Beauty & the Latin Mass.In his April 21 essay on the liturgy ("With Thankfulness & Praise"), Luke Timothy Johnson Luke Timothy Johnson (born November 20, 1943) is the R. W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. refers to the pre-Vatican II Tridentine Mass "Tridentine Mass" (Latin: Missa Tridentina) is the term generally used to refer to the form of the Roman Rite Mass presented in the official editions of the Roman Missal published between 1570 and 1962. as "meaninglessly mechanical." He is too kind. Traditionalists usually fail to acknowledge that the "solemn richness" and "sense of transcendence" of the Tridentine rite was conveyed in the high Mass alone. There was no richness or mystery to the low Mass. It is hard to fathom fath·om n. Abbr. fth. or fm. A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths. tr.v. why the church allowed the low Mass to become the ordinary rite for Sunday parish worship. Its original purpose was the personal edification ed·i·fi·ca·tion n. Intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement; enlightenment. Noun 1. edification - uplifting enlightenment sophistication of a priest celebrating without a congregation. Even church law stated that Catholics must "attend" Mass, where attendere in Latin means "to listen to" or "to hear." How could anyone listen to or hear a Mass recitata sublato voce ("recited with voice removed") or "in a low voice that could not be heard beyond the Communion rail"? Yet these were the rubrics for the low Mass. In fact, Catholics never "attended" a low Mass. Doubtless they engaged themselves in some worthy piety, but it was not liturgy. PAUL A. HOTTINGER Downers Grove Downers Grove, village (1990 pop. 46,858), Du Page co., NE Ill.; settled 1832, inc. 1873. Downers Grove has undergone population growth and commercial development that include the construction of new office complexes. , Ill. |
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