A Dark Day
It was grey and chilly today, a warning of still colder days to come, yet a suitable day to remember the 50th anniversary of the distinctive feature of the Mass I love.
50 years ago today, a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites added the phrase "and also of the blessed Joseph, Spouse of the same Virgin" to the text of the Communicantes.
For over 13 centuries, the canon of the Roman Mass had remained virtually unchanged and it came to be seen as unchangeable, part of a sacred patrimony bequeathed to the church in ancient days.
That profound reverence for what we received began to weaken in the mid-20th century. And then this unprecedented change to the canon alerted people to the fact that even the Mass itself was not untouchable. Changes followed that were more drastic and more damaging to the faith of Catholics.
A comment on Rorate Caeli has a possible explanation for what could have prompted the Pope to take such an action. It is not the whole story, however. Even before the council began, the pope was inclined to do something to honor St. Joseph. Fr. Z provides more background.
Sancte Ioseph, Ora pro nobis
More reading from Michael Davies, in the Catholic Encyclopedia, and in wikipedia.
posted by Michael | 11/13/2012
2 Comments:
In the 18th century, Pope Benedict XIV remarked that "No pope has added to or changed the Canon since St. Gregory."
Rorate Caeli: "The change went into effect on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1962."
As a side note, I happened to read today that in his simplification of the calendar, Pope Pius V suppressed a Mass on December 8th titled the 'Immaculate Conception', almost 300 years before the doctrine was formally proclaimed by Pope Pius IX.
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