Sacrosanctum Concilium

1. Sacrosanctum Concilium The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

2. Introduction • Sacrosanctum Concilium: this Sacred Council. • SC: one of the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council • Ecumenical Council: Church doctrine and practice [21] • Trent: 1545-1563 • Vatican I: 1869-1870 • Vatican II: 1962-1965 • Two popes: Sts. John XXIII & Paul VI

3. Introduction • Liturgy: from the Greek word “leitourgia” • Work of the people • Public official prayer of the Church • Mass • Sacraments • The Official prayer of the Church [breviary] or Liturgy of the Hours

4. How did we get to SC? The situation of the liturgy in the 19th and early 20th centuries

5. Background: 19th & 20th centuries • The Mass was said in Latin. • Many priests prayed in a low voice that people could not hear. • People prayed personal devotions during the Mass. • Some people joined in singing a few hymns. • The choir alone sang the Sanctus and other prayers. • The servers alone made the spoken responses. • Marriage vows and baptismal promises in the vernacular.

6. Background: 19th & 20th centuries • No missals for the people in the 19th century. • Latin-vernacular missals in the 1940s by the liturgical movement. • Poor Latin instruction for priests. • Participation as a distraction. • Sometimes more than one Mass at the same time, in the same church, in different altars. • Concelebration only at ordination Mass.

7. Background: 19th & 20th centuries • Preaching was not usually related to the readings of the day. • Moral exhortation or Catholic doctrine instead. • Celebrations of the saints could replace Sunday Mass. • No weekday lectionary. • No readings assigned to all rites in the Church. • One year cycle lectionary on Sundays. • Only an epistle and a gospel. • Readings from the Old Testament were rarely heard in church.

8. Background: 19th & 20th centuries COMMUNION DISTRIBUTION • On the tongue, under one form, kneeling. • No connection to the Mass. • 1905: pope Pius X issued a decree urging frequent communion. No attempt to include in the Mass. • 1920s: communion given out at 15 minute intervals, regardless of where the priest was at Mass. • Bernard Botte, OSB: a woman was encouraged by her confessor to receive communion before Mass and then offer the Mass as a thanksgiving. • 1962: Council’s opening Mass, no communion, only the main celebrant.

9. Background: 19th & 20th centuries • Priests were not well educated in liturgy. • No courses in seminaries to study the history, evolution, or structure of the liturgical rites. • Courses on rubrics instead. • Celebrate the Mass correctly to avoid sin. • No requirements on teachers.

10. Background: 19th & 20th centuries • Louis Bouyer: the liturgy had become purely ceremonial. • The more obscure and rarified the gestures, the better. • Goal: to impress people. • Even nonbelievers come to church for its pomp on key moments of life, because ceremonies are regarded as what the church does best.

11. Background: 19th & 20th centuries The liturgy had become: • The work of clerics alone • The backdrop for private devotions • The ceremonial display for silent spectators

12. The Liturgical Movement • Born in a monastic setting, Benedictines. • 1882: first Latin-French missal. • Initial goal of the liturgical movement: education, not reform. • “Liturgical Weeks” for priests. • Liturgical institutes to educate future seminary teachers.

13. The Liturgical Movement Pope Pius X • 1903: pope Pius X on Tra Le Sollecitudini Our people assemble for the purpose of acquiring the true Christian spirit from its first and indispensable source, namely, active participation in the most sacred mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the church. • Revision of the psalter • Frequent communion • Lowered the age for first communion from 10/12/14 to 7 • Experiments: vernacular, facing people, missarecitata

14. The Liturgical Movement Pope Pius XII: • Became pope in 1939. • Greater use of the vernacular • Evening Masses • Eucharistic fast was reduced for evening Masses • Attempts to restore adult catechumenate in mission lands. • The liturgical movement spread worldwide. • Desire for a reform grew.

15. The Liturgical Movement Pope Pius XII: • He praised the liturgical movement, but chastised those who did experiments without permission. • Supported the idea of pope Innocent III that the faithful offer the sacrifice along with the priest. • Three encyclicals: • Mediator Dei: on the liturgy • DivinoAfflanteSpiritu: modern Scripture scholarship • Mystici Corporis: on the Mystical Body of Christ (ecumenism)

16. The Liturgical Movement Pope Pius XII: • He praised people who wanted to receive communion from the consecrated hosts at Mass and not the reserved ones. • He chastised the priests who denied communion to people at Mass. • 1946: to study the possibility of a complete reform of the liturgy. • 1951: reform of the Easter Vigil. • 1955: reform of the Holy Week rites. • 1956: First International Congress of Pastoral Liturgy was held in Assisi.

17. Vatican II Pope John XXIII: • 1962: publication of the new Breviary and Pontifical. • Called a council in 1962. • Two contentious topics: sacred music and the use of Latin. • Fear of congregational singing because it would displace the role of the choirs and destroy the patrimony of sacred music.

18. Vatican II • The preparatory commission wanted priests to learn Latin, pray their own prayers in Latin, but Masses with the people in the vernacular when pastoral reasons required it. • Four drafts of the Constitution on the liturgy were written. • Cardenal Cicognani, president, signed the document and died four days later. • Cardinal Larraona succeeded him, gathered a secret committee and changed the document. • Quickly distributed to the council fathers as the final document. • The switch was discovered and the document had to be rewritten. • Fr. Low, who wrote the changed document died. The opposition had to regroup.

19. Vatican II • Liturgy was placed first on the agenda of the council. • 50 hours of debate, 387 oral interventions, and 297 interventions submitted in writing. • Most vocal opposition: American bishops. • Crd. McIntyre from L.A.: “The Sacred Mass should remain as it is.” • Crd. Spellman from NYC opposed inculturation. • Ironically, two American priests argued for the vernacular.

20. Vatican II • Scholarship on the question of Latin in the liturgy: There is no basis for arguing that Latin is divinely sanctioned or intended by God as the sole and eternal tongue of the liturgy. • Other liturgies. • Reformation: opposition to reformers for support of vernacular. • Protection of liturgical texts at Reformation because of confusion.

21. Vatican II • Time for voting. • November 14, 1962: • 2,162 in favor • 46 opposed • 7 void • Pope John XIII died on June 3, 1963. • Pope Paul VI elected on June 21, 1963.

22. Vatican II • Time for final vote. • December 4, 1963: • 2,147 in favor • 4 against • 400 years after the Council of Trent left the liturgy up to the Holy See, which then produced the Tridentine reform. • Applaud rose and echoed through the basilica of St. Peter.

23. Outline of Sacrosanctum Concilium • INTRODUCTION • CHAPTER I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy • CHAPTER II: The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist • CHAPTER III: The Other Sacraments and the Sacramentals • CHAPTER IV: Divine Office • CHAPTER V: The Liturgical Year • CHAPTER VI: Sacred Music • CHAPTER VII: Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings • APPENDIX: Declaration of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on Revision of the Calendar

24. Introduction • 1. Sacrosanctum Concilium, cum sibiproponatvitamchristianam inter fideles in dies augere; easinstitutiones quae mutationibusobnoxiaesunt, ad nostraeaetatis necessitates meliusaccommodare; quidquid ad unionem omnium in Christum credentiumconferrepotest, fovere; et quidquid ad omnes in sinum Ecclesiae vocandosconducit, roborare; suumessearbitraturpeculiarirationeetiaminstaurandamatquefovendamLiturgiam curare.

25. Introduction 1. This Sacred Council has several aims in view: • It desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful [renewal of God’s people]; • to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions that are subject to change [adaptation to the times]; • to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ [ecumenism]; • to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of humanity into the household of the Church [evangelization].

26. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy • Nature of the Liturgy and Its Importance in the Church’s Life • Promotion of Liturgical Instruction and Active Participation • The Reform of the Sacred Liturgy • Promotion of Liturgical Life in Diocese and Parish • Promotion of Pastoral-Liturgical Action

27. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points • The Paschal Mystery • We enter into the saving work of Christ—his life, death, resurrection, and glorification—through our participation in the liturgy • Ancient concept; mystery is not something to be solved, but a truth so deep that the end of it can’t be seen; not something unknowable, but endlessly knowable • As we enter the Paschal Mystery, we gain an understanding of the cost of discipleship and a deepening of the sure and certain hope of redemption

28. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points 2. Liturgy as “Source and Summit” of the Church’s life • Liturgy is the priestly action of Jesus Christ and of his body, the Church. • Christ is present in several ways in the celebration of the liturgy: • In the person of the ministiser • In a special way under the form of bread and wine • In the celebration of the sacraments • In his Word, proclaimed in the liturgy • In the assembly when it prays and sings • Everything the Church does proceeds from the liturgy and is aimed at the sanctification of humanity and the glorification of God.

29. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points 3. Full, Active, and Conscious Participation • Participation in all the gestures, words, music, actions that are proper to the people. • Prayers of the faithful, Word of God, use of vernacular, offering the sacrifice with the priest, offereing oneself, receiving elements consecrated at the Mass they participate in, use of the vernacular language in readings, prayers, songs. • Silence, inner participation “minds attuned to their voices”

30. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points 4. Ecclesiology • Participation in the liturgy is our right and duty by reason of our Baptism. • Restoration of the idea of “baptismal priesthood” without downplaying the role of the ministerial priesthood. • Restored the idea of “local church” as the church gathered around its bishop.

31. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points 5. Inculturation • Even in the liturgy the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters that do not affect the faith or the good of the whole community. • The Church respects and fosters the genius and talents of the various races and peoples. • Provisions shall made for legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, regions, and peoples, especially in mission lands, provided the substantial unity of the Roman Rite is preserved.

32. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points 6. Renewal of the Liturgical Books, Art, Music, and Artifacts of the Liturgy a. General Norms • Regulation of the liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church. • Sound tradition may be retained and yet the way remains open to legitimate progress, using careful judgment. • Sacred Scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. • The liturgical books are to be revised employing experts and consulting bishops from throughout the world. b. Characteristics • Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations belonging to the Church • Noble Simplicity • Latin and Vernacular • Communion under Both Forms • Preservation and Renewal of Music and Art

33. Chapter I: General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy Major Points 7. Education and Formation • Primarily concerned with training of clergy and religious • “This full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else. . . .Therefore pastors must zealously strive in all their pastoral work to achieve such participation by means of the necessary instruction. . . . Pastors themselves [must] become thoroughly imbued with the spirit and power of the liturgy and make themselves its teachers.” SC, 14

34. Questions for Discussion • What surprised you or called your attention in the way the liturgy was before Vatican II? • Which of the seven major points of Chapter I (Paschal Mystery; Liturgy as Source and Summit; Full, Active, Conscious Participation; Ecclesiology; Inculturation; Renewal of Books, Art, Music, and Artifacts of the Liturgy; Education and Formation) which one did you find most interesting or most important?

35. Chapter II: The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist • What is the Mass? • A memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection entrusted to the Church. • A sacrament of love, • A bond of charity, • A paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us. SC, 47

36. Chapter II: The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist “The Church earnestly desires that Christ’s faithful, when present at this mystery of faith [the Mass], should not be there as strangers or silent spectators” SC, 48 • They should take part in the sacred action conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration. • They should offer the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should also learn to offer themselves.

37. Chapter II: The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist • The rite of the Mass is to be revised. Two goals: • That the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as also the connection between them, may be more clearly manifested. • That devout and active participation of the faithful may be more easily achieved.

38. Chapter II: The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist • The rites are to be simplified. • Duplication or additions with little advantage should be discarded. • Patristic elements should be restored. • Bigger portion of Holy Scriptures. • The homily vs. the sermon. • The prayer of the faithful is to be restored. • The mother tongue should have a suitable place. • Communion under both forms also to the laity. • Concelebration permission is extended.

39. Chapter III: The Other Sacraments and the Sacramentals • The faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs. • Vernacular language may be used. • The catechumenate for adults [RCIA] to be restored. • The rite of Baptism of infants is to be revised, and it should be adapted to the circumstance that those baptized are, in fact, infants. • The rite of confirmation is to be revised. • “Extreme unction,” which may also and more fittingly be called “anointing of the sick,” is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death.

40. Chapter III: The Other Sacraments and the Sacramentals • Ordination rites to be revised. • The rite of marriage is to be revised. • The rite for the burial of the dead should express more clearly the paschal character of Christian death. It should be adapted to traditions found in different regions. • The rite of burial of infants to be revised.

41. Chapter IV: The Divine Office • The purpose of the office is to sanctify the day. • Lauds & evening prayer are the chief hours. • Compline is prayed at the end of the day. • Matins is now the office of readings, prayed at any time during the day. • Prime to be suppressed. • Terce, Sext, and None according to choir or outside the choir.

42. Chapter IV: The Divine Office • Readings should be more abundant and rich. • Hagiographical readings should be better selected. • The accounts of martyrdom or the lives of the saints are to accord with the facts of history. • The hymns are to be restored to their original form, and whatever smacks of mythology or ill accords with Christian piety is to be removed or changed. • Latin language preserved by clerics, but can use vernacular if Latin constitutes a grave obstacle to their praying the office properly.

43. Chapter V: The Liturgical Year • The Lord’s day is the original feast day, a day of joy and of freedom from work. • Universal feasts of the saints should be only those that commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance.

44. Chapter VI: Sacred Music • Sacred music is to be considered the more holy in proportion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical action. • Gregorian chant should be given pride of place in liturgical services, but other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded. • In certain parts of the world, especially mission lands, their own musical traditions should be given a suitable place. • The pipe organ is to be held in great esteem, but other instruments also may be admitted for use in divine worship.

45. Chapter VI: Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings • The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her very own. • Principle on art, sacred vestments and ornaments: Noble beauty rather than mere sumptuous display. • Sacred images in churches to be maintained, but their number should be moderate. • Revision of canons and norms that regulate the construction of sacred buildings, the shape and construction of altars, the nobility, placing, and safety of the eucharistic tabernacle. • Laws that seem less suited to the reformed liturgy are to be brought into harmony with it, or else abolished.

46. Appendix The Sacred Council would not object if the feast of Easter were assigned to a particular Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Only if the brethren who are not in communion with the Apostolic See give their assent.

47. Implementation and Results of Sacrosanctum Concilium Mass Scripture Sacraments Christian Initiation Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary) Music Participation of the people Translations and processes of approval National, diocesan, and parish liturgical (art, music) commissions

48. Questions for discussion • How do you participate at Mass? What are some ways that you are taking advantage of to actively and fully participate as a member of the Body of Christ? • The reform of the liturgy is a continuing process in the Church. Can you think of further ways that the vision of Sacrosanctum Concilium could be implemented?