First thing when I finished Lauds I checked...

The Bollettino to see if the Holy See had issued the much talked about, and dreaded, emendation of Summorum Pontificum, it being the anniversary of that 2007 Apostolic Letter motu proprio datae of Benedictus XVI. Not a word. Although those people are capable of anything, even announcing the publication of such a text at three o'clock in the afternoon, if they had conceived some advantage to that.

Today is the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. From the time of Leo XIII the feast was celebrated on the 5th (as it still is in Bohemia and Slovakia), i.e. the Octave of Saints Peter and Paul, before it was transferred to today and then to February 14 (in the Pauline Rite), the actual anniversary of Saint Cyril's death. The Introit is Sacerdótes tui, Dómine, índuant iustítiam.




And the Communion is Quod dico vobis in tenebris, dícite in lúmine.




While looking at the European sites (the ones that are likely to attend to any Roman fiddling with Summorum Pontificum, I mean) I noticed that Mons Cordileone of San Francisco is celebrating the two Masses of the 10th annual 'Populus Summorum Pontificum' pilgrimage in October, one of them a Pontifical Mass at the Altar of the Chair in Saint Peter's.  

Dr Kwasniewski's essay at Crisis this morning, here, marking the anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, includes many propositions I myself totally agree with; how persuasive it might be to someone not already 'of the faithful', so to say, I'm not sure. This is indisputably true, however. 

... The practical upshot of its language has been to multiply excuses for pastors and bishops, who can always claim that pastoral care is being or would be impeded by the existence of old-rite sacraments, that episcopal guidance implies veto power over a priest’s “willing acceptance of requests” to say the venerable Mass, and that the Catholics requesting it are fomenting discord and damaging the Church’s unity....

It is overcast this morning with nary a glimpse of Dawn. Time for Prime.

Also at Crisis this morning, Dr Gregory DiPippo's essay on the Summorum Pontificum anniversary

... It seems, however, that the success of this great movement of rediscovery has also become a spur to those who, for reasons best known to themselves, prefer not to acknowledge that Vatican II’s place in the Church’s history is not with the successful ecumenical councils like Nicea or Trent, but with the failures like Constance and Lateran V. And it seems that perhaps, rather than redress the failure, or admit that there is any failure to be redressed, they imagine they can simply cancel the most conspicuous ongoing success that comes from redressing it, declare the liturgical reform to be irreversible, and be done with the matter....

Pope Benedict accompanied the motu proprio with a letter to the bishops of the world, which includes his famous statement that, “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.” I am convinced that this is true, not only as a matter of moral suasion, but as a statement of fact; any movement to suppress the Church’s traditional liturgy once again will fail, because it is in itself a confession of a much greater failure.

Exactly right.

It is also the feast of the Blessed Pope Benedict XI (14th century), of Saint Edda (8th century), and of Saint Otho (12th century).

V. Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum. R. Deo grátias. 


LDVM


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