Mere Catholic Miscellany

High Mass with Rulers in the presence of the Bishop in Amiens...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:41:11 -0700

High Mass with Rulers in the presence of the Bishop in Amiens Cathedral, early 19th century (source)

Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello (source)

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:56:00 -0700

Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello (source)

Church of Our Saviour, NYC (source)

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:03:21 -0700

Church of Our Saviour, NYC (source)

"Someone who has actually tasted truth is not contentious for truth. Someone who is considered by..."

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:36:43 -0700

“Someone who has actually tasted truth is not contentious for truth. Someone who is considered by people to be zealous for truth has not yet learnt what truth is really like; once he has truly learnt it, he will cease from zealousness on its behalf.”

- St Isaac the Syrian

De Maria numquam satis

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:56:57 -0700

… to be Catholic is not simply to become grafted into an institution in the here and now, but it is also an assent to the being of the Church as it comes down to us from history. In the experience of the Christian people, the motherhood of the Virgin Mary given to us by Christ on the Cross is not a sentimental add-on to the Faith, but part of its very essence. Mary takes care of us like any mother does. She has held back hostile armies, cured the sick, or perhaps just found us work. There is no apostolic Christianity where Mary is not present, no ancient Church where prayers to her are not said. A dream of Christianity sans Mary is like a dream of Christianity without the Cross. For without her, there would have been no Body to be offered on it for the life of the world.

The Catholic faithful have known for two millennia the deep significance of the gift of Mary’s motherhood. We have come to know that being a Christian does indeed entail a “personal commitment,” but that commitment always takes place in a continuum of history and within a language of devotion. Being a Christian means being part of a family; it means being taken into a way of life that has been going on for centuries. To use another Augustinian axiom: Unus christianus, nullus christianus (one Christian is no Christian). No greater sign exists of this than Mary herself, the most important member of God’s own family and the icon of the Church Universal.

Are there questionable attitudes in traditionally Catholic societies that border on syncretism? I would say yes, but devotion to Mary is not one of them. In my own studies of popular belief in Mexico, one finds devotional cults to Pancho Villa, the Grim Reaper, and even to heads of garlic. Many of these religious phenomena lead to all sorts of un-Christian behavior. But even in the midst of the extravagancies of “folk Catholicism,” devotion to Mary everywhere brings tenderness, meekness, and the closest thing to real religious fervor that many people will have. For if you know you have a Mother in Heaven watching you, wouldn’t you try to behave better? Indeed, more love for Christ’s mother seems only ever a good thing. And to all those who think it distracts too much from the devotion that we should have to her Son: I am sure He doesn’t really mind.

So can we have too much Mary? I will stick to what I know, and that is another old Latin axiom: De Maria numquam satis. Of Mary, there is never enough.

Arturo Vasquez

"What pleased me most about a Greek Orthodox mass I once attended was that there seemeed to be no..."

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:11:48 -0700

“What pleased me most about a Greek Orthodox mass I once attended was that there seemeed to be no prescribed behaviour for the congregation. Some stood, some sat, some knelt, some walked; one crawled about the floor like a caterpillar. And the beauty of it was that nobody took the slightest notice of what anyone else was doing.”

- C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (from Richard Barrett, via the Young Fogey)

On hyper-critical, hypocritical, pseudo-magisterial orthobloggery

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:44:00 -0700

November 22, 2009
Second Sunday of Advent

Father Pat’s Pastoral Ponderings

Last week we reflected how the vice of a murmurer is multiplied—-not simply added—-when combined with the murmuring of others. We considered, by way of example, the joint rebellions of the Kohathites and Reubenites in Numbers 16. That instance, we recall, depended on the physical proximity of the Kohathites and Reubenites as these two groups were situated in the desert camp of Israel.

Let me suggest that physical proximity was necessary because neither group had very good internet access. If decent web connections had been available in the Sinai Desert, the Kohathites and Reubenites would doubtless have shared their complaints by means of blogging.

Fancy, for instance, that the Reubenites were nursing a complaint about something on Ancient Faith Radio. Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that Dathan (let’s call him, one of the Reubenites) took issue with a sidebar notice, posted from an AFR listener, which said, “How may we pray without ceasing? By listening to Ancient Faith Radio!”

Reading that notice, Dathan might sensibly have reflected, “Well, I suppose the listener meant to say, ‘I find AFR a big help in maintaining a spiritual, prayerful atmosphere in my home.’” Had Dathan rendered such an assessment of the listener’s remark, I suspect he would have had a better than 99% chance of being correct.

Let us conjecture, nonetheless, that Dathan, feeling grouchy that day, determined to pursue the alternative option, the option with the 1% chance of probability. Perhaps he would post the following comment on his blog site: “That someone would say such a thing is one thing, but to endorse it, especially in a format that is associated with so many clergy in our Church, is rotten.”

Now, let us further speculate that some other blogger (we leave him anonymous, perhaps because he is afraid of crowds) posted the whole business on his own blog page, later remarking, “The gushing is near constant on AFR. This comment was perfectly in keeping with other promotional comments made their [sic].”

Aha, self-promotion, the real message of Ancient Faith Radio.

You know, it would not surprise me if such a blog posting would receive more than fifty responses over the next few days.

What sorts of things would they say? Well, it would be amazing, actually, to those of us who had imagined Ancient Faith Radio to be a good ministry on behalf of the Orthodox Church. In our blindness, we now realize, we enthusiasts had been unduly impressed by the scores—-and perhaps hundreds—-of testimonies from those who largely credit AFR with their personal conversions to the Orthodox Faith. Alas, we had no idea what a “rotten” ministry AFR really is.

Reading those blog comments, we would learn the error of our ways. One of the bloggers, for instance, would have instructed us: “I don’t know why anyone is seriously surprised that something like this would appear on AFR. Heck, from a marketing standpoint-the only standpoint which one can judge AFR without violating its self-understanding-it’s a shame they didn’t put that out there earlier.” (This individual might blog several times, at one point mentioning his other pet peeve: the Touchstone editors.)

Within hours, another blogger would remark: “I try to listen to AFR to convince myself that my instinctual panic at finding something Orthodox so glossily packaged is not necessarily a good thing but the honey-voiced female saying ‘Saint John Chrysostom on Ancient Faith Radio’ makes me feel as if I’ve trailed mud in the parlour.” Goodness, things at AFR are evidently far worse than we thought.

The tone of the readings on AFR would be a special target for critical barbs. Thus, we would be informed, “I deplore the manner of intonation and reading often done on AFR, in which the intoner or reader uses an affected, emotive vocal aesthetic… . I believe it does violence to the scriptures and the writings of the fathers for them to be read in such a manner.”

See how these things can evolve? Ancient Faith Radio was, at first, simply “gushing.” Now, AFR is “doing violence to the scriptures and the writings of the fathers.” But things would get even worse, I’m afraid. One blogger would complain, “the main thing that bothers me is the classical guitar behind and around the affected readings.”

Oh heavens, not just self-promotion, not just muddy floors, not just violence to the Scriptures, but—-think of it—-classical guitar!

Good thing they didn’t have the internet at Sinai. Might have led to murmuring.

Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:25:00 -0700

For almost 55 years, the Western Church has been largely bereft of a Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified gifts, a service which our brethren in the East celebrate during weekdays of Great Lent, and which in the Latin Church has long been restricted to Good Friday. Instead of the Celebration of Mass, a service in which Communion is received from a Host consecrated at a previous Mass still forms part of the Liturgy of Good Friday, but the reformed rites of Holy Week introduced by Pope Pius XII altered the Liturgy so radically as to make it something else entirely, and not a genuine Mass of the Pre-Sanctified, but rather similar to an order for Holy Communion outside of Mass.

In the pre-1955 rite, the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified begins after the adoration of the Cross, when the Blessed Sacrament is taken in procession from the Altar of Repose to the main altar carried by the Priest, and is censed by two acolytes. Although the origins are of course different, this procession mirrors the Byzantine Great Entrance procession, and it is worth noting that in the Eastern Pre-Sanctified services, on this occasion the priest, rather than the deacon carries the diskos holding the lamb. When the procession arrives at the altar, the deacon arranges the chalice. In the pre-1955 rite, a large second Host consecrated at the previous night’s liturgy is placed in a chalice, and covered by a pall, upturned paten and finally a soft, white veil, which is tied at the node of the chalice. The deacon leaves the chalice covered and arranges the veil over the chalice as at Mass. Indeed, the whole rite of the Pre-Sanctifies points to the celebration of a genuine Mass in structure and symbolism, whilst also quite clearly being something other than the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The priest at this stage censes the Sanctissimum.

The priest then slides the Host from the chalice, onto the paten which is held by the Deacon, and is then placed, with the chalice onto the corporal. The Deacon then fills the chalice with wine, and a drop of water is added by the Subdeacon, and it is placed on the corporal and covered with the pall, all as at Mass, except that all of the gestures and prayers of the Offertory are omitted. The Gifts are then censed as at Mass, as the cross and altar. However, nothing else, including the celebrant is censed. The presence of this chalice of unconsecrated wine is one of the most obvious analogies to the Byzantine rite, where a chalice is also prepared, veiled and censed at the prothesis, and at Communion, the Consecrated Lamb is placed in the unconsecrated wine in the chalice.

The priest says the prayer In spiritu humilitatis, then kisses the altar and says the Orate fratres. The response suscipiat is, however, not said and the priest does not make a full turn at the altar as at Mass. This prayer makes the same plea for acceptance that marks the end of the Offertory at Mass, but without its response, the rite is altered markedly: the people do not pray for acceptance from “thy hands”, seen as no Mass is being celebrated, and the references to “praise and glory” are absent. The central parts of the Sacrifice, the secret, preface, sanctus and canon are not said and the priest passes directly to Oremus. Praeceptis salutaribus and the Lord’s prayer, sung in the ferial tone. With the Sanctus go the words pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua, on the very day when God divested himself of glory. The embolism is sung out loud and its accompanying gestures are omitted. This mimicry of the structure of Mass is not perculiar to Good Friday, but also appears in the Blessing of the Palms on Palm Sunday, which has a “Liturgy of the Word” and a “Canon” of blessings over the palms so laid on the altar. In both cases, these ancient rites were divested of this unique identity and made to represent the rites of blessings and communion respectively from ceremonies outside of Holy Week. The reference to the Paschal Mystery, the very pivot of these observances, is lost.

Then comes the elevation, and the Deacon and Subdeacon, who kneel on either side of the priest but slightly back, lift his chasuble. In place of the bell, the crepitaculum or clapper is used. The ministers rise, the chalice is uncovered and the fraction is performed, saying nothing and not making the sign of the cross. Then bowing, he says Perceptio corporis following the normal rite of his Communion at Mass and then communicates himself. He then consumes the unconsecrated chalice, but without the usual prayers or rites, as this is not the Blood of Christ. After his communion, the Priest makes the normal ablutions of the chalice and his hands and the Deacon re-builds the chalice as at Mass. It has been a long custom of the Roman Church for only the Priest to receive communion on this day, but in the Eastern Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified, the people would also receive Holy Communion. The Church building itself is now empty of the Blessed Sacrament (Hosts for Viaticum being reserved in the Sacristy or another Altar or Building) which emphasises the sense of mourning at the Death of the Saviour on this day.

In the reformed rite of 1955, the Sacrament, in the form of a Ciborium of small Hosts, is brought to the Altar in Violet Mass vestments, by the Deacon (losing the parallel with the Eastern Great Entrance), and incense is not used. The preparation of the Host on the corporal and the preparation of the chalice, incensation and washing of hands, as well as the prayers from the offertory are not performed. The introduction to the Lord’s prayer is said immediately, not sung as before, the Libera Nos is said by the Priest and then Perceptio is said silently. The priest communicates with a Small Host, and then Communion is given to all with the usual ceremonies of Mass. After Communion the priest makes his ablutions with vessels which were placed on the Altar for this purpose before the procession.

The simplification of the Communion rite of Good Friday eliminates both the parallels with the rite of Mass, and the analogies with the Byzantine Liturgy, both of which are integral to the identity of this rite. The reformed Holy Week makes the Communion no different from the distribution of Communion outside of Mass, such as would be given at a Wedding or for some other cause. With the reformed rite of 1955, the Western Church loses its one true Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified. I wonder if the Communion rite was deliberately “rationalised” to bring it into line with other forms for Distribution of Communion, or whether it was simply intended to be shortened to make room for the prayers which follow afterwards. I wonder also if we will ever see aspects of the older rite re-emerge with the reform of the reform. Let’s wait and see.

(from ‘Ex Fide’)

'The Russian Orthodox Psalter'

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:18:08 -0700

'The Russian Orthodox Psalter':

The Book of Psalms, based on the 1535 text of Miles Coverdale, edited to conform to the Greek and Slavonic text of the Septuagint, and arranged for liturgical use according to the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is the first English-language Psalter to contain the instructional and devotional material traditionally found in a Russian Orthodox Psalter. Published with the blessing of Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, Chairman, Synodal Translation Committee, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. (via Eastern Orthodox Librarian)

A crisis of the Christian imagination

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:49:49 -0700

I have unfortunately been involved in many milieu where there was only one acceptable idea of how the Gospel could be incarnate in society. With the Society of St. Pius X, the Gospel reached its perfect avatar either in the High Middle Ages, or in France in the right-wing movements leading up to the suppression of the Action Française. With the Orthodox, the Christian imagination will always be stuck before the fall of Constantinople. Even in many mainline Catholic circles, culture can only advance by going backwards, either in music, literature, or the plastic arts. If there is a real crisis of Christian praxis, it is the crisis of the Christian imagination. Christians must always attempt see the beauty of Christ in the world in which they live, not in a world that has long passed into memory.

Arturo Vasquez

(source)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:41:42 -0700

(source)

Coming soon. Watch this space.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:51:26 -0700

Coming soon. Watch this space.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:50:58 -0700

Coming soon. Watch this space.

Palatine Chapel, Palermo (source)

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:58:59 -0700

Palatine Chapel, Palermo (source)

"Each person is … uniquely created in the image of God, never able to be reduced to anything..."

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:50:23 -0700

“Each person is … uniquely created in the image of God, never able to be reduced to anything less than a [sacred] mystery.”

- Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

On the Arab Christian use of the word 'Allah'

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:47:51 -0700

On the Arab Christian use of the word 'Allah'

'Politics, Polemics and Reconciliation'

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:43:36 -0700

The besetting failure of Orthodoxy in America is our almost global unwillingness to lay aside knee jerk anti-Western polemics. As least since the time of St Justin Martyr, the Church has understood that God prepares a people for the reception of the Gospel. Granted the parallel between his time and ours is not exact. Most Americans are Christians of one sort or another even if they are not Orthodox Christians. Likewise Western culture is, at its foundation, Christian. And while there are points of divergence and even disagreement between the Catholic, Protestant and yes even secular thinkers who have given shape to American culture and the Tradition of the Orthodox Church, there are also many points of agreement between us.

Fr Gregory Jensen

'Variants of Anglican Worship'

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:38:31 -0700

'Variants of Anglican Worship':

By Br. Stephen, O.Cist, Our Lady of Spring Bank Monastery, Wisconsin

Benedict the 'Radical Traditionalist'

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:35:52 -0700

“We make a grave mistake if we interpret and understand the actions and activities of Pope Benedict XVI through the narrowly political lens that we all tend to wear in these times. He’s engaged in a project far greater, and with world-historical significance. He is a radical traditionalist, and in a most untraditional age, such devotions call for radical creativity. Just don’t call him ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’; both labels are too narrow for his capacious ambitions. He is endeavoring to save Christendom - from those outside it who would wish its demise - but even more, from those within, regardless of their political label.

Patrick J. Deneen

Shrine of Saint Joseph, St Louis, Missouri (source)

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:25:03 -0700

Shrine of Saint Joseph, St Louis, Missouri (source)