It's all too much for poor boy Bobby

Readers may not have noticed, but poor boy Bobby (Mickens) of the Tablet is obsessed by ritual and liturgical details. He claims not to think they are important, but his obsession with the embroidery of the stole worn by the Pope in Germany yesterday is worthy of old-time scruples. It's nice to know that the illiberal-liberals are still young enough to draw breath. But only for a while. Bobby's rant on the blog of the Pill:

Pope Benedict XVI and his closest liturgical aides -- Mgr Guido Marini, the master of ceremonies, and Mgr Georg Gaenswein, his personal secretary -- pay careful attention to what type of vestments he wears and for which occasions.

So it was interesting to note that on Friday, during an ecumenical prayer service in the former Augustinian church (now Protestant) where Martin Luther was ordained and celebrated his first Mass, the Pope wore a stole that depicted his personal coat of arms topped by the triple-crown tiara. Talk about sending a message! If there is anyone who railed against the imperial papacy, it was surely Luther.

You might remember that much was made of the fact that, upon his election, Benedict XVI was the first pope ever to relinquish the tiara for his coat of arms and replace it with a bishop's mitre. But since Mgr G. Marini was hired he he has worn any number of vestments that include his arms topped with the triple-crown. And, of course, the Pope publicly received a tiara that was given to him as a gift and once hung a tapestry below his window overlooking St Peter's Square showing his papal shield with the tiara.

Aides justify all this is as being part of that "hermeneutic of continuity". But sometimes there is a good reason to throw things out or put them on the shelf for good. Not everything that was deemed necessary in the past is good for the present - or helpful in moving into the future.

Check out the Liber Brevioir

Preserving Christian Publications has just released the Liber Brevior. It looks great. From their publicity:

The Liber Brevior contains almost every Gregorian Chant piece the normal church choir will need.

In 1954, Desclée and the Gregorian Institute of America published a wonderful book called the “Liber Brevior.” This book is essentially the exact same as the “Liber Usualis” (used by priests, monks, sisters and seminarians) except that it had been shortened from around two thousand pages to eight hundred. You could say it is “the layman’s Liber.” The “Liber Brevior” is perfect for all small choirs  that are forming today because it contains almost all the Gregorian Chant they will ever need without the addition of the Divine Office. Also, there are two sets of Graduals, Alleluias, and Tracts–the full-length Gregorian propers & simpler Psalm tone versions (of the same music).

Here is what is inside: a complete Kyriale, propers for all Sundays, all Major Feasts and votive Masses, Sunday Compline and Vespers, the music for the Mass of Confirmation and the Requiem Mass (along with the burial service).

 

All rubrics are in English. Only this PCP edition of “Liber Brevior” includes the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Joseph the Worker, and St. Pius X.  Black with red edges and ribbons. Pages are fine, high quality “Bible Paper.”  This is not a cheap "print on demand" imitation but the real thing! 

Check it out.

The Brits do it better, so they say

Some readers have emailed to say that the British editions of the new missal are much better than anything on these shores. Check them out. Apparently they're good for England, Wales, Scotland and Australia.



The altar missal:

The chapel missal:

They also have a complete study missal:

As well as a smart peoples verson:

Fit for a prince

In fact for Désiré-Joseph Cardinal Mercier (1851-1926).

Photo: H/T Orbis Catholicus

Seeing red

Congratulations to His Excellency Bishop Peter Libasci the new Bishop of Manchester up there in New Hampshire.
  

Hopefully there's a good MC in NH who can give his new bishop some advice about the choice of hats and what to with pectoral crosses on chains.

Coming soon. Got yours yet?

As the countdown to the implementation in November continues the books are soon to appear. Click on the image for more details.

Time to pray, not to poll.

Today's meeting in Rome is generating a lot of amazing responses already. The Pimpernel urges people to pray for the unity of the Church and for Bishop Fellay and his advisors. Nothing is impossible for God.

 

Liturgical Humbug

There is a lot of it about. Liturgical humbug that is. People claiming to be the real thing, traditional or modern, boasting of their excellence when in fact as Arthur says in The Life of Brian they’re just making it up as they go along.

You see these folks don't understand that their opinion doesn't matter one hoot and their creative or antiquarian tastes don't justify anything. Private individuals including priests don't decide what happens in the sacred liturgy. They are honor-bound to celebrate it as the Church gives it to us. To impose mere tastes as absolutes is to deny the breadth of the Church's tradition and to use personal tastes as a pretext for violating the Church's liturgical law is grave liturgical humbug. To just not care and do things wrongly is cancerous liturgical humbug.

The Pimpernel has drawn his sword in the face of a lot of liturgical humbug from active participation in Christmas midnight Mass to Patricius the prince of liturgical humbug. There are those who won't countenance the use of a fiddleback and perpetuate their own affectations or who presume to adopt monastic customs in secular churches. Others concelebrate casually when nobody is looking while others do it badly when everybody is looking. 

The Pimpernel has also been able to salute those who have no time for this sort of thing. They get it right all the time and don't think about how they can improve the liturgy, but about how the liturgy can improve them. They understand that the liturgy is too important and too great to be improved by individuals. They know that when the humbug of private taste takes root it spreads like a poisonous weed.

To arms all who would do honor to the sacred liturgy! Liturgical humbug is our enemy wherever it is found. Honor him who asks what the Church says is to be done, not he who decides how we will do it here or there!