Friday, July 08, 2011

Remembering the liturgical war dead

From "Four years: Memento etiam, Domine ..." (Rorate Caeli, July 7, 2011):
The beautiful words of that great French hero of the Traditional Mass, Jean Madiran, who has lived to see the miracle, remembering the names of some who died in the battlefield:
"For thirty seven years, a whole generation of militant Catholics, religious or lay members of the Militant Church (a generation reaching from 7 to 97 years of age) suffered, without giving in, openly defying the arbitrary interdict on the Traditional Mass. We think of our dead: Cardinal Ottaviani, Father Calmel, Father Raymond Dulac, Monsignor Renato Pozzi, Monsignor Lefebvre, Father Guérard. And, among the laymen: Cristina Campo, Luce Quenette, Louis Salleron, Eric de Saventhem. The pontifical goodwill is for them as a light breeze, which sweetly brings peace to their tombs. Wherever they are now, they do not need it anymore. But it is their memory amongst us which is appeased and elevated."
And also: Bishop Castro Mayer, Father Gamber, Michael Davies, Tito Casini, and so many, many others (priests, laymen and laywomen- God knows their names!), each of whom placed his own brick, large or small, in the great dam built for decades against the tumultuous tides of the late twentieth century. Thank you, thank you, thank you dearly! The heat of the battle has caused so much personal attrition, exaggerations, and misunderstandings... Yet, justice cannot be denied: gratitude is owed to those who did not live to see, on this earth, the glorious date of July 7, 2007.

5 comments:

Rosary said...

We should all try to commemorate what they've done for all of us now. It took courage, faith, and unwillingness to give up to preserve what we have today. Our gratitude is sent out to all of them.

Tim said...

I am glad that you added Monsignor Gamber to the list. When I was introduced to the Traditional Mass a year and a half ago at the age of 25, I was immediately intrigued. I - for the first time in my life - started attending Mass regularly. But I knew of it only on the most superficial level. A friend gave me a copy of Monsignor Gamber's "The Reform of the Roman Liturgy." That book not only helped me come to an understanding of the current situation in the Church, but at the same time gave me a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith. I credit his book with taking my feelings about Mass for mere intrigue, and transforming them into devotion.

Ruth said...

Calvert Shenk who did not live to see the Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI but did live to see his election as Pope!

Gammer Gurton's Liturgy said...

It is gratifying to know that someone outside of the SSPX thinks this way. I am ever more convinced that when we talk of the imprimatur of the Holy Spirit we are talking about something more subtle, complex, and remonstrating than a simple ratification of whatever our leaders' published periti tell us to think.

Mick Jagger Gathers No Mosque said...

This post comes at an interesting time. In the New Rite, this period of time in the Liturgical Year is called, "Ordinary Time," when it is anything but, "Ordinary."

It truly is an extraordinary time and ought still be called "Time After Pentecost," as it is that time after the descent of The Holy Ghost in which The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity begins to animate and illuminate The Church, to teach it all truth, and to fill the hearts of the Faithful with Grace so as to vivify and quicken the diverse talents of each individual Christian within the Unity of Holy Mother Church.

The only thing that is ordinary about this time is the new theology and orientation of the reformers who thought their particular and peculiar proclivities truly were normative and had to be imposed upon us for our own good.

Thanks.

But, no thanks.

I will stick with Dom Gueranger and Tradition and y'all can have your ordinary time.

The N.O. Priest eyeballs us and loudly speaks the Consecration to us;
The E.F. Priest faces God and speaks the ineffable in traditional sussurus.

And that one seemingly small difference summarises the galactic distance existing twixt organic Tradition and artificial reform.