Liturgi

Jeg besøker forholdsvis ofte nettsidene til Corpus Christi Watershed, som redigeres av «Jeff Ostrowski (B.M. in Music Theory, 2004, and did graduate work in Musicology). He serves as choirmaster for the new FSSP parish in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife and two children.» I dag tidlig så/ lyttet jeg til dette korte Kyriet av Palestrina (i videoen over) som beskrives slik her:

Back in 2013, I released a “simple plan” to improve music at Mass. In that article, I mentioned my belief that an a priori decision made after Vatican II — which eliminated the ancient praxis of simultaneous song & prayer — will someday be corrected. However, waiting for that day would be foolish; we must do our best with the current situation. As I’ve said before, the most “painless” way to introduce worthy music to the Ordinary Form (without irritating your pastor) is choral extensions, which embellish the music while still allowing congregational participation.

For the first few years, this will require polyphony that isn’t too long. Did you know Palestrina set entire litanies to polyphony? 1 The “Kyrie Eleison” from such works can be excerpted, and a simple plainsong melody can be sung by the congregation as shown here.

Jeg holder nå på å sette opp tekstene til katolske messer ved hjelp av Bibelselskapets nye oversettelse, Bibel 2011, og torsdag sist uke så evangeliet slik ut:

☩ Lesning fra det hellige Evangelium etter Lukas (7,24-30)

Da sendebudene fra Johannes var gått, begynte Jesus å tale til folket om Johannes: «Hva gikk dere ut i ødemarken for å se? Et siv som svaier i vinden? Nei! Hva gikk dere ut for å se? En mann kledd i fine klær? De som går i praktfulle klær og lever i luksus, bor i slott. Hva gikk dere da ut for å se? En profet? Ja, jeg sier dere: mer enn en profet! Det er om ham det står skrevet:

Se, jeg sender min budbærer foran deg, han skal rydde veien for deg.

Jeg sier dere: Blant dem som er født av kvinner, er ingen større enn Johannes. Men den minste i Guds rike er større enn han.

Hele folket, også tollerne, lyttet og ga Gud rett; de lot seg døpe med Johannes-dåpen. Men fariseerne og de lovkyndige viste Guds plan fra seg; de lot seg ikke døpe av ham.

Slik lyder Herrens ord.

John Allen skriver om denne teksten, hvordan en prest klarte å holde en svært kort, men svært innholdsfull preken om dette budskapet fra Jesus om Johannes døperen, og hans oppgave. Slik skriver Allen i dag:

Thursday’s Gospel was drawn from Luke 7, in which Jesus speaks of John the Baptist, the key line from which is the following: “Among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”

In all, the Gospel reading that morning ran to 171 words, featuring the typically crisp language for which the public utterances of Christ are justifiably renowned.

After the Gospel, Dennison paused to deliver his homily. There were the usual signs of people settling in, getting comfortable, perhaps trying to sneak in a quick check of messages or a peek at the bulletin, that usually precede an experience people expect will stretch on for a least a few minutes.

Here’s Dennison’s entire homily, word-for-word, which was immediately burned into my memory.

“To be entirely clear, Jesus said that among those born of women, John was the greatest. To be equally clear, we should listen to him and respond.”

Frankly, the brevity was so stunning my colleagues and I did a double-take, unable to process at first that Dennison was actually finished and was moving to the altar to begin the liturgy of the Eucharist.

The next day, the reading was from John 5 about how John the Baptist brought a lamp to light the way to Christ, a robust 85 words in total. Once again Dennison summarized the reading, and then added this: “John brought light, but there are those who still refuse to see.” Twelve words, start to finish.

After I heard him do it so succinctly again, I said: “He’s my new candidate for the greatest homilist I’ve ever heard!”
To some extent, I was being facetious – breakfast and a day in Key West awaited, and two 10-second homilies in a row were an unexpected bonus. Plus, this was daily Mass in front of a small congregation.

On the other hand, I wasn’t entirely kidding. If you look at Dennison’s utterances, the heart of the matter in each case was all there. As one of my colleagues put it, it was the “kerygma” itself, entirely unadorned.

As anyone who’s sat through a random sample of Catholic homilies recently could confirm, that’s often not the typical experience. Too often, it’s hard to detect the evangelical forest for the verbal trees.

On Friday, I went up to compliment Dennison on his economy of expression. He told me it’s deliberate, something he’s been doing at daily Mass for years, ever since he arrived in Key West.

“Anybody can talk for five minutes and maybe have a vague idea of their opening point,” he said. “To do it all in one sentence, you really have to think about it.”

I dag feirer Kirken den hellige Carlo Borromeo, og på katolsk.no kan vi lese om ham bl.a.:

… Karl (Carlo) var utrettelig og energisk og alltid på farten, men han slet seg helt ut, og hans helse ble verre. I 1584 ble han angrepet av erysipelas (rosen) i en fot, noe som tvang ham til sengs. I oktober 1584 dro han til Mante Varallo for sin årlige retrett. Med seg hadde han jesuittpateren Adorno. Han sa til flere at han ikke ville bli lenge i denne verden, og den 24. oktober ble han syk med feber. Den 29. oktober dro han mot Milano, på Allehelgensdag 1. november feiret han sin siste messe i Arona, sitt fødested, og dagen etter kom han til Milano. Han gikk rett til sengs og ba om de siste sakramentene. Disse fikk han av erkepresten i katedralen. Om kvelden den 3. november 1584 døde han fredelig, bare 46 år gammel, i armene på sin walisiske skriftefar Griffith Roberts. Hans siste ord var: «Se, Herre, jeg kommer. Skje din vilje».

Da kirkeklokkene i domkirken forkynte budskapet om overhyrdens død, brøt det ut en så stor forvirring som om en fiende hadde besatt byen. Overalt lød klageskrik og tårer. Særlig de fattige, som Karl hadde vært som en far for, var utrøstelige. Det var en så stor trengsel for å se den døde at man måtte slå i stykker veggene for å gi massene en utgang. Rekviemmessen ble feiret av kardinal Nicolò Sfondrato den 7. november. Selv hadde Karl angitt begravelsesstedet og en enkel gravskrift, og han ble bisatt om natten i krypten i domkirken i Milano. I kirken San Carlo i Arona er det et relikvar med en kopi av hans dødsmaske. Snart etter ble folket enige om å bygge et monument for ham, en 28 m høy statue på en 14 m høy sokkel. Statuen ble kalt «Carlone» eller «Store Karl». …

… Karl ble saligkåret i 1602 av pave Klemens VIII (1592-1605) og helligkåret den 1. november 1610 av pave Paul V (1605-21). I 1613 ble hans fest tatt inn i den romerske kalenderen. Den var opprinnelig 5. november, men siden 1652 har hans minnedag vært feiret den 4. november. Hans navn står i Martyrologium Romanum.

Øverst ser man den omtalte dødsmasken, og i bildene under den berømte statuen av Carlo Borromeo i Arona ved Lago Maggiore, som vi besøkte i juli 2015 – statuen er kjempestor, og man kan klatre helt opp til hodet – der jeg stikker hodet ut i det siste bildet.

The Catholic World Report har et langt intervju med kardinal Robert Sarah, i forbindelse med boken «La Force du Silence» han nylig fikk utgitt. De introduserer intervjuet slik: In a wide-ranging interview with «La Nef», Cardinal Sarah discusses his new book, published in France, saying, «By living with the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent.» Og i intervjuet finner vi bl.a. følgende spørsmål og svar:

After your conference in London last July, you are returning to the topic of the orientation of the liturgy and wish to see it applied in our churches. Why is this so important to you, and how would you see this change implemented?

Cdl. Sarah: Silence poses the problem of the essence of the liturgy. Now the liturgy is mystical. As long as we approach the liturgy with a noisy heart, it will have a superficial, human appearance. Liturgical silence is a radical and essential disposition; it is a conversion of heart. Now, to be converted, etymologically, is to turn back, to turn toward God. There is no true silence in the liturgy if we are not—with all our heart—turned toward the Lord. We must be converted, turn back to the Lord, in order to look at Him, contemplate His face, and fall at His feet to adore Him. We have an example: Mary Magdalene was able to recognize Jesus on Easter morning because she turned back toward Him: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” “Haec cum dixisset, conversa est retrorsum et videt Jesus stantem. – Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there” (Jn 20:13-14).

How can we enter into this interior disposition except by turning physically, all together, priest and faithful, toward the Lord who comes, toward the East symbolized by the apse where the cross is enthroned?

The outward orientation leads us to the interior orientation that it symbolizes. Since apostolic times, Christians have been familiar with this way of praying. It is not a matter of celebrating with one’s back to the people or facing them, but toward the East, ad Dominum, toward the Lord.

This way of doing things promotes silence. Indeed, there is less of a temptation for the celebrant to monopolize the conversation. Facing the Lord, he is less tempted to become a professor who gives a lecture during the whole Mass, reducing the altar to a podium centered no longer on the cross but on the microphone! The priest must remember that he is only an instrument in Christ’s hands, that he must be quiet in order to make room for the Word, and that our human words are ridiculous compared to the one Eternal Word.

I am convinced that priests do not use the same tone of voice when they celebrate facing East. We are so much less tempted to take ourselves for actors, as Pope Francis says!

Of course, this way of doing things, while legitimate and desirable, must not be imposed as a revolution. I know that in many places preparatory catechesis has enabled the faithful to accept and appreciate the orientation. I wish that this question would not become the occasion for an ideological clash of factions! We are talking about our relationship with God.

As I had the opportunity to say recently, during a private interview with the Holy Father, here I am just making the heartfelt suggestions of a pastor who is concerned about the good of the faithful. I do not intend to set one practice against another. If it is physically not possible to celebrate ad orientem, it is absolutely necessary to put a cross on the altar in plain view, as a point of reference for everyone. Christ on the cross is the Christian East.

Kardinal Sarah har nylig utgitt en bok (så langt bare på fransk) med tema/tittel «Stillhetens styrke», og WWW.CHIESA skriver om boken og har fått noen utdrag av den oversatt til engelsk. Om den såkalte reformen av den liturgiske reformen skriver han bl.a.:

“GOD WILLING, THE REFORM OF THE REFORM WILL TAKE PLACE” (par. 257)

I refuse to waste time in opposing one liturgy to another, or the rite of Saint Pius V to that of Blessed Paul VI. What is needed is to enter into the great silence of the liturgy; one must allow oneself to be enriched by all the Latin or Eastern liturgical forms that favor silence. Without this contemplative silence, the liturgy will remain an occasion of hateful divisions and ideological confrontations instead of being the place of our unity and our communion in the Lord. It is high time to enter into this liturgical silence, facing the Lord, that the Council wanted to restore.

What I am about to say now does not enter into contradiction with my submission and obedience to the supreme authority of the Church. I desire profoundly and humbly to serve God, the Church, and the Holy Father, with devotion, sincerity, and filial attachment. But this is my hope: if God wills, when he may will and how he may will, in the liturgy, the reform of the reform will take place. In spite of the gnashing of teeth, it will take place, because the future of the Church is at stake.

Damaging the liturgy means damaging our relationship with God and the concrete expression of our Christian faith. The Word of God and the doctrinal teaching of the Church are still listened to, but the souls that want to turn to God, to offer him the true sacrifice of praise and worship him, are no longer captivated by liturgies that are too horizontal, anthropocentric, and festive, often resembling noisy and vulgar cultural events. The media have completely invaded and turned into a spectacle the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the memorial of the death of Jesus on the cross for the salvation of our souls. The sense of mystery disappears through changes, through permanent adaptations, decided in autonomous and individual fashion in order to seduce our modern profaning mentalities, marked by sin, secularism, relativism, and the rejection of God.

In many western countries, we see the poor leaving the Catholic Church because it is under siege by ill-intentioned persons who style themselves intellectuals and despise the lowly and the poor. This is what the Holy Father must denounce loud and clear. Because a Church without the poor is no longer the Church, but a mere “club.” Today, in the West, how many temples are empty, closed, destroyed, or turned into profane structures in disdain of their sacredness and their original purpose. So I know how many priests and faithful there are who live their faith with extraordinary zeal and fight every day to preserve and enrich the dwellings of God.

Consider what our prospects were before the birth not only of Our Lord, but from before the birth of His Mother, from whom He took our human nature, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Today’s feast is older than the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which was precisely nine months ago. Holy Church, in celebrating liturgically her holy birth for a long time, ultimately reasoned back to Mary’s holy conception. As St. Thomas Aquinas argued, “The Church celebrates the feast of our Lady’s Nativity. Now the Church does not celebrate feasts except of those who are holy. Therefore, even in her birth the Blessed Virgin was holy. Therefore, she was sanctified in the womb.” (STh III, q. 27, a. 1)

Lex Orandi Lex CredendiAs we worship, so do we believe. As we believe, so do we worship. Change our worship you change belief, and vice versa.

Here is the entry in the Roman Martyrology for today’s feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Festum Nativitatis beatae Mariae Virginis, ex semine Abrahae, de tribu Iuda ortae, ex progenie regis David, e qua Filius Dei natus est, factus homo de Spiritu Sancto, ut homines vetusta servitute peccati liberaret. – The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sprung from the seed of Abraham [and] from the tribe of Judah, from the line of David the king, from which was born the Son of God, made man of the Holy Ghost, that he might free men from the ancient slavery to sin.

Denne tekster er tatt fra Father Z. Dagens feiring er også omtalt på katolsk.no.

Jeg ble også diakonviet på denne dagen i 1999.

Den kjente (og ikke spesielt konservative) liturgen og jesuitten John F. Baldovin skriver i magasinet America om hva som er fakta og hva som er misforståelsen når det gjelder prestens retning foran alteret, bl.a.:

Turning toward the East, or ad orientem, is technical liturgical language for the priest and people facing in the same direction. The suggestion is nothing new. The decision to allow Mass facing the people has had its opponents since it was allowed shortly after the end of the Second Vatican Council. And more recently it has been championed by none less than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his many writings on the liturgy. …

… Opponents of Mass facing the people often point out that the Second Vatican Council’s “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” contains no provision for the practice. They are correct. The issue was discussed in the commission that produced the document as well as in the debates on the floor of the council. … But shortly after the constitution was approved in December 1963, the first instruction for implementing the reform appeared. “Inter Oecumenici” (1964) stated: “The main altar should preferably be freestanding, to permit walking around it and celebration facing the people. …

The alert reader will observe several things. First, the altar is described as both the place where the “Sacrifice of the Cross is made present” and “the table of the Lord.” … Second, it is interesting to note that facing the people is not mandated. That is, it has never been forbidden, perhaps because too many chapels were built in such a way that having an altar separate from the wall was not architecturally feasible. Nonetheless, the preference is clear that the main altar of a church is to be separated from the wall to make Mass facing the people possible.

Another “fiction” that is sometimes repeated is that the General Instruction presumes that the priest will face East. Critics point to four points in the description of the Mass (Nos. 124, 146, 157 and 165) when the priest is directed to turn towards the people. Two cautions are appropriate here. These directives may be in place to deal with the possibility that the priest can face East, in which case the Instruction makes clear that there are times when he must face the people. But the document does not direct the priest to turn around again to the altar after the prayer over the gifts and the eucharistic prayer—that is, it does not presume that he will be facing East.

One last fact: At the time of Vatican II some argued that the original position of the priest was facing the people. This, too, seems to have been a fiction. All of the evidence we have from the early church shows that facing East whence the Lord was expected to make his final coming was expected. In church building that could not be oriented (e.g., St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome) the priest faced East, which was also toward the people.

Baldovin skriver en hel del mer i denne artikkelen, bl.a. om hvorfor dette spørsmålet er blitt så veldig viktig i Kirken i vår tid: «A reversion to the pre-conciliar position of the priest at Mass would be a profound signal that the forward steps the church took in Vatican II are in question.»

Hos Corpus Christi Watershed kan vi lese at en biskop i USA har nektet alle feiring av messen ad orientem i sitt bispedømme, men et dokument fra Vatikanet fra år 2000 nekter biskoper å komme med slike bestemmelser:

When the 2000 (2002) Missal was promulgated, the Vatican’s CDW was asked whether bishops have authority to forbid “ad orientem” celebration. Dated 10 April 2000, the CDW response was unequivocal:

HIS DICASTERY [i.e. the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship] wishes to state that Holy Mass may be celebrated versus populum or versus apsidem. Both positions are in accord with liturgical law; both are to be considered correct.

There is no preference expressed in the liturgical legislation for either position. As both positions enjoy the favor of law, the legislation may not be invoked to say that one position or the other accords more closely with the mind of the Church.

This letter (PROTOCOL NO. 564/00/L) specifically addresses whether a bishop can forbid “ad orientem.” They stated that, while exercising his rightful role as “moderator of the Sacred Liturgy in the particular Church entrusted to his pastoral care,” the Diocesan Bishop can neither “exclude nor mandate the use of a legitimate option.”

This letter was sent by the same congregation responsible for drafting the 2000 (2002) Missal and GIRM, which was approved by Pope St. John Paul II. The letter was signed by Cardinal Medina, CDW Prefect, and Archbishop Tamburrino, CDW Secretary. I have no idea why so many people commenting on this issue refuse to make reference to it.

Sacra Liturgia UK har nylig hatt en interessant konferanse i London, og på NLM-bloggen har de offentliggjort referater fra konferansens fire dager.

Her er referatet fra første dag med (det svært mye omtalte) innledningsforedraget til kardinal Robert Sarah. Hele dette foredraget kan leses her.

Andre dag inneholder følgende referater:
The day began with Dom Alcuin Reid and his paper entitled On the Council Floor: The Council Fathers’ Debate of the Schema on the Sacred Liturgy, in which the question was posed: what did the Fathers of Vatican II think they were approving in Sacrosanctum Concilium – liturgical evolution or revolution? …

Dom Charbel Pazat de Lys then gave a paper entitled The Public Nature of the Liturgy, in which he examined the practical, sociological, institutional and christological meanings of the word «public». …

Prof. Peter Stephan’s paper was entitled The Vicissitudes of Liturgy and Architecture Shown at the Example of Berlin’s Cathedral of St Hedwig, in which he explored the «anti-liturgical modification» of historical churches. …

After lunch, Dr Jennifer Donelson (of NLM) gave her paper, Origins and Effects of the Missa Lecta: Priestly Musical Formation in a Low Mass Culture. …

A panel discussion on Sacred Music followed, which included Prof. William Mahrt, the publisher of NLM. There were lively discussions and exchanges regarding the best ways to introduce into a parish the singing of the propers and the resources available to help with this, along with other topics. …

Tredje dag er det referat fra:
Dr Clare Hornsby gave a lecture with the title: The Council of Florence of 1439: Diplomacy, Theology and the Arts in Early Renaissance Italy.

Fr Uwe Michael Lang was next to speak, with a paper entitled The Tridentine Liturgical Reform in Historical Perspective.

The next paper was delivered by Bishop Alan Hopes, entitled Sing a New Song to the Lord: Towards a Revised Translation of the Liturgy of the Hours.

The fourth paper of the day was by Prof. Joris Geldhof, entitled Liturgy Beyond the Secular.

The final paper of the day was «Especially in Mission Territories» (SC 38)? New Evangelisation and Liturgical (Reform of the) Reform was given by Dr Stephen Bullivant,

Fra fjerde dag er det følgende referater:
Prof. Helmut Hoping’s paper on one of the most fundamental aspects of our liturgy, Liturgy and the Triune God: Rethinking Trinitarian Theology.

Fr Michael Cullinan then gave us a slightly different perspective as a moral theologian in his paper The Ethical Character of the Mysteries: Observations from a Moral Theologian.

The next paper was given by Prof. David Fagerberg on Doing the World Liturgically: Stewardship of Creation and Care for the Poor.

The fourth talk was given by Mgr Andrew Burnham, on Divine Worship: The Missal and «the liturgical books proper to the Anglican Tradition» (Anglicanorum Coetibus, III).

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone then offered some concluding reflections, summing up the talks and liturgies of the conference. He urged patience with regard to the upcoming work of the CDWDS regarding the question of the reform of the reform, but said that the celebration of the Mass ad orientem in the usus recentior would go a long way towards preparing the way for it, and reiterated Cardinal Sarah’s appeal to priests to begin celebrating Mass eastwards from the 1st Sunday of Advent this year. He encouraged all present to pay attention to the details of the liturgy in the celebration of it, holding up the London Oratory as an model and exemplar.

Det er litt underlig at hvilken vei presten står ved alteret har blitt så veldig kontroversielt i Den katolske kirke; i den lutherske og den anglikanske kirke (der prestene ofte(st) vender seg ad orientem) er det ikke slik. Og det handler jo også bare om hvilken vei presten vender seg ca 10 minutter i løpet av messen. På (den nokså liberale/ moederne) liturgibloggen Pray Tell fikk et innlegg om kardinal Sarahs forslag om at prestene bør vende seg ad orientem 148 kommentarer på tre dager før debatten ble stoppet.

I et annet innlegg på samme liturgiblogg kan vi lese ganske treffende i kommentar 35 og 36:

#35
… Cardinal Sarah said nothing controversial about ad orientem, unless ad orientem, the ancient and traditional Catholic practice, which is alive in the Church today, is controversial.

Eastern Catholics celebrate ad orientem. Catholics who offer the Mass of Pope Saint John XIII celebrate ad orientem. Catholics in the Ordinariates celebrate ad orientem. Catholic bishops and priests offer the Ordinary Form ad orientem.

Pope Francis has celebrated ad orientem.

The Orthodox celebrate ad orientem.

Never did Cardinal Sarah say even one word that should have led anyone to say that Pope Francis planned to implement ad orientem Mass at Advent.

There wasn’t anything “controversial” (unless an ancient and totally acceptable Catholic liturgical practice, which is alive today) about ad orientem. There isn’t anything controversial about promoting ad orientem.

Cardinal Sarah did nothing wrong. I also don’t accept the interpretation that the press release indicated that Pope Francis “slapped down” Cardinal Sarah. …

#36
If the explosion on the blogosphere in the last few days have shown anything, it is that promoting ad orientem it is highly controversial!

Note, I am not one to condemn ad orientem, nor have I done so. I have celebrated ad orientem. But I’m perfectly aware that promoting it – which I don’t do – is highly controversial.

I suppose one should that that it SHOULDN’T be controversial, that there’s NO REASON why it should be. But yet, it is. I state that as a fact, apart from my judgment of it.

I dag ble det kunngjort at pave Frans og Liturgikongregasjonen i Vatikanet har opphøyet minnedagen for den hellige Maria Magdalena til festdag – samme nivå som de fleste apostlene feires. Om dette kan vi lese på Vatikanets nettsider, bl.a.:

Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, explains the meaning of the decree that will enable Mary Magdalene to be «celebrated» liturgically like the rest of the apostles. «The decision is situated in the current ecclesial context, which calls upon us to reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the new evangelisation and the greatness of the mystery of divine mercy. …

… The archbishop took the opportunity to highlight two ideas inherent in the biblical and liturgical texts of the new feast, which may contribute to a better understanding of the current importance of a saint such as Mary Magdalene.

«On the one hand, she has the honour of being the ‘prima testis’ to the resurrection of the Lord, the first to see the empty tomb and the first to hear the truth of His resurrection. Christ has a special consideration and mercy for this woman, who shows her love for Him, looking for Him in the garden with anguish and suffering, with ‘lacrimas humilitatis’, as St. Anselm says in the aforementioned prayer. In this sense, I would like to show the difference between the two women present in the garden of Paradise, and in the garden of the Resurrection. The first disseminates death where there was life, and the second proclaims Life from a tomb, the place of death. … Likewise, it is in the garden of resurrection that the Lord says to Mary Magdalene, ‘Noli me tangere’. It is an invitation not only to Mary, but also to all the Church, to enter into an experience of faith that overcomes any materialistic appropriation or human understanding of the divine mystery. It has ecclesial importance! It is a good lesson for every disciple of Jesus: do not seek human securities and worldly honours, but faith in the Living and Risen Christ.»

«Precisely since she was an eyewitness to the Risen Christ, she was also the first to testify before the apostles. She fulfils the mandate the Risen Christ gives her: ‘go to my brothers and say to them … Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her’. In this way she becomes, as is already known, an evangelist, or rather a messenger who announces the good news of the resurrection of the Lord; or, as Rabano Mauro and St. Thomas Aquinas said, ‘apostolorum apostola’, as she announces to the apostles what they in turn will announce to all the world. The Angelic Doctor is right to apply this term to Mary Magdalene: she is the witness to the Risen Christ and announces the message of the resurrection of the Lord, like the other apostles. Therefore it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman should have the same level of festivity given to the apostles in the General Roman Calendar, and that the special mission of this woman be highlighted, as an example and model to every woman in the Church», concluded Archbishop Roche.