Thursday, January 18, 2007

[UPDATED] German Manifesto supporting 'Tridentine' liturgy

It's been reported that the some German writers and thinkers have released a document declaring their own support of the freeing of the classical Roman liturgy: Religion: Das Manifest im Wortlaut.

Apparently this includes such writers as Martin Mosebach, author of the book The Heresy of Formlessness recently released in English translation.

Here is an unofficial translation of the document in question. I have inquired about who the signatories are, but that doesn't yet seem known. This may be like the Italian declaration, which was rather more a statement by one or a few individuals. We shall see as more information comes.

The German Declaration:

To shape a right awareness in liturgical matters, it is important, that the proscription of that form of liturgy which was valid up to 1970 eventually end. Such a thing has never been the case during all of history; the whole past of the Church has never seen this. How could one trust in Her present, if this is the case?

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, interviewed by Peter Seewald (God and the World, Munich 2000)

The signees welcome that Pope Benedict, consequent to his frequently announced stance, wants to allow again generally the celebration of the traditional Latin mass. Already in 1971, internationally known personalities, such as the writers Graham Greene and Agatha Christie, the pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, have spoken for this case in a common appeal. They viewed the traditional Catholic mass as an excellent creation of world culture, comparable to the cathedrals which had been built for this liturgy and whose demolition no educated person must permit. From out of the old rite, Gregorian chant originated which is one of the greatest musical treasures of the world. Furthermore, the beauty and solemnity of the Latin mass inspired the greatest composers to musical pieces which are generally admired; without it, important creations of Palestrina, Charpentier, Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Haydn, or Mozart cannot be understood at all today.

The traditional "Divine Liturgy" of the West connects the present Church directly with the Latin culture of the Middle Ages and of the Antiquity, very like the "Divine Liturgy" of the East connects to the Greek culture. Therefore, from the readmission of the traditional mass can be expected an impetus for a wider occupation with the cultural root of the Occident. In the age of a unified Europe and of a global exchange between the peoples, the benefit should finally not be disregarded which during the years of the Second Vatican Council Pope John Paul II.
described with these words: "Of its very nature, Latin is most suitable for promoting every form of culture among peoples. It gives rise to no jealousies. It does not favour any one nation, but presents itself with equal impartiality to all and is equally acceptable to all."

More recent articles:


The Story of Susanna in the Liturgy of Lent
In the Roman Rite, the story of Susanna is read as the epistle of Saturday of the third week of Lent, the longest epistle of the entire year. This episode is not in the Hebrew text of Daniel, but in the manuscripts of the Septuagint, it appears as the beginning of the book, probably because in verse 45 Daniel is called a “younger man”, whic...

A New Edition of the Monastic Breviary Available Soon
The printing house of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Brignole, France, Éditions Pax inter Spinas, is pleased to announce the re-publication of the two volumes of the last edition (1963) of the traditional Latin Monastic Breviary.The Breviary contains all that is necessary to pray the complete Monastic Divine Office of Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, S...

A Mid-Western Saint from Rome: Guest Article by Mr Sean Pilcher
Thanks once again to our friend Mr Sean Pilcher, this time for sharing with us this account of the relics of a Saint from the Roman catacombs, which were brought to the cathedral of Dubuque, Iowa, in the 19th century. Mr Pilcher is the director of Sacra: Relics of the Saints (sacrarelics.org), an apostolate that promotes education about relics, and...

Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit - July 1–4, Menlo Park, California
You are cordially invited to the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit, which will be held from July 1-4, in Menlo Park, California!Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit gathers together Catholics who love Christ, the Church, and the Church’s sacred liturgical tradition for: - the solemn celebration of the Mass and Vespers; - insightful talks on...

A Lenten Station Mass in the Roman Forum
Today’s Mass is one of the series instituted by Pope St Gregory II (715-31) when he abolished the older custom of the Roman Rite, by which the Thursdays of Lent were “aliturgical” days on which no Mass was celebrated. The station appointed for the day is at the basilica of Ss Cosmas and Damian, which was constructed by Pope St Felix IV (526-30) in ...

Do Priests or Religious Need Special Permission to Pray a Pre-55 Breviary?
On occasion, I receive an email like the following (in this case, from a seminarian): “Do you happen to know of any sources/authoritative references which you could point me to that explain why praying the Pre-55 Breviary definitely satisfies the canonical obligation for clerics or religious? As I am strongly desirous of the Pre-55 Liturgy, I ...

Early Bird Registration Discount for CMAA Colloquium Ends March 31st!
Join us this summer for world-class training in the Church’s treasury of sacred music.Early bird registration discount ($50 for colloquium, $50 for Vocal Intensive course, $150 off for Chant Intensive) ends March 31st!Here’s a special invitation from our new president, Fr. Robert Pasley.The Church Music Association of America is pleased to announc...

The Annunciation 2025: Dante and the Virgin Mary
The specific date of birth of the great poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is unknown, but this Thursday, March 27th, is the anniversary of his baptism, which took place during the Easter vigil of 1266. The language which we call “Italian” today originated as the dialect of his native region of Tuscany (more specifically, of the city of Florence, but...

The Messenger Angel
Anonymous, the Archangel Gabriel, depicted on the predella of the high altar at the subsidiary church of Pesenbach, Upper Austria, 1495In the traditional Roman calendar, the feast days of saints are sometimes clustered together to form archipelagos of holiness that allow the faithful to meditate longer on a sacred mystery. These archipelagos do not...

The Third Sunday of Lent 2025
At that time: Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it: But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every ...

For more articles, see the NLM archives: