Any discussion of the Catholic Mass requires a recognition of its crucial position in the Church, as well as some understanding of its nature. According to St. John Chrysostom (347-407), a Father and Doctor of the Church, when the Mass is said:
St. Alhponsus Liguori (1696-1787) described the Mass as "the most beautiful thing in the Church." And why? Because "at the Mass, Jesus Christ giveth Himself to us by means of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, which is the end and the purpose of all the other Sacraments." 3 St. Leonard of Port Maurice called the Mass "the sole Sacrifice which we have in our holy religion... a Sacrifice, holy, perfect, in every point complete, by which each one of the faithful nobly honors God." 4 Father Michael Mueller, C.SS.R. says, "The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is one of those works greater than which the omnipotence of God cannot produce... it is an utter impossibility for any human or angelic understanding to conceive an adequate idea of the Mass. All we can say is that its dignity and sanctity are infinite." 5 The Cure of Ars tells us, "All the good works togther are not of equal value with the Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of man, and the Holy Mass is the work of God.� 6 Father Nicholas Gihr, in his learned and monumental study of the Mass, says:
Pope Urban VIII said of the Mass:
Such statements as the above are legion among the writings of the Saints, Doctors and holy writers of the Church; they reflect the belief of the Church as to the nature and importance of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Catholic Mass Is a True Sacrifice The Catholic Church always speaks of the Mass as both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice. The Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) Teaches that "Christ hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a Sacrifice to God for the odor of sweetness." St. Cyprian (200-258) tells us that "the right to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice constitutes the most beautiful adornment and garland of honor of the Catholic priesthood, and for this reason the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as the most severe and most painful of punishments." St. Ambrose (340-397) tells us that "angles are present when we are celebrating the Sacrifice, for you may not doubt that angels are present, when Christ is there, when Christ is being sacrificed..." The Liturgy of St. James states: "Let all mortal flesh be silent, standing there [at the time of the Consecration] in fear and trembling; for the King of kings, the Lord of lords, Christ our God is about to be sacrificed and to be given as food to the faithful." 8 Now a sacrifice cannot occur without the immolation, or "offering up," of a victim. St. Thomas Aquinas says, "It is proper to this Sacrament that Christ should be immolated in its celebration." (Summa, III, 83, 1). In the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Sacrifice of the Mass, the primary sacrificing Priest, namely Christ, and the sacrificial gift are identical. Only the nature and mode of the offering of the two are different. Each and every valid Mass recapitulates � makes present once again � the same Sacrifice which occurred at Calvary. The only difference is that Christ�s Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, that of the Mass is unbloody. The sacrifice of the Cross and that of the Mass are nevertheless one and the same Sacrifice. As the Catechism of the Council of Trent states:
This doctrine about the immolative and truly sacrificial nature of the Mass is biding on the Catholic conscience, for as the Canons of the Council of Trent state: "If anyone saith that in the mass [i.e., each and every mass] a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God... let him be anathema!" A Further Explanation of The immolative sacrifice of Christ is said to be "perpetual." As Father M. Olier, the saintly founder of St. Suplice in Paris explains: "In order to present the mystery of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, one must know that this Sacrifice is the Sacrifice of Heaven... A Sacrifice offered up in Paradise which, at the same time, is offered up here on earth, and they differ only in that here on earth the Sacrifice occurs unseen." 9 What Father Olier is referring to is explained in the Apocalyptic vision of St. John the Apostle in which he describes the sacrifice of the Lamb, "slain" but alive and seated on the throne, with the twenty-four ancients adoring Him, with melodies on the harp and with the burning of incense, while multitudes of angels and all creatures sing praise to the Lamb and the eternal "Amen." (Apoc. 5:6-14). As Scripture teaches: "The Lamb.. Was slain from the beginning of the world" (Apoc. 13:8), this "Lamb," unspotted and undefiled, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times for you." (I Pet. 1:19-20). Thus in the Mass we see the perpetual Celestial Sacrifice of the Lamb brought down from Heaven and present on the altar before our eyes. As Canon Smith tells us, such saintly individuals as
The Consecration and Sacrifice effected by the priest (standing in the place of Christ) is, then, the visible manifestation of an eternal and timeless act. After the Consecration, as Gueranger says in The Liturgical Year, "the divine Lamb is lying on our altar!" Thus we see that the Mass is the visible reality, here and now, of the timeless eternal Mass of Heaven, described in the Apocalypse. Through it we participate in the Celestial Liturgy; through it the gates of Heaven are opened to us and the possibility of eternal life is made available to us. The concept of the Mass being the renewal of Christ�s sacrifice on the Cross is important if we are to understand why the Mass is called a "memorial." It is not a memorial in the sense that we commemorate the death of the unknown soldier, or even the death of a loved one. This is the Protestant view, namely, that the Mass is a "memorial" of the historical Crucifixion. Rather, the mass is a memorial in the sense that it "recalls to mind," in the philosophical sense referred to by the pagan philosopher Plato (427-347 B.C.), of a recollection of something that has a self-existing, everlasting and eternal reality of its own in heaven. It is in this manner that the Mass makes present once again what happened at Calvary and what is occurring eternally and perpetually in Heaven. This of course can only occur through the mediation of a priest who has been given the power, as it were, "to bring Heaven down to earth." Protestants and Anglicans (Episcopalians in American) 11 reject this dogma. They deny that there is any immolative (sacrificing) action and hence any REAL PRESENCE. Whereas Catholics give veneration to the Sacred Species after the Consecration of the Mass, Protestants admit of only bread and wine and hence accuse us of idolatry. 12 Despite the fact that they will admit that the Sacrifice of the Cross was a true Sacrifice, still they insist that it occurred once and for all, and that the only thing that happens or can happen in the daily Mass is a retelling in story-like fashion of what occurred some two thousand years ago. In their eyes the rite is a mere "memorial" of this historical event, and as such requires neither priest nor special sacerdotal powers to perform. As Luther said, "The Mass is not a sacrifice... call it benediction, Eucharist, the Lord�s table, the Lord�s supper, Memory of the Lord, or whatever you like, just so long as you do not dirty it with the name of a sacrifice or action." As for the Anglicans or Episcopalians, Article Thirty-One of their "creed" states that the Mass, as understood by the Council of Trent, is a "blasphemous fable and a dangerous deceit." 13 Because of the infinite magnitude of this immolative Sacrifice of the Mass, Catholic doctrine holds that the Mass is also and at the same time a sacrifice of praise, of thanksgiving, of propitiation (atonement, expiation, conciliation), and of impetration (petition). The Mass is a sacrifice of praise and adoration because
At the same time and in the same way, the Mass is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. "Inasmuch as in the Holy Mass we adore, praise and magnify God through and with Christ, we fulfill in a perfect manner the first duty, which as creatures we owe to the Creator � the duty of gratitude." 14 Protestants are perfectly willing to grant that a worship service be described as a "sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving." But this is where they stop. To claim that the Mass is more than this is to them a blasphemy. The Church however insists that the true Mass is much more. 15 Because of its fundamentally immolative nature, the Mass is, among other things, a "propitiatory sacrifice"; it "propitiates" (appeases) God�s anger and justice. As Father Nicholas Gihr says, "On the Cross Christ merited for us all forgiveness of sins, the grace of sanctification and eternal beatitude... Whosoever separates himself from this Sacrifice; whosoever through disobedience and unbelief despises and rejects it, for him �there is now left no [other] sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment and the rage of fire.�" (Heb. 10:26-27). Further, as an act of propitiation, the Mass "calms and appeases the righteous anger of God, disarms His justice and induces the Lord to regard sinful man with favor and mercy... As a propitiatory sacrifice the Mass has, therefore, the power and, in consequence of the ordinance of Christ, has for object directly and infallibly � that is, in the strictest sense ex opere operato, to cancel temporal punishment." 16 Moreover, this cancelling of temporal punishment can be applied to both "the living and the dead." As St. Augustine says, "It must not be doubted that the departed receive help by the prayers of the Church and the life-giving Sacrifice." 17 For the living, this fruit is only "medially" granted, for by virtue of the Sacrifice, the Eucharist obtains this grace for sinners only "if it finds them disposed" (St. Thomas, Sent., IV. 12, q. 2, a. 2.); for the dead it infallibly remits, yet not necessarily entirely, but only in accord with the good pleasure of Providence. 18 The Council of Trent holds it to be de fide (i.e., part of the Catholic faith that must be believed) that "the Holy Mass is a true propitiatory sacrifice, whereby we are reconciled to God and regain His favor." Protestant theology specifically denies both the "propitiatory" nature of the Mass, as well as the doctrine of Purgatory. Finally, the Mass is described as a sacrifice of impetration or petition, for as the same Council states, the Mass is offered not only for sins, punishments and satisfaction, but also for "other remedies." Man, by joining the priest in offering Mass, can anticipate that his requests (provided they are in conformity with God�s will) will receive an appropriate response. And in view of all that has been said above regarding the power and efficacy of the Mass, how could it be otherwise? There is in the Traditional Mass 19 no word or phrase, no single act of the celebrant, and no adornment of the altar that is without significance. It naturally follows that ever word and action of the priest is also significant. The Mass recapitulates the entire history of the Redemption. When, for example, it makes 33 Signs of the Cross, this is to commemorate the number of years Our Lord spent on earth. When the priest extends his hands over the chalice while reciting the Hanc Igitur, he is recapitulating the action of the High Priest of the Jews, who placed his hands on the sacrificial goat to transfer to it the sins of the people. (The "scape-goat," prefiguring Christ, was adorned with a red ribbon � as Christ was mockingly covered with a red cape at His trial � and then led out into the desert, where he was hurled down from a high precipice as a sacrifice.) When the priest faces the altar during the Sacrifice (except when he turns to bring us the blessings that derive therefrom), it is because it is on the altar that the action is occurring, and the priest is, like Christ whom he represents, an intermediary between us and God the Father. When the altar traditionally faces the East, it is because this is the direction of the Rising Sun, which, as the "light of the world," is a symbol of Our Lord, who is the true "Light of the World." As to the altar (it is not a "table"), we know from the traditional rite of consecrating Catholic altars that our altar relates to the altar of Moses and also to that of Jacob (Jacob�s pillow) � and that the eternal altar is itself the body of Christ which is placed "at the center of the world" � the axis mundi � so that all creation is, as it were, peripheral to the "eternal" Mass and is thus capable of being integrated through the divine action. (As St. Thomas says in his Homily for the Second Sunday in Advent, "All those things which are to us insensible, are sensible to Him.") When six candles are used at High Mass, it is because this represents the integration of the Jewish Menorah, or Seven-Branch Candlestick, into the Sacrifice of Christ, Our Lord being and replacing the central or Seventh Candle. When the priest is dressed in royal fashion during the rite, it is because he represents Christ the King. He is no longer an individual (e.g., "Fr. Bob," etc.), but an alter Chrisus, "another Christ." It is not for nothing that the priest purifies his hands before performing the Sacrifice, nor for vain reasons that he cleanses the chalice with exquisite care after consuming the Sacred Species. None of these acts is the invention of men. As the Abbe Gueranger says: "It is to the Apostles that these ceremonies go back." Similarly, we find the great authority on the Mass, Father Nicholas Gihr, stating:
Whereas certain prayers were at times added to the Traditional Mass, it is well recognized that its central core or "canon" remained fixed and unchanged from the earliest days. According to Sir William Palmer, a non-Catholic historian:
In point of fact, historical research, both Catholic and Protestant, has shown that the Traditional Mass dates back to at least the fourth century. (Prior to that time, the Church was subject to severe persecution, and therefore historical records are sparse.22) Since then, until 1962, when Pope John XXIII added the name of St. Joseph to the Canon of the Mass, a total of 26 words have been added to the Traditional Canon, by Popes St. Leo (440-461) and St. Gregory the Great (590-604). Thus, as the Council of Trent accurately states, the Canon "is composed out of the very words of the Lord, the tradition of the Apostles, and the pious institutions of the holy pontiffs." In the course of history some further additions were made � though never any subtractions. As a result, the Council of Trent ordered that "all such accretions should be removed, and that the Church should firmly establish the use of the Mass as it was in the time of St. Gregory." (590-604). This then is the Traditional mass. This is "the Mass of All Times." This is the Mass that was "promulgated" (or "codified") by Pope Saint Pius V in 1570 after the Council of Trent. This is the Mass that is protected by his Apostolic Bull Quo Primum of that same date. This is the Mass that Paul VI changed because, among other things, it contained "undesirable features" and "failed adequately to express the holy things it signified." 23 A Traditional Catholic Prayer Said Before Mass
Had Satan been aware that Christ was the Divine Logos [Second Person of the Blessed Trinity], he would never have agitated for the Crucifixion. Needless to say, every true Mass reminds him once again of his terrible mistake and at the same time is a vehicle for bestowing infinite graces on mankind. No wonder that the devil has an intense hatred for the Mass. It has always been predicted that the true Mass would be taken from us. Listen to the words of St. Alphonsus Liguori:
Much the same is said by Father Denis Fahey:
The hatred of the "Reformers" of the 16th century for the Traditional Mass is well known. Above all, they abhorred any suggestion that the Mass is an "immolative Sacrifice." Luther called it an "abomination," a "false blasphemous cult," and instructed the rulers under his influence "to attack the idolaters" and to suppress their worship as much as possible. He repeatedly denied its true sacrificial nature and above all hatred the "abominable Canon in which the Mass is made a sacrifice." Indeed, he went so far as to say, "I affirm that all brothels, murders, robberies, crimes, adulteries are less wicked than this abomination of the Popish Mass." As to the Canon or core of the Mass, he stated:
In words that are almost prophetic, Luther noted that "when the Mass has been overthrown, I think we shall have overthrown the Papacy. I think it is in the Mass, as on a rock, that the Papacy wholly rests... Everything will of necessity collapse when their sacrilegious and abominable Mass collapses." All this brings us to the problems with the New Mass. It is well known that the hallmark of traditional Catholics is their refusal to participate in the New order of the Mass � the Novus Ordo Missae � as set up April 3, 1969, after Vatican Council II. For reasons that will soon become apparent, it is of the utmost importance for us to review the reasons for their objections to this New Rite. The remainder of this study will attempt to explain and clarify their attitude. Footnotes 1. Rev. T. E. Bridgett, Life of Blessed John Fisher (London: Burnes & Oates, 1888). Cardinal St. John Fisher was martyred, along with St. Thomas More, by Henry VIII in 1535. 2. Quoted by Fr. Michael Mueller, C.SS.R., God the Teacher of Mankind � The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1885). 3. St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Mass (London: Benziger Brothers, 1887). 4. St. Leonard of Port Maurice, The Hidden Treasure (Rockford, Illinois, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1971). 5. Fr. Michael Mueller, C.SS.R., op. cit. 6. Dr. Nicholas Gihr, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1929). 8. Dr. Nicholas Gihr, op. cit. The Liturgy of the Apostle St. James can be found in The Anti-Nicene Fathers (Eerdmans, 1967). 9. Quoted by Gaby, Le Sacrifice dans L�Ecole Francaise de Spiritualite (Paris, 1951). 10. Canon George D. Smith, The Teaching of the Catholic Church (N.Y., Macmillan, 1949) 11. Anglicans recognize the King or Queen of England as the head of their Church. At the time of the American Revolution, Anglicans in this country rejected this "headship" and declared themselves to be Episcopalians. 12. They describe the efficacy of the bread and wine used in their service in a wide variety of ways. Some admit that Christ is "subjectively" present for the worshiper (see the discussion of NOBIS � "For Us" � later in the text), but all deny any objective "PRESENCE," independent of the worshiper. 13. The Anglicans and Lutherans still say the Nicene Creed, which dates from 325. This statement however is taken from the "Thirty-Nine Articles" to which Anglicans and Episcopalians must give their assent "in the plain meaning of the words." 14. Both quotations are from Fr. Nicholas Gihr, op. cit. 15. As the Canons of the Council of Trent state: "If anyone saith that the Sacrifice of the Mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving... Let him be anathema." The Eucharistic prayers of the Novus Ordo Missae constantly utilize the phrase, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, without reference to the other aspects of the sacrifice. 16. Ex opere operato means literally "by its own power." The personal defects of the priest (assuming he is properly ordained, uses a valid rite, and has the proper intention) or of the communicant do not affect its "power." 17. Confessions, I., 9, c. 11-12. 18. Adolf Tanquerey, A Manual of Dogmatic Theology (New York: Desclee, 1959). 19. Also called "the Mass of All Times" (because it dates back to the Apostles in its essential elements � though it is eternal in its nature), the "Tridentine Mass" (only because the 16th century Council of Trent [Tridentum in Latin] ordered it to be "codified"), "the Mass of Pius V" (after the Pope who actually "codified" it in 1570), and on occasion (but loosely and incorrectly) the "Latin mass" (incorrectly, because any rite can be translated into Latin and because the Novus Ordo Missae itself was issued originally in Latin). 20. Dr. Nicholas Gihr, op. cit. It should be added that the Christian Revelation ceased with the death of the last Apostle, and not with the death of Christ. 21. Quoted by Patrick H. Omlor, Interdum, Issue No. 7, Menlo Park, CA. 22. There is moreover considerable evidence that the Mass was considered too sacred to be written down. 23. Statements publicly made and reported in the Osservatore Romano while thanking the six Protestant "observers" for their help in formulating the New Mass (or Novus Ordo Missae) used by the Church in post-Conciliar times. 24. St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Dignity and Duties of the Priest, or Selva (London: Benziger Bros., 1889), p. 212. 25. Fr. Denis Fahey, The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society (Dublin: Regina Publications). �
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