HERE ARE ADDITIONS AND REVISIONS
The following brief overview is drawn from the presentation to the
press of the editio typica tertia by the Cardinal Prefect and the
Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments on 22 March 2002. For the complete text see the next
issue of Notitiae.
In 1970, after the Second Vatican Council and following the
directives of the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the
liturgy, the first editio typica of the Roman Missal was
published. Publication of the second editio typica followed after
a few years, in 1975. Thirty years later, the third editio typica
is published, which became necessary for many reasons and took almost 10
years to complete. This new edition of the Roman Missal is now offered
to all the Roman Rite clergy and faithful as the most important of all
the liturgical books renewed by the Second Vatican Council.
The Decree by which the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments publishes this new edition of the Roman
Missal notes that it was approved by the Holy Father on 10 April 2000
and published on 20 April that same year, on Holy Thursday, as were the
editions of 1970 and 1975.
The edition we are presenting is the result of a lengthy revision and
"aggiornamento" which began in 1991 and was continued in 1996,
years in which the Congregation held its plenary assemblies. The work
devoted to producing the editio typica basically focused on
adapting the normative and canonical section to the Codex Iuris
Canonici and bringing the normative and liturgical section into line
with the directives the Holy See has issued since 1975.
This is not merely an amended reprint. It is a real editio typica,
that is, an official, updated publication intended for the Eucharistic
celebration in Latin and for direct translation into the national
languages, the task of the Bishops' Conferences in the various
countries, who will do the translations according to the provisions on
the translation of liturgical books set out in Liturgiam authenticam
of 28 March 2001, in order to obtain the recognitio of the Holy
See before they go into effect in their respective linguistic area. The editio
typica becomes the paradigm to which one must refer for the faithful
translation of liturgical texts into the vernacular. This editio
typica, which was composed in the years following the Second Vatican
Council and received an energetic impetus from the Letter of the Holy
Father Vicesimus quintus annus of 1988, (n. 20), at this
particular moment becomes a precise and obligatory instrument for the
translation of liturgical books, with a view to the efficacy and
fidelity in communicating the content of the patrimony of the Latin
Church.
Making his own the affirmation of the Synod of Bishops in 1985, Pope
John Paul II said that "liturgical renewal is the most visible
fruit of the whole work of the Council" (Apostolic Letter Vicesimus
quintus annus, n. 12, 4 December 1988). For many people, the message
of the Second Vatican Council was first perceived in the liturgical
reform. Moreover, "A very close and organic bond exists between the
renewal of the liturgy and the renewal of the whole life of the
Church" (Domenicae Cenae, n. 13, 24 February 1980, Letter
on the Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist).
The third editio typica of the Roman Missal is certainly a
gift, offered to the particular Churches of the Roman Rite by the Holy
See and especially by the Holy Father, with the guarantee of
authenticity or, essentially, fidelity to the traditio inherited
from his predecessors who passed it on to the next generations.
* * *
It is not surprising that in the course of history the Popes have
paid special attention to publishing editions of the Roman Missal, in
their concern to safeguard the fidelity, correctness and nobility of the
liturgical language, an obvious sign of the special importance of the
Eucharist in the life of the Church (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n.
47). Down through the centuries there have been a variety of official
editions of the Roman Missal. The changes, integrations and insertions
have all contributed to improving the quality of the celebration of the
Eucharistic mystery, as required by the specific needs of the times. In
this historical development of the Roman Missal, an effort has always
been made to safeguard what is known as the unitas substantialis
(substantial unity) of the Roman Rite, an element that should remain
unchanged as the testimony of the unfailing tradition of the Church. In
fact, like other liturgical books, and in accord with the ancient saying
lex orandi legem statuat credendi (the way of praying witnesses
to the law of belief), the Missal expresses the sensus fidei of
the Church, not in the style of dogmatic formulas but in the classical
density of the oral style of the liturgy, composed not only of the words
but also of the gestures and signs, to express what we receive from
divine Revelation.
The principal part of the Roman Missal consists in eucological
formulas or prayers, even if the correct celebration, the ars
celebrandi, requires norms and instructions to regulate and to
assist both the main celebrant and the assembly to take part in the
celebrations of the mysteries of salvation in an orderly and fruitful
way and in conformity with their own specific role.
Moreover, the insertion in the section on general norms of a new
chapter IX, to integrate what was prescribed by the Instruction Varietates
legitimae on liturgical inculturation, is very important. It takes
up and reasserts those principles and criteria to be applied whenever a
Bishops' Conference deems it necessary to introduce into the Missal
adaptations that go beyond those foreseen by the Missal itself. These
adaptations should be considered as special exceptions, and can only be
justified by the need to provide for the spiritual good of the
particular Churches concerned within substantial unity of the Roman
Rite.
* * *
From the viewpoint of the innovations introduced into the text of the
Roman Missal, certain details can be listed which have a certain
pastoral efficacy.
In the first place, there is the work of integrating or updating the Calendarium
Romanum generale, with the insertion of those celebrations
established after the editio typica altera.
Optional memorials:
23 April: St Adalbert, bishop and martyr; 28 April: St Louis
Marie Grignion de Montfort, priest; 2 August: St Pierre Julien
Eymard, priest; 9 September: St Peter Claver, priest; 28
September: St Lawrence Ruiz and companions, martyrs;
Obligatory memorials:
14 August: St Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr; 20
September: St Andrew Kim Taegon, priest, and Paul Chong Hasang
and companions, martyrs; 24 November: St Andrew Dung-Lac, priest,
and companions, martyrs.
Moreover, Higher Authority arranged for the addition of 11 new
celebrations: 3 January: the Holy Name of Jesus; 8 February: St
Josephine Bakhita, virgin; 13 May: Our Lady of Fatima; 21 May: St
Cristóbal Magallánes, priest, and companions, martyrs;
22 May: St Rita of Cascia, religious; 9 July: St Augustine Zhao
Rong, priest, and companions, martyrs; 20 July: St
Apollinaris, bishop and martyr; 24 July: St Sharbel Makhlouf, priest;
9 August: St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), virgin and
martyr; 12 September: The Holy Name of Mary; 25 November: St
Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr.
* * *
In the Order of the Mass, precisely in the collection of
prefaces, a new preface was added for the martyrs; the Common of the
Blessed Virgin Mary was enriched with new formulas, mostly texts taken
from Masses in the collection of Masses in honour of the
Blessed Virgin Mary for a better variety.
In the section of Masses for various intentions two formulas
from the pre-conciliar Missal have been inserted; the first is a new
formula taken from the editio typica of 1962 in which it was
titled: To ask for compunction of heart that was added to the
section of the Masses for the remission of sins. The second
is the formula of the Mass to ask for the virtue of continence.
Among the votive Masses we should also mention the formula for the Mass In
honour of Divine Mercy.
These particular innovations in the editio typica tertia, as
well as the other insertions and the perfecting of certain parts of the
General Introduction, constitute the overall differences in the new
edition of the Missal which will help give it the importance it deserves
and result in bringing an enrichment in the area of ritual practice and
of theological reflection.
* * *
A further addition is the inclusion of complete Masses for the ferial
days of Advent. Formerly for the Easter Season the prayers for weekdays
had a cyclical form. Now there are specific prayers for each day, taken
from the ancient sacramentaries, which have a high theological and
literary quality.
It is now possible to use the Apostles Creed, which is the Western
Creed, witnessed to in Rome in the third century and explained by such
great Fathers as Ambrose, Augustine, Rufinus, and present in the
Gelasian Sacramentary which carries the Roman liturgical practice of the
sixth century, going back to Hippolytus of Rome.
* * *
At times minor changes have been introduced but they act nonetheless
as a vehicle for important principles. For example, in the Eucharistic
Prayers, where for some time people were asking that the graphical
layout of the text be renewed in line with the literary form of the prayer
and its theology, received always and everywhere from the ancient
Churches of East and West in which this prayer does not begin
from the first words of the Eucharistic prayer itself e.g. "You
are holy indeed…", but from the dialogue of the
Preface. Moreover, the rubrics of the post-conciliar Missal already
required that the assembly "stand" from the prayer over the
gifts. On the basis of this principle, the Eucharistic Prayer or
Roman Canon begins with the dialogue between the priest and the
assembly and continues with the Preface which is concluded by the Sanctus,
to which the opening words of the Eucharistic Prayer are closely linked,
e.g. in the first Eucharistic Prayer with the Latin words "Te
igitur clementissime Pater" (since a clear reference to what
has structurally preceded is implicit in the adverb igitur
[therefore]).
Another element that characterizes the new "editio" is the
restoration of the orationes super populum (prayers over the
people) throughout the Lenten season which enriches the usual form of
the blessing before the dismissal of the People of God. In this case one
can detect in the new Missal the sense of traditio, which does
not ignore any previous form of the liturgy which is authentically
Roman, because most of these prayers over the people were taken from the
1962 Missal and others from the elegant and rich formulas of the ancient
Sacramentaries.
Furthermore, in the Order of Mass and in the principles
clearly expressed in the General Introduction to the Roman Missal
(n. 115 ss), the choice—which
also has a clear ecclesiological connotation—of
the Mass with the people was reconfirmed as the typical form of the
Eucharistic celebration as compared with the Order of Mass of the
Missal of Pius V of 1570, which presents in first place the Private
Mass of the priest, with possible adaptations for the presence of a
minister, of the faithful or of ecclesiastical dignitaries (pope,
bishops), sung or with the schola.
* * *
The current Missal indisputably fosters and encourages participation
with song, but in two places of the General Introduction to the Roman
Missal, nn. 45 and 56, it emphasizes the opportunity for moments of
silence which should help to give the celebration an intensely prayerful
and contemplative atmosphere.
* * *
With the official presentation of the third editio typica of
the Roman Missal, the Congregation for Divine Worship and
the Discipline of the Sacraments hopes that it will be a valid means at
the service of the People of God, a guarantee of unity within the Roman
Rite as well as an incentive to pursue the fully aware and active
participation in liturgical celebrations that is the real objective and
an effective means to achieve salvation.
|
