Expert: Fr. Michael - 9/19/2004

Question
Dear Fr Moderator,

When the Novus Ordo was promulgated in 1969, what was said about the Tridentine Rite ie was it expressly forbidden? Here is an excerpt from Missale Romanum 1969 – is this saying that the Tridentine Rite is now forbidden, and has this been said more strongly elsewhere since 1969?  

Thanks

Charles

When he promulgated the editio princeps of the Roman Missal, our predecessor St. Pius V offered it to the people of Christ as the instrument of liturgical unity and the expression of a pure and reverent worship in the Church. Even though, in virtue of the decree of the Second Vatican Council, we have accepted into the new Roman Missal lawful variations and adaptations,[15] our own expectation in no way differs from that of our predecessor. It is that the faithful will receive the new Missal as a help toward witnessing and strengthening their unity with one another; that through the new Missal one and the same prayer in a great diversity of languages will ascend, more fragrant than any incense, to our heavenly Father

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/p6missal.htm


Answer
That quotation you cite hardly indicates that the Traditional Latin Mass is "forbidden."  As a matter of fact, that document doesn't even purport to require the "New Order Mass"; it only provides for its publication, not its use.

Even if Paul VI tried to "forbid" the traditional Mass of the Roman Catholic Church, he didn't have the power, in contravention of the dogmatic definition of papal power given in Vatican I's "Pastor Aeternus."  Moreover, he didn't have the power to impose a "New Order Mass" either, for the same reason.  There is no provision for the "invention" of a Mass, much less by a Freemason and six Protestant ministers, who made up the "New Order Mass."

The Traditional Latin Mass, the Mass of St. Peter, was sanctified by Sacred Tradition long before the Council of Trent, but was then explicity recognized by that dogmatic council in the face of the Protestant heresy and canonized by Pope Pius V "in perpetuum."  Apostolic Tradition is not something that can be changed at the whim of anyone, even a pope.  Such an act would be ultra vires.

Yet another book has just been issued, by a pontifical Roman canonist yet, demonstrating that the "New Order Mass" is invalid.  It is interesting to note that the New Order has never had the temerity to "forbid" the Traditional Latin Mass on theological grounds.  In fact, a nine-member commission established by Pope John Paul II in 1986 found, unanimously, that (1) it could never be suppressed and (2) no priest could ever be prevented from celebrating it.

It is a sad fact that much of the Church has gone errant since Vatican II.  All you have to do is open the newspaper to see just how badly.  And all this is the natural consequence of  the New Mass, the New Morality, and the New Religion.  It has happened before; we are living through it again.

The "Innovators" have done everything they can to impose the New Mass by force, not by right.  Attendance at the New Mass is down to 15% now in the United States and 3-5% in Europe, while attendance at the Traditional Latin Mass is up to 10% and increasing by about 1% per year.  The novelty of the "New Mass" is apparently wearing off fast.

A good deal of information about these matters can be found on the TRADITIO Web Site (www.traditio.com) and the Official Catholic Directory of Traditional Latin Masses (available from www.maeta.com).