What was wrong with the Mass of St. Pius V?

[Jean_Anthony]

Please return to the thread’s original topic. Thank you.

 

[thedavidwilson]

Well, let’s see…

The people, in general, were not participating in the Mass, but were praying independently and merely Witnessing the mass, or even merely being present but completely isolated intellectually from it. (I remember in my childhood, a priest asked someone to stop praying the rosary during the readings and the homily, as it was disrupting others ability to hear the teachings.)

The primary reason for this disconnect was, according to the V II post-conciliar documents, presumed to be the lack of comprehension of both what participation is and what the prayers mean.

Sounds like there was a problem with the PEOPLE not the Mass. Vatican II aimed to correct this by encouraging people to participate in the mass (the 1962 missal Mass) more, not change the Mass. What is happening is like someone throwing away a perfectly good (and sacred) lawnmower becasue that person does not know how to use it or is not willing to use it correctly. The people needed reform not the liturgy.

 

[Brennan_Doherty]

Sounds like there was a problem with the PEOPLE not the Mass. Vatican II aimed to correct this by encouraging people to participate in the mass (the 1962 missal Mass) more, not change the Mass. What is happening is like someone throwing away a perfectly good (and sacred) lawnmower becasue that person does not know how to use it or is not willing to use it correctly. The people needed reform not the liturgy.

Yes, excellent post. The Tridentine rite is perfectly open to participatio actuosa, first, through prayer and meditation on the sacred mysteries, and also, as Pope Pius X and Vatican II encouraged, the singing of the parts of the Mass in Latin proper to them. I have experienced this, and it is heaven on earth.

And I think your post is a good reminder that most of the Council Fathers envisioned very modest changes to the liturgy. They did not envision that in order to obtain participatio actuosa that the entire liturgy needed to be rebuilt.