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DominvsVobiscvm
Guest
I’m almost finished reading Sheldon Cheny’s masterly book The Theatre: Three Thousand Years of Drama, Acting and Stagecraft.
In “Chapter VI: The Theatre in the Church” he notes the various abuses that liturgical theatre brought to the churches. Turns out many of the Medieval Miracles and Mysteries used to actually be incorporated into the Mass, and it wasn’t until they got too elaborate and rediculous that they were taken outside.
Connected with this, the book notes the various mockeries and blasphemies connected with the Feast of Fools, and the abuses carried on by clergy within the Mass itself!
If you think you’ve got it bad at your parish, wait till you see this!
For the feast of the Circumcision every year, many medieval parishes had a “Mass of the Asses,” and here’s what when on during Mass:
You can find the actual text of the Mass of the Asses here.
All this can be confirmed by the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Pretty disturbing, huh?
As I noted in another thread, in Luther’s day many priests, after consecrating the host, and in mockery of transubstantiation would place the Body back on the patents and chant: “Bread thou art, and bread thou wilt remain!” Luther actually witnessed this in Rome itself!
So liturgical abuse is nothing new, and if the medievals had to put up with these buffoneries for centuries, maybe we should be prepared to do so too!
On a related note, from talking to my Sicilian parents and grandparents I can say that the ancient, venerable practice of mocking Church holy days still existed in my parents’ day, though by then these things occurred outside of church. For example, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, my dad’s friends would go and steal carriages and other wooden property from their neighbors, and light it all in one great big bonfire!
It seems to me that Catholic Europe has always had a cynical, anticlerical strain, and with it has always come some sort of religious mockery, and that the local clergy themselves have not been immune to it, often incorporating it into the liturgy. In places like Ireland and America, where the faith was tried and persecuted, Catholics seem to have been almost immune to these abuses, but it seems those days are over.
Any thoughts?
In “Chapter VI: The Theatre in the Church” he notes the various abuses that liturgical theatre brought to the churches. Turns out many of the Medieval Miracles and Mysteries used to actually be incorporated into the Mass, and it wasn’t until they got too elaborate and rediculous that they were taken outside.
Connected with this, the book notes the various mockeries and blasphemies connected with the Feast of Fools, and the abuses carried on by clergy within the Mass itself!
If you think you’ve got it bad at your parish, wait till you see this!
For the feast of the Circumcision every year, many medieval parishes had a “Mass of the Asses,” and here’s what when on during Mass:
And during Vespers:
These abuses were condemned by the Church, but went on anyway for centuries, and were not ended until about the time of the Council of Trent!
You can find the actual text of the Mass of the Asses here.
All this can be confirmed by the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Pretty disturbing, huh?
As I noted in another thread, in Luther’s day many priests, after consecrating the host, and in mockery of transubstantiation would place the Body back on the patents and chant: “Bread thou art, and bread thou wilt remain!” Luther actually witnessed this in Rome itself!
So liturgical abuse is nothing new, and if the medievals had to put up with these buffoneries for centuries, maybe we should be prepared to do so too!
On a related note, from talking to my Sicilian parents and grandparents I can say that the ancient, venerable practice of mocking Church holy days still existed in my parents’ day, though by then these things occurred outside of church. For example, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, my dad’s friends would go and steal carriages and other wooden property from their neighbors, and light it all in one great big bonfire!
It seems to me that Catholic Europe has always had a cynical, anticlerical strain, and with it has always come some sort of religious mockery, and that the local clergy themselves have not been immune to it, often incorporating it into the liturgy. In places like Ireland and America, where the faith was tried and persecuted, Catholics seem to have been almost immune to these abuses, but it seems those days are over.
Any thoughts?
