Quo Primum

[JMJ_coder]

I would also mention that in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, it explicitly gives to the Apostolic See the right to approve liturgical books. Pope Venerable Pius XII in his 1947 encyclical on the Liturgy, Mediator Dei, appealed to this canon when he wrote:

1. It follows from this that the Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys the right to recognize and establish any practice touching the worship of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify those he judges to require modification…

It is true that that in the next paragraph later he laments the introduction of “novelties” such as the vernacular, but this is not because of those in themselves, but because they have been introduced without his approval. Indeed, in the next paragraph he allows the vernacular to those he grants approval for:

1. The use of the Latin language, customary in a considerable portion of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity, as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth. In spite of this, the use of the mother tongue in connection with several of the rites may be of much advantage to the people. But the Apostolic See alone is empowered to grant this permission. It is forbidden, therefore, to take any action whatever of this nature without having requested and obtained such consent, since the sacred liturgy, as We have said, is entirely subject to the discretion and approval of the Holy See.

 

[ncjohn]

I do NOT claim any authority over anyone. God has authority over everything. I am simply attempting to learn why the Pauline Mass replaced the Mass of Pope St. Pius V as the established OF when the Mass of Pope St. Pius V was not abrogated by Pope Paul VI. I understand that Pope Paul VI had the right to change the Rubrics of the Mass, and the second Vatican council wanted changes made and a revised Mass to be promulgated, but an entirely new form was created and declared the OF in 1969 without Abrogating Quo Primum. Then for some 35 years you could not find a Tridentine Mass. Then we get the indult; then we get Summorum Pontificum and
“It is, therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church.”
So my question still remains: whether Quo Primum was still valid. I now believe the answer to be yes, it is.
So now I need to think on why Rome gave us another Form of the Rite but repressed the Tridentine without Abrogating it as Pope St. Pius X did when he issued Divino Afflantu. And why now are we seeing a resurgence of the Mass of Pope St. Pius V and what this means in relation to where we have been, are now and are going in the future.
Thanks to all for your comments.

I really think the key to the whole thing, which is so often missed, is the context of the meaning of Quo Primum. QP essentially was a command to stop proliferating liturgies without the authority of the Pope, who is the only one who can authorize a liturgy. It was the attempt to prevent what had been happening in the Church with anyone who wanted to making changes to the liturgy rather than to say in any way that a Pope couldn’t make changes to the liturgy.

It has always been the teaching of the Church that no Pope could bind any future Pope in matters of discipline and the form of the liturgy is, without question, a discipline. There would be no need for a Pope to abrogate a previous liturgy unless it was to be replaced for all time and that was clearly not the intent with the TLM, at least not directly and at that time. Though I’ve never seen it in a document, I’m pretty sure the expectation was that after the liturgy that Vatican II was calling for was created that over time those who held to the TLM would eventually switch over or die out and that it would THEN be abrogated. But since there was no intent to do so at the time of the promulgation of the Pauline Mass there would not have been any such language present.

The change in the Divine Office by Pius X was different in that when it was promulgated the older version was indeed abrogated, similar to the way the 1983 Code of Canon law abrogated the 1917 Code.

Vatican II’s document on the liturgy has language similar to the intent of Quo Primum but without the confusion of making it sound like an eternal ban on changing a liturgy. It is the language that says that nobody, even if he be a priest, is allowed to change the liturgy. That certainly doesn’t mean, as Quo Primum didn’t mean, that the liturgy could never again be changed but only that the Pope is the only one authorized to do so.

By the way, Vatican II did NOT call for a revision of the Mass. It did indeed call for a new form. That is clearly apparent in the document. It didn’t call for a lot of the things that have been claimed but it did call for a new liturgy that would have at least a certain level of vernacular.

So in the end, yes Quo Primum is valid to the extent that nobody but the Pope is allowed to change the liturgy, as reaffirmed by Vatican II. But that does not translate to meaning that the TLM, as promulgated by Pius V with no change whatsoever, is the only valid Mass for all time.

Peace,

 

[JMJ_coder]

I would also mention that in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, it explicitly gives to the Apostolic See the right to approve liturgical books.

Canon 1257 from the 1917 Code is now embodied in Canon 838 from the 1983 Code:

Can. 838 §1. The direction of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church which resides in the Apostolic See and, according to the norm of law, the diocesan bishop.

§2. It is for the Apostolic See to order the sacred liturgy of the universal Church, publish liturgical books and review their translations in vernacular languages, and exercise vigilance that liturgical regulations are observed faithfully everywhere.

§3. It pertains to the conferences of bishops to prepare and publish, after the prior review of the Holy See, translations of liturgical books in vernacular languages, adapted appropriately within the limits defined in the liturgical books themselves.

§4. Within the limits of his competence, it pertains to the diocesan bishop in the Church entrusted to him to issue liturgical norms which bind everyone.