Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

$2,351.00  Collected for the Institute’s Special Seminary Collection on 4/26 and $1,653.00 made from the Bake Sale!

 Thank you and may God bless you for your generosity!

The Classical Roman Rite and its meaning for the Church

By Msgr. R. Michael Schmitz

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The clear light of eternal freedom, the fresh joy of lasting youthfulness, the exquisite harmony of unified multiplicity and the       otherworldly transcendence of time and space are fused into one action of unspeakable beauty that can not be reduced to mere words. The sacramental sign veils and reveals the act of the God-Man Jesus Christ, because it displays elements of His own        existence concentrated in a moment of transfiguration from the human to the Divine. The Sacrifice of Christ’s humanity glorifies it for eternity and thus, Mount Calvary and Mount Tabor are merged in the one Moment of Redemption in which the rays of           resurrection cannot be quenched by the shadow of the Cross. The splendor of this instant is captured by the sober purity of a Rite shrouding the divine in silence and disclosing the truth of the Sacrifice in the simple gesture of elevating the white host in the      triumph of resurrection.

God is beautiful. His creation sparkles in unending facets of his majesty. The Victory on the Cross followed by the triumphant    Resurrection is the exaltation of this Majesty in the face of death. Nothing is of a more essential beauty than this Redemptive      Gesture of Divine Love. This same Divine Gesture, under the form of divinized human signs, is repeated on our altars day for day. All of a sudden, one understands why every detail during its celebration is of inexorable weight and why, through supernatural   influence, the totality of the human gestures in the Mass form an entire sacramental action whose beauty cannot be explained other than by constant divine intervention. The Sacrament of the Altar cannot be reduced either to its intellectual meaning, its pure words, its actions or to its spiritual effect. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass forms a unity in which every element takes part in the beauty of the whole. The grandeur even of a low Mass consists in the fact that God has elevated nature through grace, and foremost in the core of the liturgy that celebrates His glory and our redemption. Beauty is therefore not a negligible decoration for a crude action whose only sacramental validity matters, but an unmistakable indication of the Divine presence. That is the reason for which God himself has given us a Mass which is a glimpse of heaven.

II. Essential Characteristics of the Classical Roman Rite

The description of the general atmosphere by which the Roman Rite was developed and in which it has lived since is only part of its unique attractiveness. If so many have asked for the freedom to assist at the Rite the Church has coined as the expression of her very essence, this astonishing demand is also linked to the characteristics of the Rite itself in the various steps it unfolds before the onlooker. Our presentation would be incomplete, if we would not discuss at least some of the more important elements displayed by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the venerable tradition of the Church.

a.  Two Essential but not Exclusive Elements

However, let us dissipate some notorious misunderstandings right in the beginning. Two characteristics normally associated with the Rite we speak of are essential, but not typical only for the Classical Roman Liturgy since they are patterns of the catholic liturgy as such up to this day, at least in theory: the liturgical language and the position of the celebrant during the Mass. A Latin Mass is not exclusively a Mass celebrated in the traditional form, but can still be any catholic celebration of the Mystery of the Altar. The Church never changed her conviction that the Latin language is the most appropriate expression of the liturgical word in the Latin Church and considers this language of great parts of the early Church to be her very own mother-tongue. Up to this day, the Roman Pontiff celebrates the liturgy frequently in Latin, and is followed in this custom by quite a large number of Bishops in the more    solemn occasions of the liturgical year. Never has any Council or Synod abolished the Latin language of the Church, so much less, as the most important documents of Holy Mother Church, including the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, are written in Latin. Here is not the place or time to explain all aspects of this habit, which certainly is a sign of agelessness, but it may be mentioned that through Latin the Church has been able to preserve its over-national universality, its orthodoxy, its unity, and the depth of its cultural quality over two thousand years.

The Latin of the Mass is clear, sober and very structured. As the fundamental texts are repeated every day, even those who do not have a deeper knowledge of this classical language can recognize the meaning of the words and participate at Mass independently of national or cultural circumstances or difficulties. At the same time, by the use of the Latin as a liturgical language, the supernatural character of the Holy Mysteries is underscored and their celebration is safeguarded from willful changes or purely subjective      preferences and tastes. Besides, many consider the ecclesiastical music based on the Latin Mass texts - chanted in the Gregorian form or performed in a polyphonic style according to famous compositions of great masters - as particularly uplifting and spiritually nourishing. These are only a few reasons why the Roman Church has kept the Latin, totally independently from the questions of Rites, as her preferred liturgical language up to this day.

(to be continued in future bulletins)