The Tridentine Easter Vigil Mass at St Augustine's in South St Paul, started at 11:00 p.m. after the Novus Ordo Mass in English was finished about 10:00. Remind me never to attend again -- without bringing a missal, particularly for the 90 minutes of the readings in Latin, interspersed with the occasionally recognizable "Per omnia saecula saeculorums."
I figured it had been 46 years since my last appearance and it was about time. Family commitments generally have kept me from any service on Holy Saturday during that time.
Due to the late hour, Mass didn't start til 12:30 a.m., the crowd was sparse, maybe 75 people, many of whom also did not have missals. And elderly woman in a front pew seemed quite knowledgeable as to what the congregation should be doing, so after a bit, I just watched her as to when to stand, sit or kneel.
The service began in total blackness and appararently there was a problem lighting the fire as the celebrant introduced the very short homily by apologizing for the delay and promising "wood chips next year." I was near the front so I didn't see what happened. Baptisms had occurred at the Novus Ordo ceremony. There was a very nice choir of about 15 people and to my amateur ear, all seemed fluent in pronouncing, if not understanding the Latin. All went well although the celebrant could have used a knowledgeable Master of Ceremonies to keep the ten altar boys directed. That would have allowed him to slow down his movements and concentrate on the celebration at hand.
I'm glad I went. I'm not a believer that a universal indult will radically increase the number of fans of the Tridentine Mass. And I wouldn't go every Sunday. But on a special occasion such as Holy Saturday, if I can find a missal, I will go again.
4 comments:
I disagree, I believe that if people are properly catechised in the Tridentine rite they will come, and by droves. I am new to the Tridentine rite myself but the more I learn and understand what is going on the more I love it. The more I understand it the clearer I see how much more the Tridentine is showing the proper reverence due to our Lord and Creator which unfortunatley the New Mass fails to do in so many ways. I do hope that there is a universal indult for the rite. I also hope that the New Mass is more regulated and brought into line with the teachings of the Church. Of course I am talking about all of the unfortunate abuses of the liturgy by those that do not understand what the Mass is about. In fact just last week I was watching the Mass at St. Olaf on cable access for palm sunday last week and low and behold they had liturgical dancers!! Now I know not many people watch cable access TV but that is beside the point. Why was this allowed when it has been condemned by the Church. The Mass I went to for Easter Vigil started out great (except for the music which I wonder why do people think they have to do a new riff and style on every Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and any other song or hymn that the church holds dear and tear it up to shreds). The Priest was very careless with the handeling of the Body and Blood of our Lord he dropped the Eucharist 3 times and one of the other EM's dropped it while she was distributing and brought it back to the Priest and practically through it to him and he just grabbed it from her like it was a stick of gum.
So I really hope that the Holy Father does a universal indult to allow the Tridentine rite. It will bring people to a greater awareness of what is going on at the Alter. We as the layity can promote programs which teaches the Latin and a school of the Mass.
http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/products/products_main.html
To get a very inexpensive TLM missal go to www.olrl.org There you will go to the catalogue you will find a very inexpensive TLM missal as well as many other books that you can purchase at ridiculously low prices. Where else can you find most of the writings of St. Alphosus Liguori for only about 12 dollars. This site is meant to be for the spread of the faith. So buy a bunch of books and pass them out at your parish.
Thanks for the tip on the source for missals. I'll give them a link in my sidebar. I wouldn't be surprised but that Leaflet Missal here might have them too. I'll check that out on my next visit.
I grew up on the Tridentine Mass. I would be in favor of the universal indult if anybody asked me. It is my understanding that "liberals" are against it because they believe it to be "separatist" and "divisive." Archbishop Flynn, I believe, refused permission for the Legionaries of Christ to operate in this Archdiocese for that reasoning.
But I would counter that the Tridentine Mass is far less divisive than some of the liturgies performed by liberal pastors, to some extent in this archdiocese and if reports (and photographs) from other areas are to be believed, also in many other areas of this country and Europe.
I would add, however, that I have seen even priests at St Agnes change the wording of the Mass. Critics of all liturgies should not fall into the error of scrupulosity.
I stand by my belief that large numbers of Catholics, after an initial exposure, would not continue to attend the Mass in the Tridentine "rite." If they do, wonderful.
(I was wrong about the attraction of light rail transit here; and a million other things too).
Ray,
I would tend to agree that a universal indult might not make much of a difference here in St. Paul-Minneapolis, at least at first. We do have the indult parish St. Augustine, and they have a loyal following for that Mass. As you pointed out, we have St. Agnes, which offers a Novus Ordo that is as close to the Tridentine as possible without actually being one. Now, I can see that they might add a Tridentine on occasion, but I think they would be very careful not to step on the toes of St. Augustine.
The place where you might see it happen is in Minneapolis itself or one of the suburbs. If there was an orthodox parish in one of those areas, there might be a demand for it that would result in an occasional offering, without the feeling that they were infringing on the territory of St. Augustine.
We go to the Tridentine occasionally, and we're very fond of it. I share your hopes that universal permission would increase the number who would wish to partake of it. I do wonder, however, how many (especially in the cities themselves) are not already satisfying that desire either at St. Augustine or St. Agnes, or one of the more orthodox parishes such as Holy Childhood.
I take it that your first anonymous commenter is from the Twin Cities as well. I'd be interested to know which parish he belongs to, and get more of his insight.
P.S. Who was the celebrant at St. Augustine? I think you know Fr. Echert as well as I do, and it doesn't sound as if it was him. Was it perhaps Fr. Petersen - big, burly, dark hair and beard, been a priest for a couple of years? If so that's interesting, because his father is a permanent deacon at St. Agnes; and although he has been saying the Tridentine frequently at St. Augustine he came straight from the St. Paul Seminary, which means he wasn't specifically trained (as the FSSP priests are) to conduct the Tridentine. I think it's a good sign that younger priests are open to this!
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