the Tantum Ergo in Latin (which is against the rules!), and not only the canons of Taizé in English or in Spanish.

Is it possible that a person who thinks like this must live in hiding, keeping silent and pretending that all is well?

What evil is there, we ask, in wanting to be Catholics of the third millennium, evangelizers of our time, and at the same time to be able to pray as the priests and laity of the CATHOLIC Church of Milan have always prayed?

We confirm that we do not want to be absolutist, we do not want an absolute return to the Vetus Ordo rite, but we want real, authentic, non-ideological respect, towards the Church, Her history, Her Tradition, Her spiritual riches which can truly nourish a soul that wants to conform itself to Christ the Priest.

Our thanks go to all of you who keep us in your prayers; those who, like us, seek to follow the Lord, in the furrow of His Church, with our difficulties and our limitations, but illuminated by the splendid grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is our wish that this humble appeal of ours may reach the heart of those who love the Church and who wish to serve the brethren in the things that relate to God.

Saints Ambrose and Charles, intercede for us.

In Jesus and Mary,

Some Seminarians of Seveso
(Metropolitan Archdiocese of Milan)"

Evesham: A Wonderful Solemn High Mass

Thank you so much to the priests, the servers and the splendid choir for a wonderful Solemn High Mass yesterday evening at the church of St Mary and St Egwin in Evesham.

If you are in that part of Worcestershire, do visit the attractive little town of Evesham, and the fine old Catholic church on the High Street. The interior appears to have been very little affected by the post-Vatican II changes. The altar rails remain. A freestanding altar has been installed in front of the high altar; it is built of stone, of a similar design to the high altar, and is at a lower level. There is enough space beween the two to allow for the offering of Solemn High Mass at the upper altar. There is a beautiful reredos behind the main altar and behind each of the side altars; these two being hinged altarpieces or tryptychs. All were inset with lovely paintings.

We arrived about half an hour before the start of Mass, which allowed me enough time to follow the Stations of the Cross. They were startlingly vivid and affecting, painted in a style which made me think of continental Europe in the late Middle Ages. As I progressed from one Station to another, it was genuinely upsetting to see the face of Christ showing increasing evidence of His pain and suffering. It was a remarkable experience.

The Mass itself was so absorbing that I quite forgot about the intervening altar. When I was not watching the proceedings I was praying the prayers in my book, as were many others in theirs, no doubt; and the choir was singing and responding (joined at times by the congregation), and there was a general profusion of participatio actuosa: a tremendous sense of all of us being united with the priest who was making present this greatest Work of all.

Since the Mass was offered in celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the choir sang the Ave Maria during the Offertory. I find some musical settings of the prayer too syrupy; but they chose the setting by Jacobus (or Jacques) Arcadelt, a version which seems to combine stirring power with calm dignity and serenity. It was beautifully done, and I found myself moved to tears.

The church was well on the way to being full. It must have been a real joy to the priests and to all those involved who had put in such sterlng work, to have so many present for this happy occasion. Very well done!

"Private" EF Masses: Must they be kept secret?

A moving item from Ttony of The Muniment Room -
http://ttonys-blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/serving-tlm.html
- about his experience of serving a private Mass in the Extraordinary Form. His posting deals mainly with the intense experience of these encounters with God; but his first paragraph has the following details: the priest "is not allowed to celebrate it publically"... "the Mass is not public or announced" ... "invitations are not a way of making these private Masses public or regular celebrations" ...

Oh, how that resonated! There are fewer priests, and fewer scheduled (that is, "public") Masses; therefore if a priest decides to offer in addition a "private" Mass in the EF, it is surely a bonus for the parish. There seems no reason at all why knowledge of these Masses should be kept from the faithful of the area.

I am aware of one such Mass. There is a steady congregation; but an item in the newsletter to inform the rest of the parish about the Mass's existence cannot be considered, it is said, without careful thought and consultation.

I am concerned that if "private" is being over-interpreted as "secret", there will be an under-reporting of the level of interest in the EF when the Bishops' reports are submitted to the Pope at the end of the first three years after the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum. It is essential, I think, that the Bishops include these "private" Masses in their reports; but will they do so?