august 2012

31. august: Den hellige Raimund Nonnatus

Liturgi /


I dag feirer man i den tradisjonelle kalenderen en helgen som de fleste vel nå har glemt, den hellige Raimund Nonnatus (den ufødte, 1200-1240). Om ham leste vi i dagens matutin-bønn:

Raymund was called Nonnatus, or Unborn, because he was brought into life from the side of his dead mother contrary to the common law of nature. He scorned childish games and the temptations of the world and gave himself to works of devotion so that all admired the boy as having the virtues of a mature man. He loved the Mother of God above all and constantly prayed to her. He entered the religious Order called that of Ransom or of Mercy, for the ransom of captives. He perpetually kept his virginity, which he had already consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and shone with the other virtues, especially with charity toward the Christians who were living wretched lives under the power of pagans. Gregory IX enrolled him among the Cardinals ; but the man of God shrank from all pomp and always held most firmly to the humility proper to a religious. At Cardona, worn out by his last illness and fortified by the Sacraments of the Church, he went to the Lord on the last Sunday of August in the year 1240.

Og katolsk.no forklarer som vanlig hvorfor han ble borte (eller flyttet) i 1969:

… Raimund ble helligkåret ved at hans kult (som kardinal) ble stadfestet den 5. november 1625 av pave Urban VIII (1623-44). Hans fest ble foreskrevet den 9. mai 1626. Den 7. august 1657 ble hans navn tatt inn i Martyrologium Romanum av pave Alexander VII (1655-67), og den 13. august 1669 ble hans kult godkjent for hele Kirken av pave Klemens IX (1667-69). Den 10. mars 1681 bestemte den salige pave Innocent XI (1676-89) at hans fest skulle feires den 31. august, og dette er fortsatt hans minnedag. En kommisjon nedsatt av pave Benedikt XIV (1740-58) foreslo å fjerne ham fra den generelle kalenderen, og på grunn av hans begrensede betydning på verdensbasis, ble dagen ved kalenderrevisjonen i 1969 henvist til lokale og spesielle kalendere. Hans navn står fortsatt i det nye Martyrologium Romanum (2001), så han kan feires i messer og tidebønner som før.

30. august: Den hellige Rosa av Lima

Liturgi /

I de tradisjonelle tidebønnene leser vi i dag om den hellige Rosa av Lima:

The first flower of holiness in South America was the maiden Rose. She was born of Christian parents at Lima and in her cradle early gave signs of her future sanctity, for the child’s face was wonderfully transformed into the likeness of a rose, and this gave her her name. Lest she be compelled by her parents to marry, she secretly cut off her lovely hair. The austerity of her life was most singular. She took the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic and followed the difficult path of St. Catherine of Siena. For fifteen years, she would suffer terribly for hours at a time from desolation of spirit and from aridity, and bravely bore agonies more bitter than any death. Through frequent apparitions, she enjoyed a wonderful companionship with her Guardian Angel, St. Catherine of Siena, and the Virgin Mother of God, and she was privileged to hear Christ say these words, Rose of my Heart, be thou my bride. Famous for many miracles both before and after her death, she was enrolled in the list of holy Virgins by Pope Clement X.

I den nye kalenderen feires hun ikke i dag, men er valgfri minnedag 23. august. Katolsk.no skriver bl.a. om denne flyttingen:

… Rosa var den første person i Amerika som ble helligkåret. Året etter ble hun utnevnt til skytshelgen for Peru. Det ble senere utvidet til hele Mellom- og Sør-Amerika, Filippinene og til og med India. På grunn av navnet blir hun også (uoffisielt) betraktet som skytshelgen for blomsterhandlere og gartnere. I Roma er et eget kapell viet til henne i kirken Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Tidligere ble hennes fest feiret den 30. august, mens den nå feires 23. august i nesten hele verden. I hjemlandet Peru minnes hun fortsatt den 30. august. Dødsdagen 24. august er opptatt av den hellige Bartolomeus. Hennes attributter i kunsten er blomster og Jesusbarnet, og hun avbildes ofte i Dominikanerdrakt.

29. august: Johannes døperens martyrdød

Liturgi /

«Herodes hadde latt Johannes gripe, hadde bundet ham og kastet ham i fengsel. Dette hadde han gjort på grunn av sin brors hustru Herodias. For Johannes hadde sagt til Herodes: «Det er ikke tillatt for deg å ha henne til hustru.» Han ville da helst ha drept ham, men var redd folket, som mente at Johannes var en profet. Men da Herodes feiret sin fødselsdag, danset datter til Herodias for gjestene. Herodes likte dette så godt at han med ed lovte å gi henne hva hun så bad om. Da fikk moren henne til å si: «Gi meg døperen Johannes’ hode på et fat.» Kongen ble ille ved, men fordi han hadde sverget, og det mens gjestene hørte på, bød han at hun skulle få det, og han sendte folk for å halshogge Johannes i fengslet. Hodet ble båret inn på et fat og gitt til piken, som gav det videre til sin mor. Men disiplene hans kom og hentet liket og gravla det, og gikk så og fortalte alt til Jesus.» Matteus 14, 3-12

Det er denne hendelsen vi markerer i dag. Les mer om dagen på katolsk.no – bl.a. mye av relikvier av Døperens hode.

Trykk HER for å se en stor kopi av Caravaggios bilde.

28. august: Den hellige Augustin

Katolsk /

I dag feirer Kirken den hellige biskop og kirkelærer, Augustin. Om ham leste vi i dag i de tradisjonelle tidebønnene:

Augustine was born of good parents at Tagaste in Africa, and in a short time surpassed all his companions in learning. As a young man, when in Carthage, he fell into the Manichean heresy. Later he went to Rome and was sent from there to Milan to teach rhetoric. At Milan, he was persuaded by Monica, his most devout mother, to become a frequent listener to the Bishop Ambrose. Ambrose brought it about that Augustine was fired with a desire for the Catholic faith, and baptized him when he was thirty-three years old. Going back to Africa, Augustine led a life governed by religion and holiness, and was made priest by Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, renowned for his sanctity. At this same period, he founded a religious community with whom he lived, taking part in their life and worship while he trained them very carefully to the apostolic life and to learning. Moved by his devotion, Valerius made him his coadjutor bishop. He wrote many works remarkable for their devotion, subtlety and diffuseness, to combat heresies and throw light on Christian teaching. When the Vandals were laying Africa waste and Hippo had been besieged for three months, he was taken with a fever and went to the Lord in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His body was buried first in Sardinia and then in Pavia, where it is venerated with honour.

Et bordalter er tatt bort

Katolsk, Liturgi /

Det er nok en stund til slike ting begynner å skje i Norge, men i andre land begynner det nå langsomt; at bordalter som ble plassert i kirkenes kor på 70-tallet, nå tas bort. Dette eksempelet er fra the Assumtion Grotto i Detroit, der sognepresten skriver bl.a.:

… many of you, though not all, noticed a change in the sanctuary of the church last weekend. The low altar had been removed, allowing the high altar to shine in its full original splendor. Although I had intended to write to you about this in advance of its ouster, events moved too swiftly for me to do that. Our Parish Council members had been foretold of this intention sometime ago. No one then showed any dissatisfaction with the proposal. Indeed, everyone seemed intrigued to know how the church would have looked at its construction. I offer a brief ‘unscientific’ history of this subject.

… After the Second Vatican Council there was a popular movement in liturgical circles to have the Mass celebrated with the priest facing the people, even though this was never mandated by the Council nor by any subsequent directive of the Holy See. Grotto Church, like most others, began the practice with a temporary altar set up in the great open space before the high altar (which space had been created for the old solemn ceremonies of the Latin liturgy) so that a priest could celebrate Mass towards the people. … In 1978 Monsignor Sawher decided to replace the temporary low altar with a dignified and indeed beautiful marble altar that would in many ways be harmonious with the existing decor.

When I carefully studied the book The Spirit of the Liturgy by then-Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), I realized that we ought to be facing East once again and not towards the people since that position inadvertently created a “closed circle” that did not aim towards heaven, towards God (East), but towards man (symbolically indicating that man and not God was the focal point of the Mass). In the early years of my pastorship here, the low altar was used variously: first, facing the people; then facing East; and then, with a move of the altar farther back some feet towards the main altar, with the priest still facing East. We were getting progressively more in line with an ideal.

… Fine, you may say, but what is to be done should a visiting priest want to celebrate Mass facing the people? We have already provided for that in having readily available an altar that can be set in place in a matter of minutes. It too is suitably made, containing an true altar stone and thus worthy of Holy Mass.

Hyrdebrev om ekteskapet i Skottland

Apologetikk, Katolsk /

I går, søndag, ble et hyrdebrev om ekteskapet lest opp i alle katolske kirker i Skottland, siden det der i det siste har vært mye diskusjon om innføringen av en kjønnsnøytral ekteskapslov. Og biskopene skrev bl.a. (les mer her):

… We write to you having already expressed our deep disappointment that the Scottish Government has decided to redefine marriage and legislate for same-sex marriage. We take this opportunity to thank you for your past support in defense of marriage and hope you will continue to act against efforts to redefine it. We reaffirm before you all the common wisdom of humanity and the revealed faith of the Church that marriage is a unique life-long union of a man and a woman. In circumstances when the true nature of marriage is being obscured, we wish to affirm and celebrate the truth and beauty of the Sacrament of Matrimony and family life as Jesus revealed it; to do something new to support marriage and family life in the Catholic community and in the country; and to reinforce the vocation of marriage and the pastoral care of families which takes in the everyday life of the Church in dioceses and parishes across the country. For that reason, in the forthcoming Year of Faith we have decided to establish a new Commission for Marriage and the Family. … The new Commission will promote the true nature of marriage as both a human institution and a union blessed by Jesus. The Commission will be asked to develop an online presence so that prayer, reflection, formation and practical information on matters to do with marriage and family life can be quickly accessible to all. It will also work to produce materials and organise events which will support ordinary Catholic families in their daily lives. During the course of the coming year we will ask for your support for these initiatives. Our faith teaches us that marriage is a great and holy mystery. The Bishops of Scotland will continue to promote and uphold the universally accepted definition of marriage as the union solely of a man and a woman. At the same time, we wish to work positively for the strengthening of marriage within the Church and within our society. This is an important initiative for all our people, but especially our young people and children. We urge you to join us in this endeavour. Pray for your own family every day, and pray for those families whose lives are made difficult by the problems and cares which they encounter. Finally, we invite you to pray for our elected leaders, invoking the Holy Spirit on them, that they may be moved to safeguard marriage as it has always been understood, for the good of Scotland and of our society.

Tradisjonell latinsk søndagsmesse i Oslo 26. august

TLM /

Vi starter opp igjen med de tradisjonelle latinske søndagsmessene i Oslo etter sommeren, og feirer søndag 26. august messe i St Joseph kirke til vanlig tid, kl 19.00. Vi feirer denne dagen 13. søndag etter pinse. Antifoner, bønner og tekster kan man lese her på latin og norsk.

Dagens kollektbønn lyder slik:

Omnípotens sempítérne, Deus, da nobis fidei, spei, et caritátis augméntum: et ut mereámur ássequi quod promíttis, fac nos amáre quod præcipis. Per Dóminum nostrum … (Norsk oversettelse;) Allmektige evige Gud, gi oss vekst i tro, håp og kjærlighet, og la oss elske dine bud, så vi kan fortjene å oppnå det du har lovet. Ved vår Herre …

Og evangeliet – fra Lukas 17, 11-19 – slik:

På den tid hendte det at Jesus vandret midt igjennom Samaria og Galilea på veien til Jerusalem. Og da han kom til en by, møtte han ti spedalske menn som sto langt borte. Og de løftet røsten og sa: «Jesus, mester, miskunn deg over oss.» Og da han så dem, sa han: «Gå bort, vis dere for prestene.» Og mens de gikk bort, skjedde det at de ble renset. Men en av dem vendte tilbake da han så at han var blitt renset, og priste Gud med høy røst, falt på sitt ansikt for hans føtter og takket; og det var en samaritan. Og Jesus tok til orde og sa: «Ble ikke alle ti renset? Hvor er da de ni? Var det ingen andre enn denne fremmede mannen som vendte tilbake og ga Gud æren?» Og han sa til ham: «Stå opp og gå bort, din tro har frelst deg.»

Bør den eukaristiske fasten igjen bli tre timer?

Katolsk, Liturgi /

Hos Rorate Cæli fikk jeg tips om et nytt dokument om liturgien fra engelske Latin Mass Society. Dette siste dokumentet i denne serien argumenterer for at en tre timers faste før mottagelsen av kommunion bør gjeninnføres – og jeg syns nok argumentene har noe for seg. (Inntil 1953/-57 var det i over 1000 år obligatorisk faste fra midnatt før kommunion, så ble dette redusert til tre timer, og på 60-tallet til bare én time – noe som i prasis er nesten ingen ting.)

I dokumentet leser vi bl.a.:

On this topic, and on the topic of Holy Days of Obligation, which we will be dealing with in the future, Catholics attending the Traditional Mass are governed by Canon Law, and the provisions of their local bishops, which have changed the legal structure the liturgy works within. The Canon legal situation in 1962 was that we were obliged to fast for three hours before receiving Communion (see Appendix B for the full details); a few years earlier, we had been obliged to fast from Midnight. The seriousness the midnight fast, and even the three hour fast, implied about the reception of Holy Communion, accorded with the seriousness implied by the ancient liturgy itself. These fasts were something which Catholics intending to receive Holy Communion had to think about; every now and then people would not receive Communion because it was not practical to observe the fast, that is, to give the Blessed Sacrament the honour which is its due. (Although, in fact, the exceptions to the three-hour fast after 1957 were extremely generous: see Appendix C.)

By contrast – and I think I can say this without offending anyone – the one-hour fast is not serious. The motivation for it is obvious enough, to make things easier for the Faithful, but it no longer tells us that the reception of Holy Communion is something to be prepared for with care, and undertaken with fear and trembling. It does not accord with the seriousness implied by the ancient Mass.

Since the decision has been taken by the Holy Father to treat the Traditional Latin Mass, from a legal point of view, as a ‘form’ of the same Rite as the Novus Ordo, rather than as a separate Rite, it does not make sense to argue for a different, binding discipline for the Eucharistic Fast for Catholics attending the TLM, than for Catholics attending the Novus Ordo. Within this context, we must argue for a revision of the discipline for all Catholics of the Latin Rite. And it seems to us that this is an opportune moment to do just that.

Les hele dokumentet her.

Pius X feires i dag (eller 3. september)

Katolsk, Liturgi /


Jeg feiret nettopp messen i St Hallvard kirke, og mintes den hellige pave Pius X, siden der er 21. august. Jeg har fridag tirsdag og feirer da vanligvis en privatmesse i den tradisjonelle form, men i dag var dte ingen andre prester her, så jeg måtte feire menighetsmessen.

Og om Pius X og hans minnedag skriver katolsk.no:

… Tidlig på morgenen den 20. august 1914 døde Pius X i Roma av en lungebetennelse. Etter hans eget ønske ble han bisatt i en prunkløs sarkofag i grotten i Peterskirken. Han skrev i sitt testamente: «Jeg ble født fattig, har levd som fattig og jeg ønsker å dø fattig.»

Pius X var på mange måter dypt konservativ, og ble også ansett slik av samtidige. Men han hører også til de største og mest konstruktive reformpavene på grunn av reorganiseringen av kurien og nyordningen av kirkeretten, men særlig på grunn av den religiøse fornyelsen av Kirken han sterkt hadde fremmet. Målet for Pius Xs pontifikat, å «fornye alle ting i Kristus», kunne han langt på vei virkeliggjøre. Han karakteriseres som en «konservativ reformpave», og vil alltid ha en fremtredende plass i pavehistorien.

Pius X ble tillagt mirakler ennå mens han levde, og italienerne kalte ham allerede da «il Papa Santo». Straks etter hans død var det et inntrengende folkelig ønske om hans kanonisering. Prosessen begynte i 1923, og han ble saligkåret av Pius XII den 3. juni 1951, og den 29. mai 1954 ble han helligkåret som den første pave på 242 år. Hans minnedag var opprinnelig den 3. september, men siden 1969 er den 21. august.

Jeg vet ikke hvorfor man først (da han ble helligkåret i 1954) valgte 3. september som minnedag, men nå feires han så nær sin dødsdag som praktisk mulig. Wikipedia skriver:

Pius X’s feast day was assigned in 1955 to 3 September, to be celebrated as a Double. It remained thus for 15 years. In the 1960 calendar (incorporated in the 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII, whose continued use as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite is authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum) the rank was changed to Third-Class Feast. The rank in the General Roman Calendar since 1969 is that of Memorial and the feast day is obligatorily celebrated on 21 August, closer to the day of his death (20 August, impeded by the feast day of St Bernard).

Hvordan feires (den tradisjonelle og den nye) messen?

Liturgi, TLM /

Den engelske presten, Fr. Ray Blake, skriver ganske interessant om hvordan han feirer den nye (og den tradisjonelle) messen:

Most of the Masses I celebrate, in either Form, are strictly according to the rubrics, including the turning from the altar to the people at the proper times. At a said Mass I read the entrance and communion antiphon, at a Mass where our choir is present, following the rubrics these are sung in preference to hymns, we also follow the rubric in singing the Gradual in preference to the Responsorial Psalm, because we have bought copies of the new Graduale, we even sing the Offertorium.

Alt var heller ikke rosenrødt, innrømmer han, med feiringen av den tradisjonelle messen fram mot 1965:

The TLM of today isn’t the TLM of the Concilliar and pre-Concilliar period – thank God. From what I can see that was a period of experimentation and rubrical laxity, even Fr Paul Crane the founder of Christian Order had his altar on castors so it could be wheeled forward for ad populum celebration. The strict distinction of low and sung Mass had broken down somewhat, vernacular hymns were common, even the singing of the Ordinary at low Mass had crept in in places, as had the use of vernacular for the lections, at least in some places – a practice still in use by the SSPX on the continent and permitted by Summorum Pontificum. In many dioceses the rule was that from «amice to amice» low Mass should not exceed half an hour, which meant many priests left great junks out. Of course Pius XII had encouraged the «dialogue Mass» and various priests experimented with ways of getting the people involved.

Derfor – og det er hovedpoenget i hans innlegg – liker han ikke at ting på en upassende måte blir satt på spissen, ved at den tradisjonelle messen verdig feiret blir sammenlignet med «ballongmesser» o.l.

16. august: Den hellige Joakim

Liturgi /

I den tradisjonelle kalenderen feires i dag den hellige Joakim, jomfru Marias far. Han ble tatt helt ut av kalenderen (på en måte slått sammen med Anna) i 1970, og katolsk.no forklarer hva som skjedde:

Joakim hadde også en kult i øst fra 500-tallet, men i vest begynte den først i middelalderen som en frukt av dyrkelsen av Maria. Pave Julius II (1503-13) innførte hans fest i vest, men den ble strøket av den hellige pave Pius V (1566-72), og tatt inn igjen av pave Gregor XV (1621-23). Pave Klemens XI (1700-21) plasserte den i august og pave Leo XIII (1878-1903) oppgraderte den til «dobbel fest av andre klasse». Fra 1913 og frem til Det andre Vatikankonsil hadde han sin egen minnedag den 16. august, dagen etter Marias opptagelse i himmelen, men konsilet slo hans dag sammen med Annas. Da de to festene ble slått sammen, var datoen opprinnelig satt til 20. mars av fransiskanerne (Joakims dato i Martyrologium Romanum), men ved kalenderreformen i 1969 ble datoen fastsatt til 26. juli. Deres navn står i Martyrologium Romanum.

26. juli var også den viktigste Anna-dagen i Den katolske kirke i Norden i middelalderen, men senere ble 9. desember dagen for den store Anna-festen, dagen etter Marias uplettede unnfangelse. I de østlige kirkene av bysantinsk ritus har festen til ære for Joakim og Anna i århundrer blitt feiret den 9. september, dagen etter Marias fødsel. Anna har også en minnedag 25. juli i Østkirken, «Annas innsovning» (dormasjon). …

I de tradisjonelle tidebønnene leste vi i dag til Matutin, 6. lesning:

Rejoice, O Joachim, from whose daughter a Child hath unto us been born, and His name is called The Angel of the Great Counsel, that is, of the salvation of the whole world. Let Nestorius be ashamed, and put his hand upon his mouth. Her Child is God. How then can His Mother be other than Mother of God? Whosoever acknowledgeth not the Holy Mother of God is far from God. This saying is not mine, although it is mine in all other senses than that of authority. I have received it as a most godly legacy from Father Gregory the Divine. O blessed couple, Joachim and Anne. Christ saith in a certain place By their fruits ye shall know them Matth. iii. 20 and ye are known by the fruit of your chaste loins. That that which should be born of you might be worthy and wellpleasing in the sight of God, ye ordered your own lives by rule. In the chaste and holy exercise of your natural gift, ye produced the treasure of virginity.

I orden for de Transalpine Redemptoristene

Katolsk, TLM /


Catholic Herald melder at den fire år lange ventetiden nå er over for disse prestene:

The Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, was erected today, on the feast of the Assumption, as a Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right. The community, which has about 15 members, has been in limbo since 2008 when it announced that it wished to enter into full communion with Rome.

The group’s decision was a response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which allowed priests to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass freely.

Previously, the community had been a part of the worldwide Society of St Pius X (SSPX), the estranged traditionalist group currently in dialogue with Rome.

Next Wednesday evening, August 22, the community are to make a public profession of vows at their home on Papa Stronsay, a tiny, windswept island in Orkney, off the north-east of Scotland. The profession will be celebrated by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of Aberdeen, who, as their diocesan bishop, granted them canonical recognition.

Bishop Gilbert was ordained as Bishop of Aberdeen exactly a year ago, taking over from Bishop Peter Moran, who had retired.

Brødrene skriver også om dette på sin egen blogg.

Den viktige stillheten i messen

Liturgi, TLM /

Allerede 3. august noterte jeg at jeg burde legge noe informasjon om dette på bloggen, og allerede da var jeg noen uker for sent ute, men bedre sent enn aldri. Una Voce har nemlig presentert enda et dokument i rekken av interessante og nyttige dokumenter om liturgien – se en oversikt her.

Det nye dokumentet her «SILENCE AND INAUDIBILITY IN THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM» og kan leses i sin helhet her.

Silence and Inaudibility in the Extraordinary Form – Abstract:
Liturgical texts read silently or inaudibly are a striking feature of the Extraordinary Form, and this has seemed scandalous to those attached to a didactic model of the liturgy, such as the supporters of the Synod of Pistoia. The explanation of why some texts cannot be heard by the Faithful is threefold. First, some texts are obscured by singing, at sung Masses; these include the texts actually being sung. The close connection between the singing, and the natural space in the liturgy which allows this singing to take place, was noted by Pope St Pius X. Secondly, the ‘priestly prayers’ addressed personally by the celebrating priest to God, for example at the Munda cor meum and Lavabo, express the intimate relationship between the priest and God, which, as Pope Benedict XVI has emphasised, is important for all to appreciate and imitate. Thirdly, the silence of the Canon marks it as a prayer of special sacredness, with an atmosphere recalling the silence of Calvary. Pope Benedict XVI has described the deeply prayerful participation of the Faithful in the ‘filled silence’ the silent Canon creates.

Forskjellen mellom den tradisjonelle og den nye messen trenger ikke være så enormt stor på dette punnktet – for den nye messen har også mange stille bønner, som gjerne kan gjøres tydeligere – men at kanon leses stille (innførst ca år 800), er jo en svært viktig forskjell.

«Maria hører våre bønner i himmelen», sier pave Benedikt

Katolsk /

På the Catholic Herald leser vi om pavens messe på denne store høytidsdagen for jomfru Maria:

Assumed into heaven, Mary is with God and is ready to listen and respond to cries for help, Pope Benedict XVI has said. Joining God in heaven, Mary “does not draw away from us, does not go to an unknown galaxy”, but becomes “even closer to each one of us”, the Pope said during his homily today at Mass for the feast of the Assumption.

… The Pope celebrated an early morning Mass in the Church of St Thomas. … Mary’s assumption, he said, gives believers “a sure hope: God expects us, he awaits us. We are not moving toward a void.” “And going to that other world, we will find the goodness of the Mother [Mary], we will find our loved ones, we will find eternal love,” the Pope said.

Pope Benedict, who set aside his prepared text for much of his homily, said that Mary’s closeness to God ensures her closeness to all God’s creatures. “Mary, totally united with God, has a heart that is so big that all creation can find a place there,” a fact illustrated by the votive offerings people around the world leave at Marian shrines and statues when their prayers are answered, he said.

Mary’s presence in heaven shows that “in God there is room for man”, he said. At the same time, he said, she demonstrates that “in man there is room for God,” and when God is present within individuals and they allow God to influence the way they act in the world, the world becomes a better place.

… Later, Pope Benedict recited the Angelus with visitors crowded into the courtyard of the papal summer villa. Continuing his reflection on the meaning of the Assumption, he said that “it shows us, in a brilliant way, our destiny and that of humanity and of history. In Mary, in fact, we contemplate that reality of glory to which each one of us and the entire Church is called.”

Prestestudenter må lære den tradisjonelle messen

Katolsk, TLM /

Biskop Morlino i Madison, Wisconsin, USA, hadde nylig en samling for sine prestestudenter, om ba dem alle lære den tradisjonelle latinske messen (i tillegg til den nye messen) før si ordinasjon. Father Z. skriver om dette, bl.a.:

Bp. Morlino told the [seminarians] that it was his expectation that all of them learn how to say Mass in the Extraordinary Form before they are ordained.

Morlino did not say that they would be required to use it all the time, but that they must know how to use it. If seminaries are not offering the opportunity to learn the older form (which they ought to be, by the way), they could go to workshops or find priests who could help them to learn it. Bottom line: they are to learn the Extraordinary Form.

I think this was a remarkable. How many bishops, after all, are saying this openly to their seminarians? It was also, frankly, a paternally charitable thing to tell the seminarians.

First, if there were any doubts about their bishop’s attitude toward his seminarians and traditional forms, these doubts were thereby removed. They need never fear the bishop or worry about what would happen to them when he heard that they were going to TLM’s here or there, learning the rubrics, serving Masses. They need not on this account fear the rector of the seminary they attend, since they are following the expressed desire of the bishop. Moreover, Universae Ecclesiae (the Holy See’s commentary on Summorum Pontificum) gently asserts that seminarians are to know the Extraordinary Form.

Second, knowledge of and use of the older form of Mass teaches men -seminarians and priests alike – something about the priest and the priesthood which the Novus Ordo doesn’t really do on its own. The older form stresses the sacrificial and priestly nature of the priest’s actions and words during Mass as well as the priest’s own deep unworthiness and complete dependence on God’s mercy and grace.

Third, no priest of the Roman Rite ought to rest easy until he knows also the older form. Ignorance of the older form means ignorance of his own rite. Furthermore, when it comes to their ordination, someone must stand up and attest to the ordaining bishop that the men have been properly formed. How can he honestly say they are properly formed if they have been left ignorant by their seminaries of their rite? The seminarians of Madison, by learning the Extraordinary Form, can always be at ease on this point.

(Underlig at noen biskoper krever noe, og andre biskoper nekter akkurat det samme – mens pave Benedikt legger tydelig til rette for at den tradisjonelle messen gjerne må brukes.) Og Father Z. skrev også nylig om en prest som hadde blitt spurt av sin biskop om å lære den tradusjonelle messen:

During his homily this weekend, my pastor stated that our bishop asked him to learn to say the TLM so that he can say mass for a group of Carmelite nuns who recently moved to the area. I would like to pray for my pastor as he learns to say the TLM. …

Pave Benedikts vektlegging på kontinuiteten

Katolsk, Liturgi, Paven, TLM /

Kardinal Burke snakker på denne videoen svært interessant om at den katolsk tradisjonen fortsetter – før, under og etter konsilet. Og om hvordan det er liturgien som aller sterkest må vise denne kontinuiteten – og hvordan dette kommer fram i tillatelsen gitt til alle prester til å feire den tradisjonelle messen, og i den nye engelske oversettelsen av messen. Fr. Z. har transkribert deler av intervjuet:

What the Holy Father … and I’m just reflecting now on what he himself has written … is trying to communicate is the continuity of our Catholic faith down the centuries. Sadly, what happened after the Second Vatican Council was – an idea developed that we were forming a new Church and that everything that had gone on since the time of the first Chrsitians was all retrograde and in some way a defection from what was supposedly this Church of freedom and truth and joy. And what happened in the process is that the tradition was lost, especially in the sacred liturgy. There were many abuses and even the reform of the rite itself was so radical that people didn’t see sometimes how there was a continuity between what’s now called the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and the Extraordinary Form. The Holy Father … and this is important not just for the sacred liturgy but is important for every aspect of our life … we can see it in catechesis, we can see it the moral life, we can see it in family life, religious life, priestly formation – no need to go into all of that. The Holy Father rightly has put his focus on the sarcred liturgy because this is the highest and most perfect expression of our life in Christ. And if we can reestablish in the celebration of the sacred liturgy a strong sense of the worship of God as God wants it, not my creation, but the gift of God, that sacred worship has been handed down to us in the Church through the centuries, we’ll get a lot of other things straightened out at the same time. It has to start with the sacred liturgy.

Professor John Rao fra The Roman Forum

Katolsk, Liturgi, TLM /

Fra Rorate Cæli så jeg lenken til videoene under (del 2,3,4,5 kommer automatisk), der Catholic News Service interessant nok har beskrevet den tradisjonalistiske bevegelsen på en grundig og objektiv måte. (Se flere av deres videoer her.)

Professor Rao sier selv i en kommentar på Rorate:

I want to reaffirm one theme with a great number of consequences: namely, that most Catholics are not sufficiently aware of Church History, and that it is this lack of awareness that makes it seem as though everything only «went wrong» because of Vatican II. Rome has often been «asleep» and a «problem» for thinkers and saints.
Popes have often done both good and bad things and driven zealous believers to despair. More to the point, Enlightenment ideas have had a huge influence everywhere in the Church since the mid-1700’s. Church authorities—the popes included—have experienced great problems since the early 1800’s fighting against more open «socialist» manifestations of the Enlightenment without falling into the hands of its more subtle, materialist, individualist, economic libertine, constitutional forms. Packaged under the name of Americanism and Pluralism, and in possession of a world-wide missionary zeal, it is this more «moderate» anti-Catholic force that has had an overwhelming influence over much of the globe since 1945—well before the Council began. Personally, one of the most tragic facts of Catholic life in America today is the fact that many well-meaning traditionalists do not realize that they are supporters of this moderate Enlightenment individualism—and therefore of a vision that can never allow Christ to rule over man and society. The dominant spirit at Vatican II played with both forms of the Enlightenment. Both worked against the Traditional Mass. In addition to fighting for the victory of the Mass of the Ages and the overturning of the horrible consequences of the Council, defenders of the faith must fight for a recovery of the whole of the Catholic Tradition. That’s a tall order and it involves a self-purgation of a lot of individualist, materialist Americanist «customs» as well as a battle against Marxism and Islam. Nothing is going to change with a snap of the finger.

11. august: Den hellige Susanna og den hellige Tiburtius

Liturgi /

I svært lang tid har Kirken feiret den hellige Susanna og den hellige Tiburtius den 11. august. Disse to var ikke forbundet meg hverandre på annen måte enn at de var martyrer fra Roma, men de ble feiret svært grundig i over tusen år, men gradvis ble festen nedgradert, til vanlig minnedag, og bare commemoratione i 1962 – og i den nye kalenderen falt de helt ut. Men den hellige Susannas kirke i Roma er fortsatt godt kjent, og på katolsk.no kan vi lese om den:

Huset hvor Susanna døde, samt nabohuset som tilhørte hennes onkel Caius, som sto nær de to laurbærtrær, ble gjort om til en kirke, senere titularkirken Santa Susanna ad duos domos («ved de to hus») ved siden av Diokletians termer på Quirinal-høyden i Roma. Kirken het opprinnelig Titulus Gaii etter den opprinnelige eieren, og bygget er kjent siden 300-tallet og ble nevnt i underskriftene fra den romerske synoden i 499. Fra synoden i 595 opptrer kirken under navnet Santa Susanna, som den sannsynligvis fikk ved restaureringsarbeider.

Allerede i 401 ble Susanna besunget i Roma av dikteren Claudia Claudianus. Susannas minnedag i Martyrologium Romanum er 11. august, og samme dag minnes de ortodokse og armenerne henne. Hennes fest ble allmenn fra år 800. Susannas relikvier befinner seg i kirken Santa Susanna i Roma. Hun blir fremstilt med sverd og krone. …

Denne kirken er nå den amerikanske kirken i Roma, og jeg har selv vært der et par ganger.

11. august: Den hellige Klara – eller lørdagsmesse for Maria

Liturgi /

Den hellige Klara av Assisi er en viktig helgen og feires i den nye kalenderen 11. august. Det er som vanlig en grundig beskrivelse av henne på katolsk.no – SE HER. 11. august var hennes dødsdag i 1258, og hun ble begravd dagen etter. I den tradisjonelle kalenderen feires hun på begravelsesdagen, 12. august – og altså ikke i år, siden det er sen søndag. Engelske Wikipedia forteller hvorfor dagen ble forandret:

In the traditonal Calendar, her feast day wss celebrated as a Double on August 12, the day following her death, as August 11 was already assigned to Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, two third-century Roman martyrs. It was changed to a Third-Class Feast in 1960. The 1969 calendar reform removed the feast of Ss. Tiburtius and Susanna from the calendar, allowing St. Clare’s feast to be celebrated on August 11, as a Memorial.

Mer om den hellige Laurentius – hans kirke i Roma

Katolsk, Liturgi /

Når vi nå har feiret den hellige Laurentius’ festdag, og altså feiret ham to dager til ende – inntil 1970 (og fortsatt i den tradisjonelle kalenderen) ble jo hele dagen før (ikke bare kvelden som vi kanskje tenker nå, om Larsok (9/8) og f.eks. Jonsok (24/6)), før vigilien til de viktigste festene ble markert i fiolett, som en forberedelse til den store festen. Når vi nå har feiret festen, oppdager jeg at på tross av flere måneders opphold i Roma, har jeg egentlig aldri skikkelig besøkt og grundig studert den berømte Laurentiuskirken utenfor muren – i Roma, altså.


Wikipedia skriver om denne kirken:

Before the present-day basilica was constructed, the estate upon which it sits was once home to a small oratory built by Emperor Constantine I. The emperor built it over the site on which it was believed that Saint Lawrence was executed. In the 580s, Pope Pelagius II commissioned the construction of a church over the site, in honor of the martyr. In the 13th century, Pope Honorius III commissioned the construction of another church in front of the older structure. It was adorned with frescoes depicting the lives of Saint Lawrence, and the first martyred deacon Saint Stephen, who is interred with Lawrence in the confessio under the high altar. The two structures were united as part of a program of urban renewal. Excavations have revealed several other crypts of various people, buried below street level. Saint Hilarius is buried here.

The portico, c. 1220, has Cosmatesque decoration by the Vassaletti family of craftsmen. The 13th century frescoes, which have been recently reconstructed, depict scenes from the lives of St Stephen and St Lawrence, both deacons and martyrs. …

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