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Who Wants to Go Back?

If Vatican Approves More Use of Old Mass

By Carl Horst

Recent reports from Rome indicate a return to the old Latin Mass may take place this year. It is widely acknowledged that new legislation on the liturgy will be released later this year. According to Robert Moynihan, editor-in-chief of Inside the Vatican magazine, the new legislation "will also encourage far wider use of the 'old Mass,' the Tridentine Latin Mass ... throughout the Roman Catholic Church" and is expected to include a provision commonly referred to as a "universal indult" which would allow any priest in good standing the privilege of offering the Tridentine Latin Mass without obtaining any further permission.

The Tridentine Latin Mass was instituted following the Council of Trent in the late 1500s until it was replaced in 1969 following the Second Vatican Council's call for liturgical reform. Almost immediately efforts were made to retain the old Mass. In 1984, the public celebration of the old Mass was expressly permitted but subject to restrictions including the permission of the local bishop. In 1988, the Holy Father decreed that "respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those attached to the Latin liturgical tradition, by a wide and generous application of the directives" previously issued.

Although some bishops agreed to requests for the Tridentine Latin Mass, many did not do so and, even where it was allowed, restrictions were imposed. In the diocese of San Diego, in February 1985, Bishop Maher was the first U.S. bishop to allow the regular public celebration of the old Mass. In 1990, Bishop Brom continued the permission which allowed the Tridentine Latin Mass but limited it to one location, Holy Cross Mausoleum Chapel, and only on Sundays and holy days. Efforts to obtain the old Mass in North Country and on other occasions were unsuccessful.

Nevertheless interest in the Tridentine Mass has continued. Average weekly attendance at Holy Cross Chapel over the past seventeen years has exceeded 300 people including an increasing number of young families. On several occasions, Bishop Brom granted requests from young couples to celebrate their marriage, as their parents had, with a Tridentine Nuptial Mass. Most recently, on February 23, with Bishop Brom's permission, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, the new auxiliary bishop, offered a solemn pontifical High Mass at Holy Cross Chapel. Over 400 people attended. The profound beauty of the ceremonies prompted many to observe that it was an "awesome" experience.

Other developments which reflect the Holy See's renewed interest in this matter included the recent publication of a rule permitting celebration of the Tridentine Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, a practice long forbidden. Moreover, on May 24, to honor the Holy Father on the occasion of his 83d birthday, Cardinal Dario Castrillon-Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, celebrated a solemn pontifical High Mass using the ancient Roman Rite at the basilica of St. Mary Major. It marked the first occasion in nearly 40-years that a prefect has offered the "old Mass" at a major Roman basilica.

Although these events signal an expansion of the Tridentine Mass, what effect will a "universal indult" have?

According to a well-informed middle-aged priest who formerly worked in San Diego, it is unlikely older priests (60 years of age and older) will have interest in the matter. "The guys responsible for the change [from the old Mass to the new Mass] have no interest in going back." Although middle-age (40-to-60 year old) and younger (30-40 year old) priests are more likely to be interested, "the middle-age priests are polarized -- many of them are not interested in the liturgy. The big problem among middle-age and young priests is their lack of knowledge and comfort with Latin."

When asked why he liked the old Mass, this priest spoke of a transformation which had taken place for him. When he entered the monastery in 1971, the new liturgy had become mandatory. Having had some training and experience with the old Mass, he concluded that "It was clear to me that a lot had been lost." Following his ordination in 1985, although he celebrated the Novus Ordo exclusively for nearly ten years, he found himself disappointed with it and drawn to the old Mass. As he described it, "The Novus Ordo [non-Tridentine] Mass said in Latin with full use of Gregorian chant is beautiful but it is like a house decorated by a professional interior decorator; it is unnatural, too rational. The Tridentine Latin Mass on the other hand is like a beautiful old house with a natural beauty developed over the ages." Faced with the fact that the Novus Ordo was too often celebrated in an incomplete and improper manner and using a poor translation, he concluded "what we ended up with was neither liturgy, nor English." Drawn to the old Mass he "got out Fortescue-O'Connell [a seminary textbook for the old Mass] and taught [him]self." Following a visit with the Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine, le Barroux, France, during the 1994 Christmas season, he returned to his monastery in the United States and began to offer the Tridentine Mass regularly.

According to another middle-aged San Diego priest with an interest in the liturgy and Latin, although he would celebrate the Tridentine Mass occasionally, he estimated no more than six local priests shared his interest. A young Orange County priest, who stated "I would certainly use the universal indult," estimated that about half of the young priests he knew well would be interested.

However, there also is an institutional problem. According to one priest, "the [universal] indult will not change the culture of the chancery office or the liturgy establishment." Members of religious orders also face similar obstacles. Despite the documents which establish the restoration of the Tridentine Mass to the liturgy of the Church, several members of religious orders indicated use of a universal indult would depend on whether the member's superior would permit it. Thus, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger observed in 1998, it will remain necessary that "we ... persuade the bishops that the presence of the old liturgy does not trouble or harm the unity of their diocese but is rather a gift destined to build up the Body of Christ, of which we are all the servants."

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