Mass of Ages Print edition - Autumn 2017
Mass of Ages is the quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society. It contains reports on our many activities across the country, national and international news of Traditional Catholic events, feature articles on different aspects of traditional Faith and culture, and opinions and views on developments in the Catholic Church.
The autumn 2017 edition is now available. The cover article, History in the Making, is a report on the first Ordinations in the Traditional Rite in England for more than 50 years. Other features are Angels and devils, by Canon Amaury Montjean of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest on the writings of St Francis de Sales, Thirty years of the Old Rite, a history of the Traditional Mass on the Isle of Wight and The Peace of Christ, in which the LMS Chairman, Dr Joseph Shaw, looks at the history of the paxbrede.
Reporting on the ordinations in Warrington of two priests for the Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), by His Grace, Malcolm McMahon OP, Archbishop of Liverpool, Alan Frost writes:
“St Mary’s Shrine Church, Warrington was crowded for the event and the impressive processional entry to the high altar of many priests and seminarians followed by priors, the Right Rev. Mark Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury and, spectacularly in a trailing scarlet cappa magna, Archbishop McMahon.”
“At the heart of this sacred service was the great and individually unique experience for the two priests-to-be. As their ordinations unfolded, Archbishop McMahon addressed them with the guidance that there will be times when they will feel alone and wretched. At these times he advised they turn to ‘your people’ for they are the body of Christ, ‘the mystery you are to become part of.’”
“He then pronounced the formal address, after the chanting of the Litany of the Saints as the ordinands lay prostrate. Thereafter he laid his hands on their heads and prayed to God Almighty, ‘Da, quaesumus, omnipotens pater, in hos famulos tuos presbyterii dignitatem…’ The admittance of the deacons to the dignity of the priesthood was completed by the Archbishop vesting each of them with the chasuble, and after intoning the Veni Creator Spiritus, anointing them. After the chanting of the Veni Creator, he said to them, ‘Accipe potestatem…’, that they would receive the power to offer sacrifice to God and to celebrate Mass.”
Canon Amaury Montjean, of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, when studying the writings of St Francis de Sales, says:
“The Salesian teaching, mainly centred on the Mystery of the Incarnation, draws us to the invisible angelic world. … According to St Francis de Sales, the acceptation or refusal of grace is the echo of the combat that takes place between the good and wicked angels. “
“Sanctity with St Francis de Sales consists primarily in unity of life, in a permanent search for harmony between the creature and his Creator. The work of the good angels, who were themselves ‘harmonised’ with God by their first free choice, consists therefore in helping man find once again his supernatural accord lost in the garden with original sin. The demons, each one having a personal hatred for the other, lost forever this relationship with God that a supernatural harmonisation with Him would have offered them, and which would have respected their status of a creature in the created order.”
Reporting from the Isle of Wight, Peter Clarke, LMS Representative for that part of Portsmouth diocese, writes:
“It was 30 years ago that the EF Mass returned, on an occasional basis, to the Island; mainly in Ryde and Newport. At the time, it was visiting priests who offered these Masses, with the support of (mostly) sympathetic local clergy.
With Summorum Pontificum in 2007, and the arrival of Fr Anthony Glaysher in Ryde the following year, there was a new lease of life amongst traditional Catholics. Many of us had prayed that we would have a traditional priest, sympathetic to the Old Rite.”
After nine years in Ryde, Fr Glaysher is moving to Aldershot. Peter continues,
“He will be sorely missed among traditional Catholics on the Island. He is clearly a man who loves the priesthood. As one person remarked: ‘Psalm 109 is most apt for Father: Tu es sacredos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech - Thou art a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchisedech).’”
Our fourth feature article is about…
“One of the more obscure liturgical items - up there with the clapper used instead of the bell on Good Friday, and the ‘scruple spoon’ for adding water to the wine at the Offertory”, writes LMS Chairman, Joseph Shaw, “ - is the paxbrede (or paxbred or paxboard, the ‘instrumentum pacis’ or osculatorium). In certain circumstances this is used instead of the ‘kiss’ (or, better, embrace: Latin amplexus) to give the Peace of Christ before Communion. Readers may not know that it can be used today at all, and its history is an interesting one.”
“In the Extraordinary Form High Mass, the Kiss of Peace is limited to the clergy and religious in choir, allowing an interior participation by the people, using one of the most expressive and moving rituals of the Roman Rite. However, the Paxbrede represents an earlier point of the historical development of the rite, which survives today in certain circumstances.”
Read Dr Shaw’s article to discover the history.
Also in the edition of Mass of Ages:
Glorious tradition, in which Canon Gwenaël Cristofol, of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, reports on exciting developments for the Institute in Preston, as they are given direct administration of English Martyrs’ Church in the city.
“The specific vocation of the new Shrine,” writes Canon Cristofol, “will be to make known the history, the fight and the fidelity of our English heroes of the Faith, and this link with this glorious tradition of the English Martyrs will give us all a boost in the missionary spirit.
Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form and Adoration will take place every day, and Friday will be a special day of devotion and prayer to the English Martyrs, with the veneration of the relics preserved and venerated in this church for 150 years. Friday is the day of the Passion, and it seems most appropriate to link the Cross to the persecution and death of the Martyrs.”
This, together with the founding of a school and a House of Discernment for young men over 18 years of age, is testimony to how much the Bishop of Lancaster values the presence and ministry of the ICKSP in his diocese.
Andrew Brayley discusses the published diary kept by Mgr (later Cardinal) Pericle Felici during Vatican II.
Barbara Kay, one of the LMS Assistant Reps for the diocese of Northampton, reports on The Guild of St Clare’s first ever Sewing Retreat.
Mackenzie Robinson remembers a special experience at Buckfast Abbey.
Our regular columnists:
• Alberto Carosa talks to Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum Secretary, Guillaume Ferluc, about the forthcoming Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage to Rome.
• Caroline Shaw looks at El Greco’s The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
• Mary O’Regan on the Third Secret of Fatima
• Paul Waddington, a Vice-President of the LMS, reports on the recent restoration of the wall paintings in the sanctuary and Lady Chapel of Sacred Heart, Caterham.
• Fr Bede Row asks, “Do we still believe in Angels?”
• The Lone Veiler on Holy Communion
There are book reviews by James Bogle and Annie Mackie-Savage. James looks at Luther and His Progeny, edited by John C. Rao, and Annie discusses a new book on marriage, Marry Him and Be Submissive, by Costanza Miriano, both of which are available from the LMS online shop.
Thanks to the cooperation of priests in whose parishes the Traditional Mass is celebrated, Mass of Ages is available from more than 110 cathedrals and churches around the country. If you do not live near one of these but would like a copy of the magazine, we would be very happy to send one from the LMS Office. However, due to the high cost of postage, we do ask that you cover the cost of postage.
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