Post intelligent and civil comments. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the NLM
This particular issue, while it might seem particular to the Ambrosians (though that doesn't make it unimportant; quite the contrary in point of fact, given that venerable liturgical tradition) also has great relevance for Romans attached to the usus antiquior in consideration of the question of the new Roman lectionary.
I do not really comprehend - does the Archbishop want the celebrant to read out the texts from his new lectionary instead of the old readings? I don't think that it is allowed to do so, even if the celebrant wanted. Summorum gives permission for readings in the vernacular, but surely these must be the readings of the Mass that is being celebrated, and not those of any other Mass.
Maybe someone with a better knowledge of canon law should look into this question.
Is anyone aware of where a listing of the new lectionary readings can be found? I would be curious to see just how radical these changes are.
Rob+
Can this be done and imposed without recourse from the Holy Father? I am not sure how this affects the liturgy as never having been to an Ambrosian celebration, but can sympathize with parishoners who may feel that they are losing something.. Also the A, B, cycles of readings are not that helpful in the Roman Church. It was much easier to follow a one year calender and therefore retain more with a calender that gives more frequent, repeated exposure. Even with less scripture reading as that should be done on your own anyway. The Church seems to take for granted that everyone attends every Sunday for consecutive years and therefore are more enriched. It is not so sadly. Especially in this day and age when so may do not make it to Mass as often as they should.
After today’s Angelus, the Holy Father, in his usual gentle way, did not fail to pay a tribute to the new Ambrosian Lectionary:
“Nell’Arcidiocesi di Milano e nelle altre comunità di Rito Ambrosiano inizia in questa domenica il Tempo di Avvento. Nel rivolgere ad esse un particolare saluto, desidero ricordare che proprio oggi entra in vigore il Nuovo Lezionario Ambrosiano, cioè la raccolta, rinnovata alla luce del Concilio Vaticano II, delle Letture bibliche di quell’antico e nobile ordinamento liturgico. E’ significativo che ciò avvenga all’indomani dell’Assemblea del Sinodo dei Vescovi dedicata alla Parola di Dio. Possa la Chiesa Ambrosiana, nutrita con sapienza e abbondanza delle Sacre Scritture, camminare sempre nella verità e nella carità e rendere valida testimonianza a Cristo, Parola di salvezza per l’umanità di tutti i tempi.”
According to the new dispositions of his Eminence Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi of Milan, only the new lectionary will be used, whether with the new missal or with the missal of "Cardinal Schuster" i.e. the traditional Ambrosian Missal, from which follows that the same calendar will be used by "traditional" as well as "reformed" Ambrosians.
The traditional Ambrosian Mass has now a possibility of being more widely celebrated (as the newly introduced traditional Mass in Legnano shows), and it is up to us to make good use of this possibility; as much as I can understand the wish to retain the traditional readings, obstructing the use of the new lectionary in traditional celebrations will not help the spread of the traditional Mass, not now. Hiding the new lectionary in the sacristy is not constructive, there are now far better ways to help our diocese find its old spiritual vigour!
Oh, I think it is fine for pious laymen to "lose" the new lectionary once in a while. When the people protest (rather than the clergy alone), usually this presents a more convincing front to the Ordinary.
As Don Nicola pointed out, this imposition of a lectionary goes completely against the spirit of liberty for the ancient rites that Summorum Pontificum encourages. I dearly hope that the Holy Father will somehow be able to rectify this, should he wish to do so.
To Peter M
The traditional Ordo Lectionum is *the* core of the Ambrosian Rite Mass.
"Obstructing the use of the new lectionary in traditional celebrations" *will* help the spread of the traditional Mass, simply because, without the traditional Ordo Lectionum, a traditional Ambrosian Mass doesn't exist.
In other words, "Traditional Mass"
is not a word, or some kind of mental construction, it's a fact!
The new Ambrosian Lectionary is a modern fabrication, and can be used for the Novus Ordo, but could never fit in with the Traditional one.
Just to make one example, pre-lenten Sundays should be immediately cancelled. Could any Roman Rite faithful think to allow this just to have the illusion to win a chance attend a false "traditional" Mass?
Those willing to allow this should just be content with a reverent Novus Ordo Mass in their parish.
"I dearly hope that the Holy Father will somehow be able to rectify this, should he wish to do so."
Are the chances of this better that 70-30?
Again, I do not think that this stipulation is lawful according to 'Summorum Pontificum'. If the Archbishop of Milan regards this document as not relevant for the Ambrosian Rite he can make up his own rules, but this should be stated clearly.
However, changing the readings alone does not make any sense because the chants and collects will not refer to them, and changing the calendar needs the promulgation of a new Missal and Breviary.
To find an equivalent in the Roman Rite - merely imposing the new calendar and lectionary without re-writing the Missal would mean that one would have the Mass of the Umpteenth Sunday of the Year in green with the collects and chants of Septuagesima (because the Old Missal has no provisions for the Umpteenth Sunday of the year), but the Novus-Ordo lessons. But, what to do with the Tract/Alleluia? And what with the readings of the Office? Can one still start with Genesis, if the Sunday is not the beginning of a new season?
I have the feeling that for many clergy (also many supportive of the Extraordinary Form) 'Old Rite' merely means a different Ordinary of the Mass, and that there is little consciousness that it is far more than that and in fact, as one priest put it in astonishment, the two forms of the Roman Rite are 'two different operating systems'. One can run two different Operating Systems on a computer, but one has to know how they function, and to keep them clearly separate.
I do hope that the difficulties in Milan will be solved - otherwise the only way out would be to use only the Tridentine Rite in Milan (what is allowed according to 'Summorum') and to postpone the much-needed revival of the Ambrosian Rite until the situation has changed, either under a new Archbishop or a ruling of 'Ecclesia Dei'.
What did the people at Legnano do? Did they use the new or the traditional lectionary?
In the Eastern Church, the Nativity fast began on November 15. So the Ambrosian tradition is much in line with the Orthodox one. But the Orthodox 'fast' is a real fast, from milk products and meat (except fish on certain days).
I think the West has abrogated true fasting, (like not EATING!)
in most understandings of the word. Comments, anyone?
Rdr. James
Olympia, WA
In according to the disobbediece to use the new Lectionary, the Mass on Gentilino will be stopped soon, by decision of Cardinal of Milan.
I have some friends who belong to the Ambrosian Rite. At least one of them seemed to be very supportive of and excited about the new lectionary for that Rite. However, he is not too much into rubrics because to him the revised Ambrosian Rite and its old form would be the same to him.
This is a good example of the many sneaky ways many prelates try to show their disdain for absolute Papal authority and their (many times) idolatrous obsession with collegiality. Indirectly, this prelate is spitting on the face of Summorum Pontificum. He will allow the old Ambrosian Rite (he seems to feel pressured to do so), but he will do it his own way and according to his own rules.
It is here where Rome should (and hopefully will) show publicly how important the liturgical calendar is to the entire Church in the particular Rites/Uses in which they developed naturally.
Where are the Ambrosians who created a huge riot when a Papal Legate said Mass using the Roman Liturgical books? What would they do now that a stranger things happen or are imposed that end up affecting the ancient Milanese Rite?
There is more than one diocese which uses the Ambrosian Rite. Was this a collegial decision of the bishops involved or something that the Archbishop of Milan can do on his own?
The Archbishop of Milan has imposed the use of the New Lectionary wherever the Ambrosian Rite is used.Even outside his Ecclesiastical Province!
Of course, he has no power whatsoever to do so.
Maybe the Holy Father should write an encylical on the ancient rites of the Western church i.e. Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Bragan, clarifying their "rights".
It remains a damned shame that the Mozarabic Rite is confined to a side chapel.
I must say, though, that the newest Latin liturgical books for it are stunning, having been bound in leather with examples of illuminated manuscripts on the various pages. My seminary library had a copy of the version from the 1990s. The thing weighed at least 40 pounds! And that was just the missal. When I was in Spain, I thought about buying it and the lectionary. But the cost was high. I'm still kicking myself for that decision.
According to the Zenit article on the new Ambrosian lectionary:
"There was a change in criteria for selecting the Bible passages for the new lectionary. The old criterion was one of continuity: Every Sunday a passage would be read from the same Gospel and each Sunday would pick up where the preceding Sunday had left off. The new criterion is a thematic one: Every Sunday will highlight a particular aspect of the life and teaching of Jesus, supported by readings from the Old Testament and the epistles of Paul"
This is precisely one of the main weaknesses of the liturgical deformation that has been going on since the 1960's in the Western rites: the increased tendency to turn (and thereby impoverish) each Sunday into a thematic celebration, instead of simply letting Sunday be Sunday, with all its richness and 'symbolic polyvalence'.
I'd like to point out that the continuous reading of the Scriptures in the liturgy is, in fact, THE ancient tradition.
The more ancient forms of the Western rites did have "idea feasts" on some Sundays and "thematic Sundays" but these were very few and very rich, and I don't think one can maintain (as the liturgiologist Fr. Robert Taft does) that ordinary Sundays in the old Roman Missal were "Feasts of the Trinity." However, what has happened since the 1960's has been precisely to increase this tendency in the Western rites: for example, the forced and artificial coordination of the "Responsorial Psalm" with the readings, and the method of selecting the readings themselves.
This thematization is often made worse by the missalettes distributed in innumerable parishes, which often provide explanatory notes that force the readings into a "theme" which is then hammered home in canned comments written for the commentator(s) or the priest-celebrant to say before each reading and (sometimes) before the Mass itself, in addition to the homily.
Robert:
That Mozarabic Rite is the revised one. The ancient Mozarabic Rite that was saved and codified by Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros and chanted daily for hundreds of years in Toledo was stilled -- hopefully not forever -- in the early 1990's.
It appears that the Roman and Ambrosian lectionaries have been changed in opposite directions. Whereas in the latter, as we are told, a lectio continua of Gospels has given way to a thematic arrangement, in the Roman rite, it is Novus Ordo that introduced the 3 year cycle of continuous reading of Gospels, whereas in the old Roman rite, the order of Gospel pericopes appears mysteriously chaotic. Dom Gueranger hypothesized that it is 'thematic' in respect to the occurrent Scripture readings of Matins.
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